It's a Wonderful Life: 50 Things You Don't Need to Know

It's not Christmas until George Bailey's mouth is bleeding, he finds ZuZu's petals in his pocket, and he becomes the richest man in Bedford Falls. Join me as I explore some known and some not-so-known facts about the ultimate Christmas movie.

[sbooker]

One year just before Christmas my boyfriend and I were watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” on television. He was so moved by it that, as it ended, he asked me to marry him. I said yes. Every year we watch it again, 47 and counting...

[marcellef]

I remember the very first time I watched It's A Wonderful Life : December 1983.
I was 21 and worked at a bank. I was not having a good day and then I was robbed while on my evening shift.
I spent hours talking to policemen and looking through mugshots at the station. An officer drove me home around midnight and my Dad and I watched this fabulous classic movie together. It made me cry 😢 but, it's been a tradition to watch it every Christmas.

[bearbear]

I was 17 in HS a senior, I was going to commit suicide and told my favorite teacher just before Christmas break, I’d never see him again that I was going to commit suicide 😭. He said he wasn’t going to try to stop me but I had to promise him I’d watch this movie called “It’s a Wonderful Life” first! He gave me his copy VHS, I did, and I’m still here! He and this movie saved my life! I’ve not missed one Christmas Eve watching his vhs movie! I still have his original VHS tape after 35 years! “I’ll have a flaming rum punch” “that’s it, out you two pixies go..out the door or through the window” ...lol what a movie!

Edit: I wasn’t expecting such heartfelt responses! Thank you all and Merry Christmas 🎄

[MsMC-vrjd]

"A toast to my big brother, George. The richest man in town!" That quote makes me cry EVERY TIME. ❤

[geoaffleck]

Every year my wife of 41 years and I would watch this movie several times with our kids and family. Since 2016 when she was killed in a car accident, I still watch it and can't help remember the good times we had and the values it helped instill in our children and now our 8 grandchildren.

[rtflone]

I will soon be 75 good lord willing. I first saw It's a Wonderful Life as a kid with my parents and it still moves me to tears. It is hard to imagine a more perfectly made movie, but that is true of most Capra films. Schools should be required to show this movie to students so they can see there really was a time (before the internet) when people were sane. Merry Christmas everyone!

[rstash]

I'm 78. I saw this movie in 1950 when i was 9 years old. I've seen it almost every year except for the time I spent in Asia with the military. I've watched it when I was single, married, single, married and most Christmases in between. Without this movie, it isn't Christmas for me. The idea that the world would be a different place without me is powerful, very powerful. It means a lot to me.

[MrCabimero]

Donna Reed was just stunningly beautiful. The romantic tension between Donna and Mr Stewart on the phone scene was just amazing acting. They said little to each other at first, yet the emotion between them was palpable.

[richardmiller]

I'm 64 years old and have seen that movie so many times, and still can't get thru the ending without getting choked up. That movie is genius. Kudos to everyone involved. My favorite part is the whole movie!

[bigjoe]

"It's A Wonderful Life" is timeless. Better than most films made today. No profanity, No nudity, No violence, etc. and yet has such a warm loving ending. It always helps me to remember God doesn't play his hand until things look so bleak that there's no hope. And then God uses others to show his love. He always wins in the end. "Faith, hope, and love abideth, but the greatest of these is love."

[cathys]

I love it when George and Mary are walking home from the dance with her in the robe, and the guy on the porch says "Why doncha kiss her instead of talking her to death!" then, "Awww. Youth is wasted on all the wrong people!" Very funny, but touching, too. You could see them falling in love.

[jldoramail]

Every time when I have a tough time, I will watch "It's a wonderful life' again.

[waynespaeth]

I've always considered "It's a Wonderful Life" as perhaps the most important film ever made from an inspirational standpoint. The line that always got me was when George appears to be at the end of his rope when others fail to recognize him and Clarence the angel says "strange how one man's life touches so many others and when he is gone he leaves an awful hole".

[roquefortfiles]

The scene that makes me fall apart every time is when he's at the bar and absolutely beside himself as everyone is having a great time around him. The camera moves in and he says.. "I am not a praying man but if you're up there and you can hear me... " Just the way Stewart plays it with such desperation. I cry every time.

[mjnc]

Anyone who's ever had a deep, seamingly insurmountable struggle in life can relate to the sceen with George at the bar asking God for help, to show him the way.

[lastmanstanding]

Now this was eighteen minutes and twenty-one seconds well spent.
This movie had it all: drama, comedy, romance, a hero and a villain.

[adrienneharding]

I watched it for the first time in its entirety last year with my adult kids…all of us loved it! ❤

[ruthjoyce]

The bar scene where he is asking god to help is one of the best acting scenes ever .

[statewench]

Frank Capra was a dear friend of my grandmother. After his second wife passed they would spend their breakfasts together discussing the world events. He was one of the nicest persons I have ever met.

[kathywilkins]

That phone scene where Mary and George first kiss is, in my opinion, one of the hottest love scenes in any move ever. What passion!