ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 29, 1996 TAG: 9611290107
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
SOURCE: LYNN ELBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
COMMERCIALS, CRITICS and lawsuits have not removed this movie's place in the public's affection.
The film's hero is a lanky chump, a man unable to escape the grip of the hick town he disdains. There's no sex and little violence in the story, unless you count Clarence the angel biting a cop.
But talk about hit movies: After 50 years, ``It's a Wonderful Life'' has yet to outstay its holiday welcome. As sure as egg nog and overspending, the Frank Capra film is woven into America's yuletide experience.
We feel George Bailey's pain, again and again. We despair at the fate that keeps him from fulfilling his dreams of adventure, but salute as George selflessly aids his family, friends and community.
We ache with nostalgia for a small-town America of innocence and fellowship we're unlikely to have known and which, we suspect, may have existed only in a Capra-created universe.
In other words, we wallow shamelessly and tearfully in the operatic tragedy and redemption of suicidal George Bailey, Everyman, forced by an angel to recognize the value of his life - and to show us the value of ours.
``Frank Capra made you pay for those happy endings,'' the film's star, Jimmy Stewart, has been quoted as saying. And we have done so, gladly.
Even the 51 minutes of commercials that NBC stuffed in last year's exclusive TV broadcast of ``It's a Wonderful Life'' and which could accompany this year's Dec. 21 airing, can't keep us away.
Lawsuits swirling around the picture, thwarted parodies and a small flood of merchandise tied to the 50th anniversary aren't deterrents, either.
And why? Motive and opportunity.
Opportunity first. In the 1970s, a clerical error allowed the studio copyright to lapse, and a number of television stations seized the chance to run the Christmas-themed movie for free each holiday season.
George Bailey's story - the good man who can't shirk his responsibility to the family business, the girl (Donna Reed) who loves him, or the town he keeps from the clutches of greedy Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore) - became as familiar as Dickens' ``A Christmas Carol.''
Capra ``loved the fact it went into the public domain,'' says his son, Tom. ``It became this exorbitant hit and much more popular than it ever could have possibly been before.''
``He always said, `Thank God those fools let the copyright lapse,' otherwise no one might ever have seen it.''
That may have been an exaggeration, but it's certainly true that ``It's a Wonderful Life'' outgrew its modest beginnings.
Although the 1946 film received five Academy Award nominations, including best picture and best actor for Stewart, its box-office performance and reviews were lackluster.
When it debuted, the New Yorker magazine dismissed it as ``baby talk'' (and has relented only reluctantly: A 1977 New Yorker piece said, ``In its own icky, bittersweet way, it's terribly effective'').
Contemporary movie fans have proven more open-minded, and film scholars understand why: ``It's a Wonderful Life'' is a superbly crafted film with much to offer.
``Jimmy Stewart is an incredibly likable performer, and in this film, he's a person who's done nothing but good throughout his entire life,'' said Jonathan Kuntz of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.
Audiences can identify with Stewart's Bailey, and with the spiritual crisis he suffers over the life he perceives as wasted, Kuntz said.
``We also would like to feel that we're being watched over by a guardian angel. That's a wonderful thought. And, finally, we also would love to have a happy ending, where everybody is redeemed,'' he said.
The movie's joyful conclusion, with a reborn Bailey in the arms of family and friends, is exceptional for a memorable film, said Howard Suber, Kuntz's colleague at UCLA.
In most enduring movies, such as ``Gone With the Wind'' or ``Casablanca,'' the hero or heroine is left to cope with a crucial loss, such as love, Suber noted.
There are measures of the movie's impact beyond audience loyalty. There are the calendars and books spun off by actors in the film (sparking a legal battle with Republic Pictures, which is reasserting its ownership rights).
Also noteworthy was an abortive attempt by Comedy Central to create a parody of it, a plan that fell apart when sister division Republic - both are under parent company Viacom - objected.
Tom Capra thinks his father would have been amused by a spoof. But that doesn't mean he didn't take ``It's a Wonderful Life'' very seriously. The filmmaker, who died in 1991 at age 94, deemed the film his masterwork.
``It was his favorite,'' Tom Capra said. ``He really thought that he just put everything into it.''
``All his films were about the worth of a single person, about how much one person can change the world,'' said the son. ``He believed that. And why not? He was one of those people.''
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP ``Frank Capra made you pay for those happyby CNBendings,'' actor Jimmy Stewart once said of the director.