Editing It's a Wonderful Life (section)

==Reception==
===Critical response===
[[File:Dancing near the crack.jpg|thumbnail|George and Mary dancing near the opening in the floor in the film's high school gym (filmed at [[Beverly Hills High School]])]]
According to a 2006 book, "A spate of movies appeared just after the ending of the Second World War, including ''It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946) and ''[[A Matter of Life and Death (film)|Stairway to Heaven]]'' (1946), perhaps tapping into so many people's experience of loss of loved ones and offering a kind of consolation."<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Srampickal |editor-first1=Jacob |editor-last2=Mazza |editor-first2=Giuseppe |editor-last3=Baugh |editor-first3=Lloyd |title=Cross Connections |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iKzmh4Iqi9cC |year=2006 |publisher=[[Gregorian and Biblical Press|Gregorian Biblical BookShop]] |location=Rome |isbn=978-8-8783-9061-4 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=iKzmh4Iqi9cC&dq=%22A+spate+of+movies+appeared+just+after+the+ending+of+the+Second+World+War+,+including+It+'+s+a+Wonderful+Life+(+1946+)+and+Stairway+to+Heaven+(+1946+)+,+perhaps+tapping+into+so+many+people+'+s+experience+of+loss+of+loved+ones+and+offering+a+kind+of+consolation%22&pg=PA199 199]}}</ref> ''It's a Wonderful Life'' premiered at the [[Globe Theatre (New York City)|Globe Theatre]] in New York City on December 20, 1946, to mixed reviews.<ref name="capra"/> While Capra thought the contemporary critical reviews were either universally negative, or at best dismissive,<ref>Capra 1971, pp. 372–373.</ref> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' said, "''It's a Wonderful Life'' is a pretty wonderful movie. It has only one formidable rival (Goldwyn's ''[[The Best Years of Our Lives]]'') as Hollywood's best picture of the year. Director Capra's inventiveness, humor, and affection for human beings keep it glowing with life and excitement."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071012105147/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,793342-1,00.html "New Picture"]. ''Time''. December 23, 1946. Retrieved June 8, 2007.</ref>

In his review for [[Variety (magazine)|Variety]], Bert Briller wrote, "''It’s a Wonderful Life'' will enjoy just that at the b.o. [box office], and eminently deserves to do so." He added: "[[Frank Capra|Capra]] may not have taken here the stride forward in film-making technique he achieved in “''[[It Happened One Night]]'', but no past Capra celluloid possessed any greater or more genuine qualities of effectiveness." Briller praised Reed's performance, writing, "In femme lead, Donna Reed will reach full-fledged stardom with this effort."<ref name=":1">{{cite news |last=Briller |first=Bert |date=December 19, 1946 |title='It's a Wonderful Life': Film Review |url=https://variety.com/1946/film/reviews/it-s-a-wonderful-life-1200414860/ |access-date=July 29, 2024 |magazine=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[Bosley Crowther]], writing for ''[[The New York Times]]'', complimented some of the actors, including Stewart and Reed, but concluded, "the weakness of this picture, from this reviewer's point of view, is the sentimentality of it—its illusory concept of life. Mr. Capra's nice people are charming, his small town is a quite beguiling place and his pattern for solving problems is most optimistic and facile. But somehow, they all resemble theatrical attitudes, rather than average realities."<ref>{{cite news|author=Crowther, Bosley|orig-date=December 23, 1946|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/11/movies/its-a-wonderful-life-review.html|title='It's a Wonderful Life', Screen in Review|date=December 11, 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=December 10, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181211183037/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/11/movies/its-a-wonderful-life-review.html|archive-date=December 11, 2018}}</ref>

Writing in ''[[The Nation (magazine)| The Nation]]'' in 1946, critic [[James Agee]] stated, "{{nbsp}}... Frank Capra's first film since those he made for the army, is one of the most efficient sentimental pieces since ''[[A Christmas Carol (1938 film)|A Christmas Carol]]''. Often, in its pile-driving emotional exuberance, it outrages, insults, or at least accosts without introduction, the cooler and more responsible parts of the mind; it is nevertheless recommended.{{nbsp}}... "<ref>Agee, James - ''Agee on Film Vol.1'' © 1958 by The James Agee Trust.</ref>

