The Best Christmas Movie Ever Made

The wisest thing might be to end this piece now. You have the title and the trailer. That tells you everything you need to know.

But here’s why I think Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life is the best Christmas film ever.

Everyone has their favourite Christmas films. In recent years arguments have raged over whether Die Hard should be included in the canon, with some saying not only that it should but that it deserves the title best Christmas film ever.

These sort of choices are personal. You may not like Capra or It’s a Wonderful Life. You might not like Christmas. All that is fair enough.

I was a young child when I first saw the film. I thought it was a comedy and very charming. I liked that Clarence the Angel got his wings (apologies for the spoiler) and that George Bailey (James Stewart) comes out okay in the end (sorry another spoiler).

It was many years later, watching it as an adult, that I realised it wasn’t a comedy. When the film ended I sobbed.

The film was made in 1946 but is very much a product of the Depression. It is a celebration of small-town America and its values. This may seem quaint now, and even at the time some probably objected to it, but the genius of the film is that whatever your views on those values, Capra draws you in and touches the heart.

He does it by telling the story of ordinary people trying to get by . Capra does this by focusing on one individual in particular: Stewart’s character.

The casting of James Stewart is critical to the success of the film. While Alfred Hitchcock and Anthony Mann (Vertigo, and The Naked Spur respectively) showed us Stewart’s inner darkness, Capra uses Stewart’s ability to convey decency to powerful effect. We root for, and relate to, George throughout.

Capra was a prolific film-maker and by the time he directed It’s a Wonderful Life had made several classics: It Happened One Night, Meet John Doe, Mr Deeds Goes to Town and Mr Smith Goes to Washington. The themes that run through these films are optimism, idealism and the importance of decent people to make a difference.

Wonderful Life has all this as well as a warning: things don’t always end well if you take the wrong turn. There is a real possibility that things may end badly for George and Clarence and this is why the film isn’t a comedy.

Set over the Christmas period, how can any other film compete?