AFI #20: It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria on August 21, 2020.

This is part of a series of articles reviewing the American Film Institute's Top 100 Films, as unveiled in 2007. Why am I doing this? Because the damned cinemas are closed and I have to review something.

(PG) ★★★★★

Director: Frank Capra.

Cast: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers, Beulah Bondi, Frank Faylen, Ward Bond, Gloria Grahame, H. B. Warner, Frank Albertson, Todd Karns.

The public was unsure about Santa's new look.

The opposite of Orwellian is Capraesque. The former imagines the worst ideas that humanity can conjure for the benefit of the few, while the latter imagines the best of humanity triumphing over those ideals through sheer goodness and decency. 

If such notions of good succeeding against a corrupt system seem sadly fanciful now, they were also derided back in Capra's heyday. "Capra-corn" some called it. 

In fact, It's A Wonderful Life was a box-office flop in 1946, and met with middling reviews. It earnt Capra his sixth and final Oscar nomination for best director, but at the time it signalled the end of his run as a can-do-no-wrong director. It was the first film Capra had made since his stint making propaganda films for the US War Department, and coming so soon after WWII, perhaps Capra's hopefulness didn't jive with the horrors of recent reality.

But It's A Wonderful Life is a tonic. It's easy to be cynical and dismiss it as "too easy", and "unbearable whimsy" as some reviewers did - or "sentimental hogwash", as chief villain Mr Potter puts it -  but shutting out the endless shitshow of 2020 and watching this optimistic ode to human decency and community is revitalising and even necessary. This reminder of goodness is part of what revived the film's fortunes - when its copyright lapsed into the public domain in the '60s, it became cheap Xmas fare for TV networks every year. It's A Wonderful Life turned into a yuletide tradition, and much like a nice snifter of the Christmas brandy, it warms the heart and makes you feel good.

It's hyper-American, but its message is timeless and universal. In George Bailey (Stewart) and the apple-pie small town of Bedford Falls, we see the American Dream - that everyone can own a home, and that if you endure and do good, you'll get your miracle. George gives up almost every dream he ever had and makes sacrifice after sacrifice, and every time he does something good, he suffers. He's pushed to breaking point, but every good deed he ever did is repaid by a community he didn't even realise he'd helped to build. 

Beyond its moral message, It's A Wonderful Life is entertaining and well made. As Karen Krizanovich noted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, shorn of its "holiday distractions, the film is actually more a delightfully shrewd screwball comedy packed with fast, incisive observations on love, sex, and society". 

Its sharp gags and charming sense of humour are offset by the darkness of its "what if?" episode, which is weirdly (but perfectly) brief. The film runs for 90 minutes before it swerves into its version of A Christmas Carol (or the alternative 1985 of Back To The Future 2, if you prefer). Its structure is deceptive - ask people about the film and they all talk about guardian angel stuff, which is really just the big finale.

Even if you can't stomach the white-picket-fence wholesomeness and idyllic Christian decency of it all (note how Bedford Falls turns into a run of booze halls, gambling dens and dancing girls in its dark timeline), you have to at least acknowledge Stewart's amazing turn. It earned him the third of his five Oscar nominations for best actor, and in the pantheon of great Stewart performances it's one of his best. There is plenty of the aw-shucks earnestness he was renowned for, as well as the Mr Smith Goes To Washington-style pontificating, but when things get grim he shows the darkness that categorised many of his post-war performances. He's as convincing as a gangly 20-something as he is as an angry, broken man terrifying his family. Whether he's joking with his girl, crying over a stiff drink at a bar, trashing the family home, or realising that it is indeed a wonderful life, Stewart is at one with his character, and nothing short of amazing.

The rest of the roles around him are thinner - it's very much the James Stewart show - but are well played. Reed is a great foil for Stewart as the love of his life Mary, Barrymore is an enjoyably hissable caricature as villain Mr Potter, and perpetual sideman Mitchell is under-rated as Uncle Billy.

Capra's direction is unobtrusive but the film is deceptively well-crafted. The pacing and shape of the story, the way it builds your deep affinity for George Bailey before trying to break your heart; this is good editing, and strong filmcraft. Capra was famous for letting his actors improvise - rare for the time - and it gives scenes a natural feel, which helps to win you over.

Many of the films on this list are recognised and celebrated for their artistic boundary-pushing, directorial excellence, complex characters and great performances. It's A Wonderful Life has some of those things, but really its calling card is its endearing sentiment and heartwarming messages - that community is important, that good deeds are worthy, that kindness is a valuable virtue, and that individuals can make a difference. These ideals are as vital now as they were in 1946.