Summaries

 An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing

him what life would have been like if he had never existed.
 George Bailey has spent his entire life giving of himself to the people of Bedford Falls. He
has always longed to travel but never had the opportunity in order to prevent rich
skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town. All that prevents him from doing so
is George's modest building and loan company, which was founded by his generous
father. But on Christmas Eve, George's Uncle Billy loses the business's $8,000 while
intending to deposit it in the bank. Potter finds the misplaced money and hides it from
Billy. When the bank examiner discovers the shortage later that night, George realizes
that he will be held responsible and sent to jail and the company will collapse, finally
allowing Potter to take over the town. Thinking of his wife, their young children, and
others he loves will be better off with him dead, he contemplates suicide. But the prayers
of his loved ones result in a gentle angel named Clarence coming to earth to help George,
with the promise of earning his wings. He shows George what things would have been
like if he had never been born.
 A young George Bailey, overwhelmed by family obligations and a sense of responsibility
toward his community, feels tied down to a company he never had an interest in working
for, and a life he never wanted to live. As he ages, he sees his youth, dreams and
opportunities pass him by. Unknown to George, all of his friends and family have been
praying for him to get through those hard times. Told through the point of view of a
group of angels, he is met by his guardian angel Clarence, as he contemplates ending his
life.
 George Bailey never got a chance to fulfill his life's ambitions of exploring the world and
building skyscrapers. As he watches his friends and family become success stories he
dreads on running his fathers building and loan business, rivaling the grumpy old Mr.
Potter. When a financial discrepancy puts George in a difficult position, an angel comes to
show him what life would have been like if he had never been born.
 George Bailey spends his entire life giving up his big dreams for the good of his town,
Bedford Falls, as we see in flashback. But in the present, on Christmas Eve, he is broken
and suicidal over the misplacing of an $8000 loan and the machinations of the evil
millionaire Mr. Potter. His guardian angel, Clarence, falls to Earth, literally, and shows
him how his town, family, and friends would have turned out if he had never been born.
George meant so much to so many people; should he really throw it all away?
 On the Christmas Eve of Bedford Falls, the guardian angel Clarence is assigned to
convince the desperate George Bailey not to commit suicide. George is a good man that
sacrificed his dreams and his youth on behalf of the citizens of his small town. He
inherited the loan business of his father and he gave up traveling the world and joining
University as scheduled. Later he resisted the proposals of the evil banker Mr. Potter, and
never sold his business to protect the poor community of Bedford Falls and offer a means
to afford to buy their own house. He married his beloved Mary Hatch Bailey and had four
children with her and a tough life with his family. When his uncle Billy loses US$
8,000.00, found and stolen by Mr. Potter, George decides to commit suicide, since he
believes he worth more dead than alive. When Clarence sees that he is not able to
persuade George to give up his intention, he decides to show the life in town if George
had never existed.
~~

The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his dreams in
order to help others, and whose imminent suicide on Christmas Eve brings about the
intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers). Clarence shows
George all the lives he has touched, and how different life would be for his wife Mary
and his community of Bedford Falls if he had never been born.

Plot[edit]
On Christmas Eve 1945, in Bedford Falls, New York, 38-year-old George
Bailey contemplates suicide. The prayers of his family and friends reach
heaven, where Angel 2nd class Clarence Odbody is assigned to save George,
to earn his wings. Clarence views flashbacks of George's life: In 1919, 12-
year-old George saves his brother Harry from drowning, losing the hearing
in his left ear. George prevents the druggist, Mr. Gower, from accidentally
poisoning a prescription.
In 1928, George plans to tour the world before college, and is reintroduced
to Mary Hatch, who has long had a crush on him. When his father suffers a
stroke and dies, George postpones his travel to sort out the family business,
Bailey Brothers' Building and Loan, which boardmember Henry F. Potter
wishes to dissolve, but the board votes to keep it open, provided that
George runs it. Giving his college tuition to Harry on the condition that Harry
take over the Building and Loan when he graduates, George works alongside
his uncle Billy.
In 1932, a married Harry returns from college, ready to honor his
commitment, but George will not let him turn down an excellent job offer
from his father-in-law. George marries Mary. They witness a run on the bank
and use their $2,000 honeymoon savings to keep the Building and Loan solvent.
George establishes Bailey Park, a housing development financed by the
Building and Loan, in contrast to Potter's overpriced slums. Potter offers
George $20,000 a year to become his assistant, but George realizes Potter intends to shut down the Building and
Loan and rebukes him.

During World War II, George is ineligible for service because of his deaf ear.
Harry becomes a Navy pilot and earns the Medal of Honor by shooting down
a kamikaze plane headed for a troop transport. On Christmas Eve 1945, as
the town prepares a hero's welcome for Harry, Billy goes to deposit $8,000
of the Building and Loan's cash. At the bank, Billy taunts Potter with a newspaper headline about Harry, but unintentionally wraps

the envelope of cash in Potter’s newspaper. Billy discovers he has misplaced the cash, and Potter finds the envelope but says
nothing. When a bank examiner reviews the Building and Loan's records, George realizes scandal and criminal charges will follow.

Fruitlessly retracing Billy's steps, George berates him, and takes out his frustration on his family.

George appeals to Potter for a loan, offering his life insurance policy with
$500 in equity as collateral. Based on the policy's $15,000 nominal value, Potter says George is worth more dead than
alive, and phones the police to arrest him for misappropriation of funds. After getting drunk at a bar and praying for help, a suicidal

George goes to a nearby bridge. Before George can jump, Clarence dives into the river and is rescued by George.

When George wishes he had never been born, Clarence shows him a
timeline in which he never existed. Bedford Falls is named Pottersville, a
seedy town occupied by strip clubs, swing halls, and cocktail lounges. Mr.
Gower was imprisoned for manslaughter after putting poison in the pills, and
George and Mary’s house is derelict. George's mother reveals that Billy was
institutionalized after the Building and Loan failed. In the cemetery where
Bailey Park was, George discovers Harry's grave. The soldiers on the
transport ship died because Harry did not save them, since George did not
save Harry. George finds Mary, now a spinster who works at the library.
When he claims to be her husband, she screams for the police and George
flees.
Convinced that Clarence is his guardian angel, George runs to the bridge and
begs for his life back. The original reality is restored, and a grateful George
rushes home to await his arrest. Mary and Billy arrive, having rallied the
townspeople, who donate more than enough to cover the $8,000; the sheriff
rips up George's arrest warrant, and Harry toasts George as "the richest
man in town". George then receives a copy of The Adventures of Tom
Sawyer as a gift from Clarence with a note in it reminding George that no
man is a failure who has friends, and thanking him for the wings. At that
moment, a bell on the Christmas tree rings, which George's youngest
daughter says means an angel has earned his wings. George, his family and
friends sing "Auld Lang Syne".

~~

This is about George Bailey, the eternally-in-debt guiding force of a bank in

the typical American small town of Bedford Falls. As the film opens, it's
Christmas Eve, 1946, and George, who has long considered himself a failure,
faces financial ruin and arrest and is seriously contemplating suicide. High
above Bedford Falls, two celestial voices discuss Bailey's dilemma and decide
to send down eternally bumbling angel Clarence Oddbody, who after 200
years has yet to earn his wings, to help George out. But first, Clarence is
given a crash course on George's life, and the multitude of selfless acts he
has performed: rescuing his younger brother from drowning, losing the
hearing in his left ear in the process; enduring a beating rather than allow a
grieving druggist to deliver poison by mistake to an ailing child; foregoing
college and a long-planned trip to Europe to keep the Bailey Building and
Loan from letting its Depression-era customers down; and, most important,
preventing town despot Potter from taking over Bedford Mills and reducing
its inhabitants to penury. Along the way, George has married his childhood
sweetheart Mary, who has stuck by him through thick and thin. But even the
love of Mary and his children are insufficient when George, faced with an
$8000 shortage in his books, becomes a likely candidate for prison thanks to
the vengeful Potter. Bitterly, George declares that he wishes that he had
never been born, and Clarence, hoping to teach George a lesson, shows him
how different life would have been had he in fact never been born. After a
nightmarish odyssey through a George Bailey-less Bedford Falls (now a
glorified slum called Potterville), wherein none of his friends or family
recognize him, George is made to realize how many lives he has touched,
and helped, through his existence; and, just as Clarence had planned,
George awakens to the fact that, despite all its deprivations, he has truly
had a wonderful life.

~~

It's a Wonderful Life

The movie works like a strong and fundamental fable, sort of a

"Christmas Carol" in reverse: Instead of a mean old man being
shown scenes of happiness, we have a hero who plunges into
despair.
The hero, of course, is George Bailey, a man who never quite makes
it out of his quiet birthplace of Bedford Falls. As a young man he
dreams of shaking the dust from his shoes and traveling to far-off
lands, but one thing and then another keeps him at home --
especially his responsibility to the family savings and loan
association, which is the only thing standing between Bedford Falls
and the greed of Mr. Potter, the avaricious local banker.
George marries his high school sweetheart, settles down to raise a
family, and helps half the poor folks in town buy homes where they
can raise their own. Then, when George's absentminded uncle
misplaces some bank funds during the Christmas season, it looks as
if the evil Potter will have his way after all. George loses hope and
turns mean (even his face seems to darken, although it's still nice
and pink in the colorized version). He despairs, and is standing on a
bridge contemplating suicide when an Angel 2nd Class named
Clarence saves him and shows him what life in Bedford Falls would
have been like without him.

"It's a Wonderful Life" is not just a heart-warming "message

picture." The conclusion of the film makes such an impact that some
of the earlier scenes may be overlooked--such as the slapstick
comedy of the high school hop, where the dance floor opens over a
swimming pool, and they accidentally jitterbug right into the water.
There's also the drama of George rescuing his younger brother from
a fall through the ice, and the scene where Mary loses her bathrobe
and George ends up talking to the shrubbery. The telephone scene--
where they are angry and find themselves helplessly drawn toward
each other--is wonderfully romantically charged. And the darker
later passages have an elemental power, as the drunken George
Bailey staggers through a town he wants to hate, and then revisits it
through the help of a gentle angel. Even the corniest scenes in the
movie--those galaxies that wink while the heavens consult on
George's fate--work because they are so disarmingly simple. A more
sophisticated approach might have seemed labored.
~~
The effect subtly underlines It’s a Wonderful Life’s not-so-subtle
theme — that we are only as good as our ability to connect with
those around us. The film’s main villain, after all, is a corrupt old
banker who would turn Bedford Falls into his own personal
playground, and George succeeds in leading the fight against him
less because of his business acumen (though he has plenty) and
more because his natural tendency to stand up to despots gains him
friends and allies across all sorts of boundaries.
In the early going, even when the shot is focused solely on George,
Capra often places some other recognizable faces in the background
— the moment might be our hero’s, but there’s always someone
else around who’s worth working with or worth fighting for.
In the alternate reality, however, George is often filmed alone, or
with faces in the background blurred out. Some of that is because
he’s in a world where he doesn’t belong, where even Mary doesn’t
recognize him. But some of it is because he’s forsaken his truest
calling: helping others.
It’s a Wonderful Life, in particular, does not suggest this is easy.
George Bailey averts jail time as the film ends, thanks to all of his
friends. He will remember their selfless act for the rest of his life,
but that feeling will fade and grow patchy with time. It’s a wonderful
life, sure, but you have to keep reminding yourself of that fact,
because sometimes it’s anything but.
The movie ends on a moment of bittersweet catharsis but is also
wise enough to know that life is long, and life is often disappointing.
On Christmas morning in 1947, 1958, 1972, George will wake up,
with less and less of that memory ringing in his brain, and might be
tempted to despair again, to throw away his life or what he holds
dear. George never did leave Bedford Falls. He never attained his
most deeply held dreams. He got stuck, and that’s difficult to
discard.
But what you do when you’re stuck is often the best example of who
you truly are. It’s a Wonderful Life isn’t an argument that George is
a morally superior man, just that he’s a moral man, surrounded by
other moral people, and moral people try to take care of each other.
The great kindness paid to George at the end of It’s a Wonderful
Life suffuses every frame that came before that moment. It’s baked
in.

~~

It’s a Wonderful Life review – Capra's Christmas cracker shines anew

‘If Potter gets hold of this Building and Loan, there’ll never be another
decent house built in this town. He’s already got charge of the bank. He’s
got the bus line. He got the department stores. And now he’s after us!” Poor
George Bailey gets a vision of awful, grasping Potter getting everything and
naming everything after himself: Pottersville, a hideous ego-plutocrat
takeover.
Well, maybe. George Bailey, unforgettably played by James Stewart, is
progressively forced to abandon his dreams of world travel and college
education to stay home and look after the Bailey family’s saving and loan
business. His dad tells him: “I feel that in a small way we are doing
something important. Satisfying a fundamental urge. It’s deep in the race
for a man to want his own roof and walls and fireplace.” Young audiences in
1946, or 1976, could hear those lines and nod. Not now. The idea of young
people owning their own place in the UK looks as distant and dated as the
automobiles and clothes of prewar Bedford Falls.
The Baileys’ casual, but affectionate treatment of their African-American
“help” in the early scenes (the Baileys can’t afford it later on) may be
uncomfortable — Annie is incidentally played by Lillian Randolph, a great
comic actor and beautiful gospel singer. But the racism of the ruling class, as
represented by Potter, is plain enough, as he seeks to maintain a serf class
of tenantry. Bailey helps an Italian-American family buy their house, to the
fury of Potter: “Playing nursemaid to a lot of garlic-eaters!”
There being no place like home is commonplace enough in the movies, but
it’s traditional to allow the traveller his or her experience of Oz, before they
realise this. George Bailey stays in Kansas. His freaky “Oz” experience is to
see his happy, sociable, public-spirited community turned into a harsher
place without him being there. For me, the most powerful moment in the
picture comes when George, drunk and despairingly aggressive in a bar, and
faced with ruin and prosecution because his hapless Uncle Billy has lost the
firm’s money is punched in the face by the husband of the teacher he has
just upset by yelling at her on the phone. It is a brutal defeat without honour
for Bailey, a grisly descent into (temporary) despair, before his redemption.
It’s also a mild surprise, every time I see the film, to realise that the trainee
angel Clarence really only appears in the final quarter of the drama,
clutching a copy of Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer. The fantasy or whimsy of
Clarence’s existence does not greatly affect the realist tenor of the story as a
whole, which is so important for inducing the audience to make an emotional
investment in George and his family, an outlay of the heart which happens in
tandem with the townspeople entrusting him with their savings. Always a joy
to see this film.

~~

It's a Wonderful Life (United States, 1946)

What is it about this film, an uplifting, sentimental fable about the
importance of the individual, that strikes a responsive chord with so many
viewers? Rather, I think It's a Wonderful Life has earned its legion of
followers because it effectively touches upon one basic truth of life that we
all would like to believe -- that each of us, no matter how apparently
insignificant, has the power to make a difference, and that the measure of
our humanity has nothing to do with fame or money, but with how we live
our life on a day-to-day basis. It's a Wonderful Life asks and answers a
question that all of us think of at one time or another: "What would this
world be like if I had never been born?"
There's no doubt that It's a Wonderful Life is a "feel good" movie. Yet the
film's manipulation is intensely skillful and sincere in a way that is rarely
apparent in any recently-released, "uplifting" title. It's a Wonderful Life
offers a timeless story with a universal message.
It's a Wonderful Life tales the story of George Bailey (Stewart), the unsung,
beloved hero of Bedford Falls. As a child, George was selfless, risking his
own life (and losing his hearing in one ear) to save his brother from
drowning. As an adult, he gave up his dreams of traveling the world and
going to college to stay home and manage the Bailey Building and Loan
Society after his father passed away. Throughout his life, George lived by a
creed that always placed human need above riches, and, as a result, his only
wealth was in his friends and family.
The film's villain is a miserly old man named Potter (played with
consummate nastiness by movie great Lionel Barrymore), who uses his
considerable wealth to bleed the citizens of Bedford Falls dry. The Bailey
Building and Loan Society is the only institution in town that he doesn't own,
and he's willing to do anything to get his hands on it – lie, cheat, bribe,
steal… There's no end to the schemes that Potter devises to destroy George.
Yet the Baileys always seem to end up on top.
The first two-thirds of It's a Wonderful Life recaps George's life during the
span of years from 1919, when he's a child dreaming of becoming an
explorer, until 1946, when he is firmly established as the rock of Bedford
Falls. The film has romance (George's courting of Mary, who is played by
Donna Reed), comedy (an unexpected swim at a high school dance), and
tragedy (the death of Peter Bailey). And, although the predominant tone is
upbeat, Capra effectively captures the darkness of George's mood as his
mounting personal and financial troubles plunge him into an abyss of
despair. Those who mistakenly think of It's a Wonderful Life as all light and
sunshine forget the grimness of certain later scenes, especially those that
culminate in George standing on a bridge, contemplating suicide.
Enter Clarence (Henry Travers), George's lovable, bumbling guardian angel,
who has come to Bedford Falls to prove to George that his life is worth
living. To defend his position, he grants George one wish: to see what the
world would be like if he had never been born. As he and George travel
through the nightmarish alternate reality, they observe how much worse off
many people would be. Mary is a lonely spinster; George's brother, Harry, is
dead; George's uncle, Billy, is in an insane asylum; and Potter owns the
entire town.
In both stories, the visions supplied by supernatural beings convince their
subjects of the value of life and the importance of the contribution of the
individual. Despite the apparent difference in the nature of each story's
protagonist, both popular Christmas tales strike similar chords with
audiences. Watching It's a Wonderful Life is truly an enriching experience.

~~
The Complete “It’s A Wonderful Life” Ethics Guide [UPDATED
AGAIN! ]

Everyone’s life does touch many others, and everyone has played a
part in the chaotic ordering of random occurrences for good. Think
about the children who have been born because you somehow were
involved in the chain of events that linked their parents. And if you
can’t think of something in your life that has a positive impact on
someone–although there has to have been one, and probably many
—then do something now. It doesn’t take much; sometimes a smile
and a kind word is enough. Remembering the lessons of “It’s a
Wonderful Life” really can make life more wonderful, and not just
for you.
Here we go:

1. “If It’s About Ethics, God Must Be Involved”

The movie begins in heaven, represented by twinkling stars. There
is no way around this, as divine intervention is at the core of the
fantasy. Heaven and angels were big in Hollywood in the Forties.
Nevertheless, the framing of the tale advances the anti-ethical idea,
central to many religions, that good behavior on earth will be
rewarded in the hereafter, bolstering the theory that without God
and eternal rewards, doing good is pointless.
We are introduced to George Bailey, who, we are told, is in trouble
and has prayed for help. He’s going to get it, too, or at least the
heavenly authorities will make the effort. They are assigning an
Angel 2nd Class, Clarence Oddbody, to the job. He is, we learn
later, something of a second rate angel as well as a 2nd Class one,
so it is interesting that whether or not George is in fact saved will be
entrusted to less than Heaven’s best. Some lack of commitment,
there—then again, George says he’s “not a praying man.” This will
teach him—sub-par service!
2. Extra Credit for Moral Luck
George’s first ethical act is saving his brother, Harry, from
drowning, an early exhibition of courage, caring and sacrifice. The
sacrifice part is that the childhood episode costs George the hearing
in one ear. He doesn’t really deserve extra credit for this, as it was
not a conscious trade of his hearing for Harry’s young life, but he
gets it anyway, just as soldiers who are wounded in battle receive
more admiration and accolades than those who are not. Yet this is
only moral luck. A wounded hero is no more heroic than a
unwounded one, and may be less competent as well as less lucky.

3. The Confusing Drug Store Incident

George Bailey’s next ethical act is when he saves the life of another
child by not delivering a bottle of pills that had been inadvertently
poisoned by his boss, the druggist, Mr. Gower. This is nothing to get
too excited over, really—if George had knowingly delivered poisoned
pills, he would have been more guilty than the druggist, who was
only careless. What do we call someone who intentionally delivers
poison that he knows will be mistaken for medication? A murderer,
that’s what. We’re supposed to admire George for not committing
murder.
Mr. Gower, at worst, would be guilty of negligent homicide. George
saves him from that fate when he saves the child, but if he really
wanted to show exemplary ethics, he should have reported the
incident to authorities. Mr. Gower is not a trustworthy pharmacist—
he was also the beneficiary of moral luck. He poisoned a child’s pills
through inattentiveness. If his customers knew that, would they
keep getting their drugs from him? Should they? A professional
whose errors are potentially deadly must not dare the fates by
working when his or her faculties are impaired by illness,
sleeplessness or, in Gower’s case, grief and alcohol.

4. The Uncle Billy Problem

As George grows up, we see that he is loyal and respectful to his
father. That’s admirable. What is not admirable is that George’s
father, who has fiduciary duties as the head of a Building and Loan,
has placed his brother Billy in a position of responsibility. As we
soon learn, Billy is a souse, a fool and an incompetent. This is a
breach of fiscal and business ethics by the elder Bailey, and one
that George engages in as well, to his eventual sorrow.

5. George’s Speech
When his father dies, George delivers an impassioned speech to Mr.
Potter, the owner of the only other financial institution in town, who
proposes that the Bailey Building and Loan be closed down. Potter
has a point. For example he points out that Ernie the cab driver was
approved by for a home loan by George, who is his good friend.
Yes, it’s a small town, but still, this is a suspect policy and more
importantly, a conflict of interest with the appearance of
impropriety. When Potter impugns George’s father however,
George has a rebuttal:

“Just a minute. Now, hold on, Mr. Potter! You’re right when you say
my father was no business man. I know that. Why he ever started
this cheap penny-ante Building and Loan, I’ll never know. But
neither you nor anybody else can say anything against his
character, because his whole life was… Why, in the twenty-five
years since he and Uncle Billy started this thing, he never once
thought of himself. Isn’t that right, Uncle Billy? He didn’t save
enough money to send Harry to school, let alone me. But he did
help a few people get out of your slums, Mr. Potter. And what’s
wrong with that? Why…here, you are all businessmen here. Doesn’t
it make them better citizens? Doesn’t it make them better
customers?”

“You…you said that uh… what’d you say just a minute ago… They,
they had to wait and save their money before they even thought of
a decent home. Wait! Wait for what? Until their children grow up
and leave them? Until they’re so old and broken-down that they…
Do you know how long it takes a working man to save five thousand
dollars? Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you’re
talking about… they do most of the working and paying and living
and dying in this community. Well, it is too much to have them
work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a
bath? Anyway, my father didn’t think so. People were human beings
to him, but to you, a warped, frustrated old man, they’re cattle.
Well, in my book, he died a much richer man than you’ll ever be.”
Capra, as was his habit, stacks the deck by casting the advocate for
fiscal responsibility as Potter, whom the heavenly spokesperson has
already identified as “the meanest man in Bedford Falls.” But
George’s speech, delivered by Jimmy Stewart in his best “Mister
Smith Goes to Washington” fervor, is pretty close to the philosophy
that set up U.S. for the housing and mortgage meltdown in 2008
that wrecked the economy. George’s speech could probably have
been recited with equal sincerity by various well-meaning members
of Congress, like Barney Frank and Ted Kennedy, who were
pressuring financial institutions to hand out mortgage loans to
hundreds of thousands of aspiring homeowners who would never
have qualified for them under well-established banking principles.
Peter Bailey’s “plan,” if one can call it that, was to give mortgages
to people who couldn’t afford them, and then not press the good
people to keep up with payments when they couldn’t afford them.
In short, he was irresponsible, fiscally and otherwise, and his poor
business sense, matched here to generosity and compassion as if
one justifies the other, was guaranteed to be ruinous to investors,
the unqualified homeowners, and ultimately the Building and Loan.
Ethical borrowing means committing to pay back the loan on the
terms of the loan. The greater the risk of a loan not being paid
back, the more proof of collateral is needed. Neither Peter Bailey,
nor George, nor Frank Capra knew how to somehow loan money to
people who can’t pay it back, not foreclose on the property, and yet
keep the altruistic loaner solvent. They just know it’s “the right
thing to do”…which when used in such a context, is a
rationalization: 59. The Ironic Rationalization. From the
definition on the Ethics Alarms Rationalizations List:
This rationalization can sometimes be a fair statement of fact rather
than a rationalization. But “It’s the right thing to do” is routinely
used to end a debate when it is only a proposition that must be
supported with facts and ethical reasoning. Simply saying “I did
it/support it/ believe in it because it’s the right thing to do” aims at
ending opposition by asserting virtue and wisdom that may not
exist.

The question that has to be answered is why “it’s the right thing to
do,” and “Because it’s just right, that’s all,” “Everybody knows it’s
right,” “My parents taught me so,” “That’s what God tells us in the
Bible,” and many other non-answers do not justify the assertion.

Maybe it’s the right thing, and maybe not. Just saying it conduct is
right without doing the hard work of ethical analysis is bluffing and
deflection. “It’s the right thing to do” you say?

Prove it.
The problem is that a plan that can’t possibly work is never ethical.
It is by definition irresponsible, and thus not the right thing to do.

6. George’s Fork in the Road

George Bailey’s decision to give up his plans to go to college to save
the Building and Loan is clearly not motivated by his personal
dedication to the institution; he doesn’t like the place. He says so
over and over again. He admires his father’s motivations for starting
it, but if Potter had not sparked his resentment with his nasty
comments about George’s late father, George would have been out
the door. But his passionate speech in rebuttal of Potter’s words put
him on the spot: after those sentiments, turning down the Board’s
appointment of him to be the new operating manager of the S&L
would have made George a hypocrite in his own eyes, and rendered
his passion laughable. If George has any integrity, then he must
accept the appointment.
It is one of the most interesting ethical moments in the film,
because it represents a realistically complex ethical decision. George
does what he does for selfish reasons as well as altruistic ones, and
irrational reasons as well as considered ones. He wants to respect
himself; he fears what might happen to his family and the
community if Potter becomes the only financial power in town, and
knows he will feel guilty if the consequences are bad. He feels like
not staying will be taking Potter’s side over his father’s—completely
irrational, since his father had given his blessing to George’s college
plans, and wasn’t alive to be harmed by whatever he chose to do
anyway. A large proportion of George’s decision seems to be
motivated by non-ethical considerations, for he doesn’t like Potter—
even hates him, perhaps—and wants to stick it to the old tycoon by
foiling his victory. There are few ethical decisions in real life that are
made purely on the basis of ethics, and Capra makes George’s
decision wonderfully impure.
Still, this may be the single most important decision in George
Bailey’s life. It changes everything, for him and for the town. Most
important of all, perhaps, it probably is the tipping point in the
formation of George’s character. Many of us face ethical decisions
that require us to embrace or reject core values. Once a value has
been rejected, down-graded in our priorities, we may be
permanently changed as human beings. Choosing non-ethical
considerations —self-interest—over honesty, integrity, loyalty or
fairness one time will make that choice easier the next time, then a
habit, then a character trait, then a personal philosophy. George
faces that fork in the road and chooses integrity, respect, fairness
and caring…because of the man he was at that moment, a caring
and ethical one. Had he chosen to leave, thus opting for new
experiences and ambition over the values he had once thought
paramount, George Bailey might have become less like his father
and more like Mr. Potter. Luckily for him, he recognized this pivotal
moment in his life and character when it occurred. Too often, we
make life and character-altering decisions in the heat of the
moment, without playing ethics chess and thinking about the
possible consequences.
George also makes his life-altering decision under pressure, another
condition that leads to unethical acts. When we have such decisions
to make, the wise course is to delay, take time to consider, and
consult with others. As “It’s a Wonderful Life” shows, however, this
isn’t always possible.
Is it fair for the board of directors to put all of this on George? I
think so: their fiduciary duties include trying to keep the institution
open, and they reasonably see some obligation in the fact that
George is the deceased founder’s son. The move breaches a Golden
Rule analysis; what young man would want to have his life’s plans
turned inside like this? Still, this is a utilitarian decision, and a valid
one. The whole town’s future is at a stake, and that outweighs
George’s plans.

7. Harry’s Betrayal
George gives his college money to younger brother Harry, an ethical
act if there ever was one. All he asks in return is that Harry return
after college and take over the Building and Loan, so George can
get on with his life. Harry, however, returns to Bedford Falls with a
new wife, who has other plans. Harry plays George like a violin, and
lets George be a martyr and waive Harry’s obligation.
I regard this as a double-cross by Harry Bailey, aided by the new
Mrs. Bailey. He had made a deal, and benefited greatly from it. By
the time he got back home, his wife should have already been told
in no uncertain terms that he was taking the weight of the S&L off
of George’s weary shoulders, and that he was turning down her
father’s offer to employ him. Harry knew George and what he was
like—his brother’s penchant for sacrificing his own needs for others.
The script shows Harry putting up a perfunctory fight when George
lets him off the hook, but he simply should have refused to accept
George’s arguments. Harry had an obligation, and a big one. He
took an easy route to avoid it, and closed his eyes to the Golden
Rule answer staring him in the face. Harry knew what was fair,
knew what George wanted, needed and deserved, and still accepted
George’s waiver.
Yes, George is accountable and responsible for his own actions. At
this point, he is a candidate for a diagnosis of toxic altruism; he’s a
probable altruism addict, a professional martyr.

8. Sam and Mary

George’s next ethical dilemma occurs when his mother urges him to
try to steal away Mary, the lovely local college girl (played by
radiant Donna Reed) who is supposedly the main squeeze of
George’s obnoxious friend, Sam (“Hee-haw!”) Wainwright. The
movie’s view is that since Sam is a jerk, there’s nothing wrong with
George stealing his girl and Mary slyly encouraging him to do it.
Capra even shows Sam with a floozy in his office when he’s calling
Mary, so we know he’s a louse. Sam obviously considers George a
friend, however, so George’s motivations and conduct in this
episode are still less than ideal. He and Mary do apparently foil
Sam’s well-intentioned efforts to turn them into inside-traders,
something that was not illegal at the time, but still unethical.
George certainly is a rude jerk to Mary, apparently holding
repressed anger against her because her attractiveness temps him
to again nail himself to the town he hates, and because he was
pitching woo to her when he learned that his father was stricken.
It’s lucky that she sees the good in George, because he’s hiding it
well. Lashing out at others for your own self-fueled misfortune is a
really unethical habit. I wouldn’t let George have a dog, because
he’s probably kick it.

9. The Run on the Bank

The second great ethical turning point in “It’s A Wonderful Life” and
the fictional life of George Bailey comes when there is a run on the
Building and Loan just as George and Mary are leaving on their
honeymoon. Yet again, George makes a huge personal sacrifice and
uses the money he saved for the trip to keep the bank from closing
and out of Potter’s clutches yet again. A few things to keep in mind:
 He had no obligation to use personal resources for this
purpose. Rationally, he could have required at least some
interest, as long as it wasn’t excessive.
  When Potter offers to pay off the S&L’s obligations at 50 cents
on the dollar, George has no right to reject the offer
unilaterally—it’s not his offer to reject. He needs to consult his
board, or at least try to, and if they vote to accept Potter’s
gun-to-the-head deal, George can’t over-ride them. If he can’t
reach the board, then his ethical obligation is to act as he
thinks they would, and he knows they almost certainly would
accept Potter’s offer. George’s conduct in this situation is
personally courageous and generous, but a blatant fiduciary
breach of trust and an abuse of his authority.
 Mary is the one who offers up the couple’s money, and she
does it without consulting George. She has no right to do this.
She may presume, from watching George go through life
offering himself up as a human sacrifice, that he would
approve, but it is irresponsible and disrespectful for her to risk
the couple’s resources on a bad bet like the Bailey Building and
Loan, during a financial crisis, without discussing it with her
husband first. (How does the Building and Loan weather the
Great Depression, by the way?)

10. Potter’s Offer

Mr. Potter’s next tactic is to try to hire George away from the
Building and Loan with a large salary. George views the offer as an
invitation to corruption, and nobly turns it down. There is no wrong
solution to George’s dilemma. He could justify taking Potter’s offer
as ethical because it allows him to better the lives and future of his
family and children, and perhaps he should. Surely whatever
obligation he feels to his father’s project and the community has
been more than fulfilled by this time. George, however, is blocked
by cognitive dissonance. He detests Potter and all he stands for;
if he agrees to work for the man, he cannot avoid embracing
Potter’s values, or at least becoming connected to them. He will
have to be loyal; he will be dependent on a man whose ethics he
reviles. This is how people become corrupted.
Does George have an ethical obligation to risk corruption of his core
values—remember, none of us are as immune to corruption as we
think we are (this is called Restraint Bias)—for the benefit of his
children? Wouldn’t this be the greatest sacrifice of all for the
altruism addict, selling his integrity so his children have a better
future? Or would he be corrupting them, too?
I think George is right to uphold his integrity and avoid allying
himself and his family’s welfare to someone with deplorable values
and who is, after all, untrustworthy, perhaps because I would (I
hope) make the same decision in his shoes. Nevertheless, it is not
the ethical slam-dunk that Capra would have us believe.
And he should have at least consulted Mary. If she is anything like
my mother, she would have said, “Are you nuts? Take the offer!”

11. Uncle Billy screws up, as we knew he would

11. Christmas Eve arrives in Bedford Falls, and Uncle Billy manages
to forget that he left the week’s deposits in the newspaper he gave
to Mr. Potter. Thus more than $8,000 is missing on the same day
that the bank examiner is in town. Why is Uncle Billy still working
for the Building and Loan? He’s working there because George, like
his father, is putting family loyalty over fiduciary responsibility.
Potter, of course, is a thief; by keeping the lost money to trap
George, he’s committing a felony. Moreover, as a board member on
the Building and Loan, Billy’s carelessness and George’s negligence
in entrusting him with the bank’s funds would support charges of
misfeasance. Mr. Potter, had he played fair, might have triumphed
over George legitimately, and no Christmas miracle or guardian
angel could have saved him. But this is the inherent weakness and
fatal flaw of the habitually unethical: since they don’t shrink from
using unethical devices, they often ignore ethical ways to achieve
the same objectives that would be more effective.

12. George folds under pressure

Faced with an unexplainable deficit (since “We lost it” would not
endear the bank to regulators) George panics. This is a remarkable
feature in the screenplay and Stewart’s portrayal, because George’s
reaction when faced with a personal crisis reveals him to be less
principled and admirable than we thought, and more importantly,
than he thought. This is a brave move by Capra, and an instructive
one. George Bailey’s story is a good example of how it is relatively
easy to stick to ethical principles when one feels in control and
relatively safe, but when desperation and fear set in, the ethics
alarms can freeze up, leaving only primitive “fight or flight”
instincts. That’s where George is on Christmas Eve. He verbally
abuses poor Uncle Billy, who feels badly enough already, and whom
George shouldn’t have trusted in the first place. When a fool acts
foolishly, the person at fault is the one who placed him in a position
where his foolishness could be harmful.
George is full of rage and frustration that all his self-conscious
martyrdom has bought him no breaks in life, so he rails about
conditions that were the results of his own choices. He hates the
Building and Loan, which his actions have kept operating; he says
he hates the “drafty old house” (Whose idea was it to live there?);
he asks, “Why do we have to have all these kids?” (Do we need to
explain it to you, George?). He snaps at his children, who are
excitedly preparing for Christmas, and is insulting and rude to his
daughter’s teacher, not because of anything she’s done, but
because he’s mad at the world.
Now we understand a little more about George Bailey. Like many
heroes, leaders, and regularly virtuous people, George Bailey is a
narcissist. His obsession with helping others and sacrificing his own
needs was to feed his vanity and self-esteem. He needed others to
respect and admire him, and he needs to admire himself. What he is
facing now is scandal and diminished respect from others—things
that undermine his carefully constructed self-image. So with the
walls closing in, where are his ethical principles? Gone. He doesn’t
share his crisis with Mary, for example, though she has a right to
know that her whole family is imperiled by the crisis. Incredibly, he
goes to Potter, and begs to make the deal with the devil that he
righteously rejected when he felt in control of his fate. Now, he’ll
trade his integrity, the Building and Loan and the welfare of Bedford
Falls for Potter’s help, because he can’t accept the results of his own
mistakes.
The lesson: even the most ethical people usually have their
breaking point, the point at which ethical principles will be trumped
by personal interest. Watching just the first part of “It’s A Wonderful
Life,” we might have believed that George Bailey was the rare
idealist who would stand true even when he was at personal risk.
After being turned down by the devil, Potter, only then does George
resort to God, whom he clearly has ignored up to this point. Now he
prays, the classic hypocrite’s prayer, a foxhole conversion. Then he
gets drunk, which is pure escape: it’s not going to help matters, just
make them blurrier. George is a coward after all.

13. George heads for the bridge

As a coward, he seeks the ultimate coward’s solution, suicide. This
is the watermark of the narcissist: at this point, he doesn’t care
about Mary, his children, the bank, or his obligations. He just wants
to escape accountability and consequences. The usual excuse given
for George’s deplorable conduct is that our hero is having a
“breakdown.” No, this is just George being human…and unethical.
Suicide is also insurance fraud in this context: George is moved to
try it because Potter suggested that he’s worth more dead than
alive, thanks to the policy. But he really isn’t. The insurance
company won’t pay for a suicide.

