It’s a Wonderful Life, 1946
This Christmas classic is hard to summarize: “A man loses a great deal of money that could have saved his family’s bank and becomes so suicidal his guardian angel intervenes…. by showing him how much worse the world would be without him.” And yet it’s justly considered one of the heartwarming, beloved holiday films ever. At the time, however, the post-wartime drama The Best Years of Our Lives was the movie of the year.
