So how much did you know about the quintessential Christmas movie?
Yes, above are George Bailey and Mary Hatch Bailey (Donna Reed and James Stewart), the familial stalwarts of It’s A Wonderful Life.
In this quintessential holiday movie — set in the mythical Bedford Falls — the two stars play small town dwellers. Interesting then to note that they actually were small town kids. Stewart grew up in backwater Pennsylvania and Reed was from rural Iowa.
It’s been bruited about that Reed was far down the list of choices to play Mary Bailey. That Jean Arthur, Ann Dvorak and Ginger Rogers were successively primed for the part before Reed. Whether or not that’s true, we believe that Reed was fated for the role, thank heavens.
When It’s A Wonderful Life first came out in 1946, it did not immediately perform well at the box office. Hollywood considered it a flop. In fact, according to director Frank Capra’s son, the movie was not designed expressly as a Christmas or holiday picture. At the time, the movie put a bit of a dent dent in Stewart’s career.
But both Stewart and Reed live on as perhaps the most appreciated married couple in movie history. Now, on to the answers to our It’s A Wonderful Life Quiz:
1) Question: It’s A Wonderful Life is consciously patterned on that other holiday staple, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. a) True; or b) False?
1) Answer: a) True. The movie is based on a short story (The Greatest Gift) by Philip Van Doren Stern, who was indeed inspired by the classic Dickens Christmas tale.
2) Question: Director Capra immediately recognized the script for It’s A Wonderful Life as inextricably tied to the Christmas season, making the finished movie a Christmas gift to moviegoers. a) True; or b) False?
2) Answer: b) False. Capra said fell in love with the “idea” of the material, not necessarily its connection with Christmas. “I didn’t even think of its as a Christmas story when I first ran across it,” he told the Wall Street Journal back in 1984.
3) Question: Lionel Barrymore’s terrific performance as mean old Mr.Potter was fueled by the amount of alcohol the actor consumed on the set during production. a) True; or b) False?
3) Answer: b) False. No question that Barrymore, who suffered from severe arthritis, took more than a few nips from his flask onset. That was typical and accepted back then. Barrymore was 68 when he made It’s A Wonderful Life, and his infirmities were the real deal. He died eight years after making the picture.
4) Question: The movie was shot on location in upstate New York for the most part in order to genuinely capture the feeling of small-town Americana. a) True; or b) False?
4) Answer: b) False. It’s A Wonderful Life was shot on a set erected in Culver City, California in late spring. Bedford Falls was put together with a big main street, a residential neighborhood and the some 75 replicas of stores and other buildings including a working bank.
5) Question: Amazing as it might seem today, It’s A Wonderful Life ran afoul of Hollywood’s notorious Production Code for one element of its plot. a) True; or b) False?
5) Answer: b) True. Director Capra has to outfox the bluenoses at the Production Code because Mr. Potter slides by his swindle of several thousand dollars from the Baileys. The Code had insisted at the time that crooks be punished for their movie crimes. But Mr. Potter gets away with his misdeed.
I hate to pour some humbug on this day…
But Joe, the main, iconic Bedford Falls set was built out at the 88 acre RKO Ranch in Encino, in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles.
I can show you the set photographs, production reports etc… The interiors and some exterior sets, were shot on the soundstages of RKO-Pathe in Culver City. It’s a well established, undisputed fact.
And the following question…
Capra had the MOST censor trouble with the so-called over passionate screen kiss between James Stewart and Donna Reed, which he had to trim.
But what does any of this matter really, it’s a great, great movie…
But sadly, and the strange tragic irony in giving the world such a warm and inspiring movie, it destroyed Frank Capra’s career as far as HOLLYWOOD was concerned, and deeply affected the man himself
His caring and social conscience were regarded as being that of a Communist by the ultra right like John Wayne, who as legendary and iconic as he was, when it came to politics and patriotism, he was the ultimate “useful idiot” for the real, true Communists -the BANK$TER$ and the ultra-rich families that used him and everyone and everything else, regardless of being conservative, liberal or indifferent, to greater further their power and control over the whole world!
Yes, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE is one of the most bisected and over-analyzed movies ever made… And like so many great and lasting things, what makes it so… Is simplicity itself, a movie about redemption, second chances and love of family and humanity….
All the qualities that in today’s “trending now” and fake world, are sadly seen as CAPRA-corn!
Yes, the interiors were filmed in Culver City but the main street was constructed in Encino near what is now Balboa Park.
The Martini house is a home located in La Canada near St Francis High School, and the pool scene was filmed at Beverly Hills High School.
I don’t understand Graham Hill’s unhinged conspiracy theory rant about banks and communism and John Wayne and all that. This film’s message didn’t ruin Capra’s career. Liberty Films became unsustainable, and Capra’s future films simply didn’t captivate audiences the way his pre-WW2 films did.