What can I say about this wonderful movie that hasn't already been said a million times before? Nothing original, so like most of my reviews I'll keep my observations on a personal level. Up until 1983, when a Christmas Quest for a certain bee-bee gun hit the big screen, this held the undisputed #1 spot in my heart for Christmas movies. Not that it takes second place to ANY Christmas movie; it's too good for that. Just when it comes to pure enjoyment, I mean. Jimmy Stewart gives the greatest performance of his career, and that's not just my opinion. That's Mr. Stewarts as well. He stars as discontented George Bailey. President of the Bailey Savings & Loan in Bedford Falls. George alone stands between greedy old man Henry Potter and the poor and struggling citizens of his home town, of which, incidentally, he hopes to flee someday. Fortunately he falls in love with Mary Hatch, and she has no intention of leaving Bedford Falls and the old decrepit house they've built together as man and wife. Kids, of course, complicate things further for George, and even though he loves his family, he never quite gets over the feeling he's lost out somehow. His absentminded uncle makes things worse one Christmas Eve by losing the Building & Loans bank deposit, and George despairs that everyone around him would have been better off had he not lived. Enter a wingless angel named Clarence, who grants George his unfortunate wish, and then gives him a guided tour of the end results. Wonderful Life is a love story that reaches its grand finale on Christmas, and the Rockwellian aspects of Bedford Falls just drives that holiday flavor home. Frank Capra was such a sentimentalist that it quite frankly ruined a lot of his movies, but not this one. He was not a favorite director of mine, but here he scores his masterpiece. His natural born sentimentality is just the thing needed for It's a Wonderful Life. Except for Old Man Potter there's not a cynical bone to be found in this picture. Well, maybe George is a bit cynical when all seems lost, but that despair is quickly tossed aside when he realizes just how much he had to begin with! Here he was, the Luckiest Man in Bedford Falls, and he didn't even know it. Not only is George Bailey the best performance of Stewart's career, I think it's one of the best, period. When George is praying for intervention in Martini's Bar, tears filling his eyes, his hands trembling from real despair, he breaks down the barrier between actor and role, and becomes One with George Bailey. It is the apex of Stewart's storied career, and Frank Capra's too. Interestingly enough, both Its a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story bombed at the Box Office. It took television and home rentals to make both movies the Christmas Classics we know and love today.