It’s a Wonderful Life

It's a Wonderful Life

It’s a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas fantasy drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story and booklet The Greatest Gift. The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his dreams to help others. It was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and has been recognized by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 best American films ever made.

About It’s a Wonderful Life in brief

Summary It's a Wonderful LifeIt’s a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas fantasy drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story and booklet The Greatest Gift. The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his dreams to help others, and whose imminent suicide on Christmas Eve brings about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody. Theatrically, the film’s break-even point was USD 6. 3 million, about twice the production cost, a figure it did not come close to achieving on its initial release. It was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and has been recognized by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 best American films ever made. It became a classic Christmas film after it was put into the public domain, which allowed it to be broadcast without licensing or royalty fees. In 1990, it was designated as \”culturally, historically or aesthetically significant\” and added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. It has been listed as No. 11 on the AmericanFilm Institute’s 1998 greatest movie list, No. 20 on its 2007 greatest movie lists, and No. 1 on its list of the most inspirational American films of all time. In the film, George Bailey saves his brother, Harry, from drowning but loses hearing in his left ear. During World War II, George is ineligible for service because of his deaf ear. George and Mary witness a run on the bank, and use their USD 2,000 honeymoon savings to keep the Building and Loan solvent.

Under George’s leadership, the company eventually establishes Bailey Park, a modern housing development to rival Potter’s overpriced slums. George is dejected but doesn’t stand in Harry’s way and continues running the building and Loan. George flees to a bar at the end of the film and gets drunk at a bar, where he gets into a fight with the bar’s owner, who calls the police on him for misappropriation of funds. George later marries Mary Hatch, who has always had a crush on him, and the attraction is now mutual. The couple have a son, George Jr., who lives in New York City with his wife, Mary, and their son, Harry. George dies in a car accident on December 31, 1945, at the age of 38. He is buried in Bedford Falls, New York, in a plot of land that was once owned by his great-great-grandfather. He leaves behind a wife and four children. He also leaves a fortune to his nephew, Billy, who runs a successful construction business in the town. George also leaves behind his life insurance policy with USD 500 in equity as collateral for a loan, offering his life policy with a nominal value of USD 15,000. In his last moments, George appeals to his family and takes out his frustration on his uncle, Billy. Billy taunts Harry with a newspaper headline about Harry, but unintentionally wraps the envelope of cash in which George had deposited USD 8,000 of the bank’s cash.