The film, which went into general release on January 7, 1947, placed 26th ($3.3 million) in box-office revenues for 1947<ref name="Willian p. 4"/> (out of more than 400 features released),<ref>''American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures'' (online database).</ref> one place ahead of another Christmas film, ''[[Miracle on 34th Street]]''. The film was supposed to be released in January 1947, but was moved up to December 1946 to make it eligible for the [[19th Academy Awards]] held in March 1947. This move was seen as worse for the film, as 1947 did not have quite the stiff competition as 1946. If it had entered the 1947 awards, its strongest competitor would have been ''Miracle on 34th Street''. The number-one grossing movie of 1947, ''The Best Years of Our Lives'', made $11.5 million.<ref name="Willian p. 4"/>

The film recorded a loss of $525,000 at the box office for RKO.<ref name="rko">{{cite book| first1=Richard| last1=Jewell| first2=Vernon| last2=Harbin| title=The RKO Story| location=New Rochelle, New York| publisher=Arlington House| year=1982| page=215| isbn=978-0-5175-4656-7}}</ref>

On May 26, 1947, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] issued a memo stating, "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."<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.wisebread.com/fbi-considered-its-a-wonderful-life-communist-propaganda| title=FBI Considered ''It's A Wonderful Life'' Communist Propaganda| last=Chen| first=Will| website=WiseBread| date=December 24, 2006| access-date=March 2, 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111229215857/http://www.wisebread.com/fbi-considered-its-a-wonderful-life-communist-propaganda| archive-date=December 29, 2011| url-status=usurped}}<br />{{cite news| url=http://blogs.phillymag.com/the_philly_post/2011/12/20/its-wonderful-life-communist-propaganda/| title="It's a Wonderful Life" Is Communist Propaganda| last=Goodtimes| first=Johnny| magazine=[[Philadelphia (magazine)|Philadelphia]]| date=December 20, 2011| access-date=March 2, 2012}}<br />{{cite news| url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/weird-story-fbi-and-its-wonderful-life-180967587/| title=The Weird Story of the FBI and 'It's a Wonderful Life'| last=Eschner| first=Kat| magazine=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]| date=December 20, 2017| access-date=December 20, 2017}}</ref> Film historian [[Andrew Sarris]] observed as "curious" that "the censors never noticed that the villainous Mr. Potter gets away with robbery without being caught or punished in any way".<ref name="Sarris, 1998. p. 356">Sarris, 1998. p. 356</ref>

[[File:It's a Wonderful Life (film) 1946 Frank Capra, director. Lionel Barrymore.jpg|thumb|right|Henry Potter ([[Lionel Barrymore]]) was placed in [[AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Heroes & Villains]] as number six of villains, while George Bailey was voted number 9 of heroes.]]
In 1990, ''It's a Wonderful Life'' was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States [[Library of Congress]] and selected for preservation in their [[National Film Registry]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/12/21/its-a-wonderful-life-is-a-holiday-classic-the-fbi-thought-it-was-communist-propaganda/| title='It's a Wonderful Life' is a holiday classic. The FBI thought it was communist propaganda.| newspaper=The Washington Post| date=December 21, 2017| first=Travis M.| last=Andrews| access-date=October 27, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| last1=Gamarekian| first1=Barbara| date=October 19, 1990| title=Library of Congress Adds 25 Titles to National Film Registry| language=en-US| newspaper=The New York Times| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/19/movies/library-of-congress-adds-25-titles-to-national-film-registry.html| access-date=November 17, 2020| issn=0362-4331| url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/ |title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |website=The Library of Congress |language=en |access-date=December 25, 2017}}</ref>

