{"id":2104,"date":"2020-12-11T15:43:05","date_gmt":"2020-12-11T15:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/?p=2104"},"modified":"2023-12-04T15:51:19","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T15:51:19","slug":"have-yourself-a-not-quite-so-very-merry-christmas-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/?p=2104","title":{"rendered":"Have yourself a (not quite so) very merry Christmas film"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this blog, UoP Senior Lecturer Rob James reflects on the changing popularity of the, now well-regarded, festive classic <\/em>It\u2019s a Wonderful Life. Rob tells us that the film\u2019s success was not predetermined, and that it took a mixture of chance and luck, along with a well-told story of course, for the film to achieve its status as a seasonal favourite. Rob\u2019s research covers society\u2019s leisure activities and this feeds into a number of optional and specialist modules he teaches in the second and third year.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Final<\/a>

Final scene from It’s a Wonderful Life.<\/p><\/div>\n

In a recent poll featured in The Independent <\/em>newspaper<\/a> of the \u2018Best Christmas Movies\u2019, the 1946 Hollywood-produced film It\u2019s a Wonderful Life<\/em> came in at number one, followed by Home Alone<\/em> (1990) at number two, Elf <\/em>(2003) at number three, and The Snowman<\/em> (1982) and Love Actually<\/em> (2003), at numbers four and five respectively, making up the rest of the top five most highly-rated Christmas films.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a Wonderful Life<\/em> is, by far, the oldest film featured in the top 5, and is the second oldest film in the twenty-film list \u2013 the oldest being the 1944 wartime hit Meet Me in St Louis<\/em>, featuring Judy Garland, who sang the tear-jerking, pathos-filled song Have Yourself a Very Merry Christmas<\/em> at a time when many people could certainly not look forward to having a very merry Christmas at all.<\/p>\n

Despite being released in 1946 \u2013 and filmed in black-and-white \u2013 It\u2019s a Wonderful Life<\/em> maintains a particular resonance with contemporary audiences.\u00a0 The film often sits atop these types of seasonal all-time Christmas movie lists, keeping all other films, even popular newcomers, at bay. In fact, It\u2019s a Wonderful Life<\/em> has, for some time now, been recognised, and frequently-voted as, the favourite Christmas film by both film critics and the film-loving public. Indeed, in a Radio Times <\/em>poll in 2018 the film came top having received just under 10% of the overall votes.[2]<\/a> As James Munby has rightly noted, It\u2019s a Wonderful Life<\/em> has \u2018assumed the status of the <\/em>Christmas movie\u2019.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Cinema<\/a>

Cinema poster showing how the film was advertised when first released.<\/p><\/div>\n

However, its popularity has not always been so failsafe. Despite America\u2019s Variety <\/em>magazine heaping praise on the film upon its release, describing it as \u2018gleaming, engaging entertainment\u2019, it generally received mixed reviews, and didn\u2019t perform at all well at the box-office.[4]<\/a> In fact, it lost money \u2013 some half a million dollars; a considerable sum now, let alone in the austerity-ridden post-war years. This came as something of a surprise considering it was directed by the renowned Hollywood producer Frank Capra, whose films had usually struck gold.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

It was the film\u2019s bleak subject matter that caused alarm among its critics. Contemporaries were often left feeling rather nonplussed after watching the tale of wholesome family man George Bailey, played by the popular film star James Stewart, contemplating suicide and only accepting his life had meaning \u2013 and was worth living \u2013 after the timely intervention of guardian angel, Clarence (Henry Travers). One contributor to the British film fan magazine Picturegoer<\/em>, for example, thought the film was \u2018well handled\u2019, but showed \u2018signs of being too well worn\u2019.[6]<\/a> More acerbically, a The New York Times<\/em> writer criticised its tendency to put a positive spin on its subject matter, describing it as \u2018a figment of Pollyanna platitudes\u2019.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, despite this rather inauspicious start, It\u2019s a Wonderful Life<\/em> continues to appeal to generations of film lovers, offering something as warm and cosy as a comfortable pair of slippers. What caused this revival? Partly it is<\/em> the film\u2019s subject matter. As The Guardian<\/em>\u2018s Lucinda Everett has noted, it\u2019s the film\u2019s message that \u2018we are loved, and our lives matter more that we could imagine\u2019 that cements it as one of the festive season\u2019s best offerings.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

