There aren’t many films, let alone Christmas movies, that have impacted culture more thanFrank Capra’s 1946 classicIt’s a Wonderful LifestarringJimmy StewartandDonna Reed. It has become so ingrained into popular culture that it has inspired a variety of imitators, homages, and even a 1977 television remake,It Happened One Christmas,starring none other thanOrson Wellesas Mr. Potter. Welles, perhaps the most famous hater in film history, said ofIt’s a Wonderful Lifeto long-time friend Henry Jaglom in the 2013 bookMy Lunches with Orson,“There is no way of hating that movie.”
It is quite possibly the most beloved masterpiece in the history of cinema, but that was not always the case. Many people are aware of the fact thatthe film bombed initially, which led to its copyright lapsing, entering the public domain, and through repeat television showings, becoming the classic we know today. What many people are unaware of, is the film was condemned by a much more powerful organization than the moviegoing audiences of the day. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, in a memo sent toJ. Edgar Hoover,claimed the film was Communist propaganda, or at leastportrayed common tricks and tropes used by Communist agitators infiltrating the Hollywood system.
It’s a Wonderful Life
An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.
Hollywood Was Battling McCarthyism and the Red Scare
Now, it is easy to dismiss this as classic Red Scare paranoia, and there is a lot of truth in that idea. For one,Capra and Stewart were both famously Republican. To suggest that either were secret Communist infiltrators really holds no water. This was at the beginning of thesecond Red Scare, and the fear of Communist subversion was at such a high thatmany prominent figures in film history were suspected to be Communists, and were called in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee, or HUAC as it more commonly known, and essentially interrogated. Anticommunists such asWalt Disneyand then-president of SAGRonald Reagantestified to the factthat there was significant Communist infiltration present in La La Land.
This, along with a growing list of outed “Communists,“led to many people being blacklisted out of Hollywood, most famously actors such asPaul Robeson, and writers such asDalton Trumbo, whose life was adapted in the filmTrumbo. Others who famously “named names,” such asElia Kazan, who was called"a traitor” by the aforementioned Orson Welles, carried an asterisk next to their names for the rest of their lives. This is now broadly seen as an example of the insane degree of paranoia present in the United States during the Cold War. Anyone with a whiff of left wing sympathies were promptly run out of town. An awful period in Hollywood history, and one that must be constantly in our minds as we evaluate cinema since then.
Why Did the FBI Believe ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ to be Communist Propaganda?
With all that in mind, why would anyone think a film as All-American asIt’s a Wonderful Lifecould be Communist propaganda? The FBI stated in that previously mentioned memo that the film “represented rather obvious attempts to discredit bankers by castingLionel Barrymoreas a ‘scrooge-type’ so that he would be the most hated man in the picture. This, according to these sources, is a common trick used by Communists.” This was then followed by, “this picture deliberately maligned the upper class, attempting to show the people who had money were mean and despicable characters.” Now, if you take an objective look at the film, at face value, this can all be easily disregarded. The film does feature other local business people, who all have money, and are depicted as well-meaning. However, the film does have a left wing undercurrent —if you take left wing to mean “people should be able to afford to not die and have some dignity.”
George Bailey does not want to seize the means of production, he wants the people in his community to have a good life and a roof over their heads. In the classic scene following his father’s death, George says to Mr. Potter, “Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you’re talking about… they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn’t think so. People were human beings to him. But to you, a warped, frustrated old man, they’re cattle. Well in my book, he died a much richer man than you’ll ever be!“That is the thesis statement for the whole film, and it is one that keeps us all coming back for decades.
Top 10 Life Lessons From ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
It really is a wonderful life…
Jimmy Stewart Perfectly Embodies George Bailey
While Capra may be the mastermind behind the film, it is carried by quite possibly the single greatest performance ever put on film, byJimmy Stewart as George Bailey. Stewart, in his first performance following his service in World War II,displays a range of genuine emotion that was never seen before, and maybe never has been since. George Bailey ends up on that bridge, staring into the water below, as someone who feels his whole life has been wasted. His hopes, his aspirations, big and small, were thrown away in the service of a community that has now seemingly turned its back on him. His life has been one of sacrifice. Stewart takes every emotion contained within him and unleashes it in this performance. His eyes tell the story better than any director ever could, pained to the point of tears at time, and swinging all the way to the manic desperation of an escaped convict as he is chased through Bedford Falls. And through Stewart’s performance, this previously stated idea comes through.
George Bailey, more than anything else, believes in the dignity of being alive, and whatever is necessary in maintaining that. The first time we see him, he’s saving his brother from the ice. Next, he saves Mr. Gower from poisoning someone, and in a profound display of empathy, keeps his promise to never tell anyone about it. We see him fall in love, we see dreams unrealized, but most importantly,we see him time and time again stand up for the people around him, not for any reason besides that it is the right thing to do. When he falters, and begins to doubt himself, he explodes. In the scene where he comes home and begins smashing his office andscreaming at Maryand his children, we see a man at his lowest. The way Stewart looks as he turns towards Donna Reed contains it all: the weight of a life unfulfilled crashing down on someone in a moment they cannot bear. We all know what happens after. As Clarence says, “One man’s life touches so many other lives,” and as George said about his father earlier in the film, he is not a failure — he is the biggest man in town.
What keeps us coming back decade after decade toIt’s a Wonderful Lifeis its ceaseless advocation for human dignity. That a better world is possible, but only through us sticking together. This is really what all the truly great Christmas films are about. Linus' monologue inA Charlie Brown Christmascomes to mind. “On earth peace, good will towards men.“Yet, such a wonderful, inspiring message was, at the time, and maybe still today, considered far too insidious for the American public. Regardless of the passing of time, the film still resonates with a massive audience almost 80 years after its release, because unfortunately, many of the issues it tackles still remain. If a work of art that says, “Maybe we should all be able to lead a decent life” is considered subversive, then we should really look at everything a bit more critically.It’s a Wonderful Lifeis a prime example of what cinema should strive towards being, and a film that will really outlive us all.
It’s a Wonderful Lifeis available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S.