In 2002, [[Channel 4 (UK)|Channel 4]] in the United Kingdom ranked ''It's a Wonderful Life'' as the seventh-greatest film ever made in its poll "The 100 Greatest Films". The channel airs the film to British viewers annually on Christmas Eve.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.filmsite.org/filmfour.html |title=100 Greatest Films of All Time |website=Filmsite |language=en |access-date=December 25, 2017}}</ref>

In June 2008, AFI revealed its ''[[AFI's 10 Top 10|10 Top 10]]'', the best 10 films in 10 "classic" American film genres, after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. ''It's a Wonderful Life'' was acknowledged as the third-best film in the fantasy genre.<ref>[https://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=46072 "AFI Crowns Top 10 Films in 10 Classic Genres"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080619034738/http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=46072 |date=June 19, 2008}}. ''[[American Film Institute]]''. via ''ComingSoon.net''. June 17, 2008. Retrieved June 18, 2008.</ref><ref>[http://www.afi.com/10top10/fantasy.html "Top 10 Fantasy"]. ''American Film Institute''. Retrieved June 18, 2008.</ref>

Somewhat more iconoclastic views of the film and its contents are occasionally expressed. In his review for ''[[The New Republic]]'' in 1947, film critic [[Manny Farber]] wrote, "To make his points, [Capra] always takes an easy, simple-minded path that doesn't give much credit to the intelligence of the audience", and adds that it has only a "few unsentimental moments here and there".<ref>[[Manny Farber|Farber, Manny]]. "Mugging Main Street". ''[[The New Republic]]'', January 6, 1947.</ref>{{#tag:ref|"Mugging Main Street" was reprinted in ''Farber on Film'', [[Library of America]], 2009, pp. 307–309. |group=N}} Wendell Jamieson, in a 2008 article for ''The New York Times'' which was generally positive in its analysis of the film, observed that far from being simply a sweetly sentimental tale, ''It's a Wonderful Life'' "is a terrifying, asphyxiating story about growing up and relinquishing your dreams, of seeing your father driven to the grave before his time, of living among bitter, small-minded people. It is a story of being trapped, of compromising, of watching others move ahead and away, of becoming so filled with rage that you verbally abuse your children, their teacher, and your oppressively perfect wife."<ref>Jamieson, Wendell (December 18, 2008). [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/movies/19wond.html "Wonderful? Sorry, George, It's a Pitiful, Dreadful Life"]. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved December 20, 2008.</ref>

{{quote box|width=30em|bgcolor=cornsilk|align=right|quote= ... one of the most profoundly pessimistic tales of human existence ever to achieve a lasting popularity.|source=—Film historian [[Andrew Sarris]] in ''"You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet.": The American Talking Film History & Memory, 1927–1949''.<ref name="Sarris, 1998. p. 356"/>}}

In a 2010 essay for ''[[Salon (website)|Salon]]'', [[Rich Cohen|Richard Cohen]] described ''It's a Wonderful Life'' as "the most terrifying Hollywood film ever made". In the "Pottersville" sequence, he wrote, George Bailey is not seeing the world that would exist had he never been born, but rather "the world as it does exist, in his time and also in our own".<ref>Cohen, Richard. [http://www.salon.com/2010/12/25/its_wonderful_life_terrifying_movie_ever/ "It's a Wonderful Life": The most terrifying movie ever"]. ''Salon.com'', December 24, 2010. Retrieved January 7, 2011.</ref> Nine years earlier, another ''Salon'' writer, Gary Kamiya, had expressed the opposing view that "Pottersville ''rocks!''", adding: "The gauzy, [[Currier and Ives|Currier-and-Ives]] veil Capra drapes over Bedford Falls has prevented viewers from grasping what a tiresome and, frankly, toxic environment it is ... We all live in Pottersville now."<ref>Kamiya, Gary (December 22, 2001). [http://www.salon.com/2001/12/22/pottersville/ "All hail Pottersville!"]. ''[[Salon.com]]''. Retrieved January 7, 2011.</ref>
[[File:It's a Wonderful Life (film) 1946 Frank Capra, director. Donna Reed.jpg|thumb|[[Mary Hatch]] (Donna Reed), spinster librarian, in the world where George Bailey was never born]]
The film's elevation to the status of a beloved classic came three decades after its initial release, when it became a television staple during Christmas season in 1976.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nbc.com/its-a-wonderful-life |title=It's a Wonderful Life |website=[[NBC]] |date=December 24, 2014 |access-date=October 25, 2018}}</ref> This came as a welcome surprise to Frank Capra and others involved with its production. "It's the damnedest thing I've ever seen", Capra told ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' in 1984. "The film has a life of its own now, and I can look at it like I had nothing to do with it. I'm like a parent whose kid grows up to be President. I'm proud ... but it's the kid who did the work. I didn't even think of it as a Christmas story when I first ran across it. I just liked the idea."<ref name="Cox p. 11">Cox 2003, p. 11.</ref> In a 1946 interview, Capra described the film's theme as "the individual's belief in himself" and that he made it "to combat a modern trend toward atheism".<ref name="Cox p. 11"/> It ranked 283rd among critics, and 107th among directors, in the [[The Sight & Sound Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time|2012 ''Sight & Sound'' polls of the greatest films ever made]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b72fd693f/sightandsoundpoll2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224000742/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b72fd693f/sightandsoundpoll2012 |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 24, 2017 |title=Votes for ''It's a Wonderful Life'' (1947) |work=[[Sight & Sound]] |access-date=November 24, 2018}}</ref>

