It’s a Wonderful Life

Some years ago the Eugene Register-Guard had a contest. They posed 50 questions about this movie. The winner got … well, frankly I can’t remember what the prize was, but it wasn’t a Cadillac Eldorado, or even a set of steak knives. But I wanted to win it. I got 40 of the questions without having to look at the film at all. I then pulled out my VHS tape and watched the movie again. I got the next nine. But the 50th question eluded me. I watched it again, and still couldn’t get it. I sent in the form with my 49 answers. Next week there was a picture of the three people who had gotten them all right. The question?

Who knows?

I was so pissed, because the answer had been right in front of me! It was only on screen for about a second, but it was as plain as Zuzu’s petals. If you want the answer, scroll down.

This would be my pick for the best Christmas drama of all time. (Best comedy? A Christmas Story, followed by National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Scrooged, tied for second. Yeah, I know it’s corny and sentimental, but in this cynical age sometimes I need that. I need a vision of a world that may never have existed, but which should. I have always been a fan of “Capracorn,” the derogatory term for the films of Frank Capra. But there is usually a dark underside to his films. Like Lake Wobegon, Bedford Falls is warm and cozy in some ways, but the people there are not always a nice as you might expect. And though there is a happy ending, it is the story of a man’s failed dreams. He elects responsibility in his life instead of exotic experiences. It is laudable, but it is not much fun, the day-to-day grind of an ordinary citizen.

This movie was not a bust-out hit when it was released. It lost money. In fact it had been largely forgotten until the 1970s, when it became ubiquitous on television. I don’t watch it every Christmas, but I know I’ve seen it six or seven times. So here it is almost 2017, and I’m watching it again, and enjoying it. Jimmy Stewart selected it as the film he is most proud of.

I had always thought that the outdoors “Bedford Falls” scenes were shot in some picturebook little town. Not so. It was a huge outdoor set in Encino, three blocks long, elaborately dressed. They transplanted full-grown oak trees down the grassy median down the center of the main street! They also invented a new sort of studio “snow.” The old kind was usually made of cornflakes painted white. You couldn’t record good sound with it because it crunched too much. This new stuff was miles better, and even looks a lot more real. And the ironic thing is, the movie was shot during a big heat wave! The temperatures were up in the 90s. My, how those people in their heavy winter clothing must have suffered.

On a horribly comic note … Wiki quotes an FBI memo from 1947. It is to weep:

<<< "With regard to the picture 'It's a Wonderful Life', [redacted] stated in substance that the film represented rather obvious attempts to discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as 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. [In] addition, [redacted] stated that, in his opinion, this picture deliberately maligned the upper class, attempting to show the people who had money were mean and despicable characters.>>>

Well, shit, yeah! J. Edgar heard commies in his closet when he was dressing up in his best gowns. He was a fucking traitor to everything America stands for. I’d like to dig him up and piss on his corpse.

Scroll down for answer:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
ANSWER: Dad knows. The pharmacist, Mr. Gower, distraught from the news that his son had died of the flu in France, and quite drunk, accidentally fills capsules with poison instead of medicine. The young George Bailey is facing a difficult decision. What to do? His eyes fall on an advertising poster for Sweet Caporals cigarettes that says “Ask Dad! He knows!” Damn! I’m still pissed at myself for that one!