It's a Wonderful Life

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Template:Infobox Film It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 Frank Capra film, produced by his own Liberty Films, and released originally by RKO Radio Pictures.

1 Story
2 Production and distribution
3 Critique
4 Myths and rumors
5 Academy Awards
6 Trivia
7 Bank run
8 Cast
9 See also
10 External links

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Story

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

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Prologue

The movie begins on Christmas Eve as the multiple prayers of many people on Earth for a man named George Bailey are heard by people in Heaven. An "apprentice angel," Clarence Oddbody, is told that he must help George Bailey in order to get his wings (which distinguishes him as a lowly apprentice angel).

One of the higher-up angels, Joseph, begins to tell Clarence the story of George Bailey in order to prepare him for his mission to help him.

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George's childhood

First, Joseph tells Clarence of how George saved his little brother Harry when he fell through the ice at the age of nine. Later, Clarence is shown when George worked at Mr. Gower's Drugstore. Two little girls, Mary Hatch and Violet Bick, come in, and Mary Hatch pledges to love him until the day she dies. George also saves many children from being poisoned by tainted capsules sent by the mentally weak Mr. Gower, who was disoriented after finding out in a recent telegram that his son had died of influenza. Mr. Gower is eternally grateful to George.

George Bailey, more than anything in the world, wants to "leave this crummy little town" of Bedford Falls, and go exploring. On the night before he is to leave on a long vacation and education in Europe, George sits down to dinner with his father Peter, who expresses his anxieties about having his eldest son leave without going into business with him at the Bailey Building & Loan. George reassures Peter that he has nothing to worry about, especially considering how the aggressiveness of Mr. Potter, a greedy old man who already owns half the city. Afterwards, George attends the graduation dance of his brother Harry as he is graduating. There, he meets Mary Hatch, the shy sister of a friend. After shoving off another boy who wants to dance with her, George is the victim of a prank by that boy he shoved off. The boy opens up the gym floor that George and Mary are dancing over, revealing the swimming pool below, and they fall in.

Afterwards, George and Mary walk down the road using spare clothes since theirs got all wet. George throws a rock through the window of an old dilapidated house on the corner, making a wish since it breaks the window. Mary tells him not to do that again, since she loves the old house for its antiquity. Mary asks him what he wished for, and he responds

I didn't make one wish, not two, but a whole hatful! I'm shakin' the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I'm gonna see the world: Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Coliseum. Then, I'm comin' back here to go to college and see what they know. And then I'm gonna build things. I'm gonna build airfields, I'm gonna build skyscrapers a hundred stories high, I'm gonna build bridges a mile long.

Then she picks up a stone and breaks a window as well. George asks her what she wished for, but she mysteriously turns and walks down the street. After a little bit, Uncle Billy, Peter Bailey's associate, drives up and informs George that his father has had a stroke. Peter Bailey dies.

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Bachelor George

George, sacrificing the joys and rewards of vacation and an education in Europe, stays behind and helps settle the matters of the Bailey Building & Loan and his father's estate. He also pays for his little brother to go to college in his place. Mr. Potter makes minor attempts to control the company, but the board puts down his attempt.

Harry Bailey comes home from college with a girl in his arms and announces her as his wife, and George's dreams of having Harry finally replace him at the Building & Loan are dashed. Ma Bailey informs George that Mary Hatch is back in town, and that she "lights up like a firefly whenever she sees" George. George eventually makes his way to her house, where she girlishly plays games with him. George acts uncomfortable and like he has been forced to come to her house, because, although he does love her, he knows that getting married to her means he will forever have to remain in Bedford Falls.

She gets so frustrated with him that she smashes a record and demands he leave, and then the phone rings. It's Sam Wainright, the friend who introduced George to Mary, and he informs her that George's previous tip about plastic paid off big time. George and Mary share the same earpiece to the phone as Sam tells George that his father wants to employ him, and tells him that "It's the chance of a lifetime." George, utterly torn between two choices, shouts

Now, you listen to me! I don't want any plastics, and I don't want any ground floors, and I don't want to get married, ever, to anyone! You understand that? I want to do what I want to do. And you're—and you're—

At this moment, he realizes he must again make another sacrifice for love, and embraces Mary.

