tim’s thought property

I saw for the first time in my life, the holiday film, the 1946 movie It’s a Wonderful Life!. I witnessed it on the big-screen, no less, at the Ellice Theatre on Ellice and Sherbrook. Tim [Penner] and I went to see it, since who else goes to movies so regularly with me? Any of you readers should know him vicariously by now, or even quasi-personally, if you read his blog.

He met me at the ‘bucks as I ended my shift, and we drove to the theatre. It had maybe eight other people inside to watch it, and if I was not mistaken, the DVD projector operator was playing Solitaire by the end of the film. I heard the clicking of a mouse, when the movie went silent, you know, during the emotional climax.
Well, we sat near the front, and got all ready to enjoy this timeless classic of a film. For a movie made fifty-nine years ago, it sure was ahead of it’s time in structure and story, even if it was not recognized at the time. As the story unfolded, it grabbed me from the opening scene of a wintry town, a lit with snowfall and the prayers for George Bailey. And as the story began its progression, one could not help but become drawn in by the good character and moral standing of George Bailey. He put everyone’s needs before his own, sending his younger brother to college on his money, while he stayed at the loan firm his father had ran. He stood up against the money-grubbing and greedy Henry Potter, who wanted to gain control of all the commercial assets of the town. He and his wife Mary, had given up their money for a honeymoon to supply the town with emergency loans until the bank opened. George had given up so much in his life up to the point where everything had come to a tragic and almost unfair moment, that he stood upon a bridge about to cast himself off into the river.
Although the film has precious little to do with Christmas (perhaps about a half hour total shows any holiday festivity), and much more to say about the strength and power of a person’s character. Sure, it doesn’t answer the question “Why do bad things happen to good people?” but it suggests that perhaps good people, selfless people are some of the very people who forgo the very things they give, in order to provide a better life for those around them.
The film has a happy ending, as many movies of the time did. But to take you to that very moment of happiness and that remarkably memorable (albeit cheesy line) “Every time a bell rings, an Angel gets its wings“, the film really causes you to feel the tragedy of circumstance, and the perhaps sour side of life, before giving you the satisfaction of vindication.

I left feeling so elated, so happy. I admit it, I was touched by thee story, and I did shed some tears for George Bailey, but I also shed tears of happiness at the end as well. That is a film I definitely want to watch again, and perhaps make it a December tradition.