What If ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ Never Existed?
The Scoop features personal essays on movie-centric topics.
By Kevin Prchal
Growing up, Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life wasn’t on in my house like it was for many other families. In fact, I didn’t even see it until I was in my twenties and my wife (then girlfriend) showed it to me. Admittedly, when it started, it felt a little like homework. It takes practice for the pacing and dialect of old movies to click and at that point I hadn’t had much of it.
But by the time it was over, the film’s powerful and emotional spell had been cast, and I’ve been under it, tissue in-hand, ever since.
“You’ve been given a great gift, George,” says our celestial hero Clarence. “A chance to see what the world would be like without you.” This idea, animated by an unforgettable cast of characters, a powerhouse performance by Jimmy Stewart, and an unflinching odyssey through the halls of human experience, makes for an undeniably heartening and life-affirming film—one that I and millions of others have come to cherish each holiday season.
So this got me thinking: What if, like George Bailey, It’s a Wonderful Life never existed? How might life be different? I can’t speak for the world, but I have a feeling my own life would be a little less wonderful.
Movies, I’ll love you ’til the day I die
When I say a spell was cast after my first viewing of It’s a Wonderful Life, it didn’t end there.
By extension, that spell continued far into the reaches of film history, opening my mind to a world of classic and obscure gems just waiting to be discovered, like Billy Wilder’s The Apartment, Akira Kurosawa’s Ikiru, Sidney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men, and John Ford’s How Green Was My Valley. Each of these classic films changed the way I think about the medium and further inspired my passion for it.
Today, that passion fuels some of the most enriching parts of my life. I run this here website where I love writing about and celebrating movies with my friends and distinguished guests. I would describe the Academy Awards as my Super Bowl. And nothing excites me more than when I find my seat in a dark theater—overpriced Sour Patch Kids in hand—just in time to watch the lights go down and the big screen light up.
It’s a full-blown love affair that wouldn’t have started had It’s a Wonderful Life never been made.
You want a shock? I love Christmas
Decorating the tree. Linguine with clam sauce. A quiet Christmas morning with coffee and music. Taking a drive to see that one bonkers house in the neighborhood with a light show that somehow syncs up to the radio.
These are just a few of my family’s holiday traditions, but the star on top of the tradition tree is always cozying up to watch It’s a Wonderful Life.
It’s somehow not Christmas until George lassos the moon for Mary. It’s not quite Christmas until George shouts “Merry Christmas, you old Building and Loan!”as he leaps through Bedford Falls with a new lease on life. And it’s certainly not Christmas until that little bell rings and we’re reminded, beneath the sound of a joyous “Auld Lang Syne,” that “no man is a failure who has friends.”
Had It’s a Wonderful Life never been made, my Christmas traditions would still be perfectly festive and joyful. But, like the lives of the people of Bedford Falls without George Bailey, they just wouldn’t be the same.
The richest man in town
Throughout my late teens and early twenties, I got hung up on the big questions in life: Why are we here? What does it all mean? I kept my heart and mind open to matters of faith, took in everything from Jack Kerouac to George Carlin to Pink Floyd, ventured out on a couple soul-searching trips abroad—all trying to patch this void of feeling small and utterly without purpose.
To my surprise, It’s a Wonderful Life gave me clarity in ways that nothing had before.
“Each man's life touches so many other lives. And when he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?”
It’s hard to articulate how profoundly important this idea has been in my life. When George, after standing atop a bridge contemplating suicide, gets the chance to see what life would be like had he not been born, the details are logical yet staggering when they unfold.
Had George never been born, his brother, whom he saved from drowning as kids, would have died in the pond that day—he never would have gone to war, saving lives of his own and earning the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Had he not been born and taken over his family’s Building and Loan business, the town would have been taken over by the cruel and greedy Mr. Potter, changing the lives and opportunities of his loved ones forever.
And had he not been born, his darling daughter Zuzu, who gave him flower petals just before he stormed out of the house to end his life, would have never been born as well. (It’s this scene—when he reaches into his pocket for the petals and they’re not there—that does me in every time.)
This central idea makes one of the strongest cases for life I can imagine. Whenever I get down on the state of the world or replay my personal regrets and poor decisions, I think about this movie and my daughters and all of the amazing people I’ve had the honor of knowing.
Sometimes I think, like George in the eyes of his brother Harry, I’m the richest man in town.
Hot dog!
But don’t take my word for it. It’s a Wonderful Life means a great deal to a lot of people.
Recently we had the honor of speaking with Karolyn Grimes, the actress who played little Zuzu in the film. We asked her about some of the amazing testimonials she must hear from superfans while out on the road. She paused for a moment, then said, “I’ve had a lot of people tell me they were on the bridge. And they watched the film and it changed their life.”
This is a film of unassailable power—not just over my life, but the lives of millions. I can guess what life would be like had it never been made, but hot dog I’m sure glad it was.
Kevin Prchal is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Cinema Sugar.