Story

the film begins by having an prentice angel known as Clarence existence given his final assignment prior to becoming a confessedly angel: Help George Bailey (played by James Stewart, a human world health organization sacrificed his dreams to help his town. Faced sustaining the fiscal & legal crisis, he is contemplating suicide.

When existence fully briefed in George's life, Clarence descends & gives George a chance to watch how else the world would exist as in case George were never natural. When running through a globe therein state, George learns that his darling hometown of Bedford Lessens come under the control of his longtime nemesis, Mr. Ceramist, & was sour into the center of vice. He as well discovers that a population he loves - his married woman, brother, & friends - come completely dead or even suffering inside "Pottersville."

Fallowing getting this alternate reality, George decides that life is truly worth living & is restored. To his joy, he finds that the entire thave experienced pitched within to save his bank from either running under & himself existence arrested, culminating by having the rich industrialist friend authorizing a massive advance & his have immature brother allowing his own presidential decoration ceremony early to help his sib. Due to his operate, Clarence was breathe to "get his wings"& be the admittedly angel.

Production and distribution
Motiin-picture photography began on April 15 1946 and ended on July 27 1946. A film premiered in December 20 1946.

the film was panned by a few critics & was non a pack-professional hit upon initial release (placing Twenty-sixth for the month, a single place ahead of an additional Christmas pic, Miracle on 34th Street), although it did receive five Academy Award nominations, including Right Picture, Better Director, & Better Actor. It was lone fallowing its copyright was not renewed inside 1974 that people began to take a 2nd view this film. It entered a public domain & many tv station began airing a film gratis and royalties. In the 1980s (a beginning of a at home videos era) the film eventually received the plaudit it didn't receive around 1946, so becoming the perennial holiday favourite. For even many years, it became required that a motiin picture would exist as shown multiple days in at least a single station & on multiple stations in a equivalent day, typically at the equivalent or lapping days. It was the most common practice for Western viewers to go for it within & away from viewing the film willy-nilly points, caring it may well pick it higher once again at a late period. A film's caring & familiar ambience gave possibly isolated scenes a sense of holiday "comfort food" for the eyes & ears. A film's public domain profits is typically cited as a understanding to limit copyright terms, which have been oftentimes extended by Congress in the United States.

Both colorized versions have since been produced; it is widely considered to exist as of inferior quality to the black & white original. It is typically held higher by opponents of colorization for instance of a flaws associated by having the run. For numbers of years, occasionally stations paid real royalties to show a colorized version when it was deem other profitable to show a colorized versions than the black & white original.

Around 1993, Republic Pictures (whose predecessor, National Telefilm Associates, originally bought key rights to a film, including a original televisiin syndication rights, a original nitrate film elements, a music score, & the story on which the film is depending, The Greatest Gift) relied on the 1990 U.S. Supreme Court opinion in Stewart v. Abend (which involved the movie Rear Window) to enforce its claim of copyright, because, while the film's copyright had not been renewed, it was a derivative work of various works that were still copyrighted. Following, a film is no yearn shown as much in television (NBC is currently licensed to show a film in U.S. network television), a colorized versions develop been withdrawn, & Republic nowadays has exclusive streaming videos rights to the film (under license by having Artisan Entertainment).

A film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

Cast
James Stewart as George Bailey Donna Reed as Mary Hatch Lionel Barrymore as Mr. Potter Ward Bond as Bert Beulah Bondi as Mrs. Bailey Gloria Grahame as Violet H.B. Warner as Mr. Gower Frank Faylen as Ernie Bishop Charles Lane as the rent collector Henry Travers as the angel Clarence Oddbody Sheldon Leonard as Nick, bartender William Edmunds as Martini Frank Albertson as Sam Wainwright Thomas Mitchell as Uncle Billy Joseph Kearns as Angel (voice, uncredited)

Critique
Although usually acclaimed for its affirmation of caring values, a film has attracted a few veto critique.

Inside 1947, the FBI viewed the film when revolutionist & pro-Communist on grounds of its blackball depiction of the capitalist Potter and a triumph of the common man Bailey.

A moving picture has inspired more surrogate reality sections of film, like a replacement 1985 around Back to the Future II and the "glimpse" given to Jack Campbell in The Family Man.

Myths & rumors

The popular belief is that Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie were named fallowing secondary characters in the film. This has been denied per producers of Sesame Street.

An additional rumor is that Pink Floyd album, Wish You Were Here, can be played along side a film using key cases around the moving-picture show ligature in by owning song lyrics. A similarities come said to become extra noticeable than in the more claimed Pink Floyd moving picture sync using The Wizard of Oz and Dark Side of the Moon.

These are besides typically quoted that psychiatrists would recommend ''It's a Wonderful Life'' to patients suffering from either depression. This was because it was such the easily known sense-skillful flick, & it generated caring final result. Nevertheless contemporary shrink would probably scoff at this idea , however in the Favorite Edition videos, this theory is quoted.