14. Welcome to Pottersville

George meets Clarence, his tattered guardian angel, who tricks
George into rescuing him instead of drowning. George is relentlessly
nasty to Clarence—rude and disrespectful. If Clarence didn’t have a
job to do and a personal objective to accomplish—he wants those
wings—he would be ethically justified in telling George Bailey to go
to Hell. It is noble to continue to help someone in the face of
abuse, disrespect, contempt and incivility, but it isn’t ethically
mandatory.
After Clarence grants George his wish that he had never been never
born, we see what Bedford Falls and it occupants would be like
without the Building and Loan. It looks and sounds a lot like New
Orleans, really, but the idea is that Pottersville is a coarser, cruder
place than its Alternate Reality in the Park with George. The
businesses we see are all sin-related or pawn shops, and the people
are different too—meaner, more irresponsible. Bert the cop even
fires his gun into the crowd when George slugs him and runs away
after accosting Mary—who, despite being about the most adorable,
lovely and sensitive woman in the world, has somehow been unable
to find a husband without George in it.
It’s easy to make fun of Pottersville, but the sequence’s main point
is still valid: without the Building and Loan to symbolize caring and
a mutually supportive community, the ethical culture of the town
has rotted, and rotted the ethics of everyone in it. Cultures do rot,
which is why, for example, the popular Republican fantasy that
America can just round up all its illegal aliens and march them at
gunpoint and without their children back to where they came from
is so dangerous.
A nation that would really do such a thing has turned the corner
towards Pottersville. We must always be vigilant about spotting and
avoiding cultural tipping points that will erode our basic ethical
values.
I feel that I have to mention that Capra’s version of Chaos Theory’s
“Butterfly Effect” with George as the butterfly is a little one-sided.
There are always perverse and unanticipated reactions when
something is taken out of the cosmic equation, and it would have
been more realistic to show someone being significantly better off
with no George, like if Mary had gone on to marry old Hee-Haw and
become a fabulously rich and famous movie star who wins an
Academy Award for “From Here to Eternity” and goes on to star in
an iconic 1950’s TV sitcom. Clarence revels in showing George the
tragedy and havoc that would have occurred without him: Violet a
drunken floozy; Martini apparently vanished or deported, with Nick,
now a mean bully, running the bar; graves where George’s houses
were; Ernie the cabby without a wife and bitter, like everyone else;
Uncle Billy insane, George’s mother mean and suspicious, the
soldiers on the transport Harry saved all dead, because Harry
drowned when he was eight, and Mr. Gower a shambling beggar
after being sent to jail for poisoning that boy, because George
wasn’t there to stop him. It’s interesting that Clarence never tells
George about what happened to that boy he saved, since he was
piling it on. Maybe that kid grew up to be a serial killer, and
Clarence would rather George not know about that butterfly effect.
Back to Bert the cop…as I noted, he fires his gun at the fleeing
George, and doesn’t seem all that concerned about hitting an
innocent bystander by accident. Did the absence of George in this
alternate universe make Bert a trigger-happy idiot? Why would that
be? Right now, officer Michael Slager is standing trial for shooting
Walter Scott, a black man, who was also fleeing his authority. Here
is a good example of ethics evolving: when the film was made, an
officer shooting at a fleeing suspect was neither unusual nor
regarded as wrong. Now, it is likely to be called murder if such a
suspect is shot dead.

15. “The richest man in town!”

In the grand finale, the entire community rallies to save George and
the Building and Loan, out of gratitude for his many unselfish acts
through the years, filling his table with more than enough money to
cover the deficit. This is the uber-ethical moment in the film, a
massive display of unselfish thanks, compassion, community,
charity, loyalty, generosity and gratitude, proving what an
essentially ethical and caring place the town—now Bedford Falls
again—has grown into thanks to George’s influence. Just enjoy it
and cry, like my wife does every time, when Harry raises his glass
to toast “My brother George, the richest man in town.”
Still…
 Harry owes George a lot more than a toast, since his
ingratitude put him in this situation in the first place.
 George can’t ethically accept more money than the deficit,
since it isn’t intended for him personally anyway. How is he
going to be responsible and give the extra money back? How
will he decide who gets a refund on their remarkable
 generosity? Are the donors now his partners? Ethically, George
was obligated to organize the orgy of good will going on in
front of him, since it was technically a complex business
transaction.
 And he’s still got to fire Uncle Billy tomorrow, or maybe the
day after Christmas.
 As for the happy bank examiner, swept up in all the Christmas
spirit, he needs to be fired too. He’s abdicating his
responsibilities. The deficit is still unexplained; the S&L is still
in violation of regulations. If he thinks George absconded with
the money, the fact that he can now pay it back doesn’t mean
he didn’t commit the crime.
 The sheriff, similarly, is breaching his duty by tearing up the
warrant for George’s arrest. It isn’t his to tear up; only a judge
could do that. It’s a legal document. Good will and gratitude
don’t suspend the law.
 Finally, there’s Sam Hee-Haw Wainwright. What a prince!
George steals his girlfriend, he and Mary treat Sam like a
disease through the whole movie, and yet he comes through
with an open-ended loan! Of course, once everyone hears that,
George should start handing everyone back their money. He
doesn’t. And he and Mary probably still make fun of Sam after
New Years Eve.
And George? He’s happy and ethical again, because everyone is
showering him with love and admiration. Later, we should hope,
Mary will have some words with him about candor and trust in the
marital relationship. For his part, George Bailey needs to reflect on
how his principles folded up like a telescope once things got tough,
and think about how he can control his narcissistic tendencies to
make more responsible and ethical decisions in the future.
Aw, he probably does. After all,

It’s a wonderful life!

~~
Film Review: It Was A Wonderful Life*
It’s a Wonderful Life. Part comedy, part melodrama, and part supernatural
fantasy, the film recounts the life of an apparently ordinary guy, George
Bailey, who keeps getting the short end of the stick when it comes to
realizing his extraordinary dreams and plans for the future.
However, I’ve learned first-hand that professing my love for this film is sure
to provoke arguments with those who accept the ethics of rational
individualism. On its face, the message of the film appears to endorse self-
sacrifice for the good of others. But I disagree with that interpretation—and
that’s the reason for this special review. In fact, I think that the choices
made by George Bailey during his life were truly wonderful, embodying a full
and proper conception of personal, long-term self-interest.
The movie opens to the voices of George’s loved ones—family and friends
who are sending up prayers to God to take care of and watch out for
George, who’s fallen on the hardest of hard times on Christmas Eve.
George’s bad luck doesn’t look like it’s about to change when he is assigned
a guardian angel (“second class”) named Clarence, a benevolent bumbler
who hasn’t even “earned his wings.” We then learn what has brought George
Bailey to the brink of tragedy as director Capra tells the man’s life story in a
long flashback that makes up most of the picture.
Ever since boyhood, George Bailey has been there for others. When he was
twelve, he rescued his brother, Harry, from drowning in a pond after he had
crashed through the ice while sledding. Later, working as a drugstore
delivery boy, he prevented his distraught, drunken boss from accidentally
dispensing poison in prescription capsules.
As he grows up, George dreams of bigger things than can't be found in the
confines of his small town: seeing Europe, becoming a civil engineer. About
to head off to tramp through Europe before going to college, he shares with
his girlfriend, Mary, his secret aspirations:
Mary, I know what I’m gonna do tomorrow and the next day, and next year
and the year after that. I’m shaking the dust of this crummy little town off
my feet and I’m gonna see the world! I’m gonna build things: I’m gonna
build airfields. I’m gonna build skyscrapers a hundred stories high! I’m
gonna build bridges a mile long!
But at every crucial turn in his life, George’s grandiose dreams are thwarted
by the responsibilities of everyday life. As he’s about to set sail, he learns
that his father had a fatal stroke. After the funeral, George stays in Bedford
Falls to run the Bailey Bros. Building and Loan—the family business that his
father and Uncle Billy had built up—rather than allow it to slip into the grasp
of the family’s avaricious nemesis, Mr. Potter. Potter is the town’s Scrooge-
like magnate, a corrupt, power-lusting slumlord who owns most of the key
businesses in Bedford Falls. George puts his dreams on hold while he
manages the business—and while he watches his younger brother, Harry, go
off to college instead.
Then, rather than jump at the opportunity to invest in the promising plastics
industry, George goes after his true love, Mary, finally proposing to her. One
of the movie’s pivotal scenes occurs on the day of their marriage. Just as
they are about to embark on their European honeymoon, fate again steps in:
their wedding date is “Black Tuesday,” October 29, 1929—the day of the
stock market crash. En route to the train station, George and Mary see the
people of Bedford Falls running toward the building and loan. George rushes
over to find that Uncle Billy has panicked and shut the doors to depositors,
having disbursed all the money on hand. Worse, Mr. Potter telephones and
tells George that he will “help” bail out the business by offering its
stockholder-members fifty cents on the dollar for every share.
While everyone is losing his head, George keeps his cool, despite the throng
of terrified customers demanding their money. George staves off the
building and loan’s collapse not by whining to the crowd to bail him out, but
by appealing to their long-term self-interest: by asking them not to sell out
their future to Potter.

You’re thinking about this place all wrong, as if I have the

money back in the safe. The money’s not here. Well, your
money’s in Joe’s house, that’s right next to yours. And the
Kennedy house, and Mrs. Maitlin’s house, and a hundred
others. You’re lending them the money to build, and then
they’re going to pay it back to you as best they can…. Now,
listen to me, I beg of you not to do this thing. If Potter gets a
hold of this building and loan, there will never be another
decent house built in this town…. Joe, you had one of those
Potter houses, didn’t you? Well, have you forgotten, have
you forgotten what he charged you for that broken-down
shack? Here, Ed, remember last year, when things weren’t
going so well, you couldn’t make your payments? Well, you
didn’t lose your house, did you? Do you think Potter would’ve
let you keep it? Can’t you understand what’s happening
here? Potter isn’t selling, he’s buying! And why? Because
we’re panicking and he’s not…. Now, we can get through this
thing all right; we’ve got to stick together, though. We’ve got
to have faith in each other.
I once argued with an Objectivist about that scene, maintaining that George
and Mary did the right thing by using their $2,000 honeymoon nest egg to
help their depositors weather the storm. But all my friend could see in that
scene—indeed, in the whole movie—was altruism. “One of the very first lines
in that movie,” he told me, “is ‘he never thinks of himself’!”
But was that true? Consider what would have happened had George and
Mary gone on their honeymoon instead of bailing out their building and loan.
Yes, they would have had an enjoyable, relaxing couple of months in
Europe; but what would they have come home to? The business that
George’s father had sweat blood to create and keep afloat would have gone
bankrupt. Not only would George and Mary have had no source of income,
but their depositors—family, friends, loved ones—would have seen their life
savings evaporate. The housing development George had built would have
fallen into Potter’s hands.
For George, the choice was between short-term pleasure and long-term
priorities. Did he choose irrationally?
What makes It’s a Wonderful Life work so well is that we get to see a
different, less readily apparent kind of heroism in George Bailey. Sure, it’s
easy to notice and admire the swashbuckling valor of a Scarlet Pimpernel or
the “damn the torpedoes” military bravery of a John Wayne. But the real
world doesn’t always present opportunities for obvious and flamboyant
heroism. More often than not, it presents instead tough value choices that
reveal an individual’s true priorities—and his true character.
It’s a Wonderful Life is a testament to the power of free will when the going
gets tough. In every instance when George faces adversities, he could make
the easy choice, opting for the fleeting promise of instant gratification. But
instead, he consistently makes the harder decision to delay immediate
pleasure in order to achieve or preserve his larger, lasting, most profound
values.
The movie’s famous climax takes place on Christmas Eve. Bedford Falls
awaits the return of its hometown hero—George’s brother, Harry (Todd
Karns). As a Navy fighter pilot, Harry saved a transport ship full of American
troops by shooting down a Japanese torpedo bomber. However, a few hours
before his arrival back home, the building and loan comes up short $8,000.
Uncle Billy has absentmindedly mislaid the money, and now, with the bank
examiner and police breathing down his neck, the distraught George sees his
entire life coming apart. After fighting Potter all his life, he’s reduced to
pleading before him, begging to borrow the cash to rescue the building and
loan. His only collateral is $500 equity in a life insurance policy. The smirking
Potter mocks him, saying, “Why, George, you’re worth more dead than
alive!"
George soon finds himself standing alone in the blustery snow atop a bridge,
weeping in drunken desperation, thinking about jumping into the icy rapids
below.
At that very moment, guardian angel Clarence Oddbody (Henry Travers)
leaps into the river himself, giving George the opportunity to let his inherent
goodness emerge once more. George rescues Clarence, then slowly learns
the incredible truth: that the old man is really an angel sent to protect him.
Even so, still believing that his life has been a failure, he tells the eccentric
Clarence that he’s wasting his time. “I wish I’d never been born,” George
mumbles bitterly.
The words inspire Clarence to grant George his wish. In the film’s closing
moments, he gives the man a shocking tour of what Bedford Falls would
have been like if George Bailey had never existed.

“The importance of the individual is the theme that it tells."

The housing subdivision that George envisioned is never built; it becomes
“Potter’s Field,” a graveyard for paupers. The wife of his cabbie friend, Ernie,
leaves him because Ernie wasted his money paying rent for one of Potter’s
tenements, instead of investing in his own home. Deprived of the chance to
lead a productive life with the building and loan, oddball Uncle Billy is
eventually committed to an insane asylum. George’s beloved Mary remains a
spinster; their children are never born. And Bedford Falls itself—a small,
thriving American community right out of a Norman Rockwell illustration—
deteriorates into “Pottersville,” a sleazy town full of bars, strip joints, and
pawn shops.
Most devastating to George, Clarence leads him to Harry’s gravestone in
Potter’s Field.
“Your brother, Harry Bailey, broke through the ice and drowned at the age of
nine,” he informs George.
“That’s a lie!” George protests. “Harry Bailey went to war! He got the
Congressional Medal of Honor! He saved the lives of every man on that
transport!”
“Every man on that transport died,” Clarence corrects him. “Harry wasn’t
there to save them, because you weren’t there to save Harry.… You see,
George, you really had a wonderful life. Don’t you see what a mistake it
would be to throw it away?”
“You have been given a great gift,” Clarence adds, “a chance to see what the
world would be like without you.”
Timeless tale of a man who always remained loyal to his highest and dearest
values, and who ennobled the lives of everyone he touched through his
common sense, farsighted thinking, and uncommon integrity.
The importance of the individual is the theme that it tells. That no man is a
failure, that every man has something to do with his life. If he’s born, he’s
born to do something. To some of us, all that meets the eye is larger than
life, including life itself. Who can match the wonder of it?

~~

The Morality of Banking in It’s a

Wonderful Life
The movie’s plot also touches on some still-relevant financial
topics, including the nature of banking, the philosophical
calculus behind issuing loans, and the way American families’
financial fates are intertwined.
The film’s protagonist, George Bailey, gives up his dreams of
traveling the world to run Bailey Building and Loan, a small
community bank with a mortgage business. But all is not well
in Bedford Falls. The decisions of the well-intentioned Bailey as
he faces an unfortunate deposit-envelope mix-up and tries to
fend off an aggressive tycoon make the movie financially
instructive all these years later.
Various questions it raises about mortgages, banking, and
financial solvency.

This movie is about the economics of how banks and loans

work. I want an audio file of George Bailey saying “The
money’s not there!” as he tries to explain how deposits get
rolled into other products, not just stacks of bills tucked away
in a vault. It helps explain, at a pretty simple level, how deeply
interwoven America’s banking structure and finances can be—
so when a bank, big or small, fails, lots of people wind up
feeling the impact. As a whole, the movie raises some critical
questions about the purpose of banks: What are they meant to
do and who are they meant to serve? It’s an important plot
point, but I also think it speaks to how much people don’t know
about how banks actually work. It’s really not clear to the
people of Bedford Falls how credit and loans work, to the point
that people cause a bank run and George has to use his own
money to stop the institution from dissolving. They really think
all their money is sitting there in the safe, but never question
how the bank is then able to distribute so much money, such
as loans for their homes.
To some extent whenever there’s a big looming financial crisis,
there’s fear of a “bank run,” as customers try to pull their
money out while they still can. The initial run on Bailey Building
and Loan is at the very beginning of the movie and it sets
George on this path of being a banker. As you might
remember, he uses the money for his honeymoon to tide over
bank customers to keep them from withdrawing everything.
But then the second run, when his uncle misplaces the deposits
and the amount is too big for George to cover, kind of hints at
a concept that’s still up for discussion today: what it means to
be over-leveraged.
The fear of too much leverage—that one big loss could take
down an entire bank, an entire system, or wipe out the life
savings of many—is still a big issue, especially after the Great
Recession. It’s why there’s been a big push to make banks hold
more cash on hand.
During the first bank run, George was able to convince people
not to pull all of their money out and instead take out only
what they needed in the short term so the bank could stay
afloat. I actually think the movie does a good job of portraying
the downsides of what it means to be both a “good” bank (one
that lends to people who need it, but is likely over-leveraged)
and a “bad” bank (a more profitable one that loans at high
interest rates and only provides credit to people who already
have money). But there are also inherent moral judgments
about the way a bank should work that come across as too
black-and-white. For example, when Potter asks Bailey, “Are
you running a business or a charity?” we know it’s not mutually
exclusive like that. After all, a bank ideally would help people
reach financial goals while also turning a profit.
The relationship between morality and banking comes up really
early, right when we see that the newly wedded Baileys won’t
be taking their honeymoon, but will instead be using that
money to temporarily bail out the Building and Loan. Here’s
some of the speech that George gives that sets him on that
course:
If Potter gets hold of this Building and Loan, there’ll never be
another decent house built in this town … He wants to keep you
living in his slums and paying the kind of rent he decides. Joe,
you had one of those Potter houses, didn’t you? Well, have you
forgotten? Have you forgotten what he charged you for that
broken-down shack? Here, Ed. You know, you remember last
year when things weren’t going so well, and you couldn’t make
your payments? You didn’t lose your house, did you? Do you
think Potter would have let you keep it? Can’t you understand
what’s happening here? Don’t you see what’s happening?
Potter isn’t selling. Potter’s buying! And why? Because we’re
panicking and he’s not. That’s why. He’s picking up some
bargains. Now, we can get through this thing all right. We’ve
got to stick together, though. We’ve got to have faith in each
other.
I found that speech interesting not just because it sets up the
rest of the movie and how George views his banking career,
but also because it focuses on some issues that our economy is
still wrestling with today, notably the power and relative
security that society offers to homeowners in contrast to those
who are perpetual renters and subject to the whims and graces
of landlords. Of course, prices have risen and loan products
have gotten infinitely more complex (not to mention
regulated), but I thought the conversation about foreclosure
and housing security was still relevant to our current economy.
There clearly wasn’t renter protection in Bedford Falls, and the
housing market didn’t have enough competition. It was a Potter
monopoly without regulation. But the issue of who should and
shouldn’t get credit is still a conversation our society is
grappling with, especially in the wake of the 2008 financial
crisis.
Potter talks about this early on when he challenges Bailey: Why
would you give Ernie Bishop, the taxi driver, a loan? You know
he’s going to miss payments and foreclosure might be a
possibility. Bailey gets to be the good guy who makes risky
loans and forgives people when they miss payments, but he’s
also risking his business along with it.
I also couldn’t help but think about payday loans during this
movie. Bedford Falls is a middle-class town, but there are
working-class people—such as Ernie and Martini—who can
barely afford a house. Without George Bailey, the two would
wind up living in run-down rental shacks with nothing to show
for their blue-collar work. But Potter thinks that the working
class should be “thrifty.” He questions why people can’t just be
more disciplined and save money, the same way people with
means today wonder why anyone would take out something as
awful as a payday loan. I think the movie explores a lot of the
questions we grapple with when it comes to credit, like who
should have it and on what terms.
What makes It’s a Wonderful Life such an appealing movie is
that people can easily rally around Bailey as the savior of the
community. He’s a hard-working and self-sacrificing
businessman, who is helping out his neighbors. In the end, the
community saves itself. I think what’s interesting is that in
reality, many places probably didn’t have a George Bailey. And
certainly now—with bank consolidation—there are fewer and
fewer neighborhood financial institutions and certainly fewer
individuals who could help bridge those gaps. In those
instances, people who are having a hard time would have much
less heart-warming options: government services or
dangerous, expensive short-term loans, like payday or auto
titles.
A dose of harsh reality in the film is how big of a jerk Potter is.
It always made me really angry that he accidentally received
that $8,000 that caused the second bank run at Bailey Building
and Loan, yet never told anyone he had it, never gave the
money back, and never had any intention of doing the right
thing. He’s the coldhearted capitalist, and in the mid-1940s, I
think the mores surrounding financial gains were really
different. This is pre-Wall Street, pre-“greed is good.” Potter
argues that Bailey is undercutting him by running an inefficient
market and charging below-market prices for housing. It’s so
interesting to me that Capra presented charging below-market
prices as the decent thing to do.
But the ultimate importance (at least financially) of this film to
me is the role of banks in society. Essentially credit was
provided and managed by the community instead of having
mortgages that are signed then sold off again and again.
Abacus was eventually investigated for mortgage fraud, but
found not guilty by a jury. And yet the scolding words of the
district attorney who prosecuted them (“Abacus is a bank, not
a community-service organization”) really make me think of
George Bailey and his predicament in today’s terms.
I think when you watch the movie with a focus on the financial
aspects, it’s easy to see plenty of modern-day parallels. And,
while the holiday spirit is deeply woven into the narrative, the
fact that George Bailey wouldn’t be able to help his neighbors
the way he once did—which nowadays might be categorized as
mortgage fraud—can feel like a bit of a bummer when you
think about how many people could probably use a little
financial help. That our banking system is so much more
interconnected and, some would say, immensely complex, is a
big part of the problem.
~~

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

It’s a Wonderful Life is both darker and more subversive than its popular
reputation as cheery holiday “Capra-corn” would suggest, and more robustly
hopeful than cynics and hipster deconstructionists would have it.
It’s true that Henry Travers’ whimsical Clarence Oddbody, angel second
class, reflects tritely on the significance of George’s life. “Strange, isn’t it?”
he muses. “Each man’s life touches so many other lives, and when he isn’t
around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?” Then, in his final message to
George, “Remember no man is a failure who has friends.”
These universal, reassuring bromides bely the film’s celebration of a life that
is far from typical: an extraordinary, heroic life, the absence of which leaves
a hole far more awful than most of us would leave.
It is not surprising, in a film of this period, to see a misbehaving character
receive a salutary sock in the jaw; more surprising is that Stewart’s hero is
on the receiving end of the sock.
At its heart, It’s a Wonderful Life is not about an artificial crisis with a happy
ending, a good man in dire straits rescued by a cherubic angel and by those
who love him. It’s about frustration, sacrifice, compromise, oppression,
temptation, and loss — a lifetime of it. It’s also about how such a life can be
a life well lived. A wonderful life.
There is a darkness to George Bailey, a man who kicks his car door in front
of his wife Mary (Donna Reed) over how his life has turned out in contrast to
wealthy, jet-setter Sam Wainwright (Frank Albertson); who is haunted by
the mocking memory of his own youthful ambition and cockiness (“What is it
you want, Mary? You want the moon?”). It is not surprising, in a film of this
period, to see a misbehaving character receive a salutary sock in the jaw;
more surprising is that Stewart’s hero is on the receiving end of the sock.
On some level George suffers from ambivalence, if not resentment, about
every aspect of his life. The crummy little town he faces every morning
without ever having seen the Parthenon or the Colosseum. The cheap,
penny-ante Building and Loan with its shabby little office in which he spends
his days. The daily business of nickels and dimes, spending all his life trying
to figure out how to save three cents on a length of pipe instead of building
skyscrapers and bridges.
There is even ambivalence regarding his marriage and family life, which ties
him down with responsibility and roots him in Bedford Falls. The drafty old
barn in which they live (epitomized in the broken bannister finial that he
nearly throws the umpteenth time it comes off in his hand). On the worst
night of his life he even asks in frustration, “Why did we have to have all
these kids?”
On some level George never wanted marriage at all. From the outset he was
of two minds: He allows his mother (Beulah Bondi) to point him in the right
direction to go to Mary as he contemplates passionate necking; then he
turns and walks the other way.
His wandering feet take him to downtown Bedford Falls, where he tries to
entice the vampish Violet Bick (Gloria Grahame) with talk of a dreamy,
scandalous night of walking barefoot in the grass, swimming by moonlight at
the falls, and watching the sun rise.
Pottersville, the dark alternate reality that exists in a world without George
Bailey, isn’t the result of something going fundamentally wrong with the
world. It’s simply the way the world goes if no one prevents it from doing so.
Violet and Mary represent opposite possibilities: romance without
responsibility versus domestic commitment. George is drawn to both — but
Violet doesn’t understand what he wants from her, while Mary knows what
he really needs.
Over all this looms the bloated bulk of Lionel Barrymore’s Henry F. Potter,
whose ruthless avarice is the bane of the Bailey family and Bedford Falls.
Potter says that George’s father was “not a business man, and that’s what
killed him,” but the truth is that the elder Bailey (Samuel S. Hinds) died
fighting to buffer the citizens of Bedford Falls from Potter’s tightening grip.
Potter is not a lone, dissonant source of evil in an otherwise idyllic world.
Take the nearly fatal accidents involving George’s brother Harry and Mr.
Gower the druggist (H.B. Warner), who beats young George in a drunken
rage. And, of course, there’s also the Great Depression and World War II.
Tragedy and ruin are always right around the corner; only the actions of
people like George offer the hope of anything better — not only George, but
also his father, his war-hero brother Harry (Todd Karns), his wife and
mother (who join the Red Cross), and, in the end, Sam Wainwright, whose
wealth and friendship save George from ruin. There’s also the faith of the
people who accept small loans when the Depression hits rather than ruin the
Building and Loan or go to Potter for 50 cents on the dollar.
Pottersville, the dark alternate reality that exists in a world without George
Bailey, isn’t the result of something going fundamentally wrong with the
world. It’s simply the way the world goes if no one prevents it from doing so.
It’s a Wonderful Life epitomizes Edmund Burke’s famous maxim that nothing
more is needed for evil to triumph but for good men to do nothing.
And yet George’s life isn’t simply useful or necessary, as if he were a tragic
hero, a sacrificial victim to the common good. It is also rich and full. To
begin with, he has the love and devotion of lovely, luminous Mary Hatch
Bailey, as well as their four children.
Among the many things George sacrifices throughout the film, along with his
trip to Europe and his college education, is his honeymoon in New York and
Bermuda with Mary. But it isn’t George who sacrifices the honeymoon: It is
Mary, who unhesitatingly offers the two thousand dollars for their trip to
save the Building and Loan as George pleads with his people not to panic.
The scene may end with George kicking his car door as Sam Wainwright
drives away in his magnificent Duesenberg town car (George kicks the door
of a modest Dodge Brothers Touring car) — but George, not Sam, is the
more enviable figure. In the end, it’s good to know Sam Wainwright, but
better to be George Bailey.
Then, while George takes care of business, Mary turns on a dime and makes
alternate arrangements for their wedding night: not in style, certainly, but
deeply romantic.
In the months and years that follow, she transforms a dilapidated ruin into a
lovely home and continues to support George’s work — for instance, helping
to move the families George helps, such as the Martinis, out of the miserable
slums of Potter’s Field into the pretty little homes George builds in Bailey
Park.
That’s the kind of woman George marries — who tells him, in time, that she
wants her baby to look like him.
George might rather be designing bridges and skyscrapers than pretty little
suburban homes in Bailey Park, but his work isn’t without reward. It’s a
Wonderful Life wouldn’t be complete without that joyously chaotic depiction
of the Martinis’ move. The ritual housewarming, with symbolic gifts of bread,
salt and wine (Mrs. Martini crossing herself as she receives the gifts), is a
periodic rite in the liturgy of George’s life.
The scene may end with George kicking his car door as Sam Wainwright
drives away in his magnificent Duesenberg town car (George kicks the door
of a modest Dodge Brothers Touring car) — but George, not Sam, is the
more enviable figure. In the end, it’s good to know Sam Wainwright, but
better to be George Bailey.
Sam is important for various reasons. It’s a Wonderful Life can be seen as an
inversion of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, another Christmas tale about an
oppressive relationship between a cruel rich man and a sympathetic, less
well-to-do family man, that results in supernatural intervention and an
alternate vision of reality.
Where A Christmas Carol redeemed the rich man, It’s a Wonderful Life
vindicates the poorer family man. It is hard to believe, today, that the film
was labeled Communist class-warfare propaganda in an FBI memo and
House Un-American Activities Committee sessions because Potter, the
wealthy banker, was the heavy. Of course, not only were George and his
father both bankers, Sam might have become as wealthy as Potter.
The last misfortune of this world falls on Mary Hatch, here a timid old maid
with spectacles, a hat and hair pulled back in a tight bun. This is an injustice
to a vibrant character, and gives George too much credit for holding the
whole universe together.
It’s hard to pin down It’s a Wonderful Life to a single genre. There are
rollicking scenes of slapstick comedy and dark scenes evocative of film noir.
There are elements of religious fantasy, romantic melodrama, fictional
biography, and morality play or “message picture.” In a decade that included
the likes ofThe Bishop’s Wife, Woman of the Year, Citizen Kane, The Naked
City, etc., It’s a Wonderful Life is a sort of pastiche of tones and styles of its
time.
Like many people, I watch It’s a Wonderful Life with my family every year at
Christmas, and every year I’m dazzled by Capra’s masterful direction and
camerawork. The use of the circular speak hole in the frosted transaction
window at Mr. Gower’s drugstore to catch the old man drinking, for instance.
Or the clothesline in the bridge toll house where George and Clarence dry
off, dividing the screen in half: Clarence’s head above the line, George’s
head below it, with the line as the border between heaven and earth.
If the film stumbles at all, it’s at the end of the Pottersville sequence, as
George comes to grips with the impact of his absence in this world. The last
misfortune of this world falls on Mary Hatch, here a timid old maid with
spectacles, a hat and hair pulled back in a tight bun.
This is an injustice to a vibrant character, and gives George too much credit
for holding the whole universe together. A more challenging move would
have been to depict Mary married to Sam, financially secure and
comfortable, giving George one dreadful moment of doubt whether Mary is
better off with him. But then perhaps Mary is not really in love with Sam, not
really happy the way she was with him.
Like many Christmas films, It’s a Wonderful Life has little to do with the real
meaning of Christmas, apart from St. Joseph in heaven appearing in
voiceover, Janie practicing “O Come, All Ye Faithful” on the piano, and a
rousing chorus of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” at the end. The movie
even perpetuates the popular folk eschatology about people becoming
“angels” when they die, rather than saints.
But the action is set in motion by the polyphony of prayers of George’s loved
ones (including Martini’s invocation of Jesus, Mary and Joseph). And while
George confesses in his desperate prayer that he’s “not a praying man,”
what he does in its own way reflects the Christmas story: He empties
himself out of love, becoming poor for the sake of his people, the residents
of Bedford Falls.

~~

The Complete “It’s A Wonderful Life” Ethics Guide [UPDATED]

1. “If It’s About Ethics, God Must Be Involved”

The movie begins in heaven, represented by twinkling stars. There
is no way around this, as divine intervention is at the core of the
fantasy. Heaven and angels were big in Hollywood in the Forties.
Nevertheless, the framing of the tale advances the anti-ethical idea,
central to many religions, that good behavior on earth will be
rewarded in the hereafter, bolstering the theory that without God
and eternal rewards, doing good is pointless.
We are introduced to George Bailey, who, we are told, is in trouble
and has prayed for help. He’s going to get it, too, or at least the
heavenly authorities will make the effort. They are assigning an
Angel 2nd Class, Clarence Oddbody, to the job. He is, we learn
later, something of a second rate angel as well as a 2nd Class one,
so it is interesting that whether or not George is in fact saved will be
entrusted to less than heaven’s best. Some lack of commitment,
there—then again, George says he’s “not a praying man.” This will
teach him—sub-par service!

2. Extra Credit for Moral Luck

George’s first ethical act is saving his brother, Harry, from
drowning, an early exhibition of courage, caring and sacrifice. The
sacrifice part is that the childhood episode costs George the hearing
in one ear. He doesn’t really deserve extra credit for this, as it was
not a conscious trade of his hearing for Harry’s young life, but he
gets it anyway, just as soldiers who are wounded in battle receive
more admiration and accolades than those who don’t. Yet this is
only moral luck. A wounded hero is no more heroic than a
unwounded one, and may be less competent as well as less lucky.

3. The Confusing Drug Store Incident

George Bailey’s next ethical act is when he saves the life of another
child by not delivering a bottle of pills that had been inadvertently
poisoned by his boss, the druggist, Mr. Gower. This is nothing to get
too excited over, really—if George had knowingly delivered poisoned
pills, he would have been more guilty than the druggist, who was
only careless. What do we call someone who intentionally delivers
poison that he knows will be mistaken for medication? A murderer,
that’s what. We’re supposed to admire George for not committing
murder. Mr. Gower, at worst, would be guilty of negligent homicide.
George saves him from that fate when he saves the child, but if he
really wanted to show exemplary ethics, he should have reported
the incident to authorities. Mr. Gower is not a trustworthy
pharmacist—he was also the beneficiary of moral luck. He poisoned
a child’s pills through inattentiveness. If his customers knew that,
would they keep getting their drugs from him? Should they? A
professional whose errors are potentially deadly must not dare the
fates by working when his or her faculties are impaired by illness,
sleeplessness or, in Gower’s case, grief and alcohol.

4. The Uncle Billy Problem

As George grows up, we see that he is loyal and respectful to his
father. That’s admirable. What is not admirable is that George’s
father, who has fiduciary duties as the head of a Building and Loan,
has placed his brother Billy in a position of responsibility. As we
soon learn, Billy is a souse, a fool and an incompetent. This is a
breach of fiscal and business ethics by the elder Bailey, and one
that George engages in as well, to his eventual sorrow.

5. George’s Speech
When his father dies, George delivers an impassioned speech to Mr.
Potter, the owner of the only other financial institution in town, who
proposes that the Bailey Building and Loan be closed down. Potter
has a point. For example he points out that Ernie the cab driver was
approved by for a home loan by George, who is his good friend.
Yes, it’s a small town, but still, this a suspect policy and a conflict of
interest with the appearance of impropriety. When Potter impugns
George’s father however, George has a rebuttal:

“Just a minute. Now, hold on, Mr. Potter! You’re right when you say
my father was no business man. I know that. Why he ever started
this cheap penny-ante Building and Loan, I’ll never know. But
neither you nor anybody else can say anything against his
character, because his whole life was… Why, in the twenty-five
years since he and Uncle Billy started this thing, he never once
thought of himself. Isn’t that right, Uncle Billy? He didn’t save
enough money to send Harry to school, let alone me. But he did
help a few people get out of your slums, Mr. Potter. And what’s
wrong with that? Why…here, you are all businessmen here. Doesn’t
it make them better citizens? Doesn’t it make them better
customers?”
“You…you said that uh… what’d you say just a minute ago… They,
they had to wait and save their money before they even thought of
a decent home. Wait! Wait for what? Until their children grow up
and leave them? Until they’re so old and broken-down that they…
Do you know how long it takes a working man to save five thousand
dollars? Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you’re
talking about… they do most of the working and paying and living
and dying in this community. Well, it is too much to have them
work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a
bath? Anyway, my father didn’t think so. People were human beings
to him, but to you, a warped, frustrated old man, they’re cattle.
Well, in my book, he died a much richer man than you’ll ever be.”
Capra, as was his habit, stacks the deck by casting the advocate for
fiscal responsibility as Potter, whom the heavenly spokesperson has
already identified as “the meanest man in Bedford Falls.” But
George’s speech, delivered by Jimmy Stewart in his best “Mister
Smith Goes to Washington” fervor, is pretty close to the philosophy
that set up U.S. for the housing and mortgage meltdown in 2008
that wrecked the economy. George’s speech could probably have
been recited with equal sincerity by various well-meaning members
of Congress who were pressuring financial institutions to hand out
mortgage loans to hundreds of thousands of aspiring homeowners
who would never have qualified for them under well-established
banking principles.
Peter Bailey’s “plan,” if one can call it that, was to give mortgages
to people who couldn’t afford them, and then not press the good
people to keep up with payments when they couldn’t afford them.
In short, he was irresponsible, fiscally and otherwise, and his poor
business sense, matched here to generosity and compassion as if
one justifies the other, was guaranteed to be ruinous to investors,
the unqualified homeowners, and ultimately the Building and Loan.
Ethical borrowing means committing to pay back the loan on the
terms of the loan. The greater the risk of a loan not being paid
back, the more proof of collateral is needed. Neither Peter Bailey,
nor George, nor Frank Capra knew how to somehow loan money to
people who can’t pay it back, not foreclose on the property, and yet
keep the altruistic loaner solvent. They just know it’s “the right
thing to do.” The problem is that a plan that can’t possibly work is
never ethical. It is by definition irresponsible, and thus not the right
thing to do.

