Stewart had just returned home from serving as a flight leader in World War II and this 1946 film was his first film since witnessing the horrors of war. With this post-war mentality, Stewart and director Frank Capra take on a film titled “It’s a Wonderful Life” and grow antithetically into a failed suicide attempt.
Throughout the film, George Bailey’s life often seems anything but wonderful. The audience watches as a young man with worldly dreams finds setbacks behind him, each like a key in his coffin. Trapped in his hometown, running his late father’s business, the story reaches a climax when George Bailey believes he is worth more than death.
“It’s a wonderful life” addresses real and resonant issues of self-esteem and failure. After the war, Stewart is struggling with these tests himself, as he shapes George Bailey’s deeply relatable character. Without Stewart’s real acquaintance with darkness, the redefined perspective of the holiday classic on life would not be able to shine so unforgettable.
Become a classic
This meant that in the 1970s “It’s a Wonderful Life” was free for broadcasters to air repeatedly. The audience began to notice this less-than-cheerful film that flooded the airways for Christmas and therefore a festive tradition was born.
The film captures a period of American life with some of the most iconic historical events of the 20th century, including the Great Depression and World War II.
After serving in the Army Air Corps, Stewart had been absent from Hollywood for five years when he was offered the role of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” According to biographer Robert Matzen, he initially hesitated to make the film, but it was his only offer except for a film with his war service.
This is seen in one of the most iconic and unscripted scenes in the film, when George Bailey is at the end of the rope: ‘I’m not a man praying, but if you’re up there and you can hear me, show’ m way “.
George Bailey did not receive scripts for crying, but Jimmy Stewart did.
“Jimmy Stewart followed his own experience and used that in his character. That’s very hard to do. The audience feels the intensity of that because it was clearly authentic,” Mankiewicz told CNN.
“It’s a Wonderful Life” has become a classic because it connects emotionally with the viewer, Mankiewicz said, and is able to resonate with our daily lives.
“It’s a film we see for Christmas, but the power and excitement the film conveys is no less powerful in June,” Mankiewicz said.
Militar service
When Stewart enlisted in the Army in 1941, he had just won an Academy Award for “The Philadelphia Story.”
Entering the air force of the army as a private, he was assigned to the film unit to make films for the war department. Stewart, who comes from a family steeped in military service, fought for orders and pushed for the opportunity to serve abroad.
After gaining wings as a pilot, Stewart was finally sent to England as a flight leader in 1943. Matzen described Stewart as an “air quarterback” responsible for making real-time air shots for pilots.
Stewart flew 20 physically and mentally difficult combat missions of which he rarely spoke after the war.
Through reports of Stewart’s combat mission, Matzen was able to take a look at the worst mission Stewart led in 1944 over the German city of Gotha. Stewart lost men to his command during this bombing campaign, a devastating cost for a leader he believed was responsible for every life.
In addition, Stewart’s personal experience of Gotha was a nightmare. Matzen explained that the ground of Stewart’s plane was hit, making a hole just below his feet. His damaged bomber had to return lame to England while Stewart gazed at enemy territory through the hole in his cabin. Matzen estimated that Stewart experienced temperatures of at least 20 degrees below zero.
That mission was “a mass” for Stewart, Matzen said. Ten years above the recommended age for a pilot flying heavy bombers, experiences like this put a huge weight on Stewart in his mid-30s.
“No one recognized the Jimmy Stewart who came home from the fight. He had changed a lot. He had aged some say ten years, some say he was 20. He had many attributes of PTSD,” Matzen said.
These symptoms included tremors, short temper and nightmares, according to Matzen. The short temper would bring about mood swings, unlike the explosive attack in which George Bailey destroys part of the family living room, Matzen said.
When asked what the horrors of war meant to Stewart, Matzen said Stewart’s perfectionism plagued him: every life he lost under his command was a job he could have done better.
The challenge of overcoming his perceived failure and rediscovering his self-esteem as a civilian is where the public meets Stewart on the post-war screen in 1946.
Observation during a pandemic
Now, with a new perspective, everything George Bailey has resented in his life is now rejoicing.
Valderrama says “It’s a Wonderful Life” is one of the best movies ever made, as it can change the way you see the world. What this film explains to the viewer is that success is not measured in materialism, but in how much it is returned.
“I’m very grateful for the grocery employees, the person who shows up to bring my food – that’s essential. I’m very grateful for these front-line workers – these people are heroes right now,” Valderrama said.
The courage of these everyday heroes has been a light through the darkness of 2020, but questions about strength and purpose still hold many people in mind this year. “It’s a wonderful life” reminds us that all lives are essential and, with a new perspective, wonderful.
CNN’s Amy Wray and Fernando Alfonso contributed to this report.