It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE  (1946)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Frank Capra
    James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore,
    Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers, Gloria Grahame, 
    Beulah Bondi, Ward Bond, Frank Faylen
It's hard to imagine anybody except Jimmy Stewart playing George Bailey, a small-town guy who's about to commit suicide on Christmas Eve, when he's saved by a guardian angel and sees what the world would be like if he'd never been born. Critics like David Thomson consider this a film noir, and it's dark enough to be one. It's a relentless blast of populist Americana that makes you wonder whether a 21st-century Republican wouldn't have to sympathize with Old Man Potter, the cutthroat banker played by Lionel Barrymore, rather than George and the notion that people are better off when they work together and help each other out. Every time I watch it, I swear the sentimental conclusion won't get to me. It always does.