It's a wonderful life

News

This week 43 years ago Henry Travers (Clarence) died (aged 91)
October 18, 1965

This week 60 years ago Samuel S. Hinds (Pa Bailey) died (aged 73)
October 13, 1948

Within 13 days it would have been H.B. Warner`s (Mr. Gower) 133th birthday.
* October 26, 1875
† December 21, 1958

Trivia

1,500 film-makers, actors, critics and other movie professionals in Hollywood have chosen It’s a wonderful life the most inspirational films of all time. AFI distributed a ballot in November 2005 with 300 nominated inspiring movies to a jury of over 1,500 leaders from the creative community. Source / More (Web)

Release date: December 20, 1946

The movie was shot at:
The Beverly Hills High School (The dancing contest).
The town of Bedford Falls was totally recreated with a huge set.

Oscar nominations:
Best Actor ->James Stewart
Best Director ->Frank Capra
Best Film Editing
Best Picture ->Frank Capra
Best Sound, Recording

It’s a wonderful life was colorized in the eighties. Director Capra called the colorization process an insult for him and his dead colleagues. Source / More (Book)

In the early 1940s, writer Philip Van Doren Stern penned a short story called The Greatest Gift which he printed on 200 holiday cards and sent out to friends and family. RKO Pictures bought the story a few years later for $10,000, and sold it to Capra. He translated the script into It’s a wonderful life.

James Stewart spent World War II in the Army Air Corps as a bomber pilot and squadron commander. It’s a wonderful life marked his return to acting and his first post-war film.

In 1947, the FBI branded It’s A Wonderful Life as subversive.

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

At $3.7 million, this was a very expensive independent production. The film was panned by some critics and was not a box-office hit. In its initial box office run, it only earned $3.3 million.

James Stewart said that George Bailey was his favorite character.

Bibliography

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