International Cinema Festival of India

Its a Wonderful Life may well be Frank Capra’s masterpiece. It is the film where his positive outlook on life, his humanity, his humane portrayal of the characters, shines through most brightly. All of Capra’s works present his philosophy on life and love, but this film defines that philosophy, and still stands as the greatest Christmas movie of all time.

Yes, your inner child says “Not it’s not, that would be A Christmas Story, thank you very much!” and your inner cynic wants to laugh the whole thing off and say that Lethal Weapon is the greatest Christmas movie. Both wrong. This film is the best holiday film of all time for quite a number of reasons. Not How the Grinch Stole Christmas, not Die Hard, It’s a Wonderful Life.

To begin with, the film deals with an aspect of the holidays that few other films are brave enough to handle: Depression, nihilism, disappointment, negativity. Heck, the movie’s first act ends with Jimmy Stewart, the friendliest and warmest actor that ever lived, getting ready to jump off a bridge and off himself!

Capra digs Stewart’s George Bailey a pit of sadness and pain, and watches as he learns to live again and climbs himself out. This is true positivity, true life affirming hope. Any old lifetime channel original movie can be positive and optimistic by simply never facing the hero or heroine with any challenges, but Capra knew that the only time optimism counts for anything is when the whole world is telling you to only see the worst side of things.

The film ranks with Rocky as the greatest Happy Tears movies of all time. If you’re not crying by the time the film ends then… You probably weren’t actually watching the film! Put down your Nintendo DS or crossword puzzles for just a couple hours and actually watch the film! It is a triumphant display of how optimism and hope always trump negativity.

What many people don’t know is that the film just completely flopped upon release. Capra has always been a popular director who could rake in a lot of money for the studios, and this one flopped so bad that it almost sank his career. Luckily, the movie eventually made a killing, becoming an all time best seller on video and DVD, and always raking in a lot of viewership when it plays on cable each year.

Another interesting point: Film legend has it that Stewart was the director’s only choice for the lead, but in fact, his first choice had been the other legendary nice guy of the screen, Henry Fonda. Fonda could have turned in an incredible performance, but Stewart really plays the character of a lifetime in George Bailey.

There were a number of alternative endings considered, but none of them would have been as satisfying as the way the story wraps up in the film… Except maybe the Saturday Night Live sketch where Bailey leads the whole town to Potter’s house to give him a comeuppance… Interestingly, this ending, while a spoof, was nearly the same as an alternative ending that was actually filmed!

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