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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Frances Goodrich (screenplay) and
Albert Hackett (screenplay) ...
more
Release Date:
7 January 1947 (USA) more
Tagline:
They're making memories tonight! more
Plot:
An angel helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman by showing what life would had been like if he never existed. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 4 wins more
NewsDesk:
(40 articles)
Lyceum Theatre Closes 2009 Season with It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play
(From BroadwayWorld.com. 3 November 2009, 4:19 PM, PST)
This Week on DVD: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Food Inc.
(From FilmJunk. 3 November 2009, 1:59 PM, PST)
User Comments:
A Great Influence... more (503 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| James Stewart | ... | George Bailey | |
| Donna Reed | ... | Mary Hatch | |
| Lionel Barrymore | ... | Mr. Potter | |
| Thomas Mitchell | ... | Uncle Billy | |
| Henry Travers | ... | Clarence | |
| Beulah Bondi | ... | Mrs. Bailey | |
| Frank Faylen | ... | Ernie | |
| Ward Bond | ... | Bert | |
| Gloria Grahame | ... | Violet | |
| H.B. Warner | ... | Mr. Gower | |
| Frank Albertson | ... | Sam Wainwright | |
| Todd Karns | ... | Harry Bailey | |
| Samuel S. Hinds | ... | Pa Bailey | |
| Mary Treen | ... | Cousin Tilly | |
| Virginia Patton | ... | Ruth Dakin |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (USA) (complete title)
The Greatest Gift (USA) (working title)
more
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
130 min | Spain:118 min (25 fps) (DVD edition)
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound System)
Certification:
Canada:F (Ontario) | Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | South Korea:12 | Brazil:Livre | Sweden:15 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Germany:6 | Spain:T | UK:U | USA:Approved (PCA #11656)
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
In 2004 the BBC TV listings magazine "Radio Times" conducted a poll into the Best Film Never to Have Won an Oscar. "It's a Wonderful Life" came second (The Shawshank Redemption (1994) was first). more
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: In the scene where George saves Clarence on the bridge (or Clarence saved him), he is seen to be visibly sweating even though it is supposedly winter. This is because the scene was shot in warm weather. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Mr. Emil Gower:
I owe everything to George Bailey. Help him, dear Father.
more
Movie Connections:
Featured in "Cheers: Christmas Cheers (#6.12)" (1987) more
Soundtrack:
When Johnny Comes Marching Home more
FAQ
What are the names of George and Mary's four children?Are Bert and Ernie from "Sesame Street" named after Bert, the cop, and Ernie, the taxi driver, from "It's a Wonderful Life"?
more
more (503 total)
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No movie ever made has influenced me more than this classic. I had the honor of doing a play version of it about 5 years ago. I had seen the film thousands of times, had loved it, but I never really knew what it meant. During the course of the production, I suddenly felt alive. I felt that I wasn't having enough fun. I felt that I wasn't doing enough in my life. Crazy things, like kissing my mother or my father. I hadn't really hugged one of them in a while. It makes you think. It's more of a thinking person's film than a mere Christmas film. If you think it's just a Christmas film, I insist you watch it again and again, until you get the message.
Stewart gives the finest performance of his career, in one of the most difficult characters ever portrayed. A character all of us are familiar with...a person looking to find himself/herself. It's the great struggle for finding what it is in life you really want to do. George Bailey teaches us so lessons throughout the film and in the end he teaches us the most important lesson of all, that life, although a long and winding road, truly is (for lack of a better word) wonderful...