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Married George

George and Mary get married in a ceremony at Ma Bailey's boarding house where George grew up. They jump into Ernie's taxicab and are about to go to the airport where they shall embark upon a grand honeymoon when, to their dismay, the see people running through the rain to the Bailey Building & Loan. Resisting the urges of Mary, George goes over to see what's up.

There has been a run on the bank, and everyone's financial future is in jeopardy. Meanwhile, Mr. Potter has seized control of the City Bank, and calls George at the Building and Loan and tells George that he doesn't think the Building & Loan has enough money to stay in business, and informs him that if all of George's clients go to Mr. Potter, he'll refund their accounts 50 cents on the dollar. Without the Building and Loan, they would all be at the mercy of Potter, who cares little for them. George pleads with the people to not sell their shares to Potter at half their value: "Don't you see what's happening? Potter isn't selling; Potter's buying!"

Mary holds up the money that belongs to them, offering their $2,000 in honeymoon money to bolster the dwindling assets and satisfy the depositors, to tide them over until the bank reopens in a week. George sacrifices and throws away his last chance to leave Bedford Falls. The townspeople, although still fearful, trust in George's honesty and agree to withdraw only what they need to last the week.

Exasperated and tired, George, Uncle Billy, and the rest of the Building & Loan staff celebrate the two remaining dollars leftover. Suddenly, the phone rings, and it's Mary, informing him to "come home" to 320 Sycamore... it's the address of the old dilapidated house.

When George arrives there, he is welcomed inside to a leaking roof, drafty house, and posters of the South Seas and Hawaii covering up holes in the walls. As Mary kisses George, police officer Bert and taxi driver Ernie serenade them from outside. She says: "Remember the night we broke the windows in this old house? This is what I wished for."

Cutting years later, George opens a development called Bailey Park, opening with the ceremony of a poorly Italian family, the Martini's, getting their first home in America. Sam Wainright stops by and tells George that he and his wife are off to Florida. George is furious that everyone else gets their dreams fulfilled except for him, and he kicks the door to his car shut.

Meanwhile, Mr. Potter is being informed that this development is infringing on his profits, and he comments: "The Bailey family's been a boil on my neck long enough." Shockingly to him, George is then summonned to Mr. Potter's office, and is congratulated for beating the old man. Mr. Potter offers him an insanely wealthy future: $20,000 a year salary, business trips to Europe and Asia... meaning the best things in the world for his new bride. However, George suddenly comes to his senses, realizing that he can't accept this temptation, because it would mean ruin for the good people of Bedford Falls

I don't need twenty-four hours. I don't have to talk to anybody. I know right now, and the answer's no. No! Doggone it! You sit around here and you spin your little webs and you think the whole world revolves around you and your money! Well, it doesn't, Mister Potter! In the—in the whole vast configuration of things, I'd say, you were nothing but a scurvy little spider!

That very night, George comes home after dark while Mary is sleeping, and the words of his recent conference with Mr. Potter haunt him. The promises of wealth, happiness, and good clothing and home for Mary seem even more enticing, and George realizes just how much he has had to sacrifice during his life, and what meager material rewards he has gained from it.

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The War; Christmas Eve

Afterwards, during a montage, angel Joseph explains to Clarence what happened to Bedford Falls during World War II. Harry Bailey went off to war, and his heroics saved a convoy of troops. Sam Wainright made a fortune off of plastic hoods for airplanes. Mary and other women in the town worked for the USO. Ernie and Bert also went off to fight in the war in Normandy. Mr. Potter takes control of the draft board. Uncle Billy sells war bonds.

George Bailey is rejected from the draft board: after saving Harry from the ice as a young boy, he went deaf in one ear, and is therefore ineligible for the U.S. Armed Forces. He stays behind to fight "The Battle of Bedford Falls" against Mr. Potter.

The war ends, and Harry Bailey's heroics land him a Congressional Medal of Honor, and it's in all of the papers. Uncle Billy reads the paper as he heads to the City Bank with $8,000 dollars to deposit. Proud of George's brother's success, he storms into Potter's office and gloats heartily about how Potter failed to keep the Bailey's down.

However, in his joy, Uncle Billy is unaware that he has wrapped the $8,000 in the newspaper, and Uncle Billy hands the newspaper with the headline "PRESIDENT DECORATES HARRY BAILEY" to Mr. Potter. Uncle Billy leaves, and Mr. Potter discovers the money, and greedily and diabolically keeps it all for himself, aware that it means ruin for the Baileys.

