Staring: James
(Jimmy) Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry
Travers, Beulah Bondi, Ward Bond, Frank Faylen andGloria Grahame
Director: Frank Capra
Production company: Liberty Films
Music by: Dimitri Tiomkin
Release: December 20, 1946 (USA)
Plot: On Christmas Eve 1945, in Bedford Falls, New York, George Bailey
contemplates suicide. The prayers of his family and friends reach
Heaven, where guardian angel Clarence Odbody is assigned to save George
in order to earn his wings. Clarence is shown flashbacks of George's
life. He watches 12-year-old George rescue his younger brother Harry
from drowning, but become deaf in his left ear. Later, George prevents
the pharmacist, Mr. Gower, distraught over the death of his son, from
accidentally poisoning a prescription. In 1928, George plans a world
tour before college. He is reintroduced to Mary Hatch, who has been
enamored with him since childhood. When his father dies suddenly,
George postpones his travel to settle the family business, Bailey
Brothers Building and Loan. Avaricious board member Henry F. Potter,
who controls most of the town, seeks to dissolve it, but the board
votes to keep the Building and Loan open if George runs it. George
acquiesces and works alongside his uncle, Billy, and gives his tuition
to Harry with the understanding that Harry will run the business when
he graduates.
During World
War II, George is ineligible for service because of his deaf ear but
is active in the domestic war effort. On Christmas Eve 1945, the town
prepares a hero's welcome for Harry, who was awarded the Medal of
Honor for his actions as a U.S. Navy fighter pilot preventing a kamikaze
attack on a troop transport. Billy goes to the bank to deposit $8,000
of the Building and Loan's cash. He taunts Potter with a newspaper
headline about Harry, but absentmindedly wraps the envelope of cash
in Potter's newspaper. Potter finds the money and keeps it, while
Billy cannot recall how he misplaced it. With a bank examiner reviewing
the company's records, George realizes scandal and criminal charges
will follow. Fruitlessly retracing Billy's steps, George berates him
and takes out his frustration on Mary and their kids. George appeals
to Potter for a loan, offering his life insurance policy as collateral.
Potter chastises George, refuses to help, and phones the police.
Review: This
is an amazing film. It tells the personal journy of a man who sets
out to be there for everyone. Challenged from all sides and hindered
by feelings of self daubt; Jimmy Stewart reaches a point that many
today can easily relate to. The bottom of the pits where nothing seems
to have gone right. He makes a devistating choice the errase his life.
A decision that he quickly learns has consequences that go deep into
his past. Making even the simplelist choices he had made now seem
crucial for the happiness of others.
This classic film still packs a real punch and is a great one to watch
with the whole family as we get ready to celebrate the Lords Birthday.
be sure to check it out.
M J Flack