6. George’s Fork in the Road

George Bailey’s decision to give up his plans to go to college to save
the Building and Loan is clearly not motivated by his personal
dedication to the institution; he doesn’t like the place. He says so
over and over again. He admires his father’s motivations for starting
it, but if Potter had not sparked his resentment with his nasty
comments about George’s late father, George would have been out
the door. But his passionate speech in rebuttal of Potter’s words put
him on the spot: after those sentiments, turning down the Board’s
appointment of him to be the new operating manager of the S&L
would have made George a hypocrite in his own eyes, and rendered
his passion laughable. If George has any integrity, then he must
accept the appointment.
It is one of the most interesting ethical moments in the film,
because it represents a realistically complex ethical decision. George
does what he does for selfish reasons as well as altruistic ones, and
irrational reasons as well as considered ones. He wants to respect
himself; he fears what might happen to his family and the
community if Potter becomes the only financial power in town, and
knows he will feel guilty if the consequences are bad. He feels like
not staying will be taking Potter’s side over his father’s—completely
irrational, since his father had given his blessing to George’s college
plans, and wasn’t alive to be harmed by whatever he chose to do
anyway. A large proportion of George’s decision seems to be
motivated by non-ethical considerations, for he doesn’t like Potter—
even hates him, perhaps—and wants to stick it to the old tycoon by
foiling his victory. There are few ethical decisions in real life that are
made purely on the basis of ethics, and Capra makes George’s
decision wonderfully impure.
Still, this may be the single most important decision in George
Bailey’s life. It changes everything, for him and for the town. Most
important of all, perhaps, it probably is the tipping point in the
formation of George’s character. Many of us face ethical decisions
that require us to embrace or reject core values. Once a value has
been rejected, down-graded in our priorities, we may be
permanently changed as human beings. Choosing non-ethical
considerations —self-interest—over honesty, integrity, loyalty or
fairness one time will make that choice easier the next time, then a
habit, then a character trait, then a personal philosophy. George
faces that fork in the road and chooses integrity, respect, fairness
and caring…because of the man he was at that moment, a caring
and ethical one. Had he chosen to leave, thus opting for new
experiences and ambition over the values he had once thought
paramount, George Bailey might have become less like his father
and more like Mr. Potter. Luckily for him, he recognized this pivotal
moment in his life and character when it occurred. Too often, we
make life and character-altering decisions in the heat of the
moment, without playing ethics chess and thinking about the
possible consequences.
George also makes his life-altering decision under pressure, another
condition that leads to unethical acts. When we have such decisions
to make, the wise course is to delay, take time to consider, and
consult with others. As “It’s a Wonderful Life” shows, however, this
isn’t always possible.

7. Harry’s Betrayal
George gives his college money to younger brother Harry, an ethical
act if there ever was one. All he asks in return is that Harry return
after college and take over the Building and Loan, so George can
get on with his life. Harry, however, returns to Bedford Falls with a
new wife, who has other plans. Harry plays George like a violin, and
lets George be a martyr and waive Harry’s obligation.
I regard this as a double-cross by Harry Bailey, aided by the new
Mrs. Bailey. He had made a deal, and benefited greatly from it. By
the time he got back home, his wife should have already been told
in no uncertain terms that he was taking the weight of the S&L off
of George’s weary shoulders, and that he was turning down her
father’s offer to employ him. Harry knew George and what he was
like—his brother’s penchant for sacrificing his own needs for others.
The script shows Harry putting up a perfunctory fight when George
lets him off the hook, but he simply should have refused to accept
George’s arguments. Harry had an obligation, and a big one. He
took an easy route to avoid it, and closed his eyes to the Golden
Rule answer staring him in the face. Harry knew what was fair,
knew what George wanted, needed and deserved, and still accepted
George’s waiver.
Yes, George is accountable and responsible for his own actions. At
this point, he is a candidate for a diagnosis of toxic altruism; he’s a
probable altruism addict, a professional martyr.

8. Sam and Mary

George’s next ethical dilemma occurs when his mother urges him to
try to steal away Mary, the lovely local college girl (played by
radiant Donna Reed) who is supposedly the main squeeze of
George’s obnoxious friend, Sam (“Hee-haw!”) Wainwright. The
movie’s view is that since Sam is a jerk, there’s nothing wrong with
George stealing his girl and Mary slyly encouraging him to do it.
Capra even shows Sam with a floozy in his office when he’s calling
Mary, so we know he’s a louse. Sam obviously considers George a
friend, however, so George’s motivations and conduct in this
episode are still less than ideal. He and Mary do apparently foil
Sam’s well-intentioned efforts to turn them into inside-traders,
something that was not illegal at the time, but still unethical.

9. The Run on the Bank

The second great ethical turning point in “It’s A Wonderful Life” and
the fictional life of George Bailey comes when there is a run on the
Building and Loan just as George and Mary are leaving on their
honeymoon. Yet again, George makes a huge personal sacrifice and
uses the money he saved for the trip to keep the bank from closing
and out of Potter’s clutches yet again. A few things to keep in mind:
 He had no obligation to use personal resources for this
purpose.
 When Potter offers to pay off the S&L’s obligations at 50 cents
on the dollar, George has no right to reject the offer
unilaterally—it’s not his offer to reject. He needs to consult his
board, or at least try to, and if they vote to accept Potter’s
gun-to-the-head deal, George can’t over-ride them. If he can’t
reach the board, then his ethical obligation is to act as he
thinks they would, and he knows they almost certainly would
accept Potter’s offer. George’s conduct in this situation is
personally courageous and generous, but a blatant fiduciary
breach of trust and an abuse of his authority.
 Mary is the one who offers up the couple’s money, and she
does it without consulting George. She has no right to do this.
She may presume, from watching George go through life
offering himself up as a human sacrifice, that he would
approve, but it is irresponsible and disrespectful for her to risk
the couple’s resources on a bad bet like the Bailey Building and
Loan, during a financial crisis, without discussing it with her
husband first. (How does the Building and Loan weather the
Great Depression, by the way?)

10. Potter’s Offer

Mr. Potter’s next tactic is to try to hire George away from the
Building and Loan with a large salary. George views the offer as an
invitation to corruption, and nobly turns it down. There is no wrong
solution to George’s dilemma. He could justify taking Potter’s offer
as ethical because it allows him to better the lives and future of his
family and children, and perhaps he should. Surely whatever
obligation he feels to his father’s project and the community has
been more than fulfilled by this time. George, however, is blocked
by cognitive dissonance. He detests Potter and all he stands for;
if he agrees to work for the man, he cannot avoid embracing
Potter’s values, or at least becoming connected to them. He will
have to be loyal; he will be dependent on a man whose ethics he
reviles. This is how people become corrupted.
Does George have an ethical obligation to risk corruption of his core
values—remember, none of us are as immune to corruption as we
think we are (Restraint Bias)—for the benefit of his children?
Wouldn’t this be the greatest sacrifice of all for the altruism addict,
selling his integrity so his children have a better future? Or would he
be corrupting them, too?
I think George is right to uphold his integrity and avoid allying
himself and his family’s welfare to someone with deplorable values
and who is, after all, untrustworthy, perhaps because I would (I
hope) make the same decision in his shoes. Nevertheless, it is not
the ethical slam-dunk that Capra would have us believe.

11. Uncle Billy screws up, as we knew he would

11. Christmas Eve arrives in Bedford Falls, and Uncle Billy manages
to forget that he left the week’s deposits in the newspaper he gave
to Mr. Potter. Thus more than $8,000 is missing on the same day
that the bank examiner is in town. Why is Uncle Billy still working
for the Building and Loan? He’s working there because George, like
his father, is putting family loyalty over fiduciary responsibility.
Potter, of course, is a thief; by keeping the lost money to trap
George, he’s committing a felony, and an unnecessary one. As a
board member on the Building and Loan, Billy’s carelessness and
George’s negligence in entrusting him with the bank’s funds would
support charges of misfeasance. Mr. Potter, had he played fair,
might have triumphed over George legitimately, and no Christmas
miracle or guardian angel could have saved him. But this is the
inherent weakness and fatal flaw of the habitually unethical: since
they don’t shrink from using unethical devices, they often ignore
ethical ways to achieve the same objectives that would be more
effective.

12. George folds under pressure

Faced with an unexplainable deficit (since “We lost it” would not
endear the bank to regulators) George panics. This is a remarkable
feature in the screenplay and Stewart’s portrayal, because George’s
reaction when faced with a personal crisis reveals him to be less
principled and admirable than we thought, and more importantly,
than he thought. This is a brave move by Capra, and an instructive
one. George Bailey’s story is a good example of how it is relatively
easy to stick to ethical principles when one feels in control and
relatively safe, but when desperation and fear set in, the ethics
alarms can freeze up, leaving only primitive “fight or flight”
instincts. That’s where George is on Christmas Eve. He verbally
abuses poor Uncle Billy, who feels badly enough already, and whom
George shouldn’t have trusted in the first place. When a fool acts
foolishly, the person at fault is the one who placed him in a position
where his foolishness could be harmful. George is full of rage and
frustration that all his self-conscious martyrdom has bought him no
breaks in life, so he rails about conditions that were the results of
his own choices. He hates the Building and Loan, which his actions
have kept operating; he says he hates the “drafty old house”
(Whose idea was it to live there?); he asks, “Why do we have to
have all these kids?” (Do we need to explain it to you, George?). He
snaps at his children, who are excitedly preparing for Christmas,
and is insulting and rude to his daughter’s teacher, not because of
anything she’s done, but because he’s mad at the world.
Now we understand a little more about George Bailey. Like many
heroes, leaders, and regularly virtuous people, George Bailey is a
narcissist. His obsession with helping others and sacrificing his own
needs was to feed his vanity and self-esteem. He needed others to
respect and admire him, and he needs to admire himself. What he
is facing now is scandal and diminished respect from others—things
that undermine his carefully constructed self-image. So with the
walls closing in, where are his ethical principles? Gone. He doesn’t
share his crisis with Mary, for example, though she has a right to
know that her whole family is imperiled by the crisis. Incredibly, he
goes to Potter, and begs to make the deal with the devil that he
righteously rejected when he felt in control of his fate. Now, he’ll
trade his integrity, the Building and Loan and the welfare of Bedford
Falls for Potter’s help, because he can’t accept the results of his own
mistakes. The lesson: even the most ethical people usually have
their breaking point, the point at which ethical principles will be
trumped by personal interest. Watching just the first part of “It’s A
Wonderful Life,” we might have believed that George Bailey was the
rare idealist who would stand true even when he was at personal
risk.
After being turned down by the devil, Potter, only then does George
resort to God, whom he clearly has ignored up to this point. Now he
prays, the classic hypocrite’s prayer, a foxhole conversion. Then he
gets drunk, which is pure escape: its not going to help matters, just
make them blurrier. George is a coward after all.

13. George heads for the bridge

As a coward, he seeks the ultimate coward’s solution, suicide. This
is the watermark of the narcissist: at this point, he doesn’t care
about Mary, his children, the bank, or his obligations. He just wants
to escape accountability and consequences. The usual excuse given
for George’s deplorable conduct is that our hero is having a
“breakdown.” No, this is just George being human…and unethical.

14. Welcome to Pottersville

George meets Clarence, his tattered guardian angel, who tricks
George into rescuing him instead of drowning. George is relentlessly
nasty to Clarence—rude and disrespectful. If Clarence didn’t have a
job to do and a personal objective to accomplish—he wants those
wings—he would be ethically justified in telling George Bailey to go
to Hell. It is noble to continue to help someone in the face of
abuse, disrespect, contempt and incivility, but it isn’t ethically
mandatory.
After Clarence grants George his wish that he had never been never
born, we see what Bedford Falls and it occupants would be like
without the Building and Loan. It looks and sounds a lot like New
Orleans, really, but the idea is that Pottersville is a coarser, cruder
place than its Alternate Reality in the Park with George. The
businesses we see are all sin-related or pawn shops, and the people
are different too—meaner, more irresponsible. Why, Bert the cop
even fires his gun into the crowd when George slugs him and runs
away after accosting Mary—who, despite being about the most
adorable, lovely and sensitive woman in the world, has somehow
been unable to find a husband without George in it.
It’s easy to make fun of Pottersville, but the sequence’s main point
is still valid: without the Building and Loan to symbolize caring and
a mutually supportive community, the ethical culture of the town
has rotted, and rotted the ethics of everyone in it. Cultures do rot,
which is why, for example, the popular Republican fantasy that
America can just round up all its illegal aliens and march them at
gunpoint and without their children back to where they came from
is so dangerous. A nation that would really do such a thing has
turned the corner towards Pottersville. We must always be vigilant
about spotting and avoiding cultural tipping points that will erode
our basic ethical values.

15. “The richest man in town!”

In the grand finale, the entire community rallies to save George and
the Building and Loan, out of gratitude for his many unselfish acts
through the years, filling his table with more than enough money to
cover the deficit. This is the uber-ethical moment in the film, a
massive display of unselfish thanks, compassion, community,
charity, loyalty, generosity and gratitude, proving what an
essentially ethical and caring place the town—now Bedford Falls
again—has grown into thanks to George’s influence. Just enjoy it
and cry, like my wife does every time, when Harry raises his glass
to toast “My brother George, the richest man in town.”
Still…
 Harry owes George a lot more than a toast, since his
ingratitude put him in this situation in the first place.
 George can’t ethically accept more money than the deficit,
since it isn’t intended for him personally anyway. How is he
going to be responsible and give the extra money back? How
will he decide who gets a refund on their remarkable
generosity? Are the donors now his partners? Ethically, George
 was obligated to organize the orgy of good will going on in
front of him, since it was technically a complex business
transaction.
 And he’s still got to fire Uncle Billy tomorrow, or maybe the
day after Christmas.
 As for the happy bank examiner, swept up in all the Christmas
spirit, he needs to be fired too. He’s abdicating his
responsibilities. The deficit is still unexplained; the S&L is still
in violation of regulations. If he thinks George absconded with
the money, the fact that he can now pay it back doesn’t mean
he didn’t commit the crime.
 The sheriff, similarly, is breaching his duty by tearing up the
warrant for George’s arrest. It isn’t his to tear up; only a judge
could do that. It’s a legal document. Good will and gratitude
don’t suspend the law.
 Finally, there’s Sam Hee-Haw Wainwright. What a prince!
George steals his girlfriend, he and Mary treat Sam like a
disease through the whole movie, and yet he comes through
with an open-ended loan! Of course, once everyone hears that,
George should start handing everyone back their money. He
doesn’t. And he and Mary probably still make fun of Sam after
New Years Eve.
And George? He’s happy and ethical again, because everyone is
showering him with love and admiration. Later, we should hope,
Mary will have some words with him about candor and trust in the
marital relationship. For his part, George Bailey needs to reflect on
how his principles folded up like a telescope once things got tough,
and think about how he can control his narcissistic tendencies to
make more responsible and ethical decisions in the future.
Aw, he probably does. After all,

It’s a wonderful life!

~~
It’s a Wonderful Life: my most overrated Christmas film
Frank Capra’s classic movie is a celebration of picket-fence
smugness. Boring Bedford Falls would have been better had George
Bailey never lived – from the magical, sleazy bar to the bowling alley
Well hot dog dickety damn, what is it about this film that makes people love
it so much? Is it the bit where the black maid gets spanked back into her
kitchen? The bit where the little people of Bedford Falls joyously tip out their
entire life savings to rescue the bungling banker? Is it the snappy dialogue?
“You’re 18!” our hero George Bailey, played by James Stewart, exclaims at
one point. “Why, it was only last year you were 17!”
I don’t, by the way, think It’s a Wonderful Life is terrible. I just think it’s
frequently wrongheaded and desperately overlong, with more suburban
prejudice than Margaret Thatcher at a Grantham fete. Nowhere is this better
illustrated than the key section when George, facing ruin over misplaced
money, contemplates leaping to his death off a bridge.
A guardian angel talks the boozed-up savings-and-loans man out of it, then
decides to show him what life in Bedford Falls would have been like had he
never lived. We are then led through Pottersville, as this alternative town is
called – a nightmarish den of vice and depravity, full of stumbling people,
blaring sirens and flashing neon.
And it looks absolutely magic. It’s certainly a million miles away from
soporific Bedford Falls, with its bow-tied early risers saying hee-haw to each
other on street corners. To the sound of swinging Dixieland jazz, the camera
follows an increasingly horrified George through this vision of hell. There’s
the (shock!) Dime-a-Dance Club welcoming jitterbuggers. There’s the
(horror!) Blue Moon bowling alley. There’s the (shriek!) Bamboo Rooms
cocktail lounge.
The terrors don’t stop there. When George and Clarence, as his angel is
called, stop off for a drink at a Pottersville bar, there are people smoking.
There is raucous laughter and a black guy playing boogie-woogie piano.
There is even a grumpy barman – with stubble. When Clarence orders a
mulled wine heavy on the cinnamon and light on the cloves, he is told: “Look
mister, we serve hard drinks in here for men who want to get drunk fast.”
The two are tossed out face-first into the snow.
It’s the sort of bar I dream about, the sort of bar bars are meant to be. It
reminds me of a long-gone dive in Glasgow that used to serve whisky or
double whisky – and if you wanted Coke or lemonade you could go to the
chip shop, pal. But then George goes and ruins everyone’s fun, deciding to
live and finding himself transported back to Bedford Falls for a victory dash
down its high street, now restored to its boring state. Jubilant and cheering,
he jogs past a school uniform shop (I’m not making this up), a gown store,
and the Bijou cinema showing The Bells of St Mary’s, a film about a priest
and a nun trying to save a school.
It’s a picket fence of a film, nauseatingly wholesome as it trundles through
1940s America like a station wagon on its way back from the mall, a
celebration of everything that later directors – from Todd Haynes with Far
from Heaven to David Lynch with Blue Velvet – would come to mock.
And then there’s that misplaced money. Uncle Billy, who works with George,
takes $8,000 in cash along to the bank. That’s the equivalent of about
$130,000 today. And he just sort of dodderingly counts it out and then
accidentally puts it inside a newspaper and then accidentally puts that
newspaper on baddie Mr Potter’s lap.
True, up until that point, the fact that Uncle Billy is one loan short of a
portfolio has been Very Loudly Telegraphed, but this only makes it worse,
transferring the blame to George for trusting such a glaring buffoon with a
fortune in cash.

~~

"It's a Wonderful Life": The most terrifying movie ever

In this shortened version, George Bailey, played by a Jimmy Stewart forever on the
edge of hysteria, after being betrayed by nearly everyone in his life, after being broken
on the wheel of capitalism, flees to the outskirts of town, Bedford Falls, N.Y., where he
leaps off a bridge with thoughts of suicide.
That's the movie: The good man driven insane.
Oh no, you might say, you've missed the entire point. Following the trials of George
Bailey without seeing his rescue is like hearing the story of the Passion without knowing
of the Resurrection. It's just Jesus on the cross saying, "Oh, Father, why hast Thou
forsaken me," followed by a star wipe and end credits. It's the power of editing. Where
you start and where you finish is the whole story. That's all modern literature is: the
identical image cropped. It's the same with the narrative experienced by everyone every
day. The story is reframed for taste. On this channel, Barack Obama fails and is
condemned. On that channel, Barack Obama stumbles but is resurrected in the way of
George Bailey. Did the Chicago Bears lose? Well, then let's find the channel on which
the Chicago Bears win.
In other words, I did not miss the point. The story of the George Bailey who is honored
and saved remains. It's the explicit message of the final scene: A man with friends is
never poor. But another, deeper message is there, too -- it's Capra wailing at that secret
register picked up by bats and dogs, saying, "Help, help, America is in trouble!"
"It's a Wonderful Life" is about hunger. It's about greed. It's about the many ways a good
man is stymied. Finally, it's about George Bailey, whose decency prevents him even
from killing himself. Though he wants to jump, he dives into the river to save another
suicide, instead -- the angel, it turns out, who has come to show George that his life has
been wonderful after all, because human commerce is a web and as part of that web
George has affected and saved thousands of people. To make this point, the angel
famously shows George what the world would be like had he never been born, leading
him back into town, which had been Bedford Falls but is now named after the
treacherous banker who controls it: Pottersville.
Bedford Falls was quaint and fine; Pottersville is vulgar and mean.
In this new world, George Bailey's wife is a spinster. His brother is dead. His house is a
ruin.
OK, OK, says George, I've had enough.
Just like that, he's returned to life, resurrected.
He runs home, where friends and relatives have gathered to save him.
Here's my point: I do not think the hidden message vanishes when the movie goes
Hollywood and happy. I believe the resolution of the darker movie is, in fact, still there,
wrapped around the happy ending of the classic. Look again at the closing frames --
shots of Jimmy Stewart staring at his friends. In most, he's joyful. But in a few, he's
terrified. As I said, this is a terrifying movie. An hour earlier George was ready to kill
himself. He has now returned from a death experience. He was among the unborn, had
crossed over like Dante's hero, had seen this world from beyond the veil. In those
frames -- "The Night Journey of George Bailey" -- I don't think he's seeing the world that
would exist had he never been born. I think he's seeing the world as it does exist, in his
time and also in our own.
George had been living in Pottersville all along. He just didn't know it. Because he was
seeing the world through his eyes -- not as it was, but as he was: honest and fair. But
on "The Night Journey," George is nothing and nobody. When the angel took him out of
his life, he took him out of his consciousness, out from behind his eyes. It was only then
that he saw America. Bedford Falls was the fantasy. Pottersville is where we live. If you
don't believe me, examine the dystopia of the Capra movie -- the nighttime world of
neon bars and drunks and showgirl floozies. Does Bedford Falls feel more like the place
you live, or does Pottersville? I live in a place that looks very much like Bedford Falls,
but after 10 minutes in line at the bank or in the locker room where the squirts are
changing for hockey I know I'm in Pottersville.9
I'm betting this was as much the case in Capra's time as it is in our own. He loved
America but was watching the triumph of Pottersville. That's why, in the last scene,
George looks at his friends with terror. He's happy to be alive, but he's disillusioned,
wised up in just the worst way. He finally knows the world as it really is, what his friends
are capable of, the dark potential coiled in each of them. His wife is a spinster in
Pottersville because, if she's not with George, she cannot be anything. She's just one of
two characters who are, in fact, the same in both worlds, the other being Mr. Potter.
Everyone else is two-faced, masked. Simply put, George has been cursed with
knowledge, shown the truth of the world -- seen hidden things. It's the sort of vision that
makes a person go insane.
Instead of ending the movie 20 minutes early, it might be interesting to let it run for
another hour, to see the hero after the guests have left the house and the money has
been collected and the children gone to sleep -- George left to grapple alone with the
meaning and the message of what he has been allowed to see. He is like Jacob and he
has wrestled with the angel and carries a terrible burden. He would either sit quietly in
darkness, or weep like a baby, or wander through the streets of Pottersville, shouting,
"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."

~~

It’s a Wonderful Life

Hook: Capra opens with a successful framing device that hooks the reader
with a sneak peek of the climax. The movie opens at the height of the main
character’s troubles and immediately has us wondering why George Bailey is
in such a fix that the whole town is praying for him. Next thing we know, we’re
staring at an unlikely trio of angels, manifested as blinking constellations. The
presentation not only fascinates us with its unexpectedness, it also succinctly
expresses the coming conflict and stakes and engages the reader with a
number of specific need-to-know questions.
First Act: The first quarter of this classic movie is entirely, blatantly, and
beautifully about character development. Under the guise of explaining
George Bailey to novice angel Clarence, the head honcho angels show us all
the prominent moments in George Bailey’s young life. We see him as a child,
saving his little brother’s life, losing the hearing in one ear, and preventing old
Mr. Gower from accidentally poisoning a customer. We get a glimpse of him as
a young man, planning his escape from “crummy” Bedford Falls, even as he
begins to fall for the lovely Mary Hatch. By the time the inciting event strikes,
we know George Bailey inside out. We’ve been introduced to Bedford Falls and
its colorful array of denizens. And we’ve learned of the stakes from the mouth
of George’s father, who explains the importance of the Bailey Building & Loan
in giving the people a haven from evil Old Man Potter.
First Plot Point: Throughout the first quarter of the story, George Bailey’s
plans for his life have progressed uninterrupted. Despite his various
misadventures in Bedford Falls, he’s on the fast track to a European vacation
and a college education. Then the first plot point hits, and his life is forever
changed. When his father dies of a stroke, George’s plans are dashed. As in
Pride & Prejudice, the standards that have already been established in the
story are dramatically altered. This is no longer a story about a carefree young
man freewheeling around town. From here on out, this is a story about a man
forced to take responsibility by working at the Bailey Brothers’ Building &
Loan.
Inciting Event: This classic movie uses the entirety of its first act to leisurely
introduce and build its characters. Its inciting event doesn’t occur until the
first major plot point when George’s father dies of a stroke. This is the
moment that forever changes George’s life and sets the subsequent plot points
in motion.
Key Event: But until George made the decision to take his father’s place as
Executive Secretary of the Bailey Brothers’ Building and Loan, he could have
walked away at any point. His decision to stay in Bedford Falls constitutes the
key event because it officially engages him in the plot.
First Half of the Second Act: George’s life could have progressed exactly
as he wanted it to, even after the inciting event in which his father dies of a
stroke. But when he reacts to Mr. Potter’s attempts to close down the Building
& Loan by agreeing to stay in Bedford Falls and take his father’s place, his life
is forever changed. For the next quarter of the movie, we find George adjusting
to life in Bedford Falls. When his brother Harry (who was supposed to take
George’s place in the Building & Loan) gets married and takes another job,
George is again forced to react. He marries, saves the Building & Loan during
the Great Crash, and opens up Bailey Park—all reactions that build upon his
initial decision to protect the Building & Loan.
Midpoint: George Bailey’s period of reaction ends when Mr. Potter summons
him to his office and offers him a job. This entirely unexpected and
unprecedented move on the antagonist’s part sends George’s head spinning
with the possibilities. Suddenly, the life he’s always dreamed of is within his
grasp. He’s within seconds of accepting the offer, when he comes to a
realization that changes his life just as surely as Mr. Potter’s job offer would
have. This is the moment when he stops reacting to his fate in Bedford Falls
and deliberately (if still unhappily) embraces it. When George leaves Potter’s
office, he’s the one in control of his life for the first time in the story.
Second Half of the Second Act: After spurning Old Man Potter’s attempts
to buy him off, George comes to grips with his life in Bedford Falls and moves
forward. He and Mary have four children, and he remains home during World
War II (“4F on account of his ear”) and continues to protect his town from
Potter’s avarice and manipulation. Thanks to his renewed commitment to the
Bailey Building & Loan, in the aftermath of Potter’s failed attempts to corrupt
him, George is able to put his life into pretty good order during this second
half of the story. Of course, viewers already know this is only the calm before
the storm of the climax.
Third Plot Point: The second act ends with Uncle Billy’s losing the Building
& Loan’s $8,000 and George’s frantic attempts to recover it. In most stories
that plot point would be more than dramatic enough to open the third act. But
in this classic film, the third act opens with an even stronger change of events:
the appearance of the angel Clarence, who was foreshadowed in the opening,
and his granting of George’s wish to “never be born.”
Third Act: The third act is made up almost entirely of Clarence’s action and
George’s reactions. The antagonist isn’t even present in the unborn sequence
that fills up most of the third act (although his presence looms large). The
focus here is entirely on George’s inner journey and transformation.
Climax: In the moment after George’s “gift” of seeing the world without
himself in it, he runs back to the bridge and fervently prays, “I want to live
again!” This moment is both his personal revelation and a bit of a faux climax.
It properly caps the unborn sequence (which follows a mini plot and structure
of its own) and leads to the true climax in which the town rallies to help
George make up the lost $8,000 before he can be arrested.
Resolution: The closing scene of this classic movie has viewers crying all
over the place every Christmas. It wastes no time in moving on from the
climax, in which George’s friends bring him above and beyond the $8,000 he
needs to replace what was stolen by Mr. Potter. In fact, in this movie, the
climax and the resolution are the same scene. The resolution ties off all
remaining loose ends by bringing the entire cast (sans the antagonist) back for
one last round of “Auld Lang Syne” and by hinting that angel Clarence has
finally gotten his wings. This is a tour de force of an emotionally resonant
closing scene that leaves readers wanting more while still fulfilling their every
desire for the characters.

~~

A year after its premiere, It’s a Wonderful Life received attention

from a special audience: the FBI. With the United States in the grips
of the Red Scare and fear of Communism rising in Hollywood, the
FBI and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
targeted the movie as propaganda, which was outlined in an FBI
memo titled “Communist Infiltration of the Motion Picture Industry.”
The memo links screenwriters Goodrich and Hackett to “known
Communists” and describes the character of money-obsessed
antagonist Mr. Potter (played by Lionel Barrymore) as a “scrooge-
type” and the movie’s “rather obvious attempts to discredit
bankers,” which is described as “a common trick used by
Communists.” Despite the ideological subtext the FBI read into the
movie, it resonated with generations of moviegoers as a celebration
of the goodness of the human spirit.

~~

Reflections on “It’s a Wonderful Life”

George Bailey, who had sacrificed his personal hopes and
dreams, saved from scandal and imprisonment by the very
“riff raff” he had served day after day, year after year. A
film about the fundamental goodness of humanity.
It’s a Wonderful Life is the single best thing I’ve ever read
on the movie. She really nails the human desperation
which lies at the core of the story which makes the
humanistic response of the Bedford Falls community that
much more impactful. Some excerpts from Morgan’s
article:

It’s a wonderful nightmare — and the nightmare starts

rolling downhill and snowballing, not only by James
Stewart’s suffering George Bailey, but by Thomas Mitchell’s
sweet, absent minded, animal-loving Uncle Billy. Think of
his scene — when he can’t find the money. Jesus, imagine
being Uncle Billy? On that fateful Christmas Eve in Frank
Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life, it’s Uncle Billy who louses
everything up by his innocent mistake — losing the deposit
money to Lionel Barrymore’s rotten Mr. Potter, who then
steals it. Cheerfully filling out the 8,000-dollar deposit slip
in the bank, he notices Mr. Potter wheeled in by one of his
henchman, and bids him a somewhat disingenuous hello.
He’s not happy to see him. No one is happy to see that
greedy, no-feeling blight on this community. Nevertheless,
Uncle Billy, greets him, and grabs Potter’s newspaper —
bragging about George’s brother winning the Congressional
Medal of Honor, “written right there in print. “You just can’t
keep those Bailey Boys down,” he says with pride and
gloating glee. Mr. Potter doesn’t give a rat’s ass (or
secretly, he does) and snarls about that “slacker” George
Bailey (I always think of the Senior Lebowski in this
moment, even if George Bailey is nothing like the Dude —
“The bums lost!”). Uncle Billy folds the deposit money into
the newspaper and hands it back to Potter: He continues to
exult for the Baileys with a smirk, messing with Mr. Potter.
He’s having a good time shoving this in Mr. Potter’s face!
He’s being cocky, even. But… don’t go too far Uncle Billy,
for, let me repeat myself — he hands over the money to
Mr. Potter — something one fears so much that one might
go crazy thinking such fear actually formed itself and
happened.
So evidently Uncle Billy isn’t allowed to just slightly gloat in
this Wonderful Life universe — he can’t even walk away
from a party without crashing into something and falling
down — he’s a lovably disorganized, slightly kooky guy
until he’s not so lovable — at least not to George Bailey
anymore. So, every time I see Uncle Billy smile and fold
that newspaper with the money inside and just hand it over
to Mr. Potter I nearly scream. I scream thinking of myself,
too. That moment of recognition in yourself — the
nightmarish thought of committing some kind of easy
blunder that results in consequences so dire, that you wish
you’d never left the house that morning. Or that week, for
that matter. The “what if?” spiral that leads to
catastrophizing — a “what if?” that will become a grim
alternate reality for George Bailey, when one wishes that,
one not only never stepped out of the house, but never
stepped outside for a week. In Bailey’s case, he wished he
had never stepped into life.
I realize there would be no movie if Uncle Billy didn’t hand
that 8,000 dollars over to evil Mr. Potter and I’ve seen it
enough to anticipate the moment, but it’s still horrifying to
watch — knowing that Christmas Eve-happy Uncle Billy will
soon turn to sinking-dread Uncle Billy. And then, that
panic, that anger, that suicidal ideation infecting George
Bailey, who has been storing up dread and regret and
running away fantasies for years. Bailey will lose it, turn on
his family, get punched in a bar, crash a car, run through
the snow to jump off a bridge only to be saved by Henry
Travers’ lovable second-class guardian angel, Clarence.
He’s shown what Bedford Falls would have really been like
had George had never been born. It would be Pottersville
— a seedy, mean (admittedly, more interesting) rough
town, controlled by Mr. Potter; and a place where no one
knows George. No one knows him? He yells at friendly
faces desperately in this “Twilight Zone” journey — and
George goes crazier. Clarence is sending him over the edge
faster than jumping off that bridge — and he’s waking
George up as if the cold water below jolted him alive. It’s
like George fell asleep after crashing that car, and fell into
this nightmare — this Dickensian Christmas ghost story
about a man who was never there.

Morgan begins her take on the movie with Uncle Billy, an

interesting choice as he’s a secondary character to the
Protagonist George Bailey, however, as Morgan notes,
there wouldn’t be the major plot conceit — “I wish I’d
never been born” — had it not been for Billy
absentmindedly forking over $8,000 to Mr. Potter. That
mental lapse sets every subsequent beat into motion.

But more than that, as Morgan takes time to reflect on the

story viewed through Uncle Billy’s eyes, I felt that gnawing
ache in the pit of my stomach I always get when I watch
It’s a Wonderful Life (I’ve seen it at least 10 times), that
horrible scene where all that cash from the Bailey Building
and Loan (virtually every last dollar) erroneously ends up
in Potter’s hands, all the while Billy prattling on about
Harry Bailey winning a medal and so forth.
It is a moment of true horror, the worst kind of dramatic
irony for us movie viewers because of this simple fact: We
can’t do anything to stop it from happening!
Morgan’s analysis digs deep not only into Uncle Billy’s
experience, but that of the story’s central character George
Bailey and in a way which really gets at the character’s
existential crisis. We are reminded of his blind rage, fueled
by the reality that he never wanted to be stuck in Bedford
Falls in the first place, his dream to see the world and build
big, meaningful things.
We remember how cruel and heartless the story’s Nemesis
— Henry Potter — is and the portrayal of Bedford Falls a k
a Pottersville looks more like a prophesy of how our
American society is headed.
If you think It’s a Wonderful Life is a lighthearted holiday
story… think again. The movie speaks to the depravity of
capitalism run amok… the illogicality of concerning one’s
self with the needs of others… and the surprising, yet
genuine capacity of human beings to do the God damn
right thing.

~~

Plot Summary
This film is considered one of the true classics of American cinema. It is the
story of George Bailey, a wonderfully honest and decent young man who has
always wanted to leave his small town of New Bedford, New York, in order to
travel the world. Unfortunately, George is never able to go, for it seems that
whenever he is about to, a new crisis or development keeps him in town.
The film follows George from his childhood and teenage years in the 1920s,
through the great economic depression of the 1930s, and on through the
years of World War II. This movie was made in 1946, just after the war. The
main problem for George is that as a young man, he ends up being
responsible for running the family business, the New Bedford Building and
Loan. For many working people in town, this company is the only hope that
they will be able to buy a house, since the banks and many of the other local
businesses are run or controlled by the evil Mr. Potter. Potter is not
interested in lending money to poor people, since he prefers that they be
stuck renting the horrible apartments that he also owns. Although George
never gets out of town, he does marry a wonderful wife and has a beautiful
home with four healthy kids. One day though, crisis strikes when Uncle Billy
loses $8,000 dollars of the company’s money, and George suddenly faces
“bankruptcy, scandal and prison.” The situation gets so bad that George
actually considers committing suicide, but then he meets Clarence, his
wonderful “guardian angel.” With great difficulty, Clarence is able to slowly
convince George that his life is still worth living, and that in fact, the most
valuable things in life have little to do with money.

~~

Against Capra’s Critics: In Defense of It’s a Wonderful Life

Perhaps the most beloved of Christmas movies, Frank Capra’s sleeper classic
It’s a Wonderful Life has inevitably become a target of seasonal, iconoclastic
culture-warmongering. As Christmas approaches, essays crop up in media
outlets baldly inverting the film’s moral universe, ripping George Bailey and
small-town Bedford Falls, and even rehabilitating villainous Mr. Potter and
the nightmare alternate reality of Pottersville.

“Pottersville rocks!” proclaims Gary Kamiya in a 2001 essay at Salon.com.

