Notes on

1
Notes on

• Its a Wonderful Life

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1946

• directed by Frank Capra

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Frank Capra

• was nominated six times for Best Director Oscars,
  and took home three of the statuettes over the
  course of his career. Only John Ford ever
  bettered this record-- he won four.
• This was the first and last time that Frank Capra
  produced, financed, directed and co-wrote one of
  his films.

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Oscars

• Film nominated for five awards Best Picture,
  Best Director, Best Actor, Best Sound, Best
  editing - WON NONE
• Film came out during the same year and swept the
  awards The Best Years of Our Lives, by
  William Wyler, Capras rival. The Best Years of
  Our Lives, a gritty and topical drama about
  servicemen attempting to return to their
  pre-World War II lives.

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Starring

• James Stewart as George Bailey
• Soft-spoken, extremely polite and shy manner,
  with a very recognizable drawl in his voice.
• Often played honest, average middle class
  individuals who are unwittingly drawn into some
  kind of crisis.
• Donna Reed as Mary Hatch Bailey
• Donna began her own TV series (produced by her
  husband), "The Donna Reed Show" (1958), a hit
  that ran for eight years. She was so effective in
  the show that she was nominated for TV's
  prestigious Emmy Award as Best Actress every year
  from 1959-1962. She was far more popular in TV
  than on the screen.

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• Lionel Barrymore... Henry F. Potter
• Famed actor, composer, artist, author and
  director. Also Uncle to Drew Barrymore.
• Henry Travers... Clarence (the angel)
• British-born Henry Travers was a veteran of the
  English stage before emigrating to the U.S. in
  1917.

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A.F.I.

• Voted the 1 inspirational film of all time in
  AFI's "100 Years, 100 Cheers" (June 14th, 2006)
• Ranked as the 1 Most Powerful Movie of All Time
  by the American Film Institute (2006).
• In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this
  as the 20 Greatest Movie of All Time.

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Trivia

• For the scene that required Donna Reed to throw a
  rock into the window of the Granville House,
  Frank Capra hired a marksman to shoot it out for
  her on cue. To everyone's amazement, Donna Reed
  broke the window with true aim and without the
  assistance of the hired marksman!

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Trivia

• James Stewart was nervous about the phone scene
  kiss because it was his first screen kiss since
  his return to Hollywood after the war. Under
  Frank Capra's watchful eye, Stewart filmed the
  scene in only one unrehearsed take, and it worked
  so well that part of the embrace was cut because
  it was too passionate to pass the censors.

10
Interesting Fact

• One of the movie's biggest fans is Steven
  Spielberg, who once told Capra he takes a copy of
  " It's a Wonderful Life" on his film locations.
  "I show it to the cast and crew," Spielberg said,
  "and I tell them, 'This is the kind of picture I
  hope we can make."'

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Special Effects

• Films made prior to this one used cornflakes
  painted white for the falling snow effect.
  Because the cornflakes were so loud, dialogue had
  to be dubbed in later.
• RKO effects department developed new quiet snow
  for this film and received an Academy Award-made
  of foamite (fire retardant), soap and water.

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The raven

• Jimmy, appeared in all of Frank Capra's movies.
  (Notice him in his cage on the desk of the loan
  office)

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• Part 2

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• George Bailey spends his entire life giving up
  his big dreams for the good of his town, Bedford
  Falls, as we see in flashback. But in the
  present, on Christmas Eve, he is broken and
  suicidal over the misplacing of an 8000 loan and
  the machinations of the evil millionaire, Mr.
  Potter. His guardian angel, Clarence, falls to
  Earth, literally, and shows him how his town,
  family, and friends would turn out if he had
  never been born. George meant so much to so many
  people should he really throw it all away?

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• The Motion Picture Association of America's
  strict production code in 1946 censored such
  phrases and words as "nuts to you", "impotent",
  "dang", "lousy", and "jerk". But Capra managed to
  bypass the production code stipulating that
  criminals be punished for their crime Potter
  never met justice for stealing the 8,000. Capra
  noted several times that he had received more
  mail about this point than anything else in the
  film.

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Questions about part 1