It's a Wonderful Life

James Stewart is George Bailey, who runs a financial business in the small US town of Bedford Falls. George is a thoroughly good and honest but troubled man, the very ... more >

James Stewart is George Bailey, who runs a financial business in the small US town of Bedford Falls. George is a thoroughly good and honest but troubled man, the very antithesis of emotionless, Scrooge-like local millionaire Mr Potter. On Christmas Eve, Potter engineers the disappearance of a sizeable loan from under George's nose and George reaches his lowest ebb. Whilst contemplating suicide from a bridge, he is interrupted by Clarence, his 'guardian angel', who proceeds to show George how life in his hometown would have panned out without him. To the viewer it becomes clear that George is a man much loved and valued both by his family and the local community. The question is: will he realise this, and how will he react?

You may be mistaken for thinking - even from its title alone - that It's A Wonderful Life is one of those schmaltzy, workaday Hollywood films weighed down by its own sentimentality. If so, you couldn't be more wrong. This is a film with timeless warmth, by which only those with the stoniest of hearts could remain unmoved. It will make you feel by turns happy, sad, angry, thoughtful...it's a film that stirs all of the emotions, yet never stands in judgement, never preaches, never patronises the viewer.

It's the truest, purest embodiment of the term 'classic'. It's a film that everybody should see. Even a hardened cynic like myself finds it impossible to resist. < less

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Cast

Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, Donna Reed, Gloria Grahame

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