Going further, Kyle Smith in a 2007 essay at NYPost.com celebrates Mr.
Potter as “the unsung hero of It’s a Wonderful Life, the canny businessman
who tried (and, alas, failed) to turn boring, repressed Bedford Falls — a town
full of drunks, child beaters, vandals and racial and sexual harassers — into
an exciting new destination nightspot called Pottersville.”
As for the film itself, Wendell Jamieson, in a 2008 New York Times essay,
assures us that — far from the “cheery holiday tale” it’s thought to be — It’s
a Wonderful Life is actually “a terrifying, asphyxiating story about growing
up and relinquishing your dreams … of being trapped, of compromising, of
watching others move ahead and away, of becoming so filled with rage that
you verbally abuse your children, their teacher and your oppressively perfect
wife.”
Like most good lies, these claims are half true. Capra’s film is much darker
than its popular image; and the darkness is far from confined to the ruthless
Mr. Potter and Pottersville. George Bailey is a deeply flawed hero, and while
the case against Bedford Falls may be somewhat overstated, George isn’t
wrong to want to shake the dust of his “crummy little town” off his feet.
But the debunkers don’t stop there. Kamiya’s defense of Pottersville leads to
such inanities as these: “Dime-a-dance joints promote bonhomie. Prize
fights and strip clubs provide weary citizens with much-needed catharsis.
And a pawnshop makes it possible for those temporarily short on funds to
participate in the full range of the community’s activities.”
Smith’s rant is the most transparently facile. Whatever problems Bedford
Falls has with “drunks, child beaters, vandals and racial and sexual
harassers,” would there be less of all this in Pottersville, or more? Smith
waxes puritanically moralistic about minor vandalism (George and Mary
throwing rocks at the old Granville place), yet when it comes to a banker
maliciously absconding with a client’s deposit funds, the strongest word
Smith can bring himself to use is “unethical.” (Smith actually claims Potter
breaks no laws.)
Jamieson rightly highlights all that George gives up: world travel, higher
education, big-city engineering. Yet he glosses over the film’s central
contention that “relinquishing his dreams” has been for George
(disappointments and failures notwithstanding) part and parcel of a life well
lived. Heroically putting others first, George has both accomplished and
gained much of lasting value, from his loving wife and family to the thriving
community of homeowners in Bailey Park who no longer rent in the slums of
Potter’s Field. (To Jamieson’s characterization of George’s wife as
“oppressively perfect,” I can only say that a man who can contrive to be
“oppressed” by Donna Reed’s luminous Mary Hatch Bailey will never lack
occasions for “oppression” in life.)
It’s a Destructive Life?
In a welcome contrast to other revisionist critics, Deneen abhors Pottersville
and celebrates Bedford Falls. His brief against George Bailey is not that he
saves Bedford Falls, but precisely that he “destroys” it. In George’s hostility
to his “crummy little town,” and his youthful dreams of building airfields,
skyscrapers, and bridges, Deneen sees the modernist “vision of post-war
America”—and, while circumstances contrive to keep him from his dreams,
in Deneen’s reading George channels his modernist vision into transforming
his hometown.
Deneen’s target is not Bedford Falls, but Bailey Park: a “modern subdivision
of single-family houses” with “no trees, no sidewalks, no porches, but
instead wide streets and large yards with garages.” Bailey Park, Deneen
argues, is an “experiment in progressive living” representing “a fundamental
break from the way of life in Bedford Falls,” endangering the future of the
relationships and community that ultimately save George from ruin.
While I’m sympathetic to the urban-design concerns Deneen invokes, it’s
easy to nitpick about the specifics of his case: Trees both large and small
can be seen in Bailey Park, and porches also. As for sidewalks, landscaping
and such is clearly ongoing, and I see no reason to suppose they aren’t
coming.
Even granting the general applicability of Deneen’s critique of Bailey Park’s
incipient suburban sprawl, what are we to make of the charge that George
“destroys” Bedford Falls? Obviously George doesn’t literally raze pedestrian-
friendly downtown Bedford Falls in order to build his automobile-friendly
subdivision. The construction of Bailey Park presumably entails leveling
many trees, but the tree-lined avenues Deneen celebrates suffer no greater
damage than a nasty gash to one tree from an automobile accident.
Deneen offers no reason to suppose that Bedford Falls’ picturesque
downtown will suffer catastrophic harm from the architectural modernism of
Bailey Park. Indeed, the one clear effect of George’s actions on downtown
Bedford Falls is to prevent it from becoming Pottersville. To that extent,
clearly George has not “destroyed” Bedford Falls, but saved it.
Deneen’s main point seems to be that downtown Bedford Falls has
communitarian virtues lacking in Bailey Park. But this is a somewhat
misleading comparison. Bailey Park wasn’t built for former residents of
downtown Bedford Falls, but for former renters of the slums of Potter’s Field.
Strangely, these slums don’t figure in Deneen’s consideration of the social
vitality of Bedford Falls absent George’s actions. The real dilemma is not
Bedford Falls with or without Bailey Park, but Bedford Falls with a) more
people “living like pigs” in teeming slums in Potter’s Field, or with b) more
proud homeowners living in “dozens of the prettiest little homes you ever
saw” in Bailey Park. George, in one of the film’s most famous monologues,
argues for the latter; Deneen doesn’t engage this argument.
At the outset Deneen blames the erosion of small towns like Bedford Falls on
a larger set of suspects: Woolworth, Kmart, and Walmart; the automobile;
subdivisions, interstates, and the suburbs. That’s a formidable list of
sociological factors to gloss over in order to lay the blame at the feet of one
man.
Deneen’s most shocking claim involves a bizarre misreading of the climactic
scene in which George, searching for Bailey Park in the alternative world of
Pottersville, stumbles upon the old cemetery where, in that world, nine-
year-old Harry Bailey was buried. From this scene Deneen leaps to a
stunning conclusion: “Bailey Park has been built atop the old cemetery. Not
only does George raze the trees, but he commits an act of sacrilege. He
obliterates a sacred symbol of Bedford Fall’s connection with the past, the
grave markers of the town’s ancestors.”
Nothing in the movie justifies a conclusion that would obviously be
repugnant to the filmmakers and to everyone in George’s world, including
George himself. Even if the movie provided no more perspective on the
geographical relationship of Bailey Park and the old cemetery than Deneen
cites, any other plausible explanation would be more reasonable (e.g., that
the cemetery was inaugurated in that spot, or spread to that spot, in lieu of
Bailey Park, or that, as sometimes happens, the cemetery was relocated to
another site).
In fact, the film does offer additional information regarding the geographical
relationship of Bailey Park and the cemetery in an earlier scene with Mr.
Potter’s rent collector, Reineman, comparing a pair of maps showing the
growth of Bailey Park over fifteen years. From what we see of the maps, and
the areas Reineman indicates, it seems clear that the new construction is
some distance from the cemetery.
Perhaps Deneen’s real concerns have less to do with the content of the film
than the sociological and architectural contrasts between small towns like
Bedford Falls and modern subdivisions like Bailey Park.
Perhaps when he concludes, “It is [George’s] world that we inhabit today,
and our nostalgia for the film should not blind us to the fact that we are not
the better for his actions,” Deneen really means to blame the actions of men
with modernist impulses similar to George’s (and often lacking his heroic
virtues).
Read as a critical commentary on It’s a Wonderful Life, though, Deneen’s
comments are as antithetical to a true evaluation of the film’s meaning and
virtues as the toxic “All hail Pottersville” iconoclasm of other revisionists.

~~

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE

DESCRIPTION
Set in upstate New York during the first half of the 20th century, “It’s a Wonderful Life” tells the
story of a young man who wanted to travel, have adventures, go to college, and be an architect
in a big city. But George Bailey’s responsibilities to his family and to his community kept him
from leaving the small town where he grew up. He held down a responsible job, raised a family,
treated people decently, and helped out whenever he could. One tumultuous Christmas Eve,
Bailey is shown how much he has meant to those around him and that happiness can be found in
family, friends and fulfilling a responsibility, right in your own home town.

This charming Hollywood classic is almost as fresh today as when it was released in 1946. Many
think it’s a better Christmas story than A Christmas Carol. Many say it’s one of the greatest
films ever made. If they’re wrong, they’re not off by much. The movie is suitable for
viewing at any time of the year.

BENEFITS OF THE MOVIE

“It’s a Wonderful Life” teaches that everyone can make a difference by living a responsible,
caring life. In addition, it presents the counterargument to the contention that young people
should follow their own star, leave the community in which they grew up, and go out into the
world. In the view of this film, a wonderful life depends upon family, friends and having an
honest job that contributes to the community. Finding the right balance between self-fulfillment
and dedication to others is a major developmental task, indeed, it is a challenge for all age
groups.

This movie contains valuable lessons for the 21st century, especially in these days of rampant
corporate and business greed. Bailey, as head of the town’s savings and loan association, keeps
his own salary at a reasonable level. He makes sure that the S & L is operated for the benefit of
its members and serves the interests of the community. He has a lifelong competition with the
town’s richest businessman who, despite his vast wealth, will do anything to make another buck.

POSSIBLE PROBLEMS
Minor. “It’s a Wonderful Life” posits a simplistic religious view of angels in heaven who look after
individuals on earth and answer their prayers. This is not intended to be taken seriously. Perhaps
a greater problem with the movie is that the villain, Mr. Potter, gets away with his greed and a
serious crime, although he is denied any triumph over George Bailey.

Harry Bailey (George’s younger brother) playfully chases the black maid into the kitchen in a
scene that would not be permitted today. George Bailey approves a loan from the S & L to a
friend (hard not to do in such a small town). In theory and hopefully in practice, this transaction
would not be accepted in today’s business environment.

HELPFUL BACKGROUND
Savings and Loans (S & Ls) developed from the building societies of Great Britain. Beginning in
the late 1700s, groups of workingmen would make regular payments to the societies which
would provide money to the members for use in building houses. When all members had homes,

the societies would disband. The idea spread to the U.S. in 1831, when a building society was
started in Frankford, Pennsylvania. By the mid-1800s, permanent savings and loan associations
had been established to serve the average citizen. They accepted savings from individuals and
reinvested those funds by lending them to people who wanted to build or buy homes. By 1890, S
& Ls could be found in all U.S. states and territories. At one point, savings and loans financed the
purchase of more homes nationwide than any other type of financial institution. The term
“building & loan,” used in the film, is a less frequently employed name for an S & L.

Most savings associations were mutual organizations, owned by those who had deposits. Account
holders were called members and had the right to vote in the selection of directors as their
representatives to operate the business. Originally, savings and loans restricted themselves to
lending money for the purchase of houses.

During the Great Depression (1929 – 1940) the banking industry was very unstable. Banks were
subject to “runs” in which many of their depositors demanded all of their deposits back. Banks
that were unable to meet this demand failed. Banks and S & Ls made their money by lending
their depositors’ funds to others. Thus, few banks or S & Ls could survive a mass withdrawal by
their depositors.

The banking reforms of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal brought savings and loans under Federal
supervision and insured the shares of their stockholders. This gave the public reassurance in the
stability and safety of the industry. In 1989, deposits in S & Ls came to be insured by the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the same agency that insures deposits in banks.

Deregulation of the S & L industry in the 1980s spawned abuses that almost wrecked the
industry and cost the American taxpayers trillions of dollars. Today the S & L industry is but a
shadow of its former self with commercial banks having taken over most of the residential
lending market.

From 1918 – 1919 the world suffered a pandemic of influenza. Some 25 million people died of
the disease. This was one of the worst worldwide sieges of illness ever suffered by humankind.
Usually, flu seasons bring illness to millions but death only to people who have weak respiratory
or immune systems. The strain of influenza prevalent in 1918 – 1919 was particularly lethal. It
struck hardest at adults 20 to 40 years of age, a group which usually survives influenza. In the
U.S. there were about 550,000 deaths. In India it is estimated that 12,500,000 people died from
flu during the pandemic. The passing of Mr. Gower’s son at college from influenza is reminiscent
of this tragedy.

One of the traditional and antiquated ways of reminding oneself to do something is to tie a string
around your finger. The problem is that you have to remember what prompted you to tie the
string on your finger.
Some great lines from this film:

“Is it too much to have them work and live and die in two rooms and a bath?”

“Just remember this Mr. Potter, that this rabble you’re talking about, they do most of the
working and paying and living and dying in this community… “

“Bread, that this house may never know hunger. Salt, that life may always have flavor. And
wine, that joy and prosperity may reign forever…”

We still should treat people and responsibilities in the same way that George Bailey treated the
people of his small town.

Not staying at the bar so that his friends could have taken care of him; driving while intoxicated;
seriously thinking about suicide.

Do what you are supposed to do; Persevere: keep on trying!; Always do your best; Use self-
control; Be self-disciplined; Think before you act — consider the consequences; Be accountable
for your choices

This film is based upon the premise that everyone makes a difference, good or bad, and that
people who live responsible, caring lives make a positive contribution to the lives of those around
them. Is this true? What about the other characters in the film such as Uncle Billy, Violet, Mr.
Gower, Ernie and Bert?

We really don’t know because the story doesn’t focus on them. The point is that everyone can
make some difference in the world, as mother, father, son, daughter, in their profession, or by
helping others etc.

~~

7 enduring lessons from It's a

Wonderful Life
Fortunately, It's a Wonderful Life is still around. And it's
chock-full of terrific lessons, ranging from moral to financial
to practical. Here are seven:

1. Your life has purpose

"Each man's life touches so many other lives, and
when he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't
he?" says the angel Clarence to George Bailey. One of
the obvious points of the film is that, without George
around, so many things would have been different. We
learn that Bedford Falls, for example, would have been
Pottersville. Of course, Zuzu and the other children
would never have been born.

But the impact would have stretched far beyond this small
town. "George saved his brother's life that day," says the
angel Joseph, recalling when George's brother Harry fell
through the ice of a frozen pond. Years later, Harry would
become a war hero, saving the lives of others. The point is,
we have no idea how significantly our lives affect others.

But that's only part of the reason to value your life. Aside
from serving others, our lives should be viewed as a gift. As
the angel Franklin notes, "At exactly 10:45 p.m. tonight,
Earth time, that man will be seriously thinking of throwing
away God's greatest gift."

2. Keeping up with the Joneses is for saps

This message is subtly sprinkled throughout the film.
But the final example, writes Bob Welch in his book 52
Little Lessons from It's a Wonderful Life, comes when
George's son announces that the neighbors have a new car.
"Well, what's the matter with our car?" George snaps. "Isn't
it good enough for you?"

George's ambition to be more than he is creates a lot of his

problems, and is the cause of much restlessness and
unhappiness. This is not to say that we shouldn't strive to
better ourselves, but that maturity requires finding a
balance. Learning to fully appreciate the blessings we have is
a daily struggle for most of us, but most of today's pop
culture only reinforces consumerism and naked ambition.

The question is, how are we defining our worth these days?
It's a Wonderful Life leaves us with a clear message about
that. "Dear George, remember no man is a failure who has
friends. Thanks for the wings. Love, Clarence."

3. Bad guys don't always get punished

"In many movies, the final scene shows the bad guy
being led away in handcuffs," writes Wes McAdams, a
pastor from Texas. "It makes us feel good, knowing that
justice has been served. Not so in It's A Wonderful Life." In
fact, nothing bad happens to the villain.

"I love how George Bailey runs past Potter's window and
yells, 'Merry Christmas, Mr. Potter!' and that's the last scene
in which we see him," adds McAdams.

In an era when things tended to be resolved before the "The

End" sign appeared on the screen, "It's a Wonderful Life
deserves credit for not solving every problem with the
tinkling of a bell," adds Mark Spearman.

Welch also notes that in the 1940s, "the Motion Picture

Production Code definitely stipulated that criminals must be
punished for their crimes," and the case has been made that
Mr. Potter might have been guilty of larceny. During a Q&A in
1968, Welch recalls, Capra was asked about why Potter
wasn't punished. "[O]ur main interest was what happened to
George Bailey. This Lionel Barrymore (the actor who played
Potter) character was too crusty, too old, too happy with
what he was doing to change. So we just left him as he was."

It would have been easy to turn Potter into a sort of

redeemed Ebenezer Scrooge who had seen the error of his
ways. But in addition to avoiding a predictably sappy trope,
Capra also reminded us that sometimes bad people get away
with doing bad things.

4. Don't hire someone just because they are family

This is more of a practical maxim, but with all the
touch-feely lessons in the film, it's important to cull
some not-so-obvious and not-so-pleasant realities as
well. "Uncle Billy, the brother of George's father,
nearly ruined the business," recalls Julie Rains. "He drank
on the job and didn't seem to be a productive employee even
in the best of times. George could have hired a better
employee or given him lesser responsibilities, somehow
finding a way to show generosity in a way that didn't
compromise the business."

5. Appreciate how blessed you already are

During his tirade, George tells Mary, "Everything's
wrong!" But after his experience with Clarence, his
whole perspective changes. This, explains Welch, is
"because the stuff that does matter — family, friends,
and faith — has now risen to such pre-eminence in his
life that the rest doesn't really matter." Thus, he says
things like, "Oh, look at this wonderful old drafty
house, Mary! Mary!"

6. How to deliver a good toast

Okay, this one isn't so deep, but it is an important skill.
In one scene, George and Mary deliver this toast to a
new homeowner: "Bread, that this house may never
know hunger. Salt, that life may always have flavor.
And wine, that joy and prosperity may reign forever."
So often we drone on during these moments. But
simpler really is better (and often more eloquent). "It
reflects a sentiment woven throughout the story, that
things of true worth are not measured in dollars, but in
the currency of friendship and family, and the good
karma one puts out into the world," writes Mark
Spearman.

7. Marry the right person

George's mother tells him that Mary is the "kind who
will help you find your answers." She was right under
his nose all along, of course. But once they do get
married, she sticks with him through thick and thin.

Romance is merely one of the themes in this film — not the

dominant theme as it is in Love Actually — and yet the
romance between Mary and George is deeper and more
palpable.

~~
It's a Wonderful Life Summary

Just a Small-Town Boy

George Bailey is going to kill himself.

Or, at least, he's toying with the idea. Fortunately, the prayers of his friends and family inspire some
divine intervention: two senior angels commission one of their apprentices, Clarence, to save the
despondent George. To bring him up to speed, they show Clarence (and us) some of the highlights of
George's life, with some freeze-frames for angelic editorial comments. Clarence is pumped. If he can
help George, maybe he can finally get his wings. He's been a little insecure about it.

The George Bailey Reality Tour

Angel Joseph starts at the beginning, showing Clarence a young, gregarious, energetic George who's
already got big plans to explore the world and do great things. We watch him save his younger brother
Harry's life after he falls into an icy pond, in the process losing the hearing in one ear from pneumonia.
We watch him avert disaster when he prevents the drugstore owner he works for from accidentally
giving poison to a sick child. He grows up to be a selfless, popular young man … who looks exactly like
Jimmy Stewart.

After four years helping his father run his Building and Loan business after graduation, George is ready
to leave for Europe and pursue those dreams of travel and college. His dad's death dashes those
dreams. Like the good guy he is, he stays in Bedford Falls to keep the family business out of the hands
of the town's rich and nasty tycoon, Henry Potter—not to be mistaken for Harry. He uses his college
savings to send Harry to school instead.

When Harry graduates, George can finally turn over the business to him and set out on his travels and
education. But, Harry has been offered a great job with his new father-in-law, and it's out of town.
George doesn't have it in his heart to make him stay. Dream postponed again.

One upside to being stuck in Bedford Falls is that he falls head over heels for local beauty Mary Hatch
and makes her Mrs. George Bailey. He's saved up $2,000 for a honeymoon in Bermuda. Finally, he'll get
to—

Not so fast.

On the way to the train after their wedding, he and Mary notice people clamoring to get into the bank.
The evil Mr. Potter has called back their loans, and the people are panicked—they want to withdraw
their money. But, the Building and Loan doesn't have much cash on hand. Where could it possibly come
from? You guessed it: George and Mary's honeymoon stash.

Clarence's angel bosses show him how George keeps on keepin' on. Despite his happy life with Mary and
their kids, George still feels like he hasn't realized his potential. He's never seen the world; his best
buddy strikes it rich in plastics, while George is scraping by; his brother's a Navy war hero who saves a
ship full of serviceman, while George can't enlist because of his hearing loss.

One day, Uncle Billy accidentally misplaces $8,000 of their customers' money—a ton of money in the
1940s, over $100,000 today. Mr. Potter finds it, keeps it, and frames George for stealing his borrowers'
money. Totally distraught, thinking he's facing scandal and prison, George snaps at his wife and kids,
trashes the house, crashes his car into a tree, and stares into an icy river, contemplating suicide. But,
someone else falls in the river at that very moment, and George jumps in to rescue him.

Alternate Universe
Turns out, the guy who fell in the river was Clarence, George's guardian angel-in-training. He knew
George would jump in after him. A skeptical George tells Clarence it would be better if he'd never been
born. Inspired, Clarence decides to perform a miracle and show George what the world really would be
like if he'd never lived. It's a life retrospective, minus George's life.

We see that without George around, Harry drowned in the icy pond as a kid, and all the men he saved in
the war are dead, too. The drugstore owner accidentally poisoned a child. And, without George to stop
him, Mr. Potter has transformed the town into a hedonistic den of iniquity devoid of the small-town
values that formerly sustained it.

George meets his mother, who's grieving for Harry, her only son. She's running a boarding house now
and doesn't even recognize George. He encounters Mary, now an unmarried librarian (horrors), who
screams when he pleads with her to recognize him. Violet has become a prostitute.

Realizing that his life was pretty meaningful and wonderful after all, George wants to live again. He clicks
his ruby slippers three times and says, "There's no place like home." (Well, he could have.) He joyfully
runs home, where everyone recognizes him again and the grateful townspeople have raised more than
enough money to bail out the Building and Loan. As George holds his daughter Zuzu, a bell on the
Christmas tree rings. Zuzu says her teacher told her that "every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings."
George smiles.

Way to go, Clarence.

Scene 1
Watched by an Angel (or Three)
o Snow falls on the little town of Bedford Falls. We hear the voices of George Bailey's
friends and family praying.
o They're asking God to help George, who's going through a tough time.
o In the distant reaches of the night sky, two illuminated clusters of stars in galaxies far,
far away are shining. They're actually two senior angels.
o
o They discuss George's troubling situation before dispatching a novice angel, Clarence, to
go down to Earth and keep George from taking his own life. Clarence hasn't yet earned
his wings, but if he can save George, he just might.
o The two senior angels tell Clarence George's life story, starting at the very beginning, a
very good place to start. When you read, you begin with ABC, when you sing, you—
oops, sorry, wrong movie.
o First stop: George, age 12, sledding down a snowy hill with his friends.
o George's kid brother, Harry, rides too far on the sled and falls into icy water. George
jumps in and rescues him. He loses hearing in one ear from getting sick in the process of
saving his bro.
o
 o Young George walks into the drugstore where he works. The owner, Mr. Gower, is angry
at him for being late. Before entering, he sees Mr. Potter, a wealthy and mean big shot
in town, drive by in a carriage.
o His friends tease him for working when they run off to play.
o George chats with two girls his age, Mary Hatch and Violet, who are at the drugstore
counter buying sodas. (Drugstores used to have soda fountains, and if you worked
there, you were actually pretty cool.)
o George tells Mary about his plans to explore the world. Mary whispers in his bad ear
that she'll love him until the day he dies. He doesn't hear her, of course, but we do—
foreshadowing alert.
o
o George sees a telegram about how Mr. Gower's son has died from influenza, and he
now realizes why Gower is in such a bad mood.
o He also notices that, in his grief, Mr. Gower is filling the wrong prescription for a family
with diphtheria. He has accidentally mixed cyanide in with the medicine. George runs
down the street to ask his dad what to do about it.
o He finds his father arguing with Mr. Potter, who's acting like a total jerk.
o George doesn't get a chance to tell his dad about the prescription, so he runs back to
the drugstore.
o
o Mr. Gower angrily hits him in his bad ear and yells at him for not delivering the medicine
right away—George's ear bleeds.
o George explains, crying, that Mr. Gower made a mistake in the prescription.
o A grateful Gower apologizes, crying and hugging George.

Scene 2
Would-Be Ramblin' Man
o The angels show Clarence a grown-up George Bailey buying a suitcase, which he plans to
use when he finally gets to travel the world. The salesman gives it to him for free; Mr.
Gower has already paid for it as a gift.
o He stops by the drugstore to thank Gower and takes a cab home.
o He sees Violet on the street and compliments her on her looks.
o
o At the Bailey household, George and Harry horse around before dinner. They seem
happy. George is about to move out and travel to Europe.
o His father complains about Mr. Potter's interference with the Building and Loan, and
Harry invites George to a dance.
o Mr. Bailey asks George whether he wants to take over the Building and Loan, but
George isn't interested. He says he wants to do something big and important. No
offense.
o His father thinks that helping families buy homes of their own is pretty important, but
he understands George's wish to see the world. What a good dad.
o
 o At the dance, George chats with some other guys. He runs into Violet, but Mary Hatch's
brother comes up and asks George to dance with Mary.
o Mary ditches her boring date to go dance with George, and they hit it off big time.
o Mary's date isn't happy; he pushes a button that makes the dance floor slide back,
causing George and Mary to fall into the swimming pool below. Other partygoers start
diving in, too.
o As George and Mary walk home, they sing the song "Buffalo Gals" together. Now out of
their wet clothes, George is wearing someone's football uniform, while Mary is wearing
a bathrobe.
o
o George say he's going to throw a rock at an abandoned house across the street and
make a wish.
o Mary tells him not to since it's a romantic old ruin. He does it anyway, making a wish to
leave Bedford Falls and see the world.
o Mary throws a rock and breaks a window, but she won't tell George what she wished
for.
o George asks her about her wish and says if she wants the moon, he'll lasso it and drag it
down for her. A neighbor on a porch yells at him to "just kiss her" already.
o
o George yells at the neighbor. Mary darts away, but her robe falls off, and she hides in a
bush. George picks up the robe and pretends he won't give it back.
o In the middle of this playful scene, George's Uncle Billy drives up and tells him his father
has just had a stroke.
o George tosses the robe back to Mary, apologizes, and drives off with Billy.

Scene 3
Welcome Back, Potter
o George's father has died, and he ends up temporarily taking over at the Building and
Loan with Uncle Billy. So much for traveling the world that summer.
o The evil Mr. Potter tries to dissolve the Building and Loan, but George and Billy object.
o Mr. Potter thinks they're foolish to give loans to people who he thinks won't be able to
pay them back.
o
o George vigorously defends his father's policies; they helped people get out of Mr.
Potter's slums.
o Afterward, Billy and George get the news that the board has agreed to keep the Building
and Loan together—but only if George runs it.
o It's a very sad scene as he pleads with them to let him pursue his dreams. But, good guy
that he is, he reluctantly agrees, giving up his dreams of college and world travel. He
gives his college money to Harry, who goes instead.
o The deal is that Harry will come back and run the business after he finishes college.
Then, it will finally be George's turn.
o
 o It's not to be. At a train station after Harry finishes college, Harry introduces George and
Billy to Ruth, his new wife.
o Harry's wife says he was offered a great job at Ruth's father's glass company in Buffalo.
o Shocker. That means George would be stuck in Bedford Falls, running the business.
o Harry insists it isn't a done deal, but George knows it would be a great opportunity for
him. You can see how deflated he is by the news.
o
o At the Bailey house, a tipsy Billy and George are celebrating Harry's marriage with their
guests.
o George's mother keeps saying nice things about Mary, even though she's going with
George's friend, Sam Wainwright. She's trying her best to be a matchmaker.
o George wanders into town, where he runs into Violet.
o George invites her to take off their shoes and run through a field, and hike around a
bunch of mountains at night. Such a romantic.
o
o She doesn't like the idea at all, and George walks away.
o He strolls by Mary's house, and she invites him in.

Scene 4
You Used to Call Me on Your Rotary Phone
o Mary puts "Buffalo Gals" on the record player for old times' sake. George finally comes
in and asks her why she isn't in New York with Sam and other friends. She explains that
she actually likes it in Bedford Falls.
o George is in a miserable mood, depressed about Harry moving away. Mary is dropping
romantic hints all over the place, but they go right over his head.
o Mary's mother asks what George is doing there; she's suspicious about his intentions.
George and Mary argue, and George walks out just as Sam Wainwright phones Mary.
o
o Mary smashes the "Buffalo Gals" record and answers the phone.
o George comes back in to get his hat, which he forgot.
o Sam is calling from an office and says he wants to talk to Mary and George. They both
get on the same phone.
o Sam is thinking about building a plastics factory, and George suggests doing it in Bedford
Falls.
o
o Sam offers George a job and wants him to invest in the company. No dice. George is
getting pretty agitated.
o As Sam talks to them, George and Mary look at each other longingly over the phone
they're sharing, until George finally breaks down and they kiss, dropping the phone.

Scene 5
Don't Bank on It
o We jump ahead to the day of George and Mary's wedding. The guests celebrate wildly
and throw rice as they get into a cab and drive off.
 o George and Mary kiss in the back of the cab, and they happily tell Ernie the driver about
their honeymoon plans.
o Suddenly, Ernie points out all of the people rushing into the bank.
o
o Turns out, there's a run on the bank; people are panicked, desperately trying to
withdraw their money fearing the bank will fail.
o George jumps out and lets everyone inside. Mary begs him to come back, but he's a
man on a mission.
o Uncle Billy tells them they're in crisis mode. People want their money, but the bank
can't cover it.
o The dastardly Mr. Potter calls and says he's buying out the bank and helping it with the
money it needs. Of course, that means he's taking it over.
o
o George explains to the customers that they can't take out their money right now.
Everyone threatens to go over to Potter's bank, but George explains that Potter just
wants their business to enrich himself and will just rip them off.
o Mary offers their honeymoon and travel money to help hold people over until they can
pay them back, keeping their accounts at the Building and Loan.
o It works. Because his customers trust George, they agree to take just enough to tide
them over.
o The business is saved for now.
o
o Mary calls George and gives him directions to a house—the old, abandoned place they'd
thrown rocks at on that romantic evening a while back. Mary arranged for them to buy
it and make it their home.
o Instead of a honeymoon, she had Bert and Ernie put travel posters on the walls, and she
made a fancy dinner with champagne and caviar for her new husband.
o Mary has already started moving in their things and fixing up the old, dilapidated house.
George is impressed. Their friends serenade them from outside.
o Mary tells George that when she broke a window in the house with the rock, this is what
she wished for: a home there, together.
o
o We think this gal's a keeper.

Scene 6
Mr. Potter Wears Prada
o An Italian immigrant, Martini, thanks George for helping him buy his very own house.
He's bursting with pride.
o Martini and his family are moving out of their slumlord Potter's apartment into Bailey
Park—a small neighborhood of modest, affordable homes—thanks to the Building and
Loan.
o As Mary and George present the family with some moving-in gifts, the look on Martini's
face tells us everything we need to know about how important the Building and Loan is
to the people in town.
 o
o Sam Wainwright shows up at the moving celebration and greets George, who notices
Sam's new car and fancy clothes. Plastics.
o Next stop: Mr. Potter's office, where an adviser tells Potter about how George is cutting
into his business by giving home loans to people who then move out of Potter's
apartments.
o Back with George, Sam teases him about turning down his plastics offer. We guess
plastics ended up making Sam a pretty rich guy.
o We return to Potter's office, where George meets with him and smokes one of Potter's
expensive cigars.
o
o Mr. Potter says that he's been able to get control of everything in town except the
Building and Loan; he compliments George on keeping it afloat.
o But, Potter says he knows George doesn't like working at the Building and Loan; he's just
trapped.
o He offers to have George manage his affairs, offering him a salary beyond his wildest
dreams.
o George is astonished, but he wonders what will happen to the Building and Loan.
o
o He asks for a day to think it over. But, when George shakes Potter's hand, he changes his
mind.
o He chews out Potter about exploiting the townspeople and storms off.

Scene 7
Show Me the Money
o Mary is pregnant. Great news, right?
o The senior angel explains that George and Mary had more kids and that George never
left Bedford Falls. Potter kept putting pressure on him, though.
o Oh, yeah, now we remember that this story is being told to Clarence to catch him up on
George's life before the present time.
o
o When World War II broke out, everyone supported the effort.
o The angel explains everything that the townspeople did: joining the Red Cross, fighting
in the war, etc.
o Harry became a decorated war hero, winning the Congressional Medal of Honor for
saving a transport ship full of soldiers. George served as an air warden and did various
service at home.
o After the war ends, at Christmas, they get news about Harry's Medal of Honor at the
Building and Loan. George is really happy for him.
o
o A bank examiner comes to see George, and George admits that they're basically broke.
o Billy runs into Potter at his bank as he's about to deposit $8,000 to cover their
customers' deposits. He tells Potter about the Medal of Honor and says George would
have been a hero, too, but he couldn't go to war because of his bad ear.
 o Billy absentmindedly leaves the money on a desk, and Potter finds it. And keeps it.
o Billy is frantic; he can't find the money anywhere.
o
o At the office, George is giving Violet a loan for her to go start a new life in New York. He
wishes her luck. She kisses him on the cheek, and the other people in the bank look at
him weirdly before Violet wipes the lipstick stain off with a tissue.
o Billy tracks down George and tells him about losing the money.
o This is an epic disaster. It means bankruptcy and scandal; George could go to prison.

Scene 8
Where's the Christmas Cheer?
o At home, a depressed George greets his happy family, who are all in the Christmas spirit.
George hugs his son and starts crying. Mary notices but doesn't say anything.
o George gets mad at his daughter for continually playing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing"
on the piano.
o He's very agitated and gets annoyed when he hears that his youngest daughter, Zuzu,
has a cold.
o
o George keeps complaining to Mary, saying he wishes they didn't live in Bedford Falls and
have so many kids.
o He goes up to see Zuzu, who shows him a flower. Some of the petals have fallen off, and
she asks George to fix it.
o George secretly puts the petals in his pocket and gives the flower back to Zuzu.
o Downstairs, Mary is talking to Zuzu's teacher on the phone, and George grabs the
phone, shouting at the teacher for sending Zuzu home from school without being
bundled up.
o
o He yells at the teacher's husband, too.
o George yells at his kids, tells his daughter to stop playing the piano, and knocks things
over in the living room.
o Ashamed, he apologizes to his wife and to his kids. They stare at him, and his daughter
starts crying.
o George walks out of the house, and Mary calls Uncle Billy on the phone. She tells the
kids to pray for their dad. Something is seriously wrong. This is where we came in at the
beginning of the movie.
o
o Back at Potter's office, George begs Potter for a loan, explaining that he (really, Billy)
misplaced $8,000. Potter ridicules him, suggesting that maybe George was spending the
money on Violet or wasting it in other ways.
o George says he has a $15,000 life insurance policy he can use as collateral, but Potter
refuses.
o Potter tells George he's worth more dead than alive. He says he's going to ask the cops
to arrest George for misappropriating funds.
o George is in shock.
Scene 9
Search and Rescue
o In Martini's bar, George sits around drinking and feeling miserable. He prays to God for
help; he's at the end of his rope.
o The bartender asks if he's alright; Martini is worried, too. He loves George.
o The teacher's husband is at the bar, and he punches George in the face for insulting his
wife over the phone.
o
o Driving away, George crashes his car into a tree. A man yells at him, saying his
grandfather planted that tree.
o George wanders out through the snow onto a bridge. A nearby man looks at George as
he stares over the edge.
o It's not looking good for our boy, is it?
o But suddenly, the man falls in and starts yelling for help.
o
o George dives in and rescues him.
o They're invited to go into a watchman's house, where they dry off and change.
o The man is actually Clarence Odbody, the angel-in-training. He admits he's George's
guardian angel from heaven, and he intentionally provoked George into saving him so
George wouldn't throw himself off the bridge.
o The watchman runs outside, freaked out.
o
o George is mystified by all of the things Clarence knows about him, like that he owes
$8,000.
o Clarence tells him he's an angel that doesn't yet have his wings.

Scene 10
Pottersville
o George tells Clarence that he's worth more dead than alive and that he wishes he'd
never been born.
o That gives Clarence an idea. Clarence consults with one of the other angels (invisibly)
and grants George his wish to have never been born.
o George suddenly finds he can hear in his bad ear. They get dressed.
o
o As they walk out, George notices his car has disappeared from the place where it hit the
tree.
o He asks someone about it, and the guy says he doesn't know what he's talking about.
The guy says it's one of the oldest trees in Pottersville (which is no longer called Bedford
Falls).
o They go into Martini's and discover that Nick (the bartender) owns it now.
o When the cash register bell rings, Clarence tells George it means an angel just got his
wings.
o
 o George tells Clarence to stop talking about being an angel. Clarence tells George he's
293 years old.
o Nick says he's kicking them both out of the bar. Mr. Gower walks in, and Nick sprays him
in the face with water.
o Mr. Gower has been disgraced because he accidentally poisoned a kid (since George
wasn't there to stop him) and spent 20 years in prison.
o Nick throws them out and jokes about handing out wings by ringing the register bell.

Scene 11
A High Body Count
o Outside, George is mystified about how it says "Nick's" instead of "Martini's" over the
bar.
o Clarence explains that George has never existed. George realizes that Zuzu's petals and
his wallet and everything that identifies him are gone.
o Clarence says it's a chance to see what the world would be like without him.
o
o George doesn't listen and says he's going home. He walks away.
o As he walks through town, George sees that Bedford Falls has become Pottersville—an
awful, gaudy, sleazy place. Just bars and nightclubs. Kind of like Las Vegas.
o Someone tells him there's no Building and Loan; it went out of business years ago.
o He sees Violet get thrown out of a club.
o
o George gets in a cab driven by Ernie, who doesn't recognize him. Ernie tells him that his
(Ernie's) wife ran away, and he lives alone in a shack.
o At George's house, he sees that it's the abandoned, broken-down place it used to be.
Clarence materializes inside and says this is what would have happened if George had
never lived.
o Bert the cop shows up and tries to arrest George, but Clarence bites Bert on the hand
and then disappears as the cop tries to tackle and cuff him.
o George goes to his mother's house, and she doesn't recognize him—she's running a
boarding house, now.
o
o She tells him Uncle Billy has been in an insane asylum ever since he lost his business.
o George asks to see his brother, and his mother slams the door in his face. Her only son
died years ago.
o When George leaves, Clarence tells him it's amazing how one man's life affects so many
other people's lives.
o At the cemetery, they find Harry's grave.
o
o Harry couldn't win the Medal of Honor or save soldiers on a WWII transport boat
because George never saved him. He fell through the ice as a kid and died.
o This is all freaking George out.
o Clarence tells George that Mary never married; she's a librarian now.
 o (Librarians in old movies tend to be aging spinsters—a fate worse than death.)
o
o George finds Mary leaving the library and asks if she remembers him.
o She doesn't even recognize him and screams when he touches her.
o A crowd of people gathers, and a policeman fires shots at George as he runs away.