However, the story hasn\u2019t changed – it\u2019s still very bleak \u2013 it\u2019s just that the context has. At the time of its release in 1946 audiences didn\u2019t really want to watch a film that reminded them of the struggles facing the American \u2018Everyman\u2019. They demanded something more upbeat.[9]<\/a> So, it\u2019s not just the subject-matter that helps to create popularity, it\u2019s also a matter of timing.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s even more to it than this, though. The film also owes its modern-day success to chance. Having been sold to television when its releasing company RKO collapsed in the mid-1950s, and then falling out of copyright in the 1970s after its license wasn\u2019t renewed, It\u2019s a Wonderful Life<\/em> became free to broadcast, leading more cash-strapped TV companies to show it as competition against other big holiday specials scheduled by the larger stations.[10]<\/a> As film critic Peter Bradshaw has noted, \u2018a seasonal tradition was invented and this little-regarded film began to grow inexorably in popularity and retrospective importance\u2019. [11]<\/a><\/p>\n

Ever since then, this festive fantasy comedy drama has grown in the public\u2019s affections and featured high in the Christmas movie popularity stakes. So, while It\u2019s a Wonderful Life <\/em>has not always been viewed as capturing the spirit of this festive time of year, and while its subject matter may not be as reassuringly comfortable as the fluffy dressing-gown worn as we settle down to watch it with a glass of port or brandy-infused Christmas pudding, it nonetheless serves as a reminder that a film\u2019s popularity fluctuates, that successful films are often the result of luck or happenchance, not just a darn good story, and that these things are always historically contingent. Perhaps, then, to repurpose (and mangle) the film\u2019s closing lines, it\u2019s not every time a bell rings that an angel manages to get its wings. Or perhaps it is, judging by the film\u2019s current day ubiquity. I\u2019ll leave that for you to decide. Merry Christmas.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Alexandra Pollard, \u2018The 20 greatest Christmas movies, from Home Alone to The Muppets Christmas Carol\u2019, The Independent<\/em>, 8 December 2020. https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/films\/features\/best-christmas-movies-films-ranked-b1765604.html<\/a>. Accessed 8 December 2020.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Radio Times Staff, \u2018It\u2019s a Wonderful Life named Britain\u2019s favourite Christmas film\u2019, Radio Times<\/em>, 19 December 2018.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> James Munby, \u2018A Hollywood Carol\u2019s Wonderful Life\u2019, in Mark Connelly ed. Christmas at the Movies: Images of Christmas in American, British and European cinema<\/em>, (London: I.B Tauris, 2010), 39-57; 39.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Bert, \u2018Film Reviews\u2019, Variety<\/em>, 26 December 1946, 12.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Munby, \u2018A Hollywood Carol\u2019s Wonderful Life\u2019, 39.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> M.W., \u2018A wonderful life for Donna\u2019, Picturegoer<\/em>, 7 June 1947, 8.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Cited in Munby, \u2018A Hollywood Carol\u2019s Wonderful Life\u2019, 46.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Lucinda Everett, \u2018What is the best Christmas movie? You asked Google \u2013 here\u2019s the answer\u2019, The Guardian<\/em>, 27 December 2017.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Munby, \u2018A Hollywood Carol\u2019s Wonderful Life\u2019, 46.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Munby, \u2018A Hollywood Carol\u2019s Wonderful Life\u2019, 39-40.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Peter Bradshaw, \u2018The Santa supremacy: Peter Bradshaw\u2019s top Christmas movies\u2019, The Guardian<\/em>, 15 December 2010.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this blog, UoP Senior Lecturer Rob James reflects on the changing popularity of the, now well-regarded, festive classic It\u2019s a Wonderful Life. Rob tells us that the film\u2019s success was not predetermined, and that it took a mixture of chance and luck, along with a well-told story of course, for the film to achieve its status as a seasonal favourite. Rob\u2019s research covers society\u2019s leisure activities and this feeds into a number of optional and specialist modules he teaches in the second and third year. In a recent poll featured in The Independent newspaper of the \u2018Best Christmas Movies\u2019, the 1946 Hollywood-produced film It\u2019s a Wonderful Life came in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[611,167,62,14,612,159,61,11,98,610],"class_list":["post-2104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-in-focus","tag-audiences","tag-christmas","tag-film","tag-history","tag-itsawonderfullife","tag-leisure","tag-second-world-war","tag-slider","tag-twentieth-century","tag-visualsources"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/history.port.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Still-cropped.png?fit=620%2C302&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p91PlX-xW","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2104"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3015,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2104\/revisions\/3015"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}