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It's a Wonderful Life 1946

type: Movie

language: English

duration: 125 min

genre: fantasy

theme: romantic drama

director: Frank Capra

Score: 9 / 10

It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas fantasy drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story and booklet The Greatest Gift, which Philip Van Doren Stern self-published in 1943 and is in turn loosely based on the 1843 Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol. The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his personal dreams in order to help others in his community and whose thoughts of suicide on Christmas Eve bring about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers).

Plot

On Christmas Eve 1945, in Bedford Falls, New York, George Bailey contemplates suicide. The prayers of his family and friends reach Heaven, where guardian angel second class Clarence Odbody is assigned to save George in order to earn his wings. Clarence is shown flashbacks of George's life. He watches 12-year-old George rescue his younger brother Harry from drowning, but become deaf in his left ear. Later, George prevents the pharmacist, Mr. Gower, distraught over the death of his son, from accidentally poisoning a prescription.

Awards

National Board of Review: Top Ten Films

Cast

More details

author	Albert Hackett Frances Goodrich Frank Capra Jo Swerling Michael Wilson Philip Van Doren Stern
award	National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
contentLocation	Bedford Falls New York
director	Frank Capra
editor	William Hornbeck
genre	drama fantasy
keywords	bank examiner building and loan christmas eve christmas tree clarence odbody deaf domestic war effort drown family business fighter pilot george bailey guardian angel heaven henry f. potter honeymoon housing development ineligible for service institutionalize insurance policy involuntary commitment kamikaze kill life insurance manslaughter married mary hatch medal of honor missing money newspaper headline overprice pharmacist poison prayer river run run on the bank slum spinster suicide the adventures of tom sawyer toast tom sawyer u.s. navy understand war effort world tour world war ii
musicBy	Dimitri Tiomkin
nomination	Academy Award for Best Actor Academy Award for Best Director Academy Award for Best Film Editing Academy Award for Best Picture Academy Award for Best Sound
producer	Frank Capra
productionCompany	Liberty Films
publisher	RKO Radio Pictures
recordedAt	California
theme	romantic drama romantic fantasy wish fulfillment