Scene 12
All I Want for Christmas Is You
o George arrives at the bridge and prays to God again. He wants to live.
o Bert the cop arrives and recognizes George. He tells George his mouth is bleeding (from
being punched out by the teacher's husband).
o George has his life back. Zuzu's petals reappear in his pocket.
o
o George runs through town shouting, "Merry Christmas!" to everyone he sees, including
Mr. Potter. He looks a little loopy, but it's pure joy.
o The bank examiner and a cop are at his house, but George seems happy to see them.
He's excited to see his kids, who all surround and hug him. Mary enters; more hugs. He's
over the top with relief and happiness. He loves everybody.
o Mary takes him downstairs and shows him that all of the townspeople have banded
together to give him the money he needs.
o Uncle Billy brings in a massive basket of cash he's collected, and tons of people come in
to donate more money.
o
o He gets a cable from Sam Wainwright, telling him that Sam has granted him $25,000 to
keep his business together.
o Everyone celebrates and sings Christmas carols. Harry shows up, alive and in uniform.
He makes a toast to George, calling him "the richest man in town."
o George holds Zuzu and finds a copy of Tom Sawyer under the tree. It's been signed by
Clarence.
o A bell rings on the tree, and Zuzu says her teacher says it means an angel got its wings.
George knows it's Clarence. He joins in singing "Auld Lang Syne" with all of his friends.
o
o That's what we'd call an epically heartwarming, Capra-esque ending.

~~

It's a Wonderful Life Themes

Dissatisfaction
You can't always get what you want. And in It's a Wonderful Life, George Bailey is painfully learning that lesson. In his desperate moments, he doesn't
think he's got anything he wants.
Most young people are idealistic; we're supposed to be. We all have high hopes and pie-in-the-sky plans for our lives, but not all will turn out. That's why
we all have midlife crises like George. George's dissatisfaction stems from the difference between his big ambitions and his actual life. He doesn't think
he's accomplished anything by running the Building and Loan. He feels like he's missed out by failing to fulfill his youthful dreams of traveling the world
and becoming a great architect. Fortunately, a guardian angel is at hand to put his life into a greater perspective.

To put meaning back in his life, George has to learn to be satisfied with the life he's living rather than obsessing about the one he could have lived. It
doesn't take wealth to be happy; the best things in life are free. We're surprised that song wasn't on the soundtrack.

Chew on This
George wouldn't have had his crisis if he'd had more modest expectations of life.

It was natural for a small-town kid like George to be discontented with his life in Bedford Falls and want more out of life.

Family
Check out that last scene of It's a Wonderful Life, and you know what it's all about. George has four adoring kids hanging on him and his perfect wife
gazing lovingly into his eyes. Isn't your family just like that? No? Oh, that's right—your family lives in the real world.

George Bailey has been a model, dutiful son: taking over the family business, seeing that Harry goes off to college, and defending his father's memory
when Potter trashes it. He recreates his own loving family in the family he creates with Mary. To be fair, the family isn't completely perfect. George finds
his family of origin a little confining. His family with Mary deals with financial stress and George's self-doubt. They have an eccentric Uncle Billy who
needs someone to keep an eye on him. Honestly, though, Shmoop wouldn't mind being adopted by the Baileys.

By contrast, Mr. Potter doesn't have any family (or friends, for that matter); he's alone, bitter, and completely without compassion. George's family
grounds him and helps him find meaning in the life he's ended up with in Bedford Falls. Family is what George has leaned on, and it's what ultimately gets
him through his crisis.

No family is perfect, but the Bailey clan seems pretty darn close.

Chew on This
George's father heavily influences his values and priorities.

George sees himself as more ambitious than the rest of his family.

Friendship
George Bailey has more friends than Mark Zuckerberg. He's kind, generous, funny, and gregarious. What's not to love?

Psychologists, who know everything, have known for ages that social support can help people cope with the effects of crisis and change. And your
friends (and family) are your social support network. So, how can George, with all of those friends, get to the point of wanting to throw his life away?
Well, we didn't say that social support prevents crisis and change; nothing can do that. But, it helps people cope with crises when they inevitably
arrive.

That's just what happens with George. When he's at his lowest point, his friends come through with spiritual (prayer) and practical (buckets of cash)
support. He's practically drowning in love at the end of the movie. Seeing him surrounded by all of those friends, we know that he's gonna be OK.

Chew on This
The movie suggests that it's easy to make friends in a small town because everyone depends on everyone else.

Potter's lack of friends shows us from the start that he's the villain of the story.

Greed
Ebenezer Scrooge, Simon Legree, Milo Minderbinder—Henry Potter is in good fictional company. Mr. Potter wants to own everything in Bedford Falls,
and he resents the Baileys because they stand in his way.

In It's a Wonderful Life, George and his father are the opposite of greedy. Their business is founded on generosity; they make loans to people even if
they're poor. They sure don't get rich from it. Potter, on the other hand, does nothing if it doesn't enrich him. The Baileys, by helping low-income people
build or buy houses, take money out of Potter's pocket; people can move out of his slummy apartments into their own homes. That's why Potter has it in
for them.

Greed is one of the seven deadly sins, and as far as Frank Capra is concerned, it's way up there on that list. Potter has got all of the money he needs,
but it's never enough. His need to get even more makes him trample anyone who gets in his way.

Chew on This
The film suggests that greed destroys a person. Potter is unhappy, mean, and friendless because he's motivated by greed.
Potter is no more greedy that your average business titan. He's just doing what he has to do to protect his financial interests. To paraphrase Gordon
Gekko, greed is good.

Love
Whoever wrote "All You Need Is Love" was probably watching It's a Wonderful Life at the time. Maybe they were showing it on BBC TV.

Anyway, love is ultimately what saves George Bailey. He's always been surrounded by loads of friends and family that adore him, but he loses sight of
that when he's faced with possible financial ruin. After Clarence's little life-review tour, George gets his priorities back in order and runs back to the
people who love him. And, we can't forget that God's love for George kicks off the whole chain of events.

There's a sweet rom-com embedded in the film, too. Mary has been head-over-heels for George from the time she was a little girl, but he doesn't really
notice her until after high school. She goes off to college, and he's stuck in town, but four years later, he's still her crush. Their love overcomes a few
obstacles like ex-boyfriends and financial ups and downs, but Mary sticks by him no matter what. When she was a kid, she told him she'd love him till the
day she dies. She meant it.

Chew on This
Mr. Potter's life is meaningless and empty because he lacks the ability to give or receive love.

George gives in to despair because he loves the people around him but has stopped valuing himself.

Loyalty and Devotion

It's a Wonderful Life's George Bailey is the poster boy for loyalty. He's epically loyal to his family, his business, and to Bedford Falls, even though he thinks
it's a hick town. That's why, when his father dies, he takes over the Building and Loan instead of letting it fall apart. That would've been like handing over
the whole town to Mr. Potter.

He's loyal to his principles, too. He's just about to accept Potter's offer of a mind-boggling salary when he realizes this would mean turning his back on
everything he believes in.

George sticks by his customers even when they can't pay him back; he never lets anyone say a bad word about his father; he's a good friend to Violet
despite her sketchy reputation. Where does all of this loyalty get him? Broke and suicidal, feeling like a chump and a failure. Fortunately, that's only
temporary. His devotion to the town pays off; they pay all that loyalty forward and rush to his rescue.

Chew on This
George is loyal to Bedford Falls because of all the love and support it's given him over the years.

George is loyal to Bedford Falls not because of what it's given him but rather because he's just that kind of guy.

~~

It's a Wonderful Life Analysis

The Lighter
Early in the movie, boy George (no, not that Boy George) walks into the drugstore where he works and says, "I wish I had
a million dollars." As he says it, he clicks a cigarette lighter. When it lights, he exclaims, "Hot dog!" Later, when he's grown
up, he does the same thing. Clearly, he's playing a little game—if the lighter comes on, his wish for prosperity will be
granted.

Wishing on the lighter represents the romantic, escapist side of George's personality. One of George's life lessons is that
there's no magic lighter. Real riches are found in living your ordinary life and striking ordinary matches with the people you
love.

The Moon
What's more romantic than the moon in June? When George falls hard for Mary, he asks her:

GEORGE: What is it you want, Mary? What do you want? You want the moon? Just say the word, and I'll throw a lasso
around it and pull it down. Hey. That's a pretty good idea. I'll give you the moon, Mary.

MARY: I'll take it. Then what?

GEORGE: Well, then you could swallow it, and it'd all dissolve, see? And the moonbeams'd shoot out of your fingers and
your toes, and the ends of your hair ... Am I talking too much?

Like the cigarette lighter, this image is a romantic reverie of how things will magically be wonderful. The moon symbolizes
those impossible but marvelous aspirations for the future. Later, when Mary shows George the old, dilapidated house
where they'll begin their life together, she's made a sign that says, "George Lassos the Moon." Mary is telling him that
anywhere can be the moon if you're with people who love you. Aww.

Buffalo Gals
This old vaudeville song was recorded by lots of artists through the years, with the title changing depending on the locale.
(Buffalo refers to the city in New York, not that hairy beast of the American plains.)

The song appears many times during the film and comes to represent George and Mary's relationship. (Source) We first
hear some strains of it during the opening credits. It's played when they dance at the high school, and Mary
sings it later that night as she and George are romancing it up. She puts it on her record player the night
George comes over years later in hopes of rekindling some memories. When George storms out, Mary smashes
the record—the relationship seems done for, too.

But, the gal gets her guy after all, and the next time we hear the song, Mary is singing it just before she tells George she's
pregnant. Finally, an upbeat version plays during the final credits; it has followed the couple along throughout the movie.
We're not sure why Capra or the composer chose this song, except that it was popular with kids at the time and has all of
that moon imagery that plays a big role in the romantic storyline.

The Stair Post

When George is barreling down his tunnel of despair, he arrives at home and accidentally pulls the loose top piece off one
of the stair posts. This is evidently something that happens all of the time in his old house, but it especially irritates him
this time. In the middle of an epic financial crisis, the beat-up staircase with its broken post reminds him of everything he
doesn't have.

But, after George gets his life back again, his attitude changes. Now, he's able to appreciate his life, flaws included. So,
when he comes home, and the top piece of the stair post comes off again, he kisses it before putting it back into place.
Moral of the story? It's all how you look at things that make the difference. Embrace life with all its messiness. Home, even
one with a beat-up staircase, is where the heart is.

Bells
Clarence and George are sitting in Nick's bar when the cash register bell rings. Clarence remarks, "Oh-oh. Somebody's just
made it." He explains the connection between bells and angels getting their wings. George looks up at Nick and realizes
that people might not take too kindly to all of this angel-related banter. He's right. Nick wants to kick them out of the bar.
After the bouncers chuck them out the door, Nick starts ringing the cash register bell and says, "Hey! Get me! I'm giving
out wings!"

At first, this is just another superstitious notion like the cigarette lighter granting wishes. But, for the purposes of this
movie, it turns out to be real. When George arrives safely back at home and a bell rings on the Christmas tree, his
daughter Zuzu exclaims, "Look, Daddy! Teacher says, 'Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings.'" George excitedly
responds in his best Jimmy Stewart voice with, "That's right! That's right!"

We know that bell is ringing for Clarence. There's no deep, metaphorical connection we can figure between bells and angel
wings except that most bells are beautiful and joyous, pealing out happy times like holidays and weddings.

Zuzu's Flower Petals

When George is at his low point, his daughter Zuzu shows him a flower she won at school. He's too distraught to
appreciate it. A few petals fall off, and Zuzu sweetly asks him to fix it. George pretends to put them back on the flower,
secretly putting them in his pocket.

Later, when he sees what the world would be like if he'd never existed, the petals disappear. When he comes back to
reality, they're there again. He excitedly shouts, "Zuzu's petals!!! Zuzu's petals!!!" as he holds them. For George, they've
become a token touchingly symbolizing all the love and life that wouldn't have existed if he'd never been born. The flowers
represent life and reality.

Allegory
The Moral of the Story
The entire film has an allegorical flavor, in which the characters are all symbols in a universal drama aimed at teaching us
some universal life lessons. Potter, of course, represents greed, power, and isolation, all ultimately joyless; George is the
little guy beaten down by the powerful but who prevails because he's a righteous dude. Mary represents the joys of family.
Bedford Falls is every small town where a sense of neighborliness and connectedness shows everyone the real meaning of
life.

Frank Capra has admitted that most of his movies have the same message, which he described as "Sermon on the
Mount" values. Here are some of the high points of that sermon by Jesus as described in the biblical Book of
Matthew:

o Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 5:3)
o Blessed are the meek: for they will inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5)
o Blessed are the merciful: for they will be shown mercy. (Matthew 5:7)
o
o Blessed are the pure in heart: for they will see God. (Matthew 5:8)

 You can see what Capra means.

 The film isn't really overtly religious. People pray, God hears, and angels appear. But, there's little discussion of
beliefs or church or salvation. People only pray when there's a crisis; otherwise, they go about their daily
business in a pretty secular way. God is around, though, and he does protect George via his 911 call to the
angels. It's religion-lite, but with an underlying belief that God loves people and that goodness and mercy are
rewarded.

Meta-phor
Another way of looking at the whole enchilada is that it's an allegory about filmmaking. Here's what Film Spectrum has to
say about it:

Here, Capra takes us through the entire process, as God (the filmmaker) enlists the help of Joseph (the cinematographer)
to slowly bring George's flashback (the movie) into focus for Clarence (the audience). He speaks to us as if we're eager
film students wanting to learn how to see movies in a new way, through the cinematic eye, through the film theory
perspective: "Now look, I'll help you out. … If you ever get your wings, you'll see all by yourself." (Source)

How cool is that?

Visual Effects
Hero's Journey
Ever notice that every blockbuster movie has the same fundamental pieces? A hero, a journey, some conflicts to muck it
all up, a reward, and the hero returning home and everybody applauding his or her swag? Yeah, scholar Joseph Campbell
noticed first—in 1949. He wrote The Hero With a Thousand Faces, in which he outlined the 17 stages of a mythological
hero's journey.

About half a century later, Christopher Vogler condensed those stages down to 12 in an attempt to show
Hollywood how every story ever written should—and, uh, does—follow Campbell's pattern. We're working with those
12 stages, so take a look. (P.S. Want more? We have an entire Online Course devoted to the hero's journey.)

Ordinary World
George Bailey lives in the small town of Bedford Falls (probably in upstate New York). It's a pleasant locale, but to him, it
seems to lack the excitement and adventure he craves; it's not the right place for him to satisfy his ambitions. Of course,
the big irony here is that the ordinary world—the world in which, traditionally, the hero feels like something is missing—is
actually the place where the hero belongs, and where his quest will actually take place.

Call to Adventure
George's father unexpectedly dies of a stroke, so, instead of seeing the world and going to college, George is voted by the
board to take over his father's Building and Loan business and keep it safe from a local plutocrat.

Refusal of the Call

George can't bear the thought of being stuck in Bedford Falls and giving up his dreams of college and travel. He begs the
board to reconsider, but it's him or nobody. George very reluctantly agrees, but it'll just be temporary; he'll let Harry go to
college, and upon graduation, Harry will take over the business. Instead, Harry has a better job opportunity, and George
lets him go. He's still refusing to accept the idea of living his whole life in Bedford Falls.

Meeting the Mentor

George doesn't really meet his mentor—Clarence the angel—at this point in the movie. But, he's met Mary, who helps him
settle down in town and shows him a beautiful family life. When George meets Clarence, Clarence hammers this lesson
home by showing him what Bedford Falls would be like if he had never been born. But, more on that later.
Crossing the Threshold
George settles into his position at the Building and Loan. Yet, even this little town has its heroes and villains, and Mr.
Potter is a particularly bad dude. He wants to dominate the town and prevent people from owning their own homes, forcing
them to live in his slums and pay rent to him. George's Building and Loan is willing to give people who aren't necessarily
financially secure a chance to borrow money to buy or build their own houses. This makes a huge difference in the life of
Bedford Falls, although George doesn't realize it until Clarence shows him the alternate, world-without-George timeline.

Tests, Allies, Enemies

As George continues to battle Potter, he gets support from the townspeople. Their trust in him saves the Building and Loan
during a threatened run on the bank engineered by Potter. He befriends Ernie the cab driver and Bert the cop, and he
allows a guy named Mr. Martini to borrow enough money to get a house for his family. These alliances prove helpful later
in the story.

Potter is the enemy here, trying to thwart George's consumer-friendly efforts and bankrupt his business.

Approach to the Inmost Cave

When Uncle Billy accidentally misplaces $8,000 of the Building and Loan's money, the cash winds up in the hands of Mr.
Potter, who steals it. This risks bankrupting the Building and Loan and getting George and Uncle Billy arrested for
misplacing funds.

Ordeal
Believing himself to be worth more dead than alive (helpfully pointed out by Potter), George contemplates suicide.
Fortunately, Clarence the angel comes down to Earth and jumps off the bridge himself before George can. As they talk
afterward, George tells Clarence he wishes he'd never been born. This inspires Clarence to let George see what the world
would be like if he'd never been born. Turns out, it's terrible. George witnesses a town renamed Pottersville and turned
into a den of iniquity. His brother is dead, Mary is a spinster, and his mother is a grieving woman running a boarding
house.

Reward (Seizing the Sword)

After George sees Mary, now an unmarried librarian, he runs back to the bridge, praying that he's changed his mind—he
wants to live again. George's wish is granted. Now that he's rediscovered how important his life really is, he's ready to go
back into town and face his fate.

The Road Back

Overjoyed, George runs back through Bedford Falls, loudly wishing everything and everyone a merry Christmas—Mr. Potter
included. When he arrives home, the bank examiner and sheriff are waiting for him, with a warrant for his arrest. He
doesn't care. He rushes into the arms of Mary and the kids.

Resurrection
The arrest warrant proves useless, and Potter is foiled again. George can't be arrested for losing anyone's funds because
all of his friends and family members bail him out with a giant basket of money. When his rich friend Sam Wainwright
chips in $25,000, the Building and Loan's future is secure. All of George's friends and family members express their
affection for him and pay him tribute for helping them out when they were down.

Return With the Elixir

Thanks to his successful George project, Clarence earns his wings. George returns with a new appreciation for his life;
that's his elixir. We know he'll never have that kind of despair again.

Setting
Crummy Little Town? Or Hidden Upstate Paradise?
Frank Capra loved small-town America. George Bailey isn't so sure.

On George's first date with Mary, he tells her about his ambitions and dreams, saying, "I'm shaking the dust of this
crummy little town off my feet, and I'm going to see the world." This, of course, never happens; he remains firmly planted
right in Bedford Falls, where all of the film's action takes place. It's the kind of town where people live for generations.
When George crashes his car on Christmas Eve, the owner of the house yells at him, "My grandfather planted that tree!"

While fictional, Bedford Falls is located in upstate New York. (The screenplay explicitly states this, though no one in the
movie ever directly says, "We're in upstate New York!") Buffalo and Rochester are referenced as nearby locations, and
Sam Wainwright runs his business from New York City.
The little town of Seneca Falls, New York, claims to be the real model for Bedford Falls. They hold an annual It's a
Wonderful Life festival. Sometimes people from the movie, like the actress who played Zuzu, make appearances there.

But, setting isn't just about place. It's about time. In this case, we see George Bailey's life from roughly after the end of
World War I—Mr. Gower's son dies of influenza, which may be a reference to the deadly Spanish Influenza epidemic of
1918—through to the period just after the end of World War II. Two world wars, an epidemic, and a devastating economic
depression—it wasn't the easiest of times. George's breakdown happens on Christmas Eve of 1945.

We see how the Great Depression of 1929 causes a run on the bank and threatens the Building and Loan. During World
War II, George acts as an air-raid warden and keeps serving the community, while Harry becomes a Navy flier. An uplifting
story like It's a Wonderful Life was just the thing for the hearts of people who'd just been through a difficult and trying
time during World War II.

Pottersville: Nexus of Sleaze

The story also uses the setting to show what life would've been like if George hadn't been born: Bedford Falls becomes
Pottersville, full of sleaze and greed and glitz, a Vegas-lite. Potter controls the city, having driven the Bailey brothers out of
business years ago. The renovated house George and Mary live in is still abandoned, and Ma Bailey runs a dingy and
depressing boarding house.

After being restored to reality, George runs through the town in one of the movie's most famous and oft-parodied scenes:
"Hello, Bedford Falls! Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas, movie house! Merry Christmas, Emporium! Merry Christmas, you
wonderful old Building and Loan! Hey! Merry Christmas, Mr. Potter!" George is able to see Bedford Falls with new eyes.
Instead of seeming like the hick town he thought it was, it's now a precious place.

Point of View
Part Flashback, Part Real Time
It's a Wonderful Life tells its story partly through an extended flashback and partly in real time. It starts at the point when
George is contemplating suicide and then goes back to his early life, as the senior angel Joseph tells Clarence the story of
George's life. We see George saving Harry, preventing Mr. Gower from accidentally poisoning that kid, defusing the run on
the Building and Loan, and so on. Joseph also shows us moments in the life of the townspeople, explaining what many of
the characters did during World War II.

When we get to the point when George is thinking of killing himself, Joseph's narration stops, and we see the movie
unfolding in present time when Clarence arrives. We then enter an alternate timeline with George—the world in which he
was never born—but one that's still taking place on Christmas Eve of 1945. Finally, we're back to the world-with-George
timeline and roll straight through chronologically until the end. Throughout, the movie retains a focus on George, though
you wouldn't exactly call it "first person" since we're not seeing things from George's perspective, but rather from the
angels'.

Genre
Feel-Good Movie, Comedy, Christmas Movie
For a movie about suicidal despair, It's a Wonderful Life has to be the greatest feel-good movie of all time. It has a positive
and redeeming message about the importance of individuals, the joys and benefits of friendship, and the family ties that
sustain us.

But, in order to get there, it has to deal with some pretty dark moments. As one critic wrote, "It's a Wonderful Life proves
we need the darkness to see the light; the lows to feel the highs; the despair to feel the inspiration. Capra needs to beat
up George Bailey for two hours before he can save him." (Source)

The movie is also a comedy because … it's funny. And, it has a happy ending, which is all that's required in the original
meaning of "comedy." Part of the brilliance of this movie is that it's a film about hopelessness and desperation that
maintains a comic tone. George and Mary's initial courtship has lots of jokes—like when Mary ducks into a bush and
accidentally loses her bathrobe, prompting George to hesitate before giving her bathrobe back. He muses, "I could sell
tickets. …"

Finally, it's quite obviously a Christmas movie, though Capra claims that wasn't his intent. The plot sure reminds everyone
of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, with those ghosts of Christmas past and future. The critical events of the film take
place on Christmas Eve, and what better Christmas present is there than discovering that your life has meaning? It's
become an all-time Christmas classic. Even characters in other films watch it: check out Home Alone and National
Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
What's Up With the Title?
As our story opens, George's life is the opposite of wonderful. In fact, it's so un-wonderful that he's thinking of throwing it
away. It reminds Shmoop of Life Is Beautiful, Roberto Benigni's film about a father and son trying to survive in a
brutal concentration camp. We're all thinking: beautiful—yeah, right.

Frank Capra begs to differ. He would definitely see the beauty in Benigni's story of fatherly devotion. When George sees
what the world would be like without him, he discovers, among other things, that his life really has been pretty wonderful.
It's been full of friends and family who love him and depend on him. He's made a huge difference to them. The movie's
message is that even if the life you're living seems average, or even a failure, in the grand scheme of things, it's important
and meaningful.

What's Up With the Ending?

Nothing like a near-death experience to make you see things differently. After Clarence finishes up his life review and
George decides to live again, George runs home to find the bank examiner and sheriff waiting to arrest him for
mishandling his customers' funds. Even though he's not worried anymore after his epically perspective-altering experience,
all of the townspeople chip in their dollars to bail him out.

When this happens, George realizes what's really important—the love of his family and community. Suddenly, his modest
little life in ordinary old Bedford Falls is more precious than anything. This last scene sells the essential message of the
film.

A parallel plotline resolved at the end is that Clarence, the relative newbie angel who's modest and a little insecure about
himself, gets those wings he's been hoping for. It goes to show that even in heaven, you don't have to do flashy stuff like
create the universe in seven days flat to get your reward. Helping one guy to appreciate life is all it takes. George smiles
when his daughter hears that bell ring.

Didn't we promise that nice guys never finish last in a Capra film?

~~

It’s a Wonderful Life

It’s a Wonderful Life stars James Stewart as the hard-working
George Bailey, a man who has sacrificed many of his own dreams to
help realize the dreams of others.
Instead of traveling the world and building a glamorous life, George
stayed in the little town of Bedford Falls and runs his father’s
business. But business gets tough. The Great Depression hits, and
then there’s Mr. Potter, the town’s miserly tycoon, who can’t stand
the success of George Bailey’s honest business. Mr. Potter seeks to
line his own pockets at the expense of everyone else.
On the verge of financial ruin and even jail time, George Bailey
decides he can’t take it anymore, and decides to end his life on
Christmas Eve. That’s when Clarence Odbody, George’s guardian
angel, comes to the rescue! To remind him of just how many lives
he has touched, God gives George unique gift: seeing what the
world would be like had he never been born. Perhaps the Bedford
Falls and the rest of the world aren’t better off without George
Bailey, but you’ll just have to find out!

“You see, George, you’ve really had a wonderful life. Don’t you see
what a mistake it would be to throw it all away?” ~Clarence
Odbody, guardian angel
Arguably one of Frank Capra’s greatest works, the movie reminds
us that “each man’s life touches so many others,” and you never
know how God will allow you to bless others. Your life has meaning
and purpose, and to throw it all away when the going get’s tough
would be a tragedy. We learn through our trials, and are refined by
fire. The character George Bailey challenges each of us to persevere
through challenges and to never ever give up. No matter what
comes our way, there is nothing that love, friendship, and hope
cannot conquer.

~~

Business Ethics Dilemmas in “It’s a Wonderful Life” Essay

This movie was prepared and administered by Plain Capra and discharged in
1946. The narrative happens in a fictional town named Bedford Falls. The
indispensable component named George Bailey was played by James
Stewart. As George was moving like an grownup one of his dreams was to
sail the Earth and desert Bedford Falls.
However. all through the image George is challenged with legion picks that
consequence whether he is equipped to carry through his dream of go
forthing Bedford Falls. Some of those are the moral predicaments that could
be spelled out further in this paper. The image achieves a climactic indicate
where George examines self-destruction. be that as it may is recovered by a
gatekeeper heavenly attender named Clarence. As a replacement for
butchering himself George tells Clarence that he wishes he ne’er was
conceived. Clarence shows George what Bedford Falls and exists of the
persons he knew could be like presuming that he was ne’er born. In making
so George apprehends that he has made a positive sway in his group.
MAIN Fictional characters
Following is a concise lineation of the prevalent elements in this movie:
George Bailey: The cardinal component of the image whose aim because he
was younger was to acquire out of Bedford Falls and see the planet. He sees
himself as being stayed in this town. Mary Bailey: George’s married woman
who headed away to university but reverted place in the aftermath of
finalising school. She has been enamored with George following the clip
when she was in her early striplings. She sees Bedford Falls as an
unbelievable topographic point to raise a household. Henry F. Potter: Holder
of the nearby bank and a slum swayer. His aim has been to take over and
near down the Manufacturing and Advance to certification that the indigens
of Bedford Falls need to dicker merely with him when they are looking to
acquire a place contract.
Billy Bailey: George’s uncle who in add-on to George’s male parent ran the
„Bailey Blood mates fabricating but Loan„ . He was non basically an
indispensable agent but every bit good as George’s male parent he minded
deeply sing helping the persons of Bedford Falls to stand out. Harry Bailey:
George’s younger blood mate. George recoveries Harry’s being when they
were immature. Harry was fit to go forth Bedford Falls and run over off to
university. By and large he existed the being that George had dreamt of.
Clarence: George’s gatekeeper holy courier who shows George how being in
Bedford Falls could hold been depending on if he had ne’er been born. Just a
piece subsequently does George hold on the positive consequence he has
had in his group.
BEDFORD FALLS BUSINESS WORLD
In the image we were presented to both negative and positive word pictures
of the concern planet. On the negative side we saw Henry Potter who was
the owner of the nearby bank. His component acted for all that might be
declared sing the negative side of concern. He was continuously in a elan
and in a tender temperament. He was concerned sing non a psyche on Earth
else but himself and doing hard currency. He saw the townsfolk as a path for
him to accumulate more hard currency. He saw anybody else acquiring hard
currency as a danger to him. He had no household to assist him acquire a
burden of kernel distinctively. He could non hold on why the Bailey’s did non
dispossess mortgage holders that fell behind on their contracts. All through
the gesture image he was trying to add-on control of the Bailey Blood
couples piecing what’s more Advance.
He attempted legion particular schemes to integrating offering George a
moneymaking work in which control of the collection and progress was
turned over to Potter. On the different manus the Bailey Blood couples
piecing and Advance was depicted as holding a positive consequence in the
group. They had corporate societal load as a major facet of their concern
theoretical account shortly after the look was even authored. George’s father
did non capitalise on the towns people although the gap was at that place.
He may hold made an extended merchandise of hard currency on the
contracts that the constructing and recognition issued and the belongings
holders could non hold perceived themselves as being profited from. This is
ensuing from the fact that they could hold still been acquiring a preferred
deal over they could hold gotten from Potter.
Truth is told ; George’s male parent merely made adequate hard currency to
direct one of his offspring to school. An extra instance of the Manufacturing
and Credit being depicted decidedly is when George began the housing
growing “Bailey Stop” . He advertised alone places at a moderate cost. This
empowered legion townsfolk to travel out of run down tablets and places
that they were renting from Mr. Potter. Indeed George Bailey made Mr.
Martini. who purchased the first place in the betterment. travel into his alone
house. George was indicated as being genuinely blissful and satisfied by
holding the capacity to help the vicinity hold on their dream of place
proprietary.
ETHICAL DILEMMAS
There are some indicates in this image where the elements face moral state
of affairss where their determinations and picks will hold an consequence on
infinite persons and the vicinity as an full. In this country I am determined to
take what I see as several critical moral issues challenged by George Bailey.
how those issues were determined and whether the best finding was made.
The first quandary I desire to focus on on is when the Plank for the Raising
and Advance was garnering to take what to make several months after
George’s male parent had expired and in the interim George wanted to go
forth for university. As of right now George had been running the concern so
once more presuming that he headed off to university at that place could
hold been non a psyche on Earth to run the Manufacturing and Credit.
George’s uncle Billy could hold been ready ; anyhow the sheet did non hold
certainty in his capacity. Potter was on the spline and he was nudging to
close everything down Constructing and Advance and have its ownerships
turned over to his bank. The spline did non prefer to make this but they did
non look to hold any single to eventually run the Raising and Advance the
manner they had a desire to. Meanwhile they did non prefer Potter to
prehend control of the concern.
George preferred rather much to give the persons of Bedford Falls a
topographic point to head off to without necessitating to crawl and beg at
Potter’s articulatio genuss. which Potter obviously liked. The sheet voted to
maintain the Raising and Advance managing with the outlook that George
allowed remain on as the Official Secretary. George might hold efficaciously
deserted the town buttocks and gone in front to hold on his dreams. He
decided on to remain back and run the Raising and Advance while his blood
mate Harry headed off to school. This was the best finding. non basically for
George’s private good being but for the whole group. The townsfolk could
hold been more atrocious off presuming that they had Potter’s bank as the
exclusive determination in town. I without a uncertainty accept I could hold
done the same thing. I could hold been more concerned refering the life
span of my family’s concern that has a positive consequence than my
peculiar short term aims.
The following trouble that I need to take a gander at is when there was a
tally on the bank as George but Mary were go forthing town for their nuptials
trip. Right now the bank had brought in the recognition issued to the
Manufacturing and Credit. George’s uncle Billy was compelled to do the
installment which drained all their money. He bolted the forepart entrance
which made clients discerning. When George grasped what was traveling in
front he headed away to the Fabricating and Advance. opened the gateways
into deal with this exigency. Clients were traveling in mandating that they be
capable allowed entree to their hard currency. Some felt the demand to
retreat all their trusts. Unfortunately the Baileys did non hold any money to
supply their clients. There trust was to close everything down six yearss
while they displaced their shops. As this was traveling in front word got out
that Potter could pay the Bailey’s clients 50 pennies on the dollar provided
that they surrendered their bets to him.
This was clearly an surrogate one sample of Potter misapplying a
opportunity to add-on control of the fabrication and recognition. The Baileys
preferred to remain off from this if whatsoever plausible. George’s married
woman Mary kept up the money that they had set aside for their holiday and
offered to give sufficiency to blanket the clients demands until things settled
down. The Baileys were ready to give adequate money to carry through their
clients. They were down to two dollars when the concluding client left and
the twenty-four hours was finished. The Baileys once more made what I
think was the right pick. George once more set the necessities of the group
beyond his peculiar. He may hold effortlessly let most living external
respiration souls addition installments from Potter. in any instance they
could hold been more atrocious off by acquiring merely portion of what they
saved. It could be demanding to set myself in this scenario on the evidences
that Bankss and different budgetary constitutions have store protection.
I accept I could hold done the same thing. I could non hold any state of
affairs seting off my holiday to recovery the household concern. There could
be an chance to hold that pickup at a ulterior clip. The 3rd quandary I want
to look at is when George’s uncle Billy lost the $ 8. 000. 00 shop on
Christmas Eve. In this scenario Billy is being preoccupied and mistakenly
blends the shop with a day-to-day paper that he shows to Potter. He does
this on the evidences that he is animated refering an article showing that
Harry Bailey has gained the Congressional Decoration of Respect. Potter
does detect the hard currency and he knows that its the shop that Billy has
lost. As an surrogate option of making the right thing and giving the hard
currency back he looks at Billy freezing and sees an surrogate one
opportunity to prehend control of the Constructing and Advance. This
hopefully happens in the interim that a bank inspector appears to reexamine
the Constructing and Loan’s records.
Assuming that the analyst was non at that place they might hold purchased
some opportunity to track down what had truly happened to the shop.
Rather George crazes and he turns to the exclusive person he learns
approximately can acquire him of this scenario. Potter. At no focal point does
George put the reproof with Billy. He is eager to take the autumn for fring
the hard currency. This is luring as he chats with Potter. on history of Potter
knows that it was Billy who lost the shop. Potter consents to progress
George the hard currency provided that he furnishes some kind of security.
The exclusive security George has is a life coverage scheme that has a $ 15.
000 death net income. As of right now Potter provinces to George that he is
preferred off dead. George still sees himself in a no win scenario. In the
aftermath of set up to the vicinity saloon and acquiring plastered he
stumbles out on to a scaffold where is genuinely near resiling off and
butchering himself.
This is where George meets the watcher sanctum courier Clarence and
George lets him cognize that he detests his being and that he wishes he was
ne’er conceived. Clarence sees this as an gap to demo George that he has
had an consequence in Bedford Falls. When George sees that the town could
be more atrocious off without him he wishes for his kernel back. As this is
traveling in front word gets out refering the scenario that George is in. After
George returns place to his married woman and household the folks of
Bedford Falls appear at his doorsill transporting hard currency to help the
Baileys blanket the losing shop. George unimpeachably made the right
finding here. No scenario is pressing plenty to support butchering yourself.
There is invariably person that you can turn to. Resulting from the fact that
he had put the community’s demands in front of his specific for so extended
the persons of Bedford Falls did non waver to travel to his support. I don’t
think the same could be stated if Potter was in this scenario. I am non
certain depending on if I could hold done the same thing as George here. I
could hold approached with the existent truth that the shop was lost by Billy.
Additionally. at no focal point could I have scrutinized self-destruction. No
scenario is pressing plenty to recommend slaying yourself.
OTHER SCENARIOS
One different moral predicament that I saw at an opportune clip was when
the owner of the apothecary’s shop. Mr. Gower. mistakenly put toxin in a
solution while he was inebriated. George may hold efficaciously looked the
different manner or told another individual what had happened. As an
surrogate option he crisp out to Mr. Gower. who from the beginning was
incensed but in the aftermath of hold oning what happened was appreciative
to George.
A different 1 was when Potter offered George a peculiarly moneymaking
work opportunity at the bank every bit extended as George turned over
control of the Manufacturing and Advance to Potter. Although George could
hold been improved off in fiscal matters he picked non to take the work. The
concluding 1 I need to bespeak is when Potter identified that Billy had
mistakenly intermingled the $ 8. 000 shop in with the day-to-day paper he
gave to Potter. Potter might every bit good hold done the right thing and
gave back where its due to the Baileys. Alternately he saw a different
opportunity for his peculiar private add-on.
Summary
Even though its viewed as a feel great siesta gesture image. this image
offers a phenomenal gap to prove typical moral jobs that face minor concern
directors in modest towns. It demonstrates that fortes in minor towns are
confronted with findings that consequence either in a positive or a negative
manner folks who are their comrades and neighbours. To run with that as a
concern director we should non obviously see the consequence we have on
persons exists. we do really do a divergency in legion persons exists. This
might be negative as perceived when George was demonstrated a Bedford
Falls where Potter had his way or it might be positive as George
apprehended when he saw the elected to him non being at that place.
George Bailey demonstrated that a modest concern might be assuring
acknowledging that the holder does non acquire rich financially but acquire
rich in different ways.

~~

It's a wonderful lesson

Story highlights
 We are all George Bailey. We don't fully appreciate what we have or what we
accomplish
 There's value in not doing "great things," but small things in a great way

"Each man's life touches so many other lives," explains Clarence Odbody, Angel
Second Class. "When he isn't around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?"

