After re-reviewing 'It's A Wonderful Life' on the lead up to Christmas. It's time to give 'It's A Wonderful Life' its annual airing; It starts with Jimmy Stewart broke, suicidal and despairing, Looking down from Bedford Falls bridge, life in free fall, Jimmy (or George Bailey) is about to step out and end it all. But from on high, a few concerned Spirits look down, They don't wish to to see George high dive then drown. George cries out he wishes he had never been born, That his lost lousy life would be one none would mourn, Suddenly an angel arrives to give George a new perspective, Of how life could've been had his Dad worn a contraceptive. (This angel isn't one of the Cloud Corporations best- Of God given sense Clarence was less than blessed.) So before George does his somersault into the maelstrom Clarence showed George what his town would've become Had Dad not stumbled in from the pub to find Mom awake And all ready for bed, happily without her usual headache. Now, Clarence's plan was plain and simple cracker barrel, See, he 'appropriated' the plot from 'A Christmas Carol.' George's sweet wife Mary, librarian, lonely, frustrated, single, With no George, love of her life, she's not known love's tingle; Hardened drinkers in the rough hotel sup, bitter and sour, The ladies of the night bear their company, but by the hour. His mother and brother are, in this iteration, both dead; Bedford Falls is now a place even angels fear to tread. Without the kind benevolence of Baileys Savings and Loan All property belongs to Pitiless Potter, of the heart of stone, There is no end to what was George's old towns current ills- Silly Uncle Billy's in a straitjacket in Belle Vue, on happy pills. George has seen enough, he can't let this nightmare occur- He begs Clarry for a re-shoot, a re-boot, a reset, as it were. And so George is catapulted back into the here and now, But he must repay some missing money, Christ knows how? Potter bangs at the door, soon his bailiffs will come a'calling, George'll need more than pennies from Heaven to start falling. George had faith in clownish Clarence, Heavens above? Clarence as a good guide? Christ, what's He thinking of? Lo and behold, Bailey's bailed out by customers and friends... And there's where this sweet family favourite treacly ends, Oh, first we hear Clarence is given his long overdue wings- Don't that well up the tear ducts, tug at the heart strings? Clarence is that new star up in the sky, so, unseen by day, But even on a moonless night Clarry blinks dimly, far away. And when Jimmy/George holds close his kids and spouse There's rarely a dry eye to be seen in the sodden house! If there's a deep well of sentiment, by George, Capra struck it- But am I the only hard eyed cynic reaching for the sick bucket? *Frank Capra, director of this classic feel-good flick. (Hey, I like this movie- a lot- but it is getting cheesier by the year.)
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