It's a Wonderful Life - And the End of the War

It's a Wonderful Life is a Christmas classic, depicting George Bailey growing up and having to deal with personal and financial struggles, when he is saved by a guardian angel, Clarence. In the movie, directed by Frank Capra, and Jimmy Stewart plays Mr. Bailey.

It was released the second Christmas after the war ended and the soldiers were back home. In fact, it was actually Jimmy Stewart's first film since he had been in the military, and Capra was popular from making army training videos. However, it didn't hit the box offices as strong as they would have preferred, and although it wasn't a bad movie at the time, the reviews just weren't the best.

The film was doing its best to show how hopeful the American public should be, because although they were hit with tragedy during the was, there was still a lot of goodness and love in the world, shown through the family and community relationships shown in the movie. However, it still grappled with darker topics, such as suicide, which helped a lot of war veterans relate to it. A lot of men were suffering from symptoms of war, such as PTSD, even though America didn't have a strong grasp on what that was and what it meant for the soldiers. For the rest of the 40s and into the 50s, American art and culture would continue to show a focus on these more grim topics.

But almost 30 years later, in 1974, the film was released to public domain after an error with renewing the copyright claim. That holiday season it became a family favorite as it was aired often on December afternoons for free.



Sources:
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/12/its-a-wonderful-life-christmas-movie-70th-anniversary
https://www.vox.com/culture/2016/12/20/14013388/its-a-wonderful-life-review-anniversary-70
http://screenprism.com/insights/article/how-important-was-the-release-of-its-a-wonderful-life-in-1946