Our lives are full of wonder, it seems, by the mere fact of our interconnectedness.
"We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is," wrote Kurt
Vonnegut. Remove one Jenga piece and the tower begins to wobble.

At the start of the 1946 cinema gem, we witness a highlight reel in the seemingly
ordinary life of the main character, George Bailey, within the confines of little
Bedford Falls, New York. But on the way to nowhere, Bailey rescues his little
brother from drowning, saves another kid from getting accidentally poisoned, helps
locals build new homes, falls in love and has four precocious children.

These and other actions all have reverberations. "Hier zu sein ist so veil" ("To be
here is immense") wrote the poet Rilke. The fallout of George's actions doesn't
become clear until he experiences a dystopian version of history in which he never
existed.

In the alternative reality, a ship full of soldiers in World War II die because they
weren't saved by the war hero brother that George saved from drowning. The town
chemist goes to jail for decades for the accidental death of the other kid. The whole
town warps into a den of vice and slums because George's greedy nemesis, the
immoral Henry Potter, goes unimpeded. And worst of all, judging by the horror on
George's face when he learns her fate, his wife becomes a spinster librarian.

The parallel universe demonstrates for Bailey the obvious fact that everything a
person does affects (positively or negatively) others.
But that's not the real wisdom of the film.

Bailey isn't struck by what an important cog he is in the gears of a Bedford Falls
progress machine. His real moment of epiphany, as he pleads to Clarence to end
his never-been-born nightmare, is to return to all the things he loved.

He just wants what he already had, the life he now realizes he failed to appreciate
as wonderful.

The hidden 'Life'

As we watch his life unfold from elementary school to adulthood, George Bailey
becomes a profile of quiet desperation. His heart longs to travel overseas and be a
famous architect, but his various plans are thwarted by everything from the death
of his father to the Great Depression. He's stuck in a job he seems to hate while his
friends and brother are living out the adventures he desires for himself.

"It's a Wonderful Life"

He knows his job helps people, he knows he's a decent man, that he has a lovely
wife and darling children and lives in a community of well-meaning friends and
family, but that's not enough for him.

Before his celestial intervention, George is so profoundly unhappy with his cloyingly
small-town life that all it takes is a missing $8,000 from his business and the threat
of bankruptcy and disgrace to tip the scales in favor of suicide.

We are all George Bailey. We have dreams unrealized. We are stressed by daily life.
We don't fully appreciate what we have, or by what we've managed to accomplish
despite our obstacles. We are too often focused on the wrong things. And we are
closer than we realize to a huge, catastrophic meltdown triggered by a single
financial calamity.

But we're also capable of re-creating Bailey's profound realization. "Though we live
much of our lives outside, in action and engagement in the world, the deeper
impact of what happens is registered in the narrative of the heart," writes the poet
John O'Donohue in his collection "To Bless the Space Between Us."

O'Donohue's superpower is similar to Clarence the angel's: to tease out the sublime
meaning in ordinary moments. "Without our ever noticing, the heart absorbs the
joy of things and also their pain and care," he writes, seemingly of George Bailey's
wonderful life, and then of the character's epiphany, "It is wise now and again to
tune in to your heart and listen for what it carries. Sometimes the simplest things
effect unexpected transformation."

The real lesson of "It's a Wonderful Life" is that what you think you want out of life
and how we spend our days in it, may not be nearly as important as the vital layers
accumulating within you, hidden in plain sight.
Love for friends and family, the decency we exchange with those around us, the
value of not doing "great things" but small things in a great way. Those are life's
moments inscribed in our heart. And what this wonderful film reminds us to do --
should auld lessons be forgot and never brought to mind -- is to take our heart out
and read it every so often. At least every Christmas.

~~

It’s A Wonderful Life: The Miraculous Origins Of A Christmas Classic

“It’s A Wonderful Life” is the story of a man whose big-city dreams are
persistently thwarted by small-town realities. George Bailey, a bank
manager both doomed and saved by his community.
George Bailey and his loving hometown of Bedford Falls are unmistakably on
the side of the angels throughout, but for most of the narrative, Bailey is
miserable. He longs to get out and see the world, only to find himself
trapped by dull responsibilities back home.
Bedford Falls, meanwhile, is always just one turn of bad luck away from the
garish, vice-ridden hell of Pottersville, where the ordinary folks are all
prostitutes, drunks and gamblers. Though the greedy monopolist Mr. Potter
serves as the film’s villain, all of his dastardly schemes depend on the people
of Bedford Falls going along with them. Potter calls it a town full of
“suckers,” and in his darker moods, Bailey agrees ― it’s just a “crummy little
town.”
Pottersville was inspired by Reno, which served as Capra’s unlikely gateway
into the movie industry.
Marxism, In short, he was perfectly attuned to the ideological mood of the
country. From the other side of the Cold War, Americans are accustomed to
understanding our government as a democratic middle-ground between
right-wing fascist dictatorship and left-wing communist dictatorship. But the
concrete surrounding these intellectual categories hadn’t yet hardened
during the Great Depression. Plenty of FDR supporters saw no contradiction
in their admiration for Mussolini, while others were enamored of the Soviet
project. With the world crumbling around them, it wasn’t obvious what
American life would look like after the Depression, if it would exist at all.
~~

‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ is a holiday classic. The FBI thought it was

communist propaganda.
Every holiday season, millions of people cozy up near a warm fireplace or at least a
warm television to watch a familiar black-and-white tale, the 1946 classic “It’s a
Wonderful Life.”
The film, which director Frank Capra considered his best, follows the down-on-his-luck
George Bailey. He’s a businessman in the fictional town of Bedford Falls, who is about to
lose his loan company to the rich, evil banker Mr. Potter. Bailey considers committing
suicide on Christmas Eve, deciding his family and the townspeople would be better off
without him. But a guardian angel appears. The angel presents Bailey an alternative
timeline in which he doesn’t exist, showing the suicidal man how much he’s helped
those around him.
With stars Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, the movie was a commercial and critical
success, earning five Oscar nominations, including one for best picture. In 1990, the
Library of Congress inducted the film into the National Film Registry. It’s the perfect
flick for the holidays: a touching story of how our actions affect everyone around us, and
how everyone is an integral part of a community’s fabric.
The FBI didn’t see it that way.
Instead, J. Edgar Hoover’s Communist-hunting agents thought it was a Trojan horse
sneaking anti-American propaganda to the masses. This argument was compiled in a
memo written by an unnamed special agent in the FBI’s Los Angeles field office about
“communist infiltration” of the motion picture industry.
From 1942 to 1958, the Los Angeles field office investigated more than 200 movies,
fearing they had been turned into weapons of communist propaganda, as John A.
Noakes wrote in “The Cold War and the Movies.” The FBI generally looked into films
connected to personalities associated with the Communist Party, which is what drew
them to “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
The FBI claimed that two of its screenwriters, Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett,
“were very close to known Communists and on one occasion in the recent past …
practically lived with known Communists and were observed” eating lunch every day
with “known Communists.”
So an agent watched the movie and wrote a report claiming it “represented a rather
obvious attempt to discredit bankers.”
For example, the report said, the film cast Lionel Barrymore as Mr. Potter, the “‘scrooge-
type’ so that he would be the most hated man in the picture.” On its face, that’s true: The
plot wouldn’t work if the crowd were cheering for Potter to repossess Bailey’s business.
But, the FBI agent claimed that according to “informants,” this was “a common trick
used by Communists.”
The agent’s grievances didn’t stop there.
The report claimed the movie “deliberately maligned the upper class, attempting to
show the people who had money were mean and despicable characters.”
The FBI argued the movie could have portrayed Mr. Potter as “following the rules as laid
down by the State Bank Examiners in connection with making loans.”
Though the film was deemed subversive, not much came of the investigation. The FBI
gave a report to the House Un-American Activities Committee, an investigative
subcommittee established to suss out organizations and individuals with suspected
communist ties. But HUAC, as it was called, chose not to take any action and allowed
the movie to keep playing, according to Smithsonian magazine.
While the suspicion of the film was typical for the FBI during that era, a movie as
popular as “It’s a Wonderful Life” will always launch a thousand interpretations.
For example, Birmingham City University criminology professor David Wilson wrote in
the Guardian that he pops open a bottle of wine and watches the movie without his
family every year because it’s “the closest an atheist can get to heaven.” Wilson called it
“the least religious but most humanist film that you could ever see.”
On the other hand, Anne Morse wrote in the Christian Post the movie is “a magnificent
cinematic depiction of the words of Jesus: ‘For what will it profit a man if he gains the
whole world and forfeits his own soul?’ (Matthew 16:26).”

~~

‘It’s a Wonderful Life’

restored on 4K
James Stewart and Donna Reed star in this timeless tale. We have all
wondered what life would have been like if we had not been born. What
have our lives meant to others? Well, for George Bailey who is on the brink
of financial ruin, he actually gets the chance to find out. With the help of
Clarence (Henry Travers), an angel in waiting, George learns exactly what
his life has meant to the people of the town of Bedford Falls. Even though he
is in a state of confusion, depression, and frustration, George gets a life
lesson that is truly uplifting for all viewers.

~~

It's a Wonderful Life

The film opens on Christmas Eve as George Bailey (played by James
Stewart) is contemplating suicide. Prayers for George are heard in
heaven, and Clarence Oddbody (Henry Travers), a second-class angel
who has yet to earn his wings, is tasked with saving him. First,
however, he is shown highlights of George’s life in the small town of
Bedford Falls. Through a number of acts beginning in childhood,
George is revealed as selfless and kindhearted. After the death of his
father, George sets aside his dreams of traveling the world in order to
run his family’s savings and loan business. His decision earns the
enmity of greedy banker Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), who is
determined to close the business.
As the years pass, George marries Mary (Donna Reed) and has
children. One Christmas Eve, Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell)
unknowingly gives the company’s bank deposit to the ever-scheming
Mr. Potter, who secretly keeps the money. The bank examiner quickly
discovers that the deposit is missing, and George faces financial
disaster and arrest. Distraught, he gets drunk and heads to a bridge in
order to kill himself. At this point Clarence appears and shows George
what life would be like for his loved ones and neighbours had he never
lived. The experience renews George’s passion for life, and his trials
and hardships in turn spark an outpouring of love and benevolence in
the small community. After returning home, he is visited by family and
friends, who donate money to cover the missing deposit—proving that
George is “the richest man in town.” As they sing “Auld Lang Syne,” a
bell on the Christmas tree rings, indicating that Clarence has earned
his wings.

~~

George Bailey Saw the

Miracle of Capitalism
The world owes its wealth to the likes of the thrifty lender, but today’s youth
are tempted to give it all up.
Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” rose from commercial failure after
its 1946 release to Christmas fixture starting in the 1970s. The film tells a
story offering insight into how Americans perceive our economy and their
role in it. Do the burdens of our economic system, mirrored in the
suffering of George Bailey, justify our economic suicide? Whereas today’s
Democratic presidential candidates embrace a dark, nihilistic view, most
working Americans see our economy and its demands as hard and
challenging but ultimately redemptive. The resonance of Capra’s message
suggests that America’s future is still promising.

~~
It's a wonderful life -- and a political
one
Loved most for its personal message of discovery at Christmas: that its
hero's life has been, unbeknownst to him, crucial to his family, friends,
community, and even his country.

Such general encouragement may seem more needed than ever these days;
indeed, this may be, sadly, the cause of the film's popularity. But "It's a
Wonderful Life" may be more important still for its overlooked lesson in
democratic economics, a lesson arising from the struggle for survival of a
combination credit union and savings bank, the Bailey Building & Loan in the
Everytown of Bedford Falls.

The Building & Loan's founder and chief executive, Peter Bailey, has died and
its board of directors is deciding the institution's future. The richest man in
town, Potter, a misanthropic banker, ruthless landlord, and board member,
played by Lionel Barrymore, proposes dissolving the Building & Loan, and his
callousness angers Bailey's elder son, George, played earnestly by Jimmy
Stewart, who has been working as assistant to his father.

POTTER: Peter Bailey was not a businessman. That's what killed him. Oh, I
don't mean any disrespect to him, God rest his soul. He was a man of high
ideals -- so-called. But ideals without common sense can ruin this town.
Now you take this loan here, to Ernie Bishop. You know, the fellow who sits
around all day on his ... brains, in his taxi. I happen to know the bank
turned down this loan. But he comes here, and we're building him a house
worth $5,000. Why?

GEORGE BAILEY: Well, I handled that, Mr. Potter. You have all the papers
there -- his salary, insurance. I can personally vouch for his character.

POTTER: A friend of yours.

BAILEY: Yes, Sir.

POTTER: You see, if you shoot pool with some employee, you can come and
borrow money. What does that get us? A discontented, lazy rabble instead
of a thrifty working class. And all because a few starry-eyed dreamers like
Peter Bailey stir them up and fill their heads with a lot of impossible ideas.
Now I say. ...

BAILEY: Now hold on, Mr. Potter. Just a minute. Now you're right when you
say my father was no businessman -- I know that. Why he ever started this
cheap, penny-ante building-and-loan I'll never know. But neither you nor
anyone else can say anything against his character, because his whole life
was. ... Why, in the 25 years since he and Uncle Billy started this thing, he
never thought of himself. Isn't that right, Uncle Billy? He didn't save enough
money to send Harry to school, let alone me, but he did help a few people
get out of your slums, Mr. Potter. Now, what's wrong with that? Why, you're
all businessmen here. Doesn't it make them better citizens? Doesn't it make
them better customers? You said that ... what did you say a minute ago?
"They have to wait and save their money before they even think of a decent
home." Wait? Wait for what? Until their children grow up and leave them?
Until they're so old and broken-down that they. ... Do you know how long it
takes a working man to save $5,000? Just remember this, Mr. Potter: that
this "rabble" you're talking about, they do most of the working and paying
and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them
work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath?
Anyway, my father didn't think so. ...

At the board's insistence, George Bailey takes over in his father's place
to keep the Building & Loan going, and soon he forestalls a run on it, part of
a general financial panic, by putting up the money he has saved for his
honeymoon and by preaching to a mob of frightened depositors about how
they should not withdraw their money but instead have faith in the
institution, because their money isn't kept in cash in the safe but rather is
invested in the houses, the mortgages, the very lives of their neighbors.

Of course this is Capra's metaphor for politics and the world: that there is
progress when everyone is given a chance, a little capital and credit, when
people play by the rules, look out for each other, and don't take too much
more than they need, and that selfishness is the ruin of everything.

Something like this -- more or less a policy of helping to make middle-class

everyone who aspired to it and would indeed play by the rules, a policy of
democratizing capital and credit -- made the United States the most
prosperous country and the most successful in elevating the human
condition.

But for a few decades now the price of obtaining and maintaining
those "two decent rooms and a bath" and the middle-class life to go with it
has risen as real wages have stagnated for most, largely under the pressure
of government's unrelenting taxes in the name of services that have not
really been rendered, a welfare system that has subsidized what somehow is
not permitted to be called the antisocial behavior it is, and a plutocracy that
has gained control of the economy and both major political parties.

There seem to be more people who, if too confused or demoralized to be

dangerous, are still closer to being a "rabble" than the country saw even
during the Great Depression.

Even at its best now Christmas is seldom more than an itinerant charity that,
necessary as it may seem, tends to suppress the great political question of
the day after Christmas, the question of how things can be organized to
ensure that everyone has a good chance to earn his way in decency. But the
great joy of Christmas is that the answer has been given, that we are not
lost, that the country has been shown the way and can recover it -- that
society can work for all, that it really can be a wonderful life if enough
selfless people make it a political one.
~~

It's A Wonderful Life Summary

It’s A Wonderful Life begins on Christmas Eve in a small town
in upstate New York called Bedford Falls. Up in heaven,
angels discuss the plight of George Bailey, a pillar of the
town community who is contemplating suicide. They decide
to assign a second-tier angel, Clarence, to George, in order
to help him not lose hope. To begin, they show Clarence
moments from George's life to prepare him. We see George
at 12 save his brother Harry when he falls into a river in the
winter. In the course of the rescue, George loses hearing in
his left ear.
Next, George works for Mr. Gower at a drugstore. When he's
asked to deliver a prescription for a kid in town, he sees that
Mr. Gower has accidentally put poison in the pills. George
prevents the delivery and saves another life. Years later, we
see a fully grown George Bailey, a man determined to
explore the world. The day before he is set to leave for his
journey overseas, George's father dies and Potter, the richest
man in town, wants to dissolve Bailey Building and Loan, the
family company. Potter is prevented from dissolving Bailey
Building and Loan on one condition: that George stay on and
run the company. George's dream of traveling and going to
college is dashed, but he agrees to save his father’s
business. He gives his college money to his brother, Harry,
who goes on to become a second-team All-American football
player.
George is excited for Harry’s return because Harry is meant
to take over the Building and Loan, but Harry arrives to
Bedford Falls having already secured a job in a nearby town.
Again, George must put his dreams aside for his brother’s
wellbeing. At the same time, Mary, a young girl who is in
love with George, has returned from college. George goes to
see her and they fall in love and marry. On their way to their
honeymoon, there is a bank run and they must sacrifice all of
their wedding money to the people of the town in order to
keep the Building and Loan open. Since they never get to go
on a honeymoon, Mary makes up an old abandoned home for
their honeymoon suite. She even purchases the house for
them to renovate and inhabit.
Years pass and we see George and Mary helping families of
little means purchase homes, while their friends are
becoming wealthy and living in New York. George has taken
over a large portion of land which has allowed many low-
income families to enjoy quality homes and get out from
under the thumb of the profit-mongering Potter. In a
strategic move, Potter offers George a handsome salary to
come work as his assistant, but George rejects his offer,
determined to work for the greater good instead.
When World War II breaks out, Harry goes off and fights
nobly, earning a Congressional Medal of Honor. Back in
Bedford Falls, the bank examiner has come to review the
Building and Loan accounts, but that same day, Uncle Billy
accidentally put an $8,000 deposit into a newspaper that
Potter is reading. Potter realizes it and keeps the money,
while Billy scrambles to find it with George. In desperation,
George goes to Potter for a loan, but Potter calls in a warrant
for his arrest. At home, George becomes inconsolably angry
about his imminent professional demise. He gets drunk,
wrecks his car, and goes to a bridge where he contemplates
committing suicide. Just in time, Clarence—his guardian
angel—falls into the icy river and George jumps in to rescue
him.
When they are safe on shore, Clarence tells George he is
assigned to him to help him, and if he does so he will get his
wings. George doesn’t believe him and the two go back into
town for a drink. However, Clarence has made George's wish
—never to have been born—a reality. No one in town
recognizes George, and all of his good deeds—saving his
brother, saving Mr. Gower, protecting the town from Potter,
marrying Mary—did not even happen. Terrified, George runs
back to the bridge to pray for his life back.
George is sent back to his real life, which fills him with a new
sense of purpose and joy. He sprints through the town
wishing everyone Merry Christmas and when he gets home
Mary has gotten the whole town to rally around him to get
him the $8,000 that the business needs to survive. All the
sacrifices that George has made for others in his life
culminates in those same people sacrificing in order to help
him.

It's A Wonderful Life Themes

Sacrifice
Throughout the film, we see George sacrifice his dreams for
the good of his family and the community in which he lives.
It begins with him staying behind to run his father's business
and sacrificing his dreams of attending college and traveling
the world. Then, George can't even get away for a
honeymoon with Mary, because the town is mobbing the
Building and Loan for their money after the bank crashes. We
see George continually sacrifice his hopes of leaving Bedford
Falls in order to do what he believes is the right thing.
His sacrifice eventually takes an emotional toll after his uncle
Billy loses the Building and Loan company's money
accidentally; George goes to the evil Mr. Potter and tells him
that he lost the money, sacrificing his own life in order to
save Billy's skin. He then realizes that he is "worth more
dead than alive," when he realizes that his life insurance
policy would earn his family more than he can earn for them
while he is living. George is consistently looking for ways to
make sacrifices in order to help others.
Building a Community
Mr. Potter is out to take over Bedford Falls and consolidate all
the power he can. George takes the opposite approach,
sacrificing whenever possible in order to build a more ideal
community for everyone. He believes in the people of
Bedford Falls, in their dreams and their hopes of building a
better future for themselves and their families. Thus, a major
motivating factor in George's life is building a community in
which mutual support can thrive and in which people take
care of one another.
The reason George is willing to sacrifice so much is because
he realizes that by doing so, he is creating a better
community, one in which everyone gets more and no man
inches too far ahead. His communal fantasy is one in which
everyone has an opportunity to grow and thrive in society,
and he achieves his intentions to make this community a
reality.
Faith
Having faith, and the lack of faith, are two major themes in
George Bailey's journey. George is filled with loads of faith
for his future at the start of the film. He believes his life is
made for extraordinary feats and huge ambitions. His faith is
tested time and time again by adversity, but he is able to be
resilient and maintain his plucky sense of what is possible.
He continually believes that by doing the right thing, he will
still be able to achieve his dreams.
However, when circumstances become dire, George loses
faith in life and begins to fear that everything has turned out
for the worst. In this moment, he has a crisis of meaning and
considers throwing away his life and all he has built. Through
the help of Clarence, his guardian angel, George regains his
faith and is given a miracle from the people he believed in to
save him from financial ruin. The film suggests that through
good faith and a belief in what's possible, any man can pull
himself out of adversity.
Kindness
George is defined not only by his self-sacrifice and his belief
in human goodness, but by his kindness and compassion.
Part of what allows George to make such giant sacrifices
when they are called for is the fact that he is compassionate
and wants to give to people. While he could have thrown
away his father's company to attend college, George chooses
instead to stand up for the little men in the town and
confront Potter. It is kindness that leads him to this decision.
Then, when his and Mary's honeymoon is interrupted by the
Great Depression, they choose to give away their savings to
help the people of the town get by. Both Mary and George
exhibit immense amounts of kindness and goodwill towards
their fellow Bedford Falls residents, and it is this spirit of
kindness that encourages the citizens of the town to give
back to them when they are in dire straits.
Everyone is Important
George believes that every man is important, and this is the
cornerstone of his philosophy as a leader. Rather than
suggesting that only those who earn their seat at the table
are deserving of the goods of the world, George recognizes
that, in a corrupt society, those who are less fortunate need
an extra boost. This is what gives him a sense of purpose at
the Building and Loan company, and what motivates him to
open the housing development for low-income families. He
helps deliver low-income families from the hiked-up prices of
the Potter slums to give opportunities to those who might not
otherwise have them. In George's view of the world, no man
is insignificant and everyone has a right to the opportunity to
enjoy their life. He could easily fire or dismiss his uncle Billy
on the grounds of his absentmindedness and incompetence,
but he sees Billy as an important part of the Bailey Building
and Loan company. George sees the good in the common
man, and it is this belief system that makes him such a
dynamic and beloved pillar of the community.
Dreaming
George is also defined by his tendency to dream. At the
beginning of his life, he has big plans to see the world and be
an adventurer. When he is courting Mary, he tells her all
about his big plans and tells her that he will lasso the moon
for her, imagining a whole elaborate image of transcendence
and mastery of nature. Later, we see that George's daughter,
Zuzu, has inherited his desire to dream, taking an especial
interest in a flower that she gets at school. As she sits in bed
sick with a cold, George tells Zuzu that she should sleep, and
while she sleeps she will dream not only of a flower, but of a
whole garden.
Small-town America
The film is very much about the dignity of small-town
America. In spite of his initial wishes, George Bailey cannot
seem to find a way to leave Bedford Falls. As long as he is
staying, he makes a point of improving his community and
protecting it from mercenary and corporate interests. Thus,
he ends up embodying the heart of small-town ethics and
sensible American values. The film takes place in a town
where people look out for their neighbors and fight for the
common good, and George Bailey is hugely influential in
making sure this is so.

It's A Wonderful Life Symbols, Allegory and Motifs

Crows and Squirrels (Symbols)
Uncle Billy, the absentminded brother of George Bailey's
mother, works at the Building and Loan, and keeps a number
of animals. One animal, a black crow, he keeps in the office
itself. The crow symbolizes the fact that the Building and
Loan company is constantly on the verge of closing down, as
crows symbolize death. Especially in the scene in which there
is a bank run and people are planning to withdraw their
money from the building and loan, the crow symbolizes that
the company is on the verge of collapse.
Additionally, the crow and the squirrel that Billy keeps at
home symbolize Billy's general eccentricity, his desire to care
for animals rather than focusing on business.
Coconut (Symbol)
Early in the film we see young George give Mary coconut on
her ice cream after describing it as a tropical fruit from far
away Tahiti. The coconut is a symbol for George's dreams
and his plans to travel the world. It represents the fact that
he has done a lot of research about the rest of the world and
is interested in exploring and adventuring.
The Honeymoon Suite (Symbol)
On the night that George and Mary must skip their
honeymoon in order to help keep the Building and Loan
survive, Mary and some friends fix up the old dilapidated
mansion in town and turn it into a makeshift honeymoon
spot. Mary also informs George that she has purchased the
house for them to live in. As George wanders into the house,
it is leaking from the rain and in a state of complete
disrepair. In spite of this, Mary and others have hung up
posters of exotic travel destinations, a record is playing, the
table is set, and two chickens are roasting on an open fire
next to the dining table. The house, dilapidated but warmed
by love and ingenuity, represents George and Mary's shared
ability to make the best out of any situation, no matter how
disappointing. They are undeterred by having to give away
their honeymoon savings, and find joy in the unusual
circumstances of their honeymoon.
"George lassoes the moon" (Symbol)
After their first date, Mary gets an illustration of George
lassoing the moon, a highfalutin' and dreamy promise he
made to her as they were falling in love. She keeps the
illustration in memory of her love for him, and it represents
the fact that Mary admires George's imagination and
romantic spirit.
On the night that George declines the offer from Potter to
work for him and take a pay raise, he returns home and
looks at the illustration. In this moment, the illustration
represents the fact that he is turning down opportunities to
see the world and achieve his dreams in order to do what's
right. Suddenly, it has a different symbolic meaning,
representing the sacrifices that George is willing to make.
The Plot Itself (Allegory)
The plot of the film itself, and the narrative in which a
guardian angel comes down to help a suicidal man learn to
value life, is an allegory. Clarence's mission with George, and
the ways that he shows him what life would be like without
him, represents the value of life: the fact that everyone is
important in the formation and meaning of the world.

It's A Wonderful Life Quotes and Analysis

"You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso
around it and pull it down."
George
George says this to Mary on their first date after the school
dance. It shows that George has great hopes and dreams to
fulfill. He is so confident in his ability to achieve his dreams
that he suggests that he can lasso the moon and give it to
Mary.
"Homesick? For Bedford Falls?"
George
George screams this at Mary because he can't believe that
anyone would choose to stay in Bedford Falls. He sees it as
an old crummy town that he can't wait to get out of and see
the world. He is also overcompensating trying to show Mary
that he is not in love with her, even though he is very much
in love with her.
"Better to get half than to get nothin'."
Tom
Tom, one of the residents of Bedford Falls, tells this to the
mob at the Building and Loan when he hears that Potter is
offering fifty cents on the dollar for people to leave the
Baileys' business and come to him. His statement embodies
the panic that was sweeping over the entire nation during the
Great Depression.
"Teacher says, 'Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his
wings.'"
Zuzu
At the end of the film, George's daughter, Zuzu, notices that
there is a bell ringing on the Christmas tree and delivers this
line, which rings true for George, who just had a real live
run-in with a guardian angel in search of some wings.
"My mouth's bleeding, Bert! My mouth's bleedin'!"
George
George says this when he realizes that he is no longer in
Clarence's hypothetical reality, but returned to his real life.
While it seems like, logically, he ought to be concerned about
his bleeding lip, he is actually overjoyed, as it signals to him
that his life has returned to the way that it was.
"Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other
lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't
he?"
Clarence
In the cemetery, Clarence says this to George in response to
the fact that, were George to have never been born, his
brother Harry would have died as a child. Clarence comments
on the fact that, although George thinks the world would
have been better without him, he has in fact touched so
many lives and made them better.
 "People were human beings to him. But to you, a warped,
frustrated old man, they're cattle. Well in my book, my father
died a much richer man than you'll ever be!"
George
After George's father dies, the evil Mr. Potter wants to shut
down his business, Bailey's Building and Loan. In an
impassioned speech, George denounces Potter's greed and
suggests that, even if his father wasn't a particularly
successful businessman, he tried to help people and he
believed in the little man, which made him far "richer" than
Potter might ever hope to be.
"George Bailey, I'll love you 'til the day I die."Mary Hatch
As a young girl, Mary has a big crush on George. One day,
while visiting him at his work at the drugstore, she whispers
this line into his deaf ear. It is a sweet and heartwarming
confession, but one that literally falls on a deaf ear.
"To my big brother George, the richest man in town!"
Harry
At the very end of the film, George's younger brother Harry,
a war hero, comes into his house, as everyone in town is
donating money to help the Building and Loan company stay
afloat. He raises a toast to his older brother and celebrates
how much he has done for the town, and how he is a man
rich in good fortune.
"Peter Bailey was not a business man. That's what killed
him."
Potter
Potter says this to George about his father, a rather heartless
thing to say. He does not believe in the benevolence that Mr.
Bailey exhibited towards his customers, and makes it sound
pathological. This shows the extent to which Potter can only
see the world in terms of money and profit.

It's A Wonderful Life Irony

Charleston (Dramatic Irony)
At the graduation party in the gym, Mary and George do the
Charleston exuberantly, as the floor of the gym opens up to
reveal the pool beneath. While the crowds around them can
see the danger they are in and scream out in fear, Mary and
George remain clueless, believing that the crowd is cheering
because they are so good at dancing. In this moment, the
viewer and the other attendees of the dance know something
that George and Mary do not, to rather comic effect.
"George Bailey, I’ll love you until the day I die" (Dramatic Irony)
When they are children, Mary and George talk to each other
at the drugstore where George works. George leans over to
pick something up, and Mary whispers in his ear, "George
Bailey, I’ll love you until the day I die." While this seems like
a major confession on Mary's part, she makes sure that she
is saying it in his deaf ear. The viewer knows that Mary is in
love with George, but George has no idea.
Gower's Tragedy (Dramatic Irony)
In one of the early scenes, George sees a piece of mail that
Gower got that day telling him that his son died while away
at college. In this moment, George and the viewer know
some personal details about Gower's life, but Gower does not
know we know. George then notices that Gower has
accidentally put some poison into a prescription. This
moment constitutes another instance of dramatic irony, in
which we (and George) know something that Gower and the
other characters do not know. This dramatic irony creates
higher stakes in the narrative.
Potter has the $8,000 (Dramatic Irony)
When Uncle Billy goes to the bank to deposit $8,000 to the
Building and Loan account, he accidentally slips it into a
newspaper that Potter is reading. The viewer watches as
Potter discovers the money and realizes that it belongs to the
Bailey Building and Loan, but then says nothing. The viewer
is privy to the fact that Potter is behaving completely
unethically, but George has no idea, which creates yet
another instance of dramatic irony.
Broke
George tells the bank examiner that the Building & Loan is
broke as the man is coming in to examing their books. The
man thinks it's a bad joke, but ironically George is telling the
truth and the guy doesn't get it one bit.

It's A Wonderful Life Imagery

Romeo & Juliet
George goes to Mary's when she returns from college. We
see him standing outside her house while she talks to him
from the second floor window. It appears like a Romeo and
Juliet moment, even if George is behaving rather coldly
towards his would-be flame.
Phone Call from New York
Mary gets a call from Sam while George is visiting her. He
gets on the phone with her and Capra shoots the two very
close. There is a palpable romantic tension between the two,
as they are each in love with another, but unable to express
it. Finally, they drop the phone and embrace one another in a
flurry of kisses.
Pool
In the middle of the graduation party, two jealous outsiders
open up the gym floor to reveal a large pool below. George
and Mary, blithely unaware of the floor opening up,
Charleston directly into the pool in their formalwear. When
the other partiers see George and Mary laughing about what
has happened, they begin to jump into the pool as well.
Bridal Suite
For their makeshift honeymoon, Mary prepares their old
broken down house with posters of faraway places, a fire, a
record player, and a fully set dinner table. Capra shows the
leaky roof pouring water into the house, the broken windows,
and a staircase that is falling apart. In spite of its disrepair,
Mary has made the house feel like a home, a romantic
hideaway for them to make their own.

Major Conflict
George Bailey is considering taking his life after Mr. Potter
has stolen $8,000 from his company and George is under
threat of arrest.
Climax
Clarence stops George from throwing his life away and the
people of Bedford Falls pitch in to cover George's losses and
keep his business open.
Foreshadowing
The angels tell Clarence that George is considering taking his
life.
Understatement
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
Allusions
Allusions to Tom Sawyer, Judeo-Christian angels.
Paradox
Every time that George tries to leave Bedford Falls, he ends
up needing to stay for some new reason. His dreams of
exploration and travel are compromised time and time again.
Parallelism
The bridal suite scene parallels the first date for Mary and
George, as it is the house they both made their wishes on.

It's A Wonderful Life Summary and Analysis of Part 1

Summary
It's snowing in a small town called Bedford Falls. We see the
exteriors of different houses and can hear the people inside,
praying to God to help someone named George. We then see
the solar system in outer space, and the camera settles on a
small cluster of stars. Someone named Franklin says to
someone named Joseph that they are going to "have to send
someone down" to help the George in question.
They discuss George Bailey, and the fact that they need to
send a clockmaker named Clarence—an angel who hasn't
gotten his wings yet—down to help him. "You know, sir, he's
got the IQ of a rabbit," one of them says of Clarence, to
which the other cluster of stars responds, "Yes, but he's got
the faith of a child." They call Clarence over and tell him that
he has to go down and help George Bailey at 10:45, before
he contemplates committing suicide.
Clarence asks whether he will earn his wings if he is
successful in his mission—he has been waiting for his wings
for over 200 years—and Franklin tells him he will. He then
tells Clarence to put down his book, Mark Twain's The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and listen to the story of George
Bailey's life.
We see George Bailey as a 12-year-old boy, riding a shovel
as a sled down a snowy hill. The year is 1919. His younger
brother, Harry, sleds down the hill after him, but then ends
up falling into a hole in the ice. George helps him out, but we
learn that the incident led him to get an ear infection and
lose his hearing in that ear.
After this, we see George and a group of boys as he goes to
work at Old Man Gower's drugstore. On the street, the boys
spot a carriage passing by, which carries Henry F. Potter,
"the richest and meanest man in the county." George goes
into the drugstore and wishes for a million dollars, as a girl,
Mary, smiles and sits at the counter. Meanwhile, Gower
drinks in the back room.
As George gets to work, another little girl, Violet, enters and
sits at the counter, ordering shoelaces. When Violet leaves,
Mary orders some chocolate ice cream from George. She tells
him she doesn't like coconuts and George pulls out a
National Geographic magazine, pointing out that coconuts
come from Tahiti in the Coral Sea. He then tells her he's
been nominated to become a member of the National
Geographic Society.
As George bends over, Mary whispers into his deaf ear,
"George Bailey, I'll love you until the day I die." He tells her
he's going to have three or four wives, when Gower yells at
him to be quiet. George looks down and sees a letter that
Gower just received. It states that his son died of influenza
earlier that morning.
After giving Mary her ice cream, George goes into the back
room and tries to help Gower in whatever way he can. Gower
tells him to bring some pills to a woman in town who is
suffering from diphtheria, when George realizes that Gower
has accidentally added poison to the prescription. He runs
out of the drugstore, going directly to his father's office, at
Bailey Brothers' Building and Loan. He goes upstairs to talk
to his father, Peter Bailey. His uncle Billy tells George that his
father is busy, but George sneaks in anyway.
In his father's office, Potter is grilling Peter Bailey about a
loan of $5,000 that is overdue. "Have you put any real
pressure on these people of yours to pay their mortgages?"
Potter snarls, as Peter Bailey insists that times are hard and
that many of the people who have taken out loans are out of
work.
Peter Bailey asks Potter why he is so hard-hearted, since he
has so much money, and no family on whom to spend it. "I
suppose I should give it to miserable failures like you and
that idiot brother of yours to spend for me," says Potter.
George runs to his father's defense at this, and Peter ushers
him out of the office.
Back at the drugstore, a drunken Mr. Gower receives a call
from the woman to whom George was supposed to deliver
the drugs. Pulling him into the back room, Gower hits
George, as George insists that he saw him put poison in the
capsule. Gower opens one of the capsules and realizes
George is right, collapsing onto the floor and hugging him,
gratefully.
The film moves forward in time to when George is an adult.
He's buying a suitcase to take with him on an upcoming trip.
He has big plans of becoming an adventurer, and wants lots
of room on his suitcase for all of the stickers he will have to
put on it. The salesman pulls a large, used one out from
under the counter and offers it to George for free. He then
shows George that his name is already on the suitcase and
tells him that Old Man Gower came down earlier to buy it for
him.
George visits Gower and thanks him for the suitcase. As he
leaves on his trip, his uncle calls to him from the window of
Bailey Brothers. He goes to get in a cab, as Violet, now
grown up, says hello to him. George stares after her as she
struts away.
One night, at the Bailey residence, George and Harry carry
their mother downstairs as Harry gets ready for his
graduation party. Harry is putting on a tuxedo and goes to
hug the family's black maid, Annie, who runs from him,
threatening to hit him with her broom if he touches her.
George notes that it's his last night at home, as he's going
traveling and off to college soon. George's father tells him he
had a run-in with Potter, who is now on the board of
directors. Harry comes out of the kitchen with a pie balanced
on his head, and one on each shoulder, and invites George to
his graduation party. When his father expresses his wish that
he could send Harry to college, George tells him that Harry
will take his job at the Building and Loan, work there for four
years, and then go to college.
Mr. Bailey asks George what he wants to do for an
occupation and George tells him he wants to "build things,
design new buildings, plan modern cities." "Still after that
first million before you're 30?" Bailey asks, and wonders if
George will ever return to Building and Loan. "I want to do
something big and something important," George says, and
insists that he wants to get away. "I think you're a great
guy," he tells his father, and they smile at one another.
George goes to Harry's graduation party for the class of
1928. An old classmate of George's, Sam Wainwright,
approaches Harry and tells him that the football coach at his
college wants him to come play there. Mr. Partridge, the
school principal, comes over and tells George they installed a
pool under the floor of the gym. Mary's brother comes over
to George and asks him to dance with Mary.
George and Mary smile at each other across the room and
begin to dance. Suddenly, a Charleston competition begins,
and people start dancing. Mary and George try their hand at
the Charleston, goofing around on the dance floor.
Meanwhile, two boys under the bleachers discuss the fact
that there is a pool underneath the dance floor, and a simple
button will reveal it. The boys open up the floor to the
swimming pool and people scream as it opens up. George
and Mary don't see the pool opening up, and mistake
people's screams and attention for admiration of their
dancing. They Charleston into the pool, laughing. The other
party guests jump in after them.
George and Mary walk home from the dance singing "Buffalo
Gals (Won't you come out tonight?)" George is wearing a
football uniform he took from the school and Mary is wearing
a robe. He asks her how old she is and she tells him she's
18. After he steps on the tie of her robe, they almost kiss,
but she wanders away from him. He picks up a rock and
throws it at an abandoned old mansion nearby, saying that
the legend has it that one should throw a rock at the window
and make a wish.
Analysis
It's a Wonderful Life immediately drops the viewer into a
playful but dramatic spiritual allegory. We see some clusters
of stars in the sky, meant to represent angels in heaven, as
they discuss the fate of George Bailey, the film's protagonist.
They anticipate that he is intending to commit suicide that
evening, because he is discouraged, and so they send a
junior angel, Clarence, down to help George. Director Frank
Capra stages this scene playfully and simply, with different
clusters of stars in a filmic galaxy brightening as each of the
angels speaks. The image is striking in its sincerity,
simplicity, and wholesomeness.
This initial scene serves as a framing device for the film.
Before they can send Clarence down to help George Bailey,
they must tell him about Bailey's life and what has led him to
this sorry fate. Thus, the viewer is in the same position as
Clarence, learning about George's life and backstory from the
other angels and seeing it in flashback. The film starts with
the final and central conflict—George's deep sense of
discouragement—and then rewinds to the beginning of his
life to establish narrative context.
While the tone of the film is wholesome, the narrative often
concerns the protagonist, George, finding himself in close
proximity to near-brushes with death. First, he saves his
younger brother from nearly drowning in the ice. Then, when
he is a little older, he prevents the poisoning of a local
woman after realizing that his grief-stricken boss, Mr. Gower,
has accidentally added poison to a prescription. George
Bailey is exposed to many tragic events in his childhood, and
faces them with bravery and directness.
In spite of the various tragedies and near-tragedies that
George witnesses, he is an exceedingly plucky, determined,
and optimistic man. As a child, he shows his crush, Mary, his
National Geographic magazine, and describes all the faraway
lands he dreams of visiting. Then we see him as an adult
buying a suitcase for his travels, insisting to the salesman
that he will need a lot of room for all the stickers he will
accrue. George is someone who is determined to live his life
to the fullest, enjoy all it has to offer, and be happy along the
way.
As we learn more and more about George Bailey, the framing
device, that of the guardian angels watching over him, falls
away little by little. George's character comes more into
focus as we watch him on the brink of setting off on his
international travels before going away to college. He is a
young man with a drive to do something bigger than his little
town can offer him, who dreams of doing great things and
answering to no one. He is exceedingly charming and
promising in his attitude towards life, spiritedly going after
what he wants.

