It's a Wonderful Life

It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 Christmas film, directed by Frank Capra and starring James Stewart, Donna Reed, Henry Travers, and Lionel Barrymore. The film focuses on George Bailey (Stewart), a good man driven to frustration and on the verge of suicide, until his guardian angel Clarence shows him what the world would be like had he never been born. The movie received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Actor and Best Picture, but lost in each category. However, It's a Wonderful Life' has since come to be regarded as a cinematic classic, particularly through annual television airings.

Due to a non-renewed copyright, the movie was often aired multiple times on multiple stations between Thanksgiving and Christmas, both in black and white and in a popular colorized version. In 1993, Republic Pictures filed a claim that, though the original copyright had lapsed, the derivative copyrights for the script and story were in effect. Republic's claim was recognized, and thus the public domain color versions were withdrawn, and television licensing subsequently limited to NBC, which airs the film twice annually. Still, the film has become a popular cultural reference, and as with A Christmas Carol, countless television series have spoofed or referenced the film's basic plot.

Two of the film's supporting characters, close friends of George are Bert the cop (Ward Bond) and Ernie the cab driver (Frank Faylen). A long-standing rumor claimed that the Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie were named after the movie characters, though in actuality the similarity is a coincidence.