Its a Wonderful Life is a holiday classic. The FBI thought it was communist propaganda.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

Every holiday season, millions of people cozy up near a warm fireplace or at least a warm television to watch a familiar black-and-white tale, the 1946 classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

The film, which director Frank Capra considered his best, follows the down-on-his-luck George Bailey. He’s a businessman in the fictional town of Bedford Falls, who is about to lose his loan company to the rich, evil banker Mr. Potter. Bailey considers committing suicide on Christmas Eve, deciding his family and the townspeople would be better off without him. But a guardian angel appears. The angel presents Bailey an alternative timeline in which he doesn’t exist, showing the suicidal man how much he’s helped those around him.

With stars Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, the movie was a commercial and critical success, earning five Oscar nominations, including one for best picture. In 1990, the Library of Congress inducted the film into the National Film Registry. It’s the perfect flick for the holidays: a touching story of how our actions affect everyone around us, and how everyone is an integral part of a community’s fabric.

The FBI didn’t see it that way.

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/?utm_term=.f4158b61915c

[underpants]

1. It was also a flop at the box office and was aired on TV because it was free

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210004050


As Roger Ebert is quick to note in his Great Movies entry on the film, copyright (or, the lack thereof) played a big role in revitalizing the film’s public appeal. In 1974, a filing error caused the film to fall out of copyright and allowed television stations anywhere to show the film, for free, on their networks. PBS spearheaded the opportunity and began running the film on their stations across America, noticing its popularity climb with each year. This was the major push that, almost thirty years after the film was made, finally brought it out of the shadows and transformed it into a ritualistic part of the holidays for millions of families. (It also led to colorizations and garish debasements of the film, which Ebert adamantly cites as the worst consequence of it falling from copyright.) Beyond that, it is a well-balanced holiday film that hits all the right notes at the right times.

http://screenprism.com/insights/article/how-did-its-a-wonderful-life-go-from-a-flop-to-a-holiday-classic


Though Henry Fonda was also in the running for the lead, Capra always had James Stewart in mind as he collaborated on the final script. The two had worked together twice before, on 1938’s “You Can’t Take It with You” and the following year’s “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”

Few people realize that this so-called Christmas movie was shot between April and July of 1946 in Encino, California. A heat wave descended on the set, with temperatures rising to 90 degrees on some days. If you look closely, you can see Stewart perspiring in several scenes.

“It’s the damnedest thing I’ve ever seen,” Capra said in a 1984 interview. “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.”

https://www.bestmoviesbyfarr.com/articles/making-of-it-s-a-wonderful-life/2016/12

[rsdsharp]

2. Jesus, that's rich!

Both Capra and Stewart were right wingers. During the 1950s, Stewart was Hoover's mole in Hollywood regarding "communists." I'm sure they'd make communist propaganda.

[Aristus]

3. I'm not sure I would characterize Stewart as a right-winger.

He was a Republican, but they weren't as demented back then as they are today. The McCarthyites were in the minority. Now they are the GOP.

Jimmy Stewart had an amicable relationship with staunch liberal Henry Fonda.

[rsdsharp]

4. There was also a rift between them for several years

after Fonda found out that Stewart was Hoover's stoolie during the McCarthy era. They didn't speak from 1948 until 1954.

[Aristus]

5. I remember reading that they had had a falling out.

I had forgotten the details. Thanks.

[Yavin4]

6. Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart debate Republican vs. Democrat