It's A Wonderful Life Summary and Analysis of Part 2

Summary
George throws rocks at the window, and tells Mary that he
wished for a number of different things. "Mary, I know what
I'm gonna do tomorrow and the next day and next year and
the year after that," he says, "I'm shaking the dust of this
crummy little town off my feet and I'm gonna see the world!"
He tells Mary he's going to learn about how the world works
and then come back and improve Bedford Falls.
When Mary throws a rock, George asks what she wished, but
she just walks down the sidewalk singing. George asks Mary
if she wants the moon, and offers to lasso it and pull it down
for her. "Then you could swallow it, and it would all dissolve,
see? And moonbeams would shoot out of your toes and your
fingers and the ends of your hair," he says.
Suddenly, a man who has been sitting on his porch nearby
advises George to kiss Mary instead of talking so much. As
George begins talking back to the man in a playful manner,
Mary runs out of sight, but loses her robe in the process.
Mary hides in the hydrangea bushes and demands that
George give her her robe, but George doesn't hand it over so
easily. As he playfully strikes a deal with Mary, his uncle Billy
pulls up in a car and tells George that his father has had a
stroke.
The scene shifts to a meeting of the board at Mr. Bailey's
company after Peter Bailey's death. A member of the board
announces that George has given up his trip to Europe to
help out at the company. He wishes George well at college,
when suddenly Mr. Potter pipes up and says, "I make a
motion to dissolve this institution and turn its assets and
liabilities over to the receiver."
Potter pulls out a loan that the company gave to Ernie the
taxi driver that allowed him to build a $5,000 house. As he
goes to leave, George tells Potter that he handled that loan
and that he can personally vouch for Ernie's character.
George concedes that his father was not a businessman, but
that his character was unimpeachable, and that in the 25
years of running the business, "he never once thought of
himself." George says that he did not save enough money to
send his two sons to school, but he helped people get out of
the slums. He gives an impassioned speech about the
working class in Bedford Falls, and says that his father had
something that Potter could never have, human decency.
Outside the office, Billy compliments George on his speech,
as they tell the other employees the company is folding. As
George prepares to go off to school, a member of the board
comes out and tells him that the board has voted to keep the
company going after all, on the condition that George act as
Executive Secretary in his father's place. Realizing that he
must stay in Bedford Falls to continue the legacy of his
father, George's face falls.
We see the solar system, as the guardian angels discuss the
fact that George stayed in Bedford Falls and gave his school
money to Harry to go to college himself, where he became
an all-American football star.
The film shifts four years ahead. George is waiting for Harry
to return from college to take over the family business, so
that he can get a job somewhere abroad. As Harry's train
arrives, he gets out with his new wife, Ruth. Billy and George
are overjoyed, and usher the two of them to the family
home. As they walk home, Ruth tells George that her father
offered Harry a job. Harry reassures George that he has not
accepted the job yet, and that he wants to take over for his
older brother at the Building and Loans.
George asks Ruth more about the job, and she tells him her
father owns a glass factory in Buffalo. "Not much money, but
a good future, you know?" she tells George. Back at the
Bailey house, Billy gets drunk and George sends him on his
way home. George lights a cigarette and considers his
situation, looking at his old travel brochures. His mother
comes out and tells George that Mary came back from school
three days prior, hinting that he ought to go on a date with
her. George suggests that Mary is seeing Sam Wainwright
and he wouldn't want to get in the middle. George's mother
reminds him that Sam is in New York, and that Mary much
prefers him, as he puts on his hat and goes off into the night.
In town, Violet spots George and walks over to him. He asks
her to spend the evening with him, but when he suggests
that they ought to go to the fields, take off their shoes, walk
in the grass, swim, and climb Mount Bedford, she dismisses
the idea completely.
He walks over to Mary's house. She comes to the window
and tells him her mother just called to tell her that he was
headed to her house. As she comes downstairs to let him
inside, Mary puts on a recording of "Buffalo Gals" and invites
him in. George's manner is brusque as he asks Mary why she
didn't head to New York after graduation. They go into the
living room, where Mary has displayed a drawing of George
lassoing the moon for her. He dismisses the drawing and sits
down, swatting away all Mary's attempts at intimacy.
Mary's mother calls down and tells Mary to send George
home, before telling her that Sam Wainwright promised to
call her that night on the phone. The phone rings and Mary
picks it up. When George comes back inside to collect his
hat, Mary pretends that she is having an exceedingly
flirtatious phone conversation with Sam on the phone, when
Sam asks to speak to George. George and Mary both listen in
on the receiver, getting very close, as Sam outlines a plan to
make plastics out of soybeans at a factory outside Rochester.
George suggests he do it in Bedford Falls instead, and Sam
takes him up on it.
Sam tells Mary and George to put all their money into the
stock on his company, and offers George a job at his
company. Suddenly, George drops the phone and holds Mary
tight, telling her he doesn't want to work for Sam's company
and he doesn't want to get married. In the middle of it, they
embrace and kiss.
The scene shifts to George and Mary leaving their wedding in
the midst of a hail storm. They kiss in the backseat as the
cab driver hands them a bottle of champagne that Bert sent
over. George tells the cabbie that they're planning to go for a
long honeymoon, to New York and then Bermuda.
Analysis
George's relationship with Mary is very charming and shows
that each of them has an easy and playful intimacy. As they
walk back from the gym in their stolen change of clothes,
singing in the moonlight and talking about wishes and
dreams, the viewer cannot help but notice that they seem
meant for one another. Their back-and-forth is fluid and
blithe, and they seem to inspire in one another a sense of
possibility and excitement about the future.
Throughout the film, George remains a dreamer, someone
who sees the potential for greatness in all scenarios. As they
wander back from the gym, he tells Mary that he wants to
leave the town and see the world, so that he can one day
return and make the town a great place to live. When Mary
won't tell him her wish, he imagines a scenario in which he
brings the moon down for her with a lasso, and she swallows
it, illuminated from within by moonbeams. George's
imagination seems to know no bounds, and it seems that the
small community of Bedford Falls cannot contain all the
ambitious visions he has for himself.
George's dreams of greatness and escaping Bedford Falls are
dashed when he has no choice but to take his father's place
at the Building and Loan office. Potter wants to dissolve the
company entirely, but after George makes a particularly
compelling speech in the company's favor, the board votes to
keep it running if he agrees to eschew his higher education to
act as Executive Secretary. In the moment that George hears
this condition, director Frank Capra zooms in on his face as it
falls in disappointment. It is a defining moment, one in which
George must sacrifice all of his dreams of excitement and
novelty to do what is right for his community, even if doing
what is right holds none of the allure. George's ambivalence
is written across his face in this defining turning point in his
life.
When the film shifts into the future, it seems doubtful that
Mary and George will actually couple up. George has his
mother's blessing, but Mary's mother seems less
encouraging. Not to mention, Mary is connected to Sam
Wainwright, and George can barely get it together to even
remotely show Mary that he has a crush on her. As George
dismisses Mary's attempts to invite his admiration, eventually
smashing a recording of "Buffalo Gals" in frustration, the
viewer wonders if George and Mary won't get together after
all. However, in a cathartic moment of physical closeness,
while sharing a phone receiver, they cannot help but
embrace and declare their love for one another.
Thus, while George's professional prospects are not looking
especially promising, with his brother Harry likely taking
work in Buffalo and his father's company in dire need of an
executive, he manages to find happiness in love. His
marriage to the kind-hearted and spirited Mary promises to
give George some direction in his professional and personal
aspirations, as his mother suggested. With a strong union to
a beautiful woman, George tries to find a way to give himself
a new lease, and find new motivation for living.

It's A Wonderful Life Summary and Analysis of Part 3

Summary
Just as the cab is leaving the town, George notices that
something bad is happening at the bank: a bank run. In spite
of Mary's protestations, George goes over to the bank and
lets the people assembled outside into the Building and Loan
office, where Billy is sitting and a crow sits on the counter.
Billy tells George that the bank called in their loan and the
company has no money left. Suddenly, Potter calls the office
and tells George that he just took over the bank and that
George can send his clients over to him and he will pay 50
cents on the dollar. George hangs up and goes out to address
the company's customers. They ask if Potter guaranteed
George's company, but George insists that they do not need
his money and that their money is invested all over the town.
"If Potter gets ahold of this Building and Loan, there'll never
be another decent house built in this town," George says to
his customers, begging them not to go to Potter. He reminds
them that Potter will keep them living in slums and won't let
them keep their houses, when Mary pulls out the stack of
cash she and George were going to use for their honeymoon
and asks the customers how much they need. George
distributes enough cash to each customer to tide them over
until the bank reopens.
At the end of the day, Billy, George, and Tilly the secretary
wait for the clock to strike 6, which marks the fact that Potter
could not close the company that day. "We have $2 left!"
George exclaims, calling on Tilly to open up his honeymoon
champagne. George gets a call from Mary, who tells him to
meet her at the dilapidated house that they used to throw
rocks at.
When George arrives at the house, his friends have conspired
to turn the house into a honeymoon suite, with pictures and
posters of exotic places up on the walls. When he goes
inside, he sees Mary standing at a table made up for dinner.
The ceiling is dripping, but the couple sits down for a meal,
while two chickens roast on the fire. "Remember that night
when we broke some windows at this old house?" Mary says,
"This is what I wished for."
Some time later, George opens up a housing development,
Bailey Park, that can help poorer citizens leave the
overpriced slums established by Potter. We see George and
Mary piling into a car with the Martini family, Italians headed
to their new home. They even bring a goat with them.
George presents their new house to them and Mary hands
over bread, salt, and wine for the family. Sam Wainwright
visits George and Mary at Bailey Park, inviting them to come
with him and his wife to Florida. The couple declines and says
goodbye to Sam.
Meanwhile, one of Potter's advisors tells him about Bailey
Park and the fact that it is hurting his business with the
slums. He tells him that every single home in Bailey Park is
worth twice the money it cost for the Building and Loan to
build it, but the company didn't make a profit.
Potter lights a cigar for George in his office, before
complimenting George on being such a formidable
businessman all these years. He notes that George probably
makes about $45 a week, $10 of which he can keep. Potter
offers George a job as his assistant for $20,000. Hearing this
sum, George drops his cigar on the floor and his eyes widen.
He asks for 24 hours to think about it, which Potter grants
him, but suddenly George has a change of heart. He angrily
declines the offer and goes home.
That night, when he returns home, George considers Potter's
offer and the fact that he once had huge ambitions. He goes
to Mary in the bed and asks her why she married him. "I
want my baby to look like you," she says, revealing that
she's pregnant. Mary has a boy, then a girl, and they
renovate the old Granville home.
When the war starts, Mrs. Bailey and Mrs. Hatch join the Red
Cross. Mary has two more children, and Potter becomes head
of the draft board. Gower and Uncle Billy sell war bonds. Bert
and Ernie, the two cabbies, fight in the army, each fighting
heroically. Harry is a naval pilot and becomes the biggest
hero of them all, winning a Congressional Medal of Honor.
George cannot fight in the army because of his ear, and so
stays home working on the war effort from there.
Analysis
It becomes something almost like a motif that whenever
George begins to find some kind of happiness or sense of
possibility in his life, something tragic or difficult happens. In
the previous section of the film, George's courtship of Mary
and plans to travel were cut short by the untimely death of
his father. Then, just as he and Mary are leaving Bedford
Falls for an exciting honeymoon, a bank run makes it so that
George must withdraw his money to help keep his father's
business going. Time and time again, misfortune snatches
George's dreams away from him, and he must make a
sacrifice for the greater good.
With each misfortune, George proves himself to be an
exceedingly philanthropic and generous soul. When the bank
closes down and his customers need money, he distributes
his own honeymoon fund in order to keep the Building and
Loan alive and prevent Potter from controlling the economic
wellbeing of the town. He and Mary, rather than wallow in
their disappointment about a lost honeymoon, conspire to
cheer other people up in a time of difficulty. They are
kindhearted and giving people who think of others before
themselves.
Mary and George's honeymoon suite, the repurposed
dilapidated old mansion that they threw rocks at as young
high school graduates, is a symbol for the couple's attitude
towards hardship, their ability to always look on the bright
side. Even though they cannot go on their glamorous
honeymoon, they can still find joy in the seemingly
unglamorous. Mary and some cabbies fix up some rooms in
the old house and turn it into a charming location for their
honeymoon, with a victrola playing a record while two
chickens spin over an open fire.
George's ability to stick with his plan and keep going even in
times of adversity makes him a rather admirable
businessman, as it turns out. While he does not make a profit
like the greedy and mercenary Potter, he holds his ground
and manages to build community projects that help the
citizens of Bedford Falls, and resists all of Potter's bids for
control. Even when Potter offers him a job that would
completely change his life and economic status, George sees
that taking it would compromise everything he has built and
take away from other citizens' quality of life.
In this section of the film, World War II takes place, and
everyone gets involved in their own way. Harry, George's
brother, comes out of the war a national hero, while George
must stay home and keep things going on the home front.
The war is a central and rousing plot point in the film, a
common cause around which all of the characters can rally.
Capra depicts the war efforts as patriotic, motivating, and
invigorating for all involved, with uplifting music, depictions
of everyone's role, and a tone of awe and heroism.

It's A Wonderful Life Summary and Analysis of Part 4

Summary
The bank examiner, Mr. Carter, visits George at his office.
George wishes him a merry Christmas, as it is Christmas
Eve, and they go into his office to look over the books.
Meanwhile, Uncle Billy goes to deposit $8,000 of the Building
and Loan's cash at the bank, when he spots Mr. Potter
coming into the bank. He wanders over to Potter and gloats
about Harry's heroism.
In the process of gloating, Billy accidentally puts his envelope
of money into the newspaper. He searches in vain for the
money, while Potter finds it in the newspaper.
Back at the Building and Loan office, Violet visits George to
get a loan. She's moving to New York and needs some
money to get started. As she leaves, she plants a kiss on his
cheek. In the lobby, she wipes the lipstick stain away with a
handkerchief and everyone mistakes the interaction for
evidence that George is having an affair.
George goes into Billy's office and Billy tells him he lost the
$8,000. Hearing this, George rushes to the desk in search of
the money, before telling one of his workers what happened.
He goes into town with Billy, searching for the cash, and
Potter watches them from his office window.
That night, after searching in vain, George begs Billy to
remember what happened to the money. "Where's that
money, you silly, stupid old fool!" George yells at his uncle,
grabbing him by the collar and suggesting that the lost
money "means bankruptcy and scandal and prison." He
storms out of the room and Billy cries, as his pet squirrel
climbs up onto his arm.
That evening, George returns home to his family. They ask
him what's wrong and ask where the Christmas wreath is as
he somberly takes a seat in the living room. One of his sons
grunts at him as George erupts into tears. Mary seems
worries as she looks over at her heartbroken husband, and
his daughter plays "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" on the
piano in preparation for a party that evening.
Mary takes George into the living room and tells him that one
of their daughters is upstairs with a cold. George is horribly
grumpy, and goes upstairs to check on the sick daughter,
whose name is Zuzu. She is holding a flower she got at
school, and the petals fall off. Putting the flower in water, he
tells Zuzu to go to sleep for a little while, even though she
wants to look at the flower. "Go to sleep, and you can dream
about it, and it'll be a whole garden," he whispers to her.
Downstairs, Mary is talking to Zuzu's teacher, and George
grabs the phone and scolds her for letting his daughter
wander home with her coat open. He hangs up the phone
and yells at his children, before knocking over a desk by the
window. In the silence that follows, he apologizes to each of
his family members.
When he yells at his family to continue what they were
doing, his oldest daughter, Janie, begins crying, and he
leaves the house. Mary calls Uncle Billy, telling her children
to pray for their father.
George goes to Potter and tells him he's in trouble. "I've got
to raise $8,000 immediately," he tells Potter, and begs him
for help. Potter does not let on that he knows where the
money is, as George says that he misplaced the money.
Potter knows George is lying, as he saw Billy lose the money
himself, but he does not say so. Instead, he asks George if
he lost the money gambling or giving it to Violet Bick.
Potter asks George if he has any stocks or bonds, but George
does not. "I have some life insurance, a $15,000 policy,"
George says, and $500 equity. "You once called me a
warped, frustrated old man. What are you but a warped,
frustrated young man?" Potter says, before laughing and
adding, "You're worth more dead than alive." Potter pulls out
a phone and begins to call the police on George, and George
wanders off to his car.
George goes to Martini's, an Italian restaurant, and drinks at
the bar. He prays to God and asks for guidance. The
proprietors of Martini's ask George to stop drinking so much
and go home, when another man at the bar, hearing that he
is George Bailey, punches George in the face. It's the
schoolteacher's husband and he scolds George for speaking
so disrespectfully to his wife on the phone.
George wanders out into the snow. Driving home, he crashes
his car into a tree. When he gets out of the car, a man
approaches him and scolds him for hitting the tree, which
was planted by his great-grandfather. George walks to a
bridge in the snow and prepares to throw himself off into the
river below, when he is visited by Clarence, the angel who
has not earned his wings yet.
Just before George can throw himself in, Clarence throws
himself in and begins screaming for help. George jumps in
after him and pulls him to shore. As they dry off in the
lodging of the nightwatchman, Clarence puts on an outdated
nightgown, which he tells George is the garment that he
passed away in. He also has a copy of Tom Sawyer.
Clarence tells George and the watchman that he comes from
heaven, and he was sent to help George as his guardian
angel. "I'm worth more dead than alive," George says, but
Clarence tells him that he cannot have that kind of an
attitude. "I suppose it would have been better if I'd never
been born at all," George says, which gives Clarence an idea.
Analysis
Just when life seems to be going along more easily,
something terrible happens. This time, while going to deposit
the company's money, $8,000, Billy misplaces it in a
newspaper that is in the possession of Mr. Potter. All of a
sudden, all of George's professional assets are completely
gone, because of the absentmindedness of his uncle. Poor
Uncle Billy searches for the envelope, but struggles to
remember where he possibly could have put it.
It is this event, the loss of the money—and on Christmas Eve
no less—that precipitates George's suicidal ideation, which
we have anticipated since the beginning of the film. After
telling his uncle that the loss of the money will surely mean
bankruptcy and scandal and prison, George returns home to
his unsuspecting family, all of whom are preparing for the
joyous Christmas holiday. It is here that the audience is first
introduced to the central conflict of the film: George's great
sense of disappointment and desire to die. He snarls at his
family members and gets irrationally angry, knowing that he
might be on the verge of ruin.
Much of the film is spent introducing the viewer to George
and teaching the viewer about what kind of a man he is. We
are shown many of the most significant events in his
biography—childhood traumas, young love, professional
disappointments, loss. This establishes an identification
between the viewer and George. Thus, by the end of the film,
when we finally catch up to the initial framing device—the
discussion between the guardian angels—we are invested in
his plight and want to see him succeed. After so much
disappointment and misfortune, George is due for a boost.
The nefarious Mr. Potter becomes only more evil in this
section of the film, when he does not let on that he knows
exactly where the $8,000 is. He toys with George, suggesting
that the young man was careless, and not letting on that he
himself has the money, when George comes to him and
baldly asks him for help. Potter is an especially slimy
antagonist, and the antithesis of George. Where George is
sacrificial, earnest, and forthcoming, Potter is self-serving,
disingenuous, and withholding.
Just when George reaches the very end of his rope, drunk
and suicidal, he is visited by Clarence, his guardian angel.
Clarence is a sweet older gentleman in a nightgown who
wants to help George see how valuable he is to the people in
his life. Clarence is gentle and ordinary in many ways, hardly
what one might expect of an angel, but he has a benevolent
spirit and a deep desire to help George find meaning in his
life again.

It's A Wonderful Life Summary and Analysis of Part 5

Summary
Clarence suddenly conjures a world in which George was
never born, and the wind blows the door open. "You've never
been born, you don't exist, you haven't a care in the world,"
Clarence says. Suddenly, George realizes that he can hear
out of his deaf ear. His lip has stopped bleeding and his
clothes are dry also.
As they walk towards town, George notices that his car is
gone from where he "parked" it and Clarence tells him he
doesn't have a car. The man whose tree he crashed into
walks by him and tells him that the tree is one of the oldest
trees in "Pottersville." They then go to Martini's and sit at the
bar, but when George asks for Mr. Martini, he is nowhere to
be found. Clarence first orders a flaming rum punch, but then
changes his mind to mulled wine. Nick, the bartender, yells
at Clarence for being eccentric, and George notes that it is
uncharacteristic of him.
As a bell rings on the cash register, Clarence tells George
that every time a bell rings, that signifies that an angel has
earned its wings. George asks Clarence how old he is, and
Clarence tells him he's 293. Suddenly, Mr. Gower walks into
the bar asking for money. He is old and disheveled, and
when George talks to him, Gower doesn't recognize him. Nick
tells George that Gower spent 20 years in jail for poisoning a
kid. A bouncer throws them out of the bar, which is now
called "Nick's."
Outside, George goes into his pockets looking for his
identification cards as well as the petals from Zuzu's flower,
but they are not there. Angrily, George walks home, but finds
that the town is completely transformed. Jazz is playing and
there are a number of clubs and bars all along the central
strip, as well as a large neon sign that reads, "Pottersville."
George runs up to a police officer and asks about the Bailey
Building and Loan, and the officer tells him it went out of
business years ago.
George then sees Violet, who is screaming as she gets
harassed by a group of cops. Confused, he jumps into a cab
that Ernie is driving and asks to be taken home. He talks to
Ernie about living in Bailey Park with his wife and kid, but
Ernie insists that he lives in a shack in Potter's Field and his
wife ran away with his kid a few years ago. As they drive,
Ernie motions to a cop to follow them.
They arrive at the address George gave him and Ernie tells
him that the house hasn't been inhabited in 20 years. George
walks into the dilapidated house and searches for Mary, but
it's empty. Suddenly, Clarence appears, as Bert ushers them
outside the house. Clarence bites Bert's hand as he tries to
arrest George and George makes a run for it.
George goes to Ma Bailey's house, which is now a boarding
house. When she opens the door, she is dour and does not
recognize him. When George tries to prove that he knows
her, saying he recently saw Uncle Billy, she insists that Billy
has been in an insane asylum ever since the business closed,
before shutting the door in his face.
Clarence stands at the bottom of the walkway and says,
"Strange isn't it? Each man's life touches so many lives."
George decides to go to Bailey Park to visit Martini. When he
arrives there, however, Bailey Park is now a cemetery.
George sees his brother Harry's grave; Harry died falling
through the ice. "You see George, you really had a wonderful
life," Clarence says.
George asks Clarence where Mary is, and Clarence tells him
that she's an old maid, just about to close up the library.
George runs to the library and sees Mary closing the doors of
the library; she does not recognize him. He chases her down
the street and grabs her, which makes her scream, as some
passersby call the police. When Bert tries to arrest George,
he punches the cop in the face and runs, as Bert pulls out a
gun and shoots at him.
Running to the bridge where he tried to commit suicide,
George begs Clarence to send him back to his old life.
"Please God, let me live again," he says, crying, as Bert pulls
up in his cop car. George is back in his real life, and Bert now
recognizes him, asking if he's alright. George becomes filled
with joy as he realizes that his mouth is bleeding and Zuzu's
petals are in his pocket. He runs off, wishing Bert a merry
Christmas.
George is ecstatic as he sees his car and a sign in town
identifying it as Bedford Falls. He bangs on Potter's office
window and wishes him a "Merry Christmas." As he arrives
home, the bank examiner and some officials are waiting for
him, but he is completely unfazed. He greets his children
with exuberance as Mary runs in and embraces him.
Suddenly, Uncle Billy runs in with a basketful of money. Mary
had the idea to collect money from friends and they raised
enough to keep the Building and Loan going. Townspeople
gather in the living room and empty their money onto the
table. "I've been saving this money for a divorce, if I ever get
a husband," Annie says, running in with her own money.
Someone comes in and reads a telegram from Sam
Wainwright stating that he's sending $25,000.
Janie starts playing the piano, and Harry comes into the
house. He raises a glass to his brother, "the richest man in
town." George picks up Clarence's copy of Tom Sawyer,
which has a note in the beginning: "Remember no man is a
failure who has friends." A bell begins ringing on the
Christmas tree, as Zuzu tells George that her teacher says an
angel gets his wings, every time a bell rings.
Analysis
As a way of showing George just how valuable he is to the
community in Bedford Falls, Clarence creates a hypothetical
world in which George never existed. He takes George's
suicidal desire, to have never been born, and renders it in
the world in order to show him what kind of influence he has
had on his community. Within minutes of witnessing the town
without him, George sees that the fate of the town would
have been far different had he not been such an influential
part of the community and protected its central values.
Without George's influence and his care in keeping Bedford
Falls a beautiful and serene place to live, the town falls
completely under Potter's influence, and becomes a much
bleaker place. The main street is filled with seedy nightclubs,
low-income citizens are forced to live in poverty and
degradation, and policemen fill the streets. Pottersville starts
to look more like a tawdry city than a sweet unassuming
town, and George quickly realizes that he has done a lot to
make everyone's life happier and better.
The central moral of the film is the idea that, even if one
feels beaten down by the world and irrelevant, one is always
important in the lives of others and these effects on others'
lives change the course of history forever. This is summed up
in Clarence's line in the cemetery, when he says to George,
"Strange isn't it? Each man's life touches so many lives." The
film contends that people often do not take into consideration
what a huge impact their existence and deeds have on the
lives of those around them, and that if they did, they could
see, just like George Bailey, that life is indeed "wonderful."
When George returns to his real life, he is still riddled with
debt, but no longer cares, because he is just excited to see
the people close to him. It turns out, the debt problem isn't
even an issue, however, as members of the community have
stepped up to help him, donating their own savings to his
cause. Because of the generosity of spirit and good will that
George has created in the very social fabric of the town, his
fellow citizens of Bedford Falls are all too happy to help him
when he finds himself in a bind. The film shows the ways that
human kindness, compassion, and generosity reproduces
itself.
The film ends on a joyful, sentimental note. George finds
himself rich in both money and friendship and Clarence gets
his wings. His home is flooded with visitors, who sing a
Christmas carol and congratulate him and his brother on
their success in the world. It is no wonder that Frank Capra's
It's a Wonderful Life has become such a consummate
Christmas classic. Its story, that of an ordinary man
discovering the joys of Christmas and the fruits of his own
selfless compassion in small-town America, is markedly life-
affirming.
~~

Opinion | ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ shows psychological underpinnings of

gratitude
Being a human is hard. We work or study for long hours to often end up dissatisfied with
ourselves or our circumstances. Dealing with demoralization constantly throughout a year
makes the holidays an especially good time for embracing what makes being human truly special
— our ability to connect with one another.
Frank Capra’s holiday classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” embodies both these aspects of being
human. George shows solidarity with the average person through his inability to feel adequate
enough for his work, his family or himself. George drunkenly ponders suicide on a bridge, but is
then brought into an alternate timeline by his guardian angel, Clarence, where he is never born.
As Clarence and George venture around the dystopian, alternate timeline town, George learns of
all the misfortunes that occur as a result of him never being born. This ultimately leads to
George gaining a new perspective on his life and displaying unrelenting gratitude toward what
he has been given, yelling “Merry Christmas” to all as he sprints through the town back to his
house after Clarence returns him back to his timeline.
The film is packed with lessons on community and self-reflection, but the unintended
psychology revealed, that is just now realizing empirical evidence in the modern day, is that of
the advantages of gratitude.
Gratitude is probably one of the earliest values instilled into us from our parents or elders. That
we should always be thankful for the things we do have as opposed to what we don’t. In the film,
George ultimately learns to love what he has been given in his life circumstances and is
rewarded for it at the end.
The hokeyness of that lesson is undeniable, but it also has a biological advantage that can
potentially help all of us live more satisfactory lives.
Gratitude comes from an evolutionary behavior where early humans would aid each other in
finding food, shelter or other resources for survival. When someone would help another, the
receiving person would feel a sense of gratitude and then feel the desire to repay the favor later
on. These were how early bonds between people were formed, ultimately aiding early humans in
creating stable tribes and greatening people’s chances of survival.
The cognitive coding of gratitude remains inside of us to this day and is directly represented at
the end of “It’s a Wonderful Life” when the town aids George by donating enough money to
cover the missing $8,000 that he owes. George has always been there for the people of the town,
and now the time comes for when the people of the town needed to rally together for George.
This can be related to the “positive feedback loop” as found in psychological studies regarding
how humans create social bonds. Acting good toward one another, and being grateful for such
actions, creates a cyclical nature in which people will increasingly become more comfortable and
happy with the people they are around and even, most importantly, themselves.
Capra wasn’t thinking of the science of gratitude when making the film, as the research behind it
has come predominantly from the last two decades, but the final moments in the film timelessly
holds up to validate some of our biological predispositions.
Gratitude has even been found to offset feelings of envy, narcissism, social comparison, cynicism
and materialism — all of which are feelings exacerbated by our workism culture, social media
and the societal structures of the modern world.
Of course, utilizing gratitude does not require constant complacency. There are very real social
structures that aim to push people down and keep other people high. Nor is gratitude going to
effectively serve every person equally as a cognitive behavioral therapy, as different levels of
ability to produce gratitude is literally coded differently in each person’s DNA.
Rather, the takeaway should be that our perception quite literally controls our reality. Gratitude
is a tool we can use to help our brains psychologically emphasize the good in our lives, thus
leading to higher likelihood we experience more of it.
Gratitude should not be seen as an opiate of the masses either but rather a means for which we
can create a more positive environment for ourselves while continuing to push for our own goals
or changes in life.
This holiday season, reevaluating our circumstances might lead us to more self-affirming
realizations about ourselves. Maybe we, like George, can all feel just a bit like the “richest man in
town.”

~~

Take the Jimmy Stewart 1946 classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” for instance. Despite the
conservative reputation of its star, the sentimental Frank Capra film about a small town man
who is reminded of the positive impact he’s had on lives of others by his guardian angel, was
labeled as sympathetic to Communism by the FBI. In recently unearthed documents, the agency
claimed the film was an “obvious attempt to discredit bankers” by making the villain of the film,
Mr. Potter, the richest man in the fictional town of Bedford Falls and the owner of a financial
institution. The internal FBI memo called the plot device a “common trick” of Communists.
It was “Atlas Shrugged” author Ayn Rand, an icon in some right wing circles, who flagged the
content of the film to the feds. Ironically, Capra was a political conservative, who once claimed
that the purpose of “It’s a Wonderful Life” was “to strengthen the individual’s belief in himself”
and “to combat a modern trend toward atheism.” Still, FBI analysts felt the movie ”deliberately
maligned the upper class, attempting to show the people who had money were mean and
despicable characters.” Despite their reservations, “It’s a Wonderful Life” received critical
acclaim, five Academy Award nominations and is routinely ranked as one of the best American
holiday films ever made.
“It’s a Wonderful Life” could also arguably be credited with providing the blueprint for every
future holiday film classic. When in the need of villain, more often than not, Christmas-themed
movies rely on a one-percenter.

~~

It's a Wonderful Life Cast

George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart)
A Man With a Plan
Small-town boy George Bailey has got big plans.

He wants to go to college, travel the world, design cities—be a regular Renaissance man, like Leonardo da Vinci or, uh, James Franco. But dreams die
hard in Bedford Falls, and he has to reckon with a humbler existence. Which, this being a Frank Capra film, fortunately turns out to be pretty "wonderful"
after all. George is the prototypical Capra hero: the decent, ordinary man who stands up for the little guy against the corruption of the wealthy and
powerful.

When we first hear about George, we learn from a couple of angels that he's thinking of killing himself. On Christmas Eve, no less. The dude is desperate.
Why? The angels explain: he's "discouraged." We'd call that a major existential understatement. We guess angels always hang on to a little hope. They
choose an apprentice angel, Clarence, to go down to Earth to try to rescue George.

Before he goes, they fill him (and us) in on George's life up to now.

The Dreamer
Little George Bailey thinks big. Industrious kid that he is, he takes a job in a drugstore after school even though his buddies tease him about being a
"slave." He needs the money—he's got big plans. He tells little Mary over the soda fountain counter:

GEORGE: You don't like coconuts! Say, brainless, don't you know where coconuts come from? Lookit here—from Tahiti—Fiji islands, the Coral Sea!

MARY: A new magazine! I never saw it before.

GEORGE: Of course you never. Only us explorers can get it. I've been nominated for membership in the National Geographic Society. […] I'm going out
exploring some day, you watch. And I'm going to have a couple of harems and maybe three or four wives. Wait and see.

George never loses that restless ambition. After graduating from high school and working for his father for four years, he gets ready to travel the world
that summer before heading off to college:

GEORGE: I'm shaking the dust of this crummy little town off my feet, and I'm going to see the world. Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Colosseum. Then,
I'm coming back here and go to college and see what they know. And then, I'm going to build things. I'm gonna build air fields. I'm gonna build
skyscrapers a hundred stories high. I'm gonna build bridges a mile long.

The dream gets delayed as George has to take over the family business when his younger bro gets a great job offer out of town. But, when he marries
Mary Hatch, he plans a whirlwind honeymoon—the trip he's been waiting for all his life, even if it doesn't include Fiji and Rome. We can see his dreams
have been scaled back a bit, but he still can't wait to get out of town:

GEORGE: You know what we're going to do? We're going to shoot the works. A whole week in New York. A whole week in Bermuda. The highest hotels,
the oldest champagne, the richest caviar, the hottest music, and the prettiest wife!