At the Building & Loan, Violet Bick comes in and asks George for a loan to visit New York, to start a new life for herself. George agrees to the loan, and consults Uncle Billy as a matter of protocol. He finds Uncle Billy in a state of distress over not being able to locate the eight thousand dollars he was supposed to deposit that morning. George searches in the obvious places in the office, and then races through the snow, hatless and coatless, retracing Uncle Billy's path in a vain attempt to find the cash. He panics when he realizes Uncle Billy's stupidity, becoming enraged with him and slapping him around: "Where's that money? Do you realize what this means?!?! It means bankruptcy and scandal and prison, That's what it means! One of us is going to jail. Well, it's not gonna be me!"

George is now depressed and distraught, and returns home to find his family joyous and anxious for the coming Christmas tomorrow. His daughter practices piano, while his sons decorate the tree with Mary. The now seemingly inane and stupid pleas of his family make him even more disparaged. He cries as he hugs his son Tommy, knowing that he himself will be the one who goes to jail, and will be to blame for all his clients' financial ruin. He is then told that his daughter Zuzu has a cold. Zuzu tells George that she didn't put on her coat because she didn't want to crush the rose she won at school. She asks her father to paste the wilting petals back on her rose, but they fall off in George's hand. He hides the petals in his pants pocket and returns the flower to her as if he'd mended it. (Extensive and smart symbolism.) Under extreme duress now, he blames her schoolteacher for not telling Zuzu to put on her coat, and George makes her cry.

Utterly desperate for a way out of prison and scandal and the suffering of his family, George crawls to Mr. Potter for help. Mr. Potter knows George has "misplaced" the money that he stole from Uncle Billy, and taunts him cruelly.

Look at you: you used to be so cocky. You were going to go out and conquer the world! You once called me a warped, frustrated old man. What are you but a warped, frustrated young man? A miserable little clerk, crawling in here on your hands and knees and begging for help.

However, Potter tauntingly agrees to offer a meager loan in exchange for George's life insurance policy. Potter rejects it after finding out that George has only $1,500 worth of life insurance. "Why, George, you're worth more dead than alive!"

Realizing this is indeed true, George finally loses it. After storming out of the City Bank, George runs to Mr. Martini's neighborhood bar, and he starts drinking. He prays to God for deliverance from his woes, but is answered by a punch from Mr. Welch, the husband of Zuzu's schoolteacher, who is angry that someone made his wife break down crying.

Feeling his life insurance policy in his coat pocket, George interprets this sock in the face as God's answer to a man in need, and, sick with the world, is now on the verge of suicide. George has truly lost faith in the people of the world, and in God. With a bleeding lip

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Clarence

George drunkenly crashes his car into a tree near a bridge, and stumbles out into the middle of the span. He looks down into the churning, frigid river, knowing that if he jumped in right now, the temperature and the rapids would kill him in no time. Contemplating suicide, and about to do himself in, George suddenly sees a stranger in a white nightgown jump into the river. George jumps in to save him, and the bridgekeeper saves them from the water.

The stranger introduces himself to George as Clarence Oddbody, George's guardian angel, Angel Second Class. George is very skeptical, and the bridgekeeper goes outside, thinking both of them are insane. Clarence attempts to convice George that he jumped in order to save George, knowing that George would rather save a life than take his own.

George, despondent and ruined, explains his situation to Clarence, who already knows all too well the plight of George and Uncle Billy. George claims "Everyone'd be better off if I'd never been born at all." Clarence takes this statement to heart, and decides to grant George's wish: the world has never known of a man named George Bailey, and he truly has never been born.

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Pottersville

They walk in this new reality past the tree where George crashed his car ... but it is gone. There is not even a mark in the tree where the car has smashed the trunk in. They then go to Martini's Bar for a pick-me-up. Clarence hears the cash register ka-ching, and tells George "Everytime you hear a bell ring, an angel gets his wings." Everyone in the bar laughs at them.

In the bar, Clarence (with a characteristic child-like naiveness) is unafraid to discuss angels with a disbelieving bartender and others in the bar: "Why? don't they believe in angels?" Clarence asks. Embarrassed by his slightly daffy companion, George tells Nick "He never grew up." They are about to be thrown out of the bar when druggist Mr. Gower comes stumbling in. Nick identifies Gower as a "panhandler". Gower is terrified by George's show of familiarity for him. George is told that the booze-soaked, "rum-head" drunkard spent twenty years in jail for mixing cyanide with a prescription and poisoning a kid.

