It’s the most wonderful time of the year, so the song goes, referring of course, to the special time that we get to watch Christmas movies.
No Christmas is complete without a viewing of celebrated classics like Miracle on 34th Street and Elf, as well as the lesser-known but no less fabulous While You Were Sleeping and The Ref. However, even these Hollywood greats pale in comparison to the greatest Christmas movie of all time: It’s A Wonderful Life.
Frank Capra’s 1946 classic starring Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey and Donna Reed as Mary Hatch is a beautiful film and a must-see every December.
For those yet to see it, the film begins with a despairing George thinking that the world would be better off without him and ends – full of hope – through the intervention of another supposed failure, Clarence the angel.
I never really appreciated the film as a young person, but as an adult, I am inspired and challenged by the selfless George and his willingness to put his own life on hold to help others in need.
I wasn’t aware until this year, however, that this Christmas masterpiece was considered a failure at the time of its release.
It ranked 26th in terms of box office sales for the year, and resulted in a $525,000 loss for its producer, RKO. While some appreciated the film, others believed it to be too serious for a post-war audience, so it did not do too well.
Funnily enough, there was even a suggestion from the FBI that the film’s portrayal of the bank manager as mean and miserly was a common, anti-capitalist tactic used by communists!
It could have been relegated to the dust bins of film flops had it not been for an administrative error in 1974, when someone failed to correctly renew the copyright for the movie. This meant that the film became free for anyone to use without paying a license or royalty fees for the film, although they still did need to pay a royalty fee for the book on which it was based.
The relative royalty freedom ultimately led to it being frequently screened as part of any television Christmas line-up, so a whole new generation got to see it.
It was better received the second time around, as a new generation that was not reeling from the recent effects of war fell in love with the Baileys and they became part of many family Christmas traditions.
I think this story makes the film even more wonderful because, like George Bailey, the celebration of its goodness only came following two seeming failures, the first being the lack of box office success and the second being the clerical error that enabled the film’s wide re-release.
It’s fitting, I think, that it happened in this way. And I also think that it amplifies the movie’s message at Christmas time.
As we approach the end of the year, it is easy to look back and count our 2025 failures. I’m sure each of us could, like George Bailey, compose a litany of our own failures or, like Frank Capra, have others more than willing to list them for us.
But perhaps instead, we can consider that, just like the story of It’s A Wonderful Life, these perceived failures might only be temporary and may one day form part of a greater story of success.
That is the hope and the promise of Christmas after all. The seeming failures of an unwed mother, a failure to find proper accommodation leading to a stable birth, a death plot and consequent massacre of innocents and a flight into Egypt are all key elements of the greatest story ever told.
I hope you and your loved ones have a beautiful and blessed Christmas, dear friends.
