I’ve always been a sucker for Frank Capra movies, a genre lovingly referred to as “Capra-corn.” Who can resist “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “You Can’t Take it With You,” “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town,” “Meet John Doe,” and of course the ever-present Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life?”
So this week I thought I’d look at the graphic design in and around everyone’s favorite Christmas classic starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. Click on any image for a larger version.
Like so many other 1940s movies, “It’s a Wonderful Life” has hand-lettered opening titles that peel off like pages in a book, one of my favorite title tricks. Despite the colorized versions floating around, the movie was most definitely filmed in black and white. It was released in 1946.
Originally intended as a vehicle for Cary Grant, “It’s a Wonderful Life” was based on a short story called “The Greatest Gift” by Philip Van Doren Stern. Unable to find a publisher for his short story, Van Doren self-published “The Greatest Gift” as a Christmas card in 1939. He sent it to approximately 200 people and it caught the eye of an RKO producer, who convinced the studio to buy the rights for $10,000.
But Cary Grant was busy, so the story and the rights ended up with Capra’s production company, Liberty Films, which made the movie for approximately $3 million.
When it was released in 1946, the movie opened to mixed reviews and mediocre success. It wasn’t until much later, when it showed up on television each holiday season, that the movie came into its own as a true classic.
The set of Bedford Falls (and Pottersville) was built on RKO’s ranch in Encino and is thought by the residents of Seneca Falls, New York, to be based on their town (which Capra did visit in 1945). Each year Seneca Falls holds an “It’s a Wonderful Life” Festival. It’s also home to the Hotel Clarence, named after the guardian angel in the movie.
The original set was destroyed in the 1950s, but the gymnasium floor with the pool underneath still exists at Beverly Hills High School, where those scenes were filmed.
There are a lot of great neon signs in the Pottersville version of the town, the implication being that neon is tawdry and associated with cruder forms of entertainment, pawn shops, and the like.
Thanks to copyright problems over the years, the movie has had a lot of different owners, and various versions have been released worldwide. Here are just a few of the foreign-language posters for the film.
The original theatrical trailer, from which these screen shots come, pitched the movie more as a romance than a moral tale. While not generally controversial, the FBI did receive at least one complaint at the time that “It’s a Wonderful Life” was “Communist propaganda” because it portrayed bankers as evil and insensitive.
Did “It’s a Wonderful Life” win an Oscar? And was it the inspiration for a certain famous Muppet duo? Go to page 2 to find out.
This article was last modified on May 17, 2023
This article was first published on December 18, 2009
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