The film's positive reception has continued. On [[review aggregator]] [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds an approval rating of 94% based on 97 reviews, with an average rating of 9.0/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The holiday classic to define all holiday classics, ''It's a Wonderful Life'' is one of a handful of films worth an annual viewing."<ref>{{cite web |title=''It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946) |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/its_a_wonderful_life/ |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=February 14, 2023}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a score 89 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/its-a-wonderful-life |title=''It's a Wonderful Life'' Reviews |website=[[Metacritic]] |access-date=October 25, 2018}}</ref>

Many filmmakers have praised the film, including [[Steven Spielberg]], [[Akira Kurosawa]], [[Frank Darabont]], [[David Lynch]],<ref name="farout">{{cite web |last1=Thomas-Mason |first1=Lee |title=From Stanley Kubrick to Martin Scorsese: Akira Kurosawa once named his top 100 favourite films of all time |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/akira-kurosawa-100-favourite-films-list/ |website=Far Out Magazine |date=January 12, 2021 |access-date=January 23, 2023}}</ref> [[Don Hertzfeldt]],<ref>{{cite web |date=December 31, 2023 |title=38 Directors Pick Their Favorite Films of 2023 |url=https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/directors-best-movies-tv-2023|website=IndieWire}}</ref> and [[Guillermo del Toro]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The 12 films of Christmas: filmmakers on their festive favourites|website=[[BFI]]|date=December 12, 2024|access-date=December 25, 2024|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/lists/12-films-christmas-filmmakers-their-festive-favourites}}</ref> Spielberg once said of the film: "''It’s a Wonderful Life'' shows that every human being on this Earth matters – and that’s a very powerful message."<ref>{{cite news| title=On a wing and a prayer| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-dec-23-et-wonderful23-story.html| newspaper=Los Angeles Times| date=December 23, 2006| first=Stephen| last=Cox}}</ref> He ranked the film first on his list of 20 favorite films.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-13 |title=Steven Spielberg's 20 favourite movies of all time |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/steven-spielberg-20-favourite-movies-ever/ |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=Far Out Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Orson Welles]] played Mr. Potter in the made-for-television remake ''[[It Happened One Christmas]]''; when asked by [[Henry Jaglom]] what he thought of the movie, Welles said, "There's no way of hating that movie."<ref>{{cite book| first1=Henry| last1=Jaglom| first2=Orson| last2=Welles| title=My Lunches with Orson: Conversations Between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles| url=https://archive.org/details/myluncheswithors0000jagl/page/86/mode/2up?q=%22sheer+norman+rockwell%22| page=86| date=July 16, 2013| publisher=Macmillan| isbn=978-0-8050-9725-2}}</ref>