George doesn't believe his wish has actually been granted, and after being thrown out for "giving the joint atmosphere," George interrogates Clarence, demanding to know if he's a hypnotist. Clarence reassures George that he is his Guardian Angel, and that George has been given a rare chance: "to see the world as if he had never been born."

In a horrific series of events, George shakes off Clarence and looks at the changed Bedford Falls ... now called Pottersville. The entire town has been transformed into a gaudy cavalcade of jitterbug dance halls, strip clubs, and taverns. George sees the Building & Loan has been replaced by a dance hall, and Violet Bick is now a prostitute and is being arrested. Ernie and Bert are now callous and suspicious of everyone, paid on income from Mr. Potter. The old house at 320 Sycamore is as dilapidated as ever, since George "never lived there."

Ma Bailey is barely surviving on income from the boarding house. George insists that he is her son, but she claims she never had any children except for Harry. Peter Bailey had a stroke and died, and Uncle Billy tried to control the company afterwards, but pressure from Potter forced him into madness, and Uncle Billy is in a sanitarium for the insane.

After running down the steps, George's horrified, confused, despondent face is viewed in a fantastic close-up. He seeks closure by trying to locate the Italian immigrant family, the Martini's, in Bailey Park, but is terrified to find a cemetery there instead. Clarence appears, and tells George he wasn't there to build any house for the Martini's.

In the first of three climactic scenes of the movie, George discovers Harry Bailey's name on a tombstone. It reads: "HERE LIES HARRY BAILEY: 1911–1919." Clarence tries to tell George that he never existed, and that Harry Bailey fell through the ice at the age of nine. George is convinced that he saved Harry, and he went on to save the lives of many sailors in the war.

Every man on that transport died. Harry wasn't there to save them because you weren't there to save Harry. You see, George, you've really had a wonderful life. Don't you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away?

George's mind is now battling between what he thinks he knows and what is being obviously presented to him, and he demands to know what has become of Mary. He feels that if he can just find Mary, things will be back to normal. Mary is discovered as an old maid librarian, a sad, lonely, frightened and plain widow without any source of joy in Pottersville. George approaches toward her as she closes up the library, pleading and begging Mary to help him, but she doesn't recognize him and screams to get away from him. In a panic, she runs from George when he accosts her. Bert comes to her defense, but is knocked to the ground. His fears deepened, George flees from the center of town, with gunshots ringing in his ears.

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Faith renewed

He is finally aware of how one life affects the world so greatly, and pleads the lord to restore his existence and make the world as it was.

Clarence! Clarence! Help me, Clarence. Get me back. Get me back. I don't care what happens to me. Get me back to my wife and kids. Help me, Clarence, please. Please! I want to live again! I want to live again. I want to live again. Please, God, let me live again.

The blowing gusts die down, and snow begins to fall again. George's lip starts to bleed. Bert's police car turns onto the bridge. To the first person he encounters when restored to life, George asks an important identity question: "Bert, do ya know me?" Euphorically, life is back to normal. Bert demands to know where he has been, since the whole town has been looking for him. George gleefully cackles

My mouth's bleeding, Bert! My mouth's bleed—[He reaches into his pocket]—Zuzu's petals! Zuzu's—There they are! Bert! What do you know about that! Merry Christmas!

All of the mishaps he's had during Christmas Eve he greets with humorous joy: he lauds love upon the tree he'd crashed into, and in the most memorable scene from the movie, runs down Main Street of Bedford Falls, shouting hello to all of the things he'd previously detested, including the Bijou Movie House, Emporium, Bailey Building & Loan, and even Mr. Potter, who answers George's "Merry Christmas!" with "And a happy new year to you, too—in jail!"

George returns to a Mary-less home, with a bank investigator and a sheriff there to greet him. The sheriff opens his mouth to place George under arrest for misappropriation of funds and carelessness concerning the $8,000, but George responds by saying "Isn't it wonderful?! I'm going to jail!" Mary rushes in moments later, shouting "It's a miracle, George! It's a miracle!"

