December
20, 1946, release date
Directed
by Frank Capra
Screenplay
by Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra
Based on
the story “The Greatest Gift” by Philip Van Doren Stern
Music by
Dimitri Tiomkin
Edited by
William Hornbeck
Cinematography
by Joseph Walker, Joseph Biroc
Charles Halton as
Mr. Carter, bank examiner
J. Farrell MacDonald
as the man whose grandfather planted the tree
Harry Holman as Mr.
Partridge, college teacher
Carl (Alfalfa)
Switzer as Freddie, Mary’s annoying high school suitor
Dick Elliott as the
fat man on the porch
Tom Fadden as the
bridge caretaker
Stanley Andrews as
Mr. Welch, teacher’s husband
Al Bridge as the
sheriff with arrest warrant
Ellen Corby as Miss
Davis
Max Wagner as the
cashier/bouncer at Nick’s Bar
Marian Carr as Jane
Wainwright, Sam’s wife
Adriana Caselotti as
the singer in Martini’s Bar
Joseph Granby as
Angel Joseph
Moroni Olsen as the
senior angel
Jimmy the raven as
Uncle Billy’s pet raven
This post
includes all the uncredited actors in It’s
a Wonderful Life. For the main cast members, see my blog post about It’s a Wonderful Life (Part I) dated
December 17, 2015.
Produced
by Liberty Films
Distributed
by RKO Radio Pictures
As I
explained in my December 17, 2015 post, the plot of It’s a Wonderful Life includes some traumatic and heartbreaking
details. The story alone has many noir elements. But other details of the film
give it some noir characteristics: flashbacks, unusual narration, dark and
moody cinematography that was innovative for the 1940s. These latter noir
characteristics are the subject of today’s Part II post.
Almost
the entire plot of It’s a Wonderful Life
is told in flashbacks, a common narrative technique in film noir. The
explanations about George Bailey’s life are related by an angel, Joseph, as a
way to educate Clarence about the events leading to George’s predicament. Even
the events of Christmas Eve, when Uncle Billy loses the bank deposit that is
scooped up by Potter, are told in flashback. George is already heading to the
bridge to pray, and many others are praying for him in Bedford Falls, when the
movie begins. It’s not until approximately 1:38:35 that we actually see George
on the bridge, and his wish is granted at approximately 1:44:17. (The film
lasts a total of 2:10:29.)
During
these flashbacks, Capra uses choker close-ups several times. The choker
close-up is a hallmark of film noir cinematography. It emphasizes how
characters feel trapped by fate or circumstances. Here, in a flashback, George
learns that the Bailey Bros. Building and Loan will be dissolved unless he
takes the reins of the business:
Of
course, George takes over the Building and Loan, but that doesn’t mean he is
happy with his decision. He is trapped by circumstances: his father’s untimely
death and the war and his responsibilities at home. In the following still,
during the run on the Building and Loan, George is shown behind the grating
over the entrance to the Building and Loan:
The
grating looks like prison bars, and the expression on Jimmy Stewart’s face and
in his eyes shows how confused and uncertain he feels.
Here,
George learns that his brother Harry is married and his new father-in-law has
offered Harry a job with a promising future, one that will keep Harry out of
Bedford Falls and prevent him from fulfilling his obligations to George:
Viewers,
via the camera, are the only ones who know what George is feeling about the
news from his brother.
In
addition to the flashbacks, the film uses the unusual narrative technique of
depicting life in Bedford Falls as if George Bailey had never been born. At
approximately 1:44:17 until approximately 2:01:47, George sees what would have
become of everyone he knows and the town he lives in if he had never lived at
all. By the time It’s a Wonderful Life
is in the middle of this sequence, he is beyond the disappointment we have seen
in his face in earlier close-ups. In the following still, he is desperate to
learn what has become of his wife, Mary:
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