Welcome to IAWL.COM!It's a Wonderful LifeIt's a Wonderful Life (IAWL)Article "It's a Wonderful LifeIt's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 Frank Capra film, produced by his own Liberty Films, and released originally by RKO Radio Pictures. It's a Wonderful Life was based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" by Philip Van Doren Stern. Screenplay of "It's a Wonderful Life" by Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett and Frank Capra
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It's a Wonderful Life (IAWL) StoryIAWL Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. "It's a Wonderful Life", the movie begins with an apprentice angel named Clarence being given his final assignment before becoming a true angel: Help George Bailey (played by James Stewart), a man who sacrificed his dreams to help his town. Faced with a financial and legal crisis, he is contemplating suicide. After being fully briefed on George's life, Clarence descends and gives George the opportunity to view how the world would be if George were never born. While going through the world in this state, George learns that his beloved hometown of Bedford Falls came under the control of his longtime nemesis, Mr. Potter, and was turned into a center of vice. He also discovers that the people he loves - his wife, brother, and friends - are all dead or suffering in "Pottersville." After experiencing this alternate reality, George decides that life is truly worth living and returns. To his joy, he finds that the entire town had pitched in to save his bank from going under and himself being arrested, culminating with a rich industrialist friend authorizing a massive advance and his own younger brother leaving his own presidential decoration ceremony early to help his sibling. Due to his work, Clarence was able to "get his wings" and become a true angel. When he gets his wings, a bell rings. [edit]
IAWL Production and distributionFilming of It's a Wonderful Life started on April 15, 1946 and ended on July 27, 1946. The IAWL film premiered on December 20, 1946. "It's a Wonderful Life", the film was panned by some critics and was not a box-office hit upon initial release (placing 26th for the year, one place ahead of another Christmas movie, Miracle on 34th Street), although IAWL did receive five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. It was only after It's A Wonderful Life's copyright was not renewed in 1974 that people began to take a second look at this film. IAWL entered the public domain and many television stations began airing the film free of charge and royalties. In the 1980s (the beginning of the home video era) the IAWL film finally received the acclaim it didn't receive in 1946, thus becoming a perennial holiday favorite. For several years, IAWL became expected that the movie would be shown multiple times on at least one station and on multiple stations in the same day, often at the same or overlapping times. It was a common practice for American viewers to jump in and out of viewing It's A Wonderful Life, the movie at random points, confident they could easily pick it up again at a later time. The film's warm and familiar ambience gave even isolated scenes the feel of holiday "comfort food" for the eyes and ears. It's a Wonderful Life's public domain success is often cited as a reason to limit copyright terms, which have been frequently extended by Congress in the United States. Two colorized versions of "It's a Wonderful Life" have since been produced; they are widely considered to be of inferior quality to the black and white IAWL original. They are often held up by opponents of colorization as an example of the flaws associated with the process. For many years, some stations paid substantial royalties to show a colorized version as it was viewed as more profitable to show the colorized versions than the black and white original of "It's a Wonderful Life". In 1993, Republic Pictures (whose predecessor, National Telefilm Associates, originally bought key rights to the film, It's A Wonderful Life, including the original television syndication rights, the original nitrate film elements, the music score, and the story on which the film is based, The Greatest Gift) relied on the 1990 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Stewart v. Abend (which involved the movie Rear Window) to enforce its claim of copyright, because, while the IAWL film's copyright had not been renewed, it was a derivative work of various works that were still copyrighted. As a result, the film is no longer shown as much on television (NBC is currently licensed to show the film on U.S. network television), the colorized versions of IAWL have been withdrawn, and Republic now has exclusive video rights to the IAWL film (under license with Artisan Entertainment). "It's a Wonderful Life", the film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
IAWL CritiqueAlthough generally acclaimed for its affirmation of positive values, the film has attracted some negative critique. In 1947, a memo to the Director of the FBI reported that some sources viewed the film as subversive and pro-Communist on grounds of its negative depiction of the capitalist Potter and the triumph of the common man Bailey. The identity of these sources is unknown because the public version of the memo has been redacted. It is not too much of a stretch to suppose that these complainants saw too close a resemblence between Potter and themselves. The movie has inspired other alternate reality sections of movies, such as the alternate 1985 in Back to the Future II and the "glimpse" given to Jack Campbell in The Family Man.
IAWL Myths & rumorsA popular belief is that Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie were named after secondary characters in the film. This has been denied by the producers of Sesame Street. Although the character of Uncle Billy in IAWL, tied strings around his fingers to remember things just like Ernie in Sesame Street. Another rumor is that Pink Floyd album Wish You Were Here can be played alongside the IAWL film with key events in the movie tying in with song lyrics. The similarities are said to be more noticeable than in the other claimed Pink Floyd movie sync with The Wizard of Oz and Dark Side of the Moon. It is also often quoted that psychiatrists would recommend It's a Wonderful Life to patients suffering from depression. This was because It's a Wonderful Life was such a well known feel-good movie, and it generated positive results. However contemporary psychiatrists would probably scoff at this idea; but in the Special Edition video of IAWL, this theory is quoted.
IAWL Cast
Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, with young Karolyn Grimes. A more complete IAWL Cast List is here. It's a Wonderful Life PhotographsIt's a Wonderful Life Photographs - photographs, screenshots and publicity photos of It's a Wonderful Life (IAWL). It's a Wonderful Life QuotationsIt's a Wonderful Life Quotations - Quotes, Quotations and Dialogue from It's a Wonderful Life. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. |