By setting up George as a guy with big dreams, we can better understand how hard it is for him to see the value in his decent, ordinary life in Bedford
Falls. Because he had such high hopes, he sees himself as a failure when even his ordinary life starts to unravel; his unrealistic expectations inevitably
lead to disappointment.

Womp.
Who's a Good Boy?
From the get-go, we see that George is a selfless, good guy who started out as an energetic, good kid. Young George saves his younger brother, Harry,
from drowning in a freezing-cold pond while out sledding, getting pneumonia and damaging his own hearing in the process. He doesn't hesitate for a
second to jump in after his little bro.

One day, George notices that his boss at the drugstore where he works, Mr. Gower, has accidentally written the wrong prescription for a sick kid—poison
instead of medicine. Gower is distraught over news of the death of his own son, and he's drinking and not paying attention to what he's doing.

George doesn't know what to do about the deadly mix-up, so he stops in to ask his banker father for advice. His dad is in the middle of an argument with
Mr. Potter, a greedy guy who owns half the town. Potter is ridiculing Peter Bailey for being a bleeding heart and lending money to all of the poor people
in town. George jumps to his dad's defense and tells Potter off.

George decides on his own that he can't deliver that killer prescription, so he goes back to the drugstore. Gower hits George on the ear when he sees
George returning the medicine, but he apologizes and cries when the kid explains what almost happened. George prevented certain disaster.

These early scenes clue us in to what kind of man George will grow up to be: considerate, selfless, and protective. Lots of energy, lots of friends, all-
around good guy. So, why is he about to throw himself off a bridge on Christmas Eve?

Doing the Right Thing

After working for his dad for four years, George is ready to roll. He's going to go to college, travel the world, build skyscrapers, and design cities. Shmoop
is exhausted just thinking about it. His father asks him to reconsider and stay home to run the business.

GEORGE: I—I couldn't face being cooped up for the rest of my life in a shabby little office ... I'd go crazy. I—I want to do something big, something
important. [...] I just feel like if I didn't get away, I'd bust.

His father thinks that the shabby little office has helped a lot of people get homes; isn't that important, too? But, being a good dad (like father, like son),
he understands George's ambitions. George doesn't get to do any of it. His father dies suddenly, and George has to stick around to clear up his father's
business affairs. Mr. Potter wants to close the bank because George's father was a terrible businessman, loaning money to people who couldn't pay it
back. George stands up to him again:

GEORGE: Do you know how long it takes a working man to save $5,000? Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you're talking about ... they do
most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of
decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn't think so. People were human beings to him, but to you, a warped, frustrated old man, they're cattle.
Well, in my book, he died a much richer man than you'll ever be.

This is a quintessential Capra moment, btw. Potter, of course, thinks it's all "sentimental hogwash."

(Deep thought: maybe that's Capra satirizing what some critics think about his films. How meta.)

George convinces the investors to keep the bank open. The kicker? The only way they'll stay on is if George takes over the reins. He doesn't want to do it;
he's been waiting for his chance to get out:

GEORGE: I'm leaving. I'm leaving right now. I'm going to school. This is my last chance.

It's painful to watch George struggle with his feelings about leaving vs. duty.

CLARENCE: I know, I know. He didn't go.

George doesn't go. He gives his college savings money to Harry, who promises to take over the business when he graduates and give George his freedom.
But, Harry gets a great job offer from his new father-in-law, and George can't let him turn it down. You can see the look on George's face as he sees his
dreams fading once again. Stuck in Bedford Falls. His consolation prize is Mary Hatch, who's been carrying a torch for him since those soda fountain days.
George falls hard for her and marries her—the only upside to staying in town.

Like his father, George continues helping people in the town buy their own houses. Underneath, though, his discontent is simmering. He's managing to
prevent Mr. Potter from buying up the whole town and exploiting its citizens, but at the same time, he feels like he hasn't lived up to his full potential. He
and Mary even have to give up their honeymoon money in order to help keep the Building and Loan afloat during a run on the bank that would've
resulted in Potter taking over the business.

George does right by Bedford Falls by keeping his business afloat:

GEORGE: This town needs this crummy one-horse institution if for no other reason than to keep people from crawling to Potter.

Will this good guy ever get what he deserves?

A Losing Battle?
George spends much of his adult life trying to stand up to Potter, who's the total opposite of George. George seems to have the moral high ground, that's
for sure:

GEORGE: You're right when you say my father was no businessman. I know that. Why he ever started this cheap, penny-ante Building and Loan, I'll never
know. But, neither you nor anybody else can say anything against his character because his whole life was ... Why, in the 25 years since he and Uncle Billy
started this thing, he never once thought of himself. Isn't that right, Uncle Billy? He didn't save enough money to send Harry to school, let alone me. But
he did help a few people get out of your slums, Mr. Potter. And what's wrong with that?

But, Potter plants seeds of doubt. He offers George a job at an impossibly high salary, more than George ever dreamed of making. The Building and Loan
has always been a threat to Potter's business aspirations, which seem to involve taking over the whole town. When he sees that George can't be bought
(although he's sure tempted), he ups the ante, appealing to George's dreams of accomplishing big things. After Billy "loses" the Building and Loan's
deposit money (i.e., Potter pocketing it), Potter moves in for the kill and threatens to frame George for misappropriating his customers' funds.

This is when George's doubts and disappointments come flooding in. All of his struggles to keep the business afloat, his desperate efforts to provide for
his family, the trust of his customers—all of this seems to be crashing down around him. He begins to lose faith in everything he's believed in, everything
that has kept him going. He turns to the only thing he thinks might save him. He prays to God for help.

Somebody up there likes George Bailey.

Heaven Is Really on Earth

God sends out an APB to the angels that there's a guy on Earth who needs help ASAP. The senior angels dispatch an angel, second-class, to try to save
him and show him that there's a lot to live for. Clarence, the angel, jumps into the river before George can. He's seen the "movie" of George's life,
including George jumping into the water to save Harry, and he knows George will jump in to rescue him, too. When George tells him it would have been
better if he'd never been born, Clarence grants the wish. Then, he takes him on a tour of what things would be like without him.

It's quite an epiphany for George. Realizing that his life really has touched so many people, he returns to the land of the living practically jumping with
joy. Yep. This is one feel-good moment that just can't be beat.

Daniel Sullivan has pointed out that the movie is shot through with George's conflict between escapist fantasy and rootedness, between dreams and
duty, between exotic places and everyday domestic happiness. In spite of his grandiose dreams, George lands in the everyday real world and finds
that's where he's happiest. He's still idealistic, but he is grown-up and grounded now, knowing that what really matters are friends, family, faith, and
community.

It is a wonderful life, after all.

Mary Hatch (Donna Reed)

A Crush
Mary Hatch is the prettiest girl in town. And she lo-o-o-ves George Bailey.

Smart as a whip, with a sassy personality and a great sense of humor, Mary is the realist to George's romantic. She raises his family and keeps his feet on
the ground. She doesn't need to travel the world; all she wants is her home with George.

Mary had it bad for George even as a kid. While visiting him at the drugstore, she whispers in his bad ear:

MARY: Is this the ear you can't hear on? George Bailey, I'll love you till the day I die!

But, Mary never dreams of far-off places. She doesn't even like coconuts. George can't believe it. To him, they represent everything exotic. Anyway, she's
just a kid to him, and he doesn't give her much notice until he's older and Mary's brother pesters George at a school dance about dancing with Mary. She
happily ditches her date to be with him. After the dance, George starts falling for Mary like she fell for him long ago. The budding romance is interrupted
by news of George's father's death.

Mary goes off to college and works in New York for a while, but the next time we meet her, she's come back to Bedford Falls and lives with her family.
She's still got a thing for George, and his mother knows it:

MA BAILEY: Well, I've got eyes, haven't I? Why, she lights up like a firefly whenever you're around.

To stop his mother from bugging him about it, he wanders hesitantly over to Mary's house. He hasn't seen her in a while. Besides, she's been dating
budding plastics entrepreneur Sam Wainwright. George just can't understand what brought her back to Bedford Falls:

GEORGE: [...] I thought you'd go back to New York like Sam and Ingie, and the rest of them.

MARY: Oh, I worked there for a couple of vacations, but I don't know ... I guess I was homesick.

GEORGE: Homesick? For Bedford Falls?

MARY: Yes, and my family and ... oh, everything. Would you like to sit down?

We're guessing George is part of that "everything." Mary tries to rekindle old memories by playing "Buffalo Gals" on the record player. That's the song
they were singing four years earlier on that romantic night. (And, FYI, a record player was how young people listened to music in the days before Spotify.
Or with CD players or tape players. You probably don't know anyone who owns one.)

George is oblivious to Mary's romantic hints. Mary wants George, and she goes for it just like she did four years ago. He just won't admit his feelings to
her, and she eventually throws him out and smashes the "Buffalo Gals" record. Seems she waited four years for nothing.

But, wait—George forgets his hat and comes back into the house just as Mary gets a call from her beau, Sam. After a scene right out of the screwball
comedy playbook, they fall into a passionate embrace, and everything's alright with the world.

Best. Wife. Ever.

George once promised Mary the moon, and he plans to make good on that promise with a swell honeymoon trip to Bermuda. On their way to the train,
they pass by the Building and Loan, which is swarmed with people trying to get in the door. George jumps out to see what the problem is—it's a run on
the bank. Potter has called back their loans, and the folks want to withdraw their money.

Mary begs him not to go, but once she finds out what's happened, she takes out their honeymoon cash and helps distribute it to the panicked customers.
George Bailey has met his match; he married a woman as decent as he is.

It just gets better from there. Knowing how bad he must feel about not being able to take her on a honeymoon, she's on a one-woman mission to show
him that a fancy life is not what she's about. Mary has secretly bought the house she and George wished on the night of their first date. She hangs up
some French travel posters, throws a checkered tablecloth on some boxes, and voilà—instant European honeymoon. George walks in:

MARY: (tears in her eyes) Welcome home, Mr. Bailey.

GEORGE: (overcome) Well, I'll be ... Mary, Mary, where did you ... Oh, Mary ...

MARY: Remember the night we broke the windows in this old house? This is what I wished for.

Mary supports her guy every step of the way. When Sam Wainwright shows up in his fancy car with his wife dripping in furs and jewels, she just says,
"Oh, who cares?" George can't believe she married him:

GEORGE: Mary Hatch, why in the world did you ever marry a guy like me?

MARY: To keep from being an old maid.

GEORGE: You could have married Sam Wainwright or anybody else in town.

MARY: I didn't want to marry anybody else in town. I want my baby to look like you.

That's how she breaks the news to George that they're expecting. Angel Joseph tells Clarence that more babies arrived:

JOSEPH'S VOICE: Mary had her baby, a boy. Then, she had another one—a girl. Day after day, she worked away remaking the old Granville house into a
home.

This is what Mary's about—making a home for George and the family, and being a loving mother and wife. It's all she's ever wanted. She doesn't care
about not being rich or living in an old, dilapidated house. She's too busy serving her family and her community. But, her biggest challenge is still ahead.

Cool in a Crisis
Mary knows something's up when George comes home irritable and upset that fateful Christmas Eve. She tries to find out what's bugging him, but he's
too agitated. She's not having much luck calming him down; meanwhile, she's trying to manage four kids and a Christmas tree. When George trashes part
of the living room and storms out, she tells the kids to pray hard for their daddy.

She doesn't just rely on God to fix things, though. She's too practical. She telephones Uncle Billy right away to find out what happened. While George is
having his spiritual suicidal crisis and getting his life review from Clarence, Mary works behind the scenes. By the time George returns home, she's
canvassed the neighborhood asking people to pitch in to save the Building and Loan from bankruptcy and rescue George from Potter's evil clutches. After
a lot of relieved and happy expressions of "oh, Mary!" and "oh, George!", Uncle Billy tells George:

UNCLE BILLY: (emotionally) Mary did it, George! Mary did it! She told a few people you were in trouble, and they scattered all over town collecting
money. They didn't ask any questions—just said, "If George is in trouble—count on me." You never saw anything like it.

Mary's calm practicality comes through for George in his time of need.
Grounded
Mary has been the realist to George's idealist; she represents home and rootedness versus his romantic dreams of escape. Mary always knew what she
wanted: a family and a home in Bedford Falls with George Bailey. It took George a while to get there.

When the crisis comes, she handles it differently from George. She doesn't lose her faith, run away from her family and friends, or lose hope. She's
always known that her happiness lies with her family and her community, and she turns to them for help when things get scary. She's never doubted that
it's a wonderful life.

Perfect wife and perfect mother. Is Mary too good to be true? Maybe. But that last scene, when the family is in a giant group hug after George is brought
back from the brink—well, that's pure joy … made possible by Mary's devotion to the guy she's loved since second grade.

Clarence (Angel) (Henry Travers)

I Got No Wings
George really lucks out in the guardian angel assignment lottery. He doesn't get saddled with some punk angel like John Travolta's Michael. Clarence
Odbody ends up being George's personal savior, even though it's his first big job. Clarence was a clockmaker when he was alive 293 years ago.

Clarence gets called to the job by two senior angels who've heard about George's predicament. They bring him up to speed on George's life by watching
a film by Frank Capra called It's a Wonderful Life.

Clarence hasn't yet earned his wings, but if he can help save George Bailey's life and restore his faith in himself, he might get them. Right now, he's still
an "AS-2" or "Angel, Second-Class." The senior angels say that he has the "I.Q. of a rabbit" but "the faith of child—simple."

But, our George needs first-class help.

Slap on the Wings Already

On Earth, Clarence appears as a comical elderly man who seems a little bumbling and odd—not some sort of imposing, sword-wielding angel. As George
says, "You look like about the kind of an angel I'd get." But, Clarence's methods prove pretty effective for a novice. He prevents George from killing
himself by falling into the river himself. He's learned enough about George that he knows he'll jump in after him to save him. (He saw George do the
same for Harry when he was young.)

CLARENCE: I had to act quickly; that's why I jumped in. I knew if I were drowning, you'd try to save me. And you see, you did, and that's how I saved you.

As they chat afterward in a watchman's hut, Clarence explains that he's an angel, second-class, sent to save him. George is understandably skeptical, and
a watchman overhearing them falls off his chair and splits. George tells Clarence that he wishes he was never born. That's when Clarence has a
brainstorm. He says:

CLARENCE: Oh, you mustn't say things like that. You ... wait a minute. Wait a minute. That's an idea. (glances up toward heaven) What do you think?
Yeah, that'll do it. All right. You've got your wish. You've never been born.

Clarence shows George what the world would be like if he'd never existed. They revisit the important people and places in his life, whose lives are the
worse for not having George in them. He shows George that his life really does matter and that he's not a failure; that friends and family, not money, are
what are important; that he's made a difference in the world:

CLARENCE: Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives, and when he isn't around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?

Clarence's goal as a character is entirely focused on helping George. He embodies a simple, heavenly wisdom and love. In the film's last scene, as George
joyfully returns to his family, he finds this note from Clarence:

CLARENCE: Dear George, remember, no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings. Love, Clarence.

George knew this all along, but it's good to have some divine encouragement from time to time. We think Clarence is first class.

Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore)

Bad to the Bone
"Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster."

That's the best description we've read of Henry F. Potter.

Except it's not Potter. It's Ebenezer Scrooge, that greedy villain of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Clearly, Philip Van Doren Stern, who wrote the
story on which the movie is based, intended the comparison.

Henry Potter is Ebenezer Scrooge on steroids. He's a mean, old rich guy who wants to take over Bedford Falls. He made his fortune in real estate at the
expense of the townspeople. As greedy movie villains go, he's kind of Gordon Gekko meets Cruella de Vil. Just check out that scowl. The American Film
Institute ranked him #6 on their list of great movie villains, just behind Nurse Ratched and the Wicked Witch of the West. That's some seriously
villainous company.
(Fun fact: Lionel Barrymore, the legendary actor who played Potter, was a very famous Scrooge in several radio productions. Some people thought that's
why he got the part. [Source])

Potter is a slumlord who owns a bunch of rental properties in a neighborhood folks like to call Potter's Field. ("Potter's field" is a phrase meaning a city's
burial place for people who die alone and penniless. It's an apt name for this depressing neighborhood.)

Potter is on the board of directors for Bailey Building and Loan, and he wants it gone. It's the one thing in town he can't control, and he's all about
control. He's never understood a business that exists for the purpose of helping people rather than enriching the owner. He spars constantly with
George's father, Peter, and after Pa Bailey's death, he lets George know what he thinks of his lending money so poor people can own their own homes:

POTTER: You see, if you shoot pool with some employee here, you can come and borrow money. What does that get us? A discontented, lazy rabble
instead of a thrifty working class. And all because a few starry-eyed dreamers like Peter Bailey stir them up and fill their heads with a lot of impossible
ideas.

Does this guy have no redeeming qualities whatsoever? He probably tortures cats.

Potter insists he's taking a practical, businessman's attitude toward the Building and Loan, but he's really just being callous. He's completely blind to the
human dimension of the business. Which makes us notice: he's got no family and no friends. He has his business toadies, but that's it. He's feared,
despised, and isolated with his money. No wonder George told him that Pa Bailey died a "richer" man that Potter will ever be.

Potter's last and worst act is to steal the money from George's bank deposits and call the authorities, insinuating that George has taken the money and
used it for himself. He goes in for the kill, not just wanting to dissolve the Building and Loan, but to take George down with it:

POTTER: Look at you. You used to be so cocky! You were going to go out and conquer the world! You once called me a warped, frustrated old man. What
are you but a warped, frustrated young man? A miserable little clerk crawling in here on your hands and knees and begging for help. No securities—no
stocks—no bonds—nothing but a miserable little $500 equity in a life insurance policy. You're worth more dead than alive. Why don't you go to the
riffraff you love so much and ask them to let you have $8,000? You know why? Because they'd run you out of town on a rail. But I'll tell you what I'm
going to do for you, George. Since the state examiner is still here, as a stockholder of the Building and Loan, I'm going to swear out a warrant for your
arrest. Misappropriation of funds—manipulation—malfeasance ...

That is just about the worst thing we've ever heard.

No Remorse
Even though the townspeople raise money and bail George out, Potter is never caught or arrested. He has to live with the knowledge that the Building
and Loan, and George Bailey, stood up to him and prevailed. He's still alone. We guess that has to be punishment enough.

The character of Henry Potter was the reason the FBI thought this movie was suspiciously Communist-tinged. He's written as a greedy, money-mad
robber baron and slumlord, which the Feds thought was anti-capitalist and therefore anti-American. At the same time, though, you could see It's a
Wonderful Life as anti-Communist. It argues that the individual matters in a big way. That's as American as apple pie. Potter is simply a lousy example of
an individual.

In a perfect world, Potter would get his comeuppance. In fact, the movie production code at the time, the Hays Code, contained a requirement that
criminal wrongdoing in movies must never be depicted as going unpunished unless criminals are shown to repent. Potter is unrepentant to the end, and
that somehow got past the censors. But thanks to SNL, we see what really happens to Potter in the previously undiscovered "lost ending" of It's a
Wonderful Life.

Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell)

Uncle Billy is everybody's weird uncle. Weird in a positive, absentminded way, not weird in a "we suspect him of plotting against the government" way.
He's an amusing eccentric—a likable character but a bad businessman. His main weakness is that he's totally forgetful. He needs to keep strings tied to
his fingers to help him remember certain things he's supposed to do. Not a great trait, considering that he's George's co-partner in running the Building
and Loan (which Billy founded with George's dad). Also, on the likable/lovable side of the score, he's apparently an animal lover; he has a pet crow and a
pet squirrel.

Billy sparks the main crisis of the movie when he misplaces $8,000. This almost ruins the Building and Loan and makes George seriously contemplate
suicide. OTOH, you could argue that, without Uncle Billy's screw-up, George never would have had his epiphany about how wonderful his life is. Uncle
Billy's role in the movie is to help him reach that point.

When George sees what the world would be like if he'd never been born, he discovers that Uncle Billy would've wound up in an insane asylum, having
lost the Building and Loan to Mr. Potter. This implies that, if the Potter-type people were in control, the lovable eccentrics like Uncle Billy would all be
doomed. They require a protector and defender, someone compassionate to look out for them.

Peter Bailey (Samuel S. Hinds)

Pa Bailey is a living incarnation of the old-timey "Father knows best" maxim.

As George Bailey's dad, he's an honest man who founded the Bailey Brothers Building and Loan with Uncle Billy in order to help the people of Bedford
Falls buy their own affordable houses. This ends up acting as a bulwark against the greedy designs of Mr. Potter, who wants to control all of the
businesses in town.
POTTER: Have you put any real pressure on those people of yours to pay those mortgages?

PA BAILEY: Times are bad, Mr. Potter. A lot of these people are out of work.

POTTER: Then, foreclose!

PA BAILEY: I can't do that. These families have children. [...]

POTTER: They're not my children.

PA BAILEY: But they're somebody's children.

Pa is a compassionate guy. He knows what's up with Potter:

PA BAILEY: Oh, he's a sick man. Frustrated and sick. Sick in his mind, sick in his soul, if he has one. Hates everybody that has anything that he can't have.
Hates us mostly, I guess.

Although Pa Bailey wants George to go to college and travel the world, he'd like him to run the business after he graduates. George doesn't recognize
how important the Building and Loan is to the town. He accidentally lets this slip, saying, "I couldn't face being cooped up for the rest of my life in a
shabby little office … I want to do something big and something important."

Pa Bailey responds by saying:

PA BAILEY: You know, George, I feel that in a small way, we are doing something important. Satisfying a fundamental urge. It's deep in the race for a man
to want his own roof and walls and fireplace, and we're helping him get those things in our shabby little office.

Shortly after this Capra-esque conversation, Pa has a stroke and dies. It will take George Bailey the rest of the movie to grow into his father's shoes, but
the old man taught him well.

Harry Bailey (Todd Karns)

Harry Bailey is handsome, athletic, popular, and lucky. He might be a college grad and war hero, but he owes lots of that to his brother, George. As a kid,
Harry accidentally crashes into an icy pond while out sledding. George rescues him. George gives Harry his college savings when George is forced to stay
at home and run the family business.

George assumes that Harry will end up taking over the Building and Loan when he graduates, but instead, Harry gets married and has a great job
opportunity with his father-in-law in another city. He's reluctant to take it because he knows he owes George big time:

HARRY: George ... about that job. Ruth spoke out of turn. I never said I'd take it. You've been holding the bag here for four years, and ... well, I won't let
you down, George.

Deeply disappointed, George is still supportive and insists that Harry pursue his dreams.

George can't serve in the war because he lost his hearing in one ear saving Harry on that winter day. He stays in Bedford Falls, helping on the home front
and acting as an air-raid warden. Harry flies a fighter plane for the Navy and shoots down 15 enemy planes, including two that were about to crash into a
transport boat full of soldiers. He wins the Congressional Medal of Honor. Of course, none of this would've been possible if George hadn't rescued Harry
when he fell through the ice. Clarence shows George that.

Harry has been the protected little brother throughout the film. He idolizes George; he knows he owes his life to him. He knows how much George has
sacrificed. At the end of the movie, Harry toasts his big bro:

HARRY: To my big brother, George, the richest man in town!

Like George, Harry knows what's really important.

Ma Bailey (Beulah Bondi)

We don't get to learn much about George and Harry's mother except that she's one of the people who prays for George on the night of his crisis. Her
finest moment is when she helps George realize that Mary Hatch is in love with him:

MA BAILEY: Can you give me one good reason why you shouldn't call on Mary?

GEORGE: Sure—Sam Wainwright.

MA BAILEY: Hmm?
GEORGE: Yes. Sam's crazy about Mary.

MA BAILEY: Well, she's not crazy about him.

GEORGE: Well, how do you know? Did she discuss it with you?

MA BAILEY: No.

GEORGE: Well, then, how do you know?

MA BAILEY: Well, I've got eyes, haven't I? Why, she lights up like a firefly whenever you're around. [...] And besides, Sam Wainwright's away in New York,
and you're here in Bedford Falls.

Sly one, that Ma.

When Clarence is giving George his life tour, we see what would have happened to Mrs. Bailey if George had never been born. It's not pretty. Grieving
the loss of her son (who died since George wasn't around to rescue him) and husband, she's a bitter, sad woman running a boarding house. Thanks to
George, her life is totally different.

Zuzu Bailey (Karolyn Grimes)

Zuzu Bailey is George's 6-year-old daughter. We don't see much of the kids in the movie, but one scene with Zuzu shows us how much she loves and
depends on him. Sick in bed, she's sad about a flower that has lost its petals.

ZUZU: Look, Daddy ... paste it.

GEORGE: Yeah, all right. Now, I'll paste this together. (George pretends to fix it but just puts the fallen petals in his jacket pocket.)

GEORGE: There it is, good as new.

ZUZU: Give the flower a drink.

It's a poignant moment. George is at the end of his rope, but he takes the time to comfort his daughter. She's got total faith that her daddy can fix
anything, even though he's not feeling he can fix himself. In George's angel-guided life tour, there are no petals in his pocket. When they reappear, it's
the first sign that George knows he's been restored to his life and family.

Zuzu gets one of the classic lines at the end of the movie. When a bell rings on the Christmas tree, she says to her father:

ZUZU: Look, Daddy. Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.

Zuzu is just plain adorable.

George's Other Children (Larry Simms, Carol Coomes, Jimmy Hawkins)

(Psst. Head on over to "Zuzu Bailey" for the deets on her.)

Pete Bailey
Pete Bailey is George's 9-year-old son, named for his grandpa. He's a typical kid who loves his dad and peppers him with questions on Christmas Eve—
like, "How do you spell 'frankincense'?" and "How do you spell 'hallelujah.'" Like all of the kids, Pete prays for George in his time of trouble.

Janie Bailey
Janie, George's 8-year-old daughter, gets on his nerves on Christmas Eve by playing the same carol on the piano over and over again. After he storms out,
she prays for him, hoping he'll be okay. And that's really all there is to say about Janie.

Tommy Bailey
Tommy is George and Mary's youngest kid, a 3-year-old. When George is experiencing his crisis, he holds Tommy and weeps.

Minor Characters
Angel Joseph and Senior Angel Franklin
These guys are working some serious overtime. Joseph and the Senior Angel—who is called Franklin in the screenplay, though this name is never actually
spoken in the movie—are the two angels who hear George's despair and dispatch Clarence to save him in his moment of crisis. They appear in the form
of glowing galaxies in the depths of space.
Joseph narrates George's story via voice-over, instructing Clarence on how he should proceed in helping him. They also continue to provide support to
Clarence after he ventures down to Earth.

Fun factual coincidence: the actor playing the Senior Angel is Moroni Olsen, whose Mormon parents named him after the angel Moroni.

Annie
Annie is an African-American housekeeper who works for the Baileys. She doesn't play a huge role in the movie but gets a few good lines and a comic
moment where Harry pretends he's in love with her, much to her irritation.

Ruth Dakin Bailey

Ruth is Harry's wife. Harry surprises the family by bringing her with him when he returns from college. Her father also gives Harry a job, preventing him
from taking over the Building and Loan and leaving George stuck in Bedford Falls running the business.

Bert
Ernie and Bert? (Pure coincidence, according to Jim Henson.) At one point, we learn that Bert was wounded fighting in North Africa during World War
II and won the Silver Star.

Later, when George goes through his world-without-George experience, Bert tries to arrest him for being a crazy troublemaker, even knocking him down
and trying to shoot him. (George ends up punching him in return.) In real life, Bert prays for George to escape his desperate state. He makes sure he's OK
after crashing into a tree with his car, and he totally supports him, showing up at the end of the movie at the Christmas celebration.

Ernie Bishop
Ernie is a local cab driver with a heart of gold. A good friend of George's, he drives George around at different points in the movie—like after he and Mary
have been married and when George sees what the world would be like if he'd never been born. Also, thanks to a loan from George's Building and Loan,
Ernie is able to afford a house.

Ernie helps surprise George on his wedding night, pretending to be a butler as George enters his new old house. He and Bert stand in the rain and
serenade the newlyweds. Aw.

In the alternate timeline, in which George has never been born, things are different. Ernie lives in "a shack in Potter's Field," and his wife abandoned him
years earlier. He seems distinctly unhappy in this vision of a possible reality. As a beneficiary of the Building and Loan's affordable homes, Ernie
represents the everyman that George and his father devote their lives to.

Violet Bick
Sultry and seductive, Violet Bick is a young woman who George helps out financially. She used to have a childhood crush on him.

Apparently, Violet has been involved in too many romantic entanglements in Bedford Falls and needs help starting a new life in New York. Mr. Potter
tries to insinuate (falsely) that she and George are having an affair. Earlier in life, she kind of had a thing for George but was turned off when George
suggested that they go for a hike on a date.

Violet appears with Mary in the drugstore scene when they're both children. In his vision of how the world would be if he'd never been born, George
discovers that without his help, Violet is getting into trouble and being arrested, dragged into a car by the cops. The scene implies that she's a prostitute.

When the Building and Loan is threatened with bankruptcy, Violet returns money that George has lent her. She's kind of the hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold
type.

Mr. Carter
Mr. Carter is the bank examiner, checking on the Bailey Building and Loan's finances to make sure they're in order. He's in the middle of his audit when
Uncle Billy loses $8,000.

Freddie
This is the dude who played Alfalfa in the original Little Rascals. He's a rascal in this movie, too, but his hair doesn't stick up, unfortunately. Freddie takes
Mary to a high school dance, only to lose her to George. But, he gets his revenge by hitting the button that opens the floor, causing George and Mary to
fall into the swimming pool hidden underneath.

Mr. Gower
Mr. Gower runs the drugstore where George works as a boy. Distraught over losing his son Robert to influenza, Gower accidentally puts poison in the
prescription bottle for a sick child. George realizes the dangerous mistake and brings the bottle back to the drugstore. Gower boxes him in the ear for
dereliction of duty, but he cries and hugs George when he realizes what actually happened.

Mr. Gower pays for George's luggage as a graduation gift; he's still grateful. In the version of Bedford Falls where George hasn't been born, Gower
accidentally does poison the kid and has gone to prison for killing him. He becomes an alcoholic and is treated mercilessly by Nick the bartender.
Mrs. Hatch
Mary Hatch's mother appears in a few scenes, but we really don't see much of her. At one point, when George stops by their house, Mrs. Hatch yells
down to Mary, asking her what's going on. We think she'd rather Mary stay with wealthy Sam Wainwright than ordinary old George.

Marty Hatch
Marty Hatch is Mary's brother and one of George's friends. He helps spark the initial romantic connection between Mary and George by asking George to
keep Mary company at a high school dance.

Mr. and Mrs. Martini

Martini owns a bar in Bedford Falls. George Bailey gives Mr. and Mrs. Martini a loan to buy a house in town. They're very grateful to George and take
pride in being able to buy their own home. In the alternate George-less version of the universe, Martini loses the business. Later on, Martini is one of the
people who prays for George.

Nick
Talk about a split personality … though, admittedly, in two alternate universes. Nick is the bartender at Martini's place. In reality, he seems like a pretty
nice guy, showing concern for George when he stops by during the lowest moment of his life. But, in the world-without-George timeline, he's a miserable
jerk.

He's the one who runs Martini's bar, which is now called "Nick's" instead of "Martini's." He's rude and fairly nasty toward George and Clarence. He also
squirts Mr. Gower in the face with seltzer since Gower accidentally poisoned a kid years ago in the George-free universe.

Mr. Partridge
Mr. Partridge is the high school principal who supervises the dance where George meets up with Mary and falls in the swimming pool.

Potter's Aide
Potter's aide pushes Potter around in his wheelchair and doesn't speak any lines in the whole movie. That was easy.

Reineman, Potter's Rent Collector

Reineman tells Potter that he has to keep an eye on George Bailey. He helps fill in the viewer on what's going on, telling Potter that George is beating him
out; Bailey Park—a housing development—is becoming more successful than Potter's Field. He warns Potter that someday he, Reineman, might end up
begging George Bailey for a job. That doesn't go over well with Potter.

Cousin Tilly and Cousin Eustace

Tilly and Eustace are two of George's cousins. They work at the Building and Loan with him, Tilly as a telephone operator and Eustace as a clerk. Their
only function seems to be to show us that the B&L is a real family business.

Sam Wainwright
Sam is a New York City playboy, rolling in the benjamins. He's also one of George's closest friends from way back. He's kind of a goofball. His signature
line: "Hee-haw!" Originally Mary Hatch's boyfriend, he ends up losing her to George—who basically steals her. But since all's fair in love and war, things
are quickly patched up.

At one point, he tells George about his father's plans to build a plastics factory in Rochester, which was inspired by something George told him about
making plastics out of soybeans. George suggests building the factory in Bedford Falls instead of Rochester, which Sam's dad ends up doing. (Another
thing that wouldn't have happened if George had never been born.)

Sam goes off to college and makes a fortune in the plastics business. On one visit to Bedford Falls, George looks longingly at Sam's fancy car and the
beautiful clothes he's able to buy for his wife. Sam is no Potter, though. At the end of the movie, he helps bail out the Building and Loan by sending
George $25,000—way more than he even needed.

~~

On Religion: Christmas at the Movies — ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’

“They saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him... And having been
warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.” —Matthew
2:11-12
Our church family’s favorite Christmas movie of all time is the original Christmas classic: “It’s a Wonderful
Life.”

Frank Capra’s movie tells the story of a dreamer named George Bailey who feels cooped up in his sleepy little
town of Bedford Falls. George manages a small building and loan company founded by his father. But since
childhood, George has dreamed of “shakin’ the dust of this crummy little town” and seeing the world!

George wants to do big things with his life. And he does — only not in the way he expects.

In “It’s a Wonderful Life,” George is the hero, while Mr. Potter — the most powerful man in town — is the
villain. In Matthew 2, after Jesus Christ has been born, there are several heroes and a villain. The heroes of
the story are the magi. The villain is King Herod.

We don’t know much about the magi who visited Jesus, but we do know they were experts in astronomy and
astrology. Around the time of Jesus’ birth, these magi noticed a new star they hadn’t seen before. The magi
concluded the star had been placed in the sky to announce the birth of the King of the Jews, so they formed a
caravan and traveled over 1,000 miles to see and worship the newborn.

Historians tell us the Roman government gave Herod the title “King of the Jews,” and he wore that title
proudly. These historians also tell us that Herod was an extremely jealous, paranoid ruler who murdered
anyone he suspected of trying to steal the throne — even his own family members.

It’s safe to say Herod was a psychopath. He must have become insanely jealous when the magi strolled into
town asking where the newborn King of the Jews was. “A new king?” Herod must have thought. “I’M THE
ONLY KING OF THE JEWS!”

Herod then set out to destroy the child he believed was after his throne.

In “It’s a Wonderful Life,” Mr. Potter tries repeatedly to defeat George — the young upstart who, with his
crummy little Building and Loan, defies Potter’s efforts to control the town.

One of the saddest moments in “It’s a Wonderful Life” comes when George visits Mr. Potter and asks him for
an $8,000 loan. George’s Uncle Billy misplaced $8,000 in cash, and the bank examiner is bearing down for an
accurate account of their finances.

What neither George nor his uncle realize is that Mr. Potter found the missing $8,000 and kept it for himself.
Mr. Potter knew who the money belonged to, but he stole it so George would be arrested and out of his hair
once and for all.

George is at the lowest point of his life. Facing jail — but with a $15,000 life insurance policy in-hand — Mr.
Potter’s taunting words keep running through his mind: “You’re worth more dead than alive.” So, after
getting drunk at Martini’s Bar, George walks to a bridge and prepares to jump into the river and end his life.

He’s rescued, however, by an angel named Clarence, who jumps into the river first and yells for help.
Clarence knows George will jump in to save him, When George does just that, Clarence can save George.

Afterward, God lets Clarence show George what life in Bedford Falls would be like if he’d never been born —
and, boy, is it ugly. George’s friends and neighbors live in Potter’s slums. The downtown area is riddled with
crime. George’s brother is dead. His kids don’t exist. His beloved wife, Mary, is an old spinster.

Jail or no jail, George begs Clarence to give him his life back.
The next time you watch the movie, notice this: George is given his life back, but only after he stops crying
out to Clarence for help and starts crying out to God.

When it comes down to it, George isn’t the greatest hero of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Clarence is a greater hero
that George. He saves George’s life so George can save others’ lives. But there’s even a greater hero than
Clarence: God, who sent Clarence in the first place.

In the same way, the magi aren’t the greatest heroes in Matthew 2. God placed the star in the sky and set
their course for Bethlehem. In doing so, God shone heaven’s spotlight on heaven and earth’s greatest hero:
Jesus Christ — born to save the world.

So many Christians gripe about Victorville without considering the “wonderful life” God has given us in our
own “crummy little town.” God does some of his greatest work through his followers who live in “crummy
little towns.”

George thought Bedford Falls was a crummy little town. Many in Israel thought Bethlehem and Nazareth
were crummy little towns. And I bet some of you think Victorville is a crummy little town.

Well, maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t. Regardless, I believe God can and will do some of his greatest work right
here in the Victor Valley.

Some of you, like George Bailey, can’t wait to get out of the desert. Well, might I suggest that God could have
other plans for you? Don’t underestimate God’s ability to work through you to do some amazing things right
here in your “crummy little town.”

God has you here for a reason. His plans for you here might be much better than your own plans for you
somewhere else.