Almost everyone in Bedford Falls whom George has affected by his presence shows up and offers money—Mr. Martini, Violet Bick, Mr. Gower, and almost everybody who almost lost their money in the bank run. Under his breath, lovingly, George utters their name as each comes forward. Even the bank investigator and sheriff offer money and the sheriff tears up the arrest record. The money amounts to thousands of dollars; enough to save the bank from ruin and control by Mr. Potter.

A citizen rushes in the door and shouts for everyone to be silent. Sam Wainright, cognizant of George's peril, has cabled twenty-five thousand dollars from London. Everyone cheers, knowing George now has enough money to save the people's finances from the miserly Potter forever. Harry Bailey finally arrives at the boarding house, and decrees

A toast—to my big brother, George. The richest man in town.

The crowd bursts into "Auld Lang Syne" as George's daughter Janie plays it on the piano. Suddenly, a book appears atop the sackful of money: Tom Sawyer. George reaches down and reads the inside of the cover, hoping to find where it came from. Inside is an inscription:

Dear George, Remember no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings! Love Clarence.

A branch is shaken on the Christmas Tree, and a bell on the branch starts to jingle. Zuzu cries out "Teacher says 'Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.'" George looks skyward and says "That's right." He winks. He knows who has received the wings, and truly grasps how wonderful his life has been for himself and for those around him.

Through divine intervention, George Bailey, a man who had sacrificed everything to save the people he loved from the greedy Mr. Potter, is saved from suicide on Christmas Eve by his guardian angel, and lives to see just how much his life means.

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Production and distribution

Filming started on April 15, 1946 and ended on July 27, 1946. The film premiered on December 20, 1946.

The film was panned by some critics and was not a box-office hit upon initial release (placing 26th for the year, one place ahead of another Christmas movie, Miracle on 34th Street), although it did receive five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor.

Liberty Films was purchased by Paramount Pictures, and remained a subsidiary until 1951. Paramount owned the film until 1955, when they sold a few of their features and most of their cartoons and shorts to television distributor U.M.&M. T.V. Corp.. This included key rights to It's a Wonderful Life, including the original television syndication rights, the original nitrate film elements, the music score, and the story on which the film is based, "The Greatest Gift").

National Telefilm Associates took over the rights to the U.M.&M. library soon afterward. However, a clerical error at NTA, prevented the copyright from being renewed in 1974. Around this time, people began to take a second look at this film. It entered the public domain and many television stations began airing the film free of charge and royalties. In the 1980s (the beginning of the home video era) the film finally received the acclaim it didn't receive in 1946, thus becoming a perennial holiday favorite. For several years, it became expected that the movie would be shown multiple times on at least one station and on multiple stations in the same day, often at the same or overlapping times. It was a common practice for American viewers to jump in and out of viewing the movie at random points, confident they could easily pick it up again at a later time. The film's warm and familiar ambiance gave even isolated scenes the feel of holiday "comfort food" for the eyes and ears. The film's public domain success is often cited as a reason to limit copyright terms, which have been frequently extended by Congress in the United States.

Two colorized versions have since been produced; they are widely considered to be of inferior quality to the black and white original. They are often held up by opponents of colorization as an example of the flaws associated with the process. For many years, some stations paid substantial royalties to show a colorized version as it was viewed as more profitable to show the colorized versions than the black and white original.

In 1993, Republic Pictures, which was the successor to NTA, relied on the 1990 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Stewart v. Abend (which involved the movie Rear Window) to enforce its claim of copyright, because, while the film's copyright had not been renewed, it was a derivative work of various works that were still copyrighted. As a result, the film is no longer shown as much on television (NBC is currently licensed to show the film on U.S. network television, and only shows it traditionally twice during the holidays, with one showing primarily on Christmas Eve from 8-11 Eastern time), the colorized versions have been withdrawn, and Republic now has exclusive ancillary rights to the film. Artisan Entertainment (under license from Republic) held home video rights until late 2005 when they reverted to Republic's sister studio Paramount, whose parent is Viacom.

The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

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Critique

Although generally acclaimed for its affirmation of positive values, the film has attracted some negative critique.

In 1947, a memo to the Director of the FBI reported that some sources viewed the film as subversive and pro-Communist on grounds of its negative depiction of the capitalist Potter and the triumph of the common man Bailey. The identity of these sources is unknown because the public version of the memo has been redacted.

