IT'S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO BELIEVE, NOW THAT THE FILM IS NEARLY 75 YEARS OLD, THAT THE quintessential Christmas movie It's a Wonderful Life was somewhat of a box-office flop. Director Frank Capra's first movie after World War II-and one that epitomized how he felt after witnessing so much horror and tragedy-was considered sappy and a bit insipid. And it could be, except for Jimmy Stewart-a real-life World War II pilot who also came home from witnessing war and allowed his darkness to show through in scenes of this classic movie. Oh, sure, there's the silly Clarence the angel and the winking angels in the night sky, but Stewart commands the screen and doesn't shy away from letting his postwar angst come through. Perhaps because the story of George Bailey could have been the story of Stewart himself. It's not Bedford Falls but Indiana, Pennsylvania, where Stewart grew up-a small town just like George Bailey's.
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