I truly love Frank Capra’s film It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). It is a fable of lost innocence, of love lost and found, and of family being essential to humankind’s resilience and stability. Despite having a great story, a fine cast, and a gifted director, there has always been one thing that has troubled me about the film. I feel the deck is stacked against George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) from the start. The accumulating and unrelenting responsibility to friends and family so overwhelms George, even from the time he is a little boy, that he never has a chance to prove himself beyond the confines of Bedford Falls.
If we examine the plot of the story, it is all predicated on the irrefutable fact that George Bailey is a good guy. Despite being as Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore who out Scrooges Ebenezer in this role) puts it, “the smartest one of the lot,” George has not been able to escape his hometown. Why? Because every time he has a chance, something comes along that prevents him from taking the road less traveled by. It becomes exasperating at times as we see George’s opportunities evaporate.
George’s father Peter (Samuel S. Hinds) has established the Bailey Building and Loan in an honest effort to help people in the town. His nemesis is Potter, who tries to take over as much of the town as possible (with the Building and Loan keeping a portion of it from his greedy grasp). This combative relationship will eventually be transferred to George, who takes over the company after his father’s death.
Because of Potter’s drive to “chloroform” the Building and Loan, George loses the chance to take a trip to Europe and go to college (only by staying and taking his father’s place will the company endure). George’s trials and tribulations never end after this; he is always coming to someone’s rescue at his own expense. His brother Harry returns from college (with bride in tow); he is unable to take George’s place at work so that George can go to college. The war comes and George doesn’t even get out of town for that; his bad ear makes him ineligible for combat.
We cannot talk about the stacked deck without discussing Mary Hatch (a stunningly beautiful Donna Reed). The sister of George’s friend Marty, Mary has always had a crush on George, who has never noticed her until a high school graduation dance when she seems to have grown overnight from the pesty little girl he remembers into a lovely young woman. Mary, despite all her beauty and charm, is the coup de grace for George’s plans. Perhaps if he never meets Mary, George will be able to escape, but Mary is the prettiest ball and chain anyone can ever imagine. Mary manages to keep George in Bedford Falls because he loves her and wants her to be happy.
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Article comments
1 - Trish
Not just the best holiday movie, but one of the best films ever. The lows are desperate, the highs are hilarious. And it's such an honest portrayal of a man with integrity. He's not perfect. He gets angry. He has regrets. But he always tries to do the right thing. I think we, as a society, are hungry for that sort of moral example.
One remark about the review: you mentioned that upon his return to reality, his friends magically come to his rescue. I think the point is, it's not magic that drives this. It's the chain reaction effect George has with people throughout his life. The role George played in those people's lives (saving his brother from drowning, saving his parents' business, falling in love with Mary) -- the person he is -- is the reason his friends agree to help Mary, no questions asked.
And let us not forget the power of Mary -- the kind of girl, as George's mother once said, who will help him 'find the answers.' Talk about foreshadowing. At the scariest moment in their lives, it was she who knew what to do and made it happen.
The film beautifully captures the connection people have -- and want! -- with their fellow human beings. It ruins me each year. I love it.
2 - Sister Ray
The only thing that bugs me is that Mr. Potter gets away with stealing Uncle Billy's bank deposit. Guess he has to live with his spiteful old self.
3 - gonzo marx
Victor...thanks..a wonderful Post about a Masterpiece fo a film
Sister Ray...you have nailed it right on the head, i have used this EXACT example quite a few times to exemplify the fallacy of "the ends justify the means" ...Potter's behavior
i find "the means are and end unto themsevles" to be a much more ethical position...George's behavior
ok kiddies...there's the great "litmus test" for quite a lot in the current state of America...and Victor points out a great moment of Temptation when Potter offers him that job...but George sticks with his Ethics
would that all of U.S. remember and live up to the Ideals that George "lives"
Excelsior!
4 - Victor Lana
Thanks for all comments.
Trish, I meant "magically" purely as a reaction to Potter's comment that if George went to the "rabble" for money "they would run him out of town on a rail." I should have qualified this point, for it is just as you say it is.
And it does "ruin" us, as you say Trish, for all our pre-conceived notions are washed away by the pure and unconditional love found in the film. We want to be "Bah" and we want to be "humbug," but we just can't after watching this one.
Oh, and Sister Ray, I don't think that Potter gets away with anything. It just adds links to his "ponderous chain" that he will lug around for all eternity just like Jacob Marley's ghost in another Christmas classic.