NBC's annual showing of the film during the Christmas season is widely regarded as tacky and detractive of the film's spirit. Many national critics, including Leonard Maltin and George Ebert, say that adding commercials to such a "atmosphere of drama" forces "breaks" in the emotions evoked by the movie's excellence. To truly grasp the greatness of the movie, they suggest to either simply rent the film on video, or see it in revival theatrical screenings (the way it was originally meant to be experienced in 1946).

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Myths and rumors

A popular belief is that Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie were named after secondary characters in the film; this belief is strengthened by the fact that Uncle Billy ties strings around his fingers to remember things just as Ernie does in Sesame Street. However, the producers of Sesame Street claim there is no connection.

Another rumor is that Pink Floyd album Wish You Were Here can be played alongside the film with key events in the movie tying in with song lyrics. The similarities are said to be more noticeable than in the other claimed Pink Floyd movie sync with The Wizard of Oz and Dark Side of the Moon. See Dark Side of the Rainbow and It's a Wonderful Life/Wish You Were Here for similarities between Wish You Were Here and this film.

It is also often quoted that psychiatrists would recommend It's a Wonderful Life to patients suffering from depression. This was because it was such a well known feel-good movie, and it generated positive results. However, contemporary psychiatrists would probably scoff at this idea; in the Special Edition video, this theory is quoted.

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Academy Awards

Award	Person
Nominated:
Best Actor	James Stewart
Best Editing	William Hornbeck
Best Director	Frank Capra
Best Sound Recording	John Aalberg
Best Picture	Frank Capra

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Trivia

George's Daughter Zuzu has a rose whose petals are an important plot point. The name has been used several times in other mediums.
- Rock band ZuZu's Petals
- A character in The Adventures of Ford Fairlane is named ZuZu Petals.
- One strip of "The Far Side" finds a botanical enthusiast boasting about how long it took him to find "the rare... Zuzu's Petals!"
It's a Wonderful Life is the title of an album by Fishbone.
It's a Wonderful Life is also the title of an album by Sparklehorse.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds recorded a song titled "It's a Wonderful Life": it appears on the album Nocturama.
Stephen Jay Gould based the title of his Wonderful Life, a book about evolution and the Burgess Shale, on this movie.
The movie has inspired other alternate reality sections of movies, such as the alternate 1985 in Back to the Future II and the "glimpse" given to Jack Campbell in The Family Man.
A Christmas episode of Married... with Children had comedian Sam Kinison play the role of Clarence as he showed Al Bundy what his world would've been like had he never been born. Unfortunately it turns out the world would've been much better without him. However he opts to remain out of sheer spite so Clarence got his wings.
It's a Wishful Life is an episode of the Fairly Odd Parents that parodies this film. Like the Married... with Children episode above, Timmy Turner also gets a glimpse of how different and wonderful things would be for everyone if his parents had a girl instead of a boy child.
Sherrederville from TMNT (old series) The turtles wish they had never been born, and get a glimpse of an alternative earth where they never existed.
Pottersville sounds like Potter's field.
2 games in the Harvest Moon video game series have the titles of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life and Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life
The TV show Saturday Night Live once presented a sketch in which the residents of Bedford Falls, after the closing scenes of the film, discover that Potter is the real villain and proceed to deal with him summarily.
The British sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry & Laurie once presented a sketch entitled, "It a Soaraway Life". In the sketch, the angel Clarence saves the life of Rupert, who had decided that the world would have been better off without him. When it is revealed that without Rupert the world is now a paradise, Rupert decides that he wants to live and make a huge profit by economically taking over paradise. Upon hearing Rupert's plans, Clarence promptly knocks him off a bridge.
A Beavis and Butthead Christmas special parodies It's a Wonderful Life. A guardian angel shows Butthead how much better everything would be if he had never existed.
One episode of "Rugrats" on Nickelodeon was a copycat version of It's a Wonderful Life. After tricked into losing one of his father's CDs, Chuckie decides to run away. Chuckie is shown by his guardian angel how, without him, no one would have been told that some things "weren't such a good idea" and Angelica (like Mr. Potter) would control everything.

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Bank run

A memorable scene involves George Bailey stopping a bank run because this was the era before FDR's deposit insurance. Today we have the FDIC and the savings and loan crisis stressed the FSLIC.

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