Year Released: 1946
Directed by: Frank Capra
Starring: Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore
(PG, 131 min.)
Genre: Drama, Christmas Classic

“Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings.” –Zuzu Bailey

This Christmas classic was the all-time favorite of its director, Frank Capra, and he screened it for his family every Christmas. It was one of Jimmy Stewart’s favorites, too.

And like Casablanca, it too received mixed reviews and was largely unsuccessful at the box office when it was first released.

And recently, it has been dissected by modern feminists as being “inherently sexist.”

But seriously, if gorgeous, brilliant Mary had never met her George Bailey, would she have ended up working in a library? Worse than that, would she have been an old maid – a fate apparently worse than death when the movie was made in 1946?” –Carol Costello

Some sniveling critics have even said there is no chemistry between the two leads. I guess those adoring looks and that wonderful scene when George walks Mary home from the graduation dance, their wonderful dancing leading to a spill in the pool under the dance floor, the telling awkward silences, and George’s awakening to the new grown-up beauty with him, were lost on those carping critics.

Well, I say balderdash

This film is a reminder of how far we have strayed from the classic movie making that Americans once enjoyed, the spirit of second chances, love, morality, and duty, as well as a belief in God and the power of prayer.

Let’s look at the inner morality of It’s a Wonderful Life. Jimmy Stewart’s George Bailey has lived a life of duty – to his family, the small bank his idealistic father started, the working people of Bedford Falls, and later on, to the loving family of his own. Sure, he is reluctant about it, having to postpose his dreams of seeing the world or going to college. Yet each of his instinctive decisions, even if reluctantly made, changed not just Bedford Falls, but the world itself, as Clarence (Henry Travers), Angel Second class, has to point out to a suicidal Bailey.

I had forgotten how much of the opening scene is devoted to the power of prayer, Mary, a wonderful Donna Reed, knows her husband is on the verge of something very dark, and she immediately tells the children and everyone else she can contact to pray for him. Of course, this is not a theological lecture, but a film meant to entertain and delight, so we do not have Gabriel, glorious and white winged, but a dithering Clarence, ASC, Angel Second Class, who has the faith of a child, but not the smarts to earn his wings. At least not yet.

George Bailey is his chance.

The film does not try to explain away evil, as do the current abhorrent fixtures of film and today’s “journalists.” The malice of Lionel Barrymore’s Mr. Potter is not justified as a result of a bad childhood, nor his wheelchair bound life. (Incidentally, Barrymore was confined to a wheelchair later in life as a result a hip injury in 1936.) Mr. Potter and his lust for power is simply the personification of evil.

***

But maybe of most import is the character of the lead, Jimmy Stewart himself. Having perused the biographies of most of Hollywood’s fixtures, Different Drummer has noted that the average actor or actress has been married around 3 times. Not so for Stewart, whose marriage to Gloria McLean lasted from 1949 until her death in 1994.

Few may be aware that Stewart initially did not want to make It’s a Wonderful Life. It was too light and airy for him, having just come out of the trauma of being a pilot in WWII, where he saw so much blood and carnage.

But when he did take the role, that turmoil gave his screen performance unusual depth:

Stewart was said to have been suffering from “Flak Happy,” which we now refer to as PTSD, and was grounded from any further flight missions. When Stewart returned stateside after the war, he was offered the role of George Bailey in 1946; this was at the zenith of James Stewart’s post war turmoil. As a result, much of what we see unfurl on screen are unrehearsed offerings of a wounded man’s soul speaking through scripted dialogue. In particular the scene on the bridge, Stewart was not supposed to cry or convey such raw emotion, but when he did and the scene ended, James Stewart stayed on the bridge crying in agony. The cast and crew watched on with solemnity.

I will end with another story that tells about this humble, all-American man. It was written in 2016.

This 1967 true story is of an experience by a young 12-year-old lad in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It is about the vivid memory of a privately rebuilt P-51 from WWII and its famous owner/pilot.

The pilot arrived by cab, paid the driver, and then stepped into the pilot's lounge. He was an older man; his wavy hair was gray and tossed. It looked like it might have been combed, say, around the turn of the century. His flight jacket was checked, creased and worn - it smelled old and genuine. Old Glory was prominently sewn to its shoulders. He projected a quiet air of proficiency and pride devoid of arrogance.

I've never wanted to be an American more than on that day! It was a time when many nations in the world looked to America as their big brother. A steady and even-handed beacon of security who navigated difficult political water with grace and style; not unlike the old American pilot who'd just flown into my memory. He was proud, not arrogant, humble, not a braggart, old and honest, projecting an aura of America at its best.

That America will return one day! I know it will! Until that time, I'll just send off this story. Call it a loving reciprocal salute to a Country, and especially to that old American pilot: the late JIMMY STEWART (1908-1997), Actor, real WWII Hero (Commander of a US Army Air Force Bomber Wing stationed in England), and a USAF Reserves Brigadier General, who wove a wonderfully fantastic memory for a young Canadian boy that's lasted a lifetime. –George Navarini

It doesn’t get much better than that, does it? And I confess that like Stewart himself, I cried watching this classic. Part of that is remembering the almost forgotten beauty of older films. Like George Navarini, I want that America and the films about us to return.

I think, whether you admit it or not, you do, too.

–Kathy Borich
🥁 🥁 🥁 🥁 🥁

Film-Loving Foodie

All his life George longs to travel the world:

"I'm shaking the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I'm going to see the world!"

But each time he is on the verge of leaving Bedford Falls, a tragedy intervenes to keep him grounded there. Even his honeymoon to New York and Bermuda meets the same fate.

Our recipe hails from Bermuda, or at least the website says that. I am suspicious that these cookies actually come from some other exotic local. I have seen them labeled as Mexican wedding cakes and I have fond memories my dear Aunt Rose making them for special occasions. Hers were dipped in chocolate for the edges.

Others agree with this exotic heritages claimed by many countries:

These melt-in-your mouth, shortbread-like cookies go by many names; a Russian Tea Cake, a Mexican Wedding Cake, an Italian Butter Nut, a Southern Pecan Butterball, a Snowdrop, a Viennese Sugar Ball and a Snowball.

So, for several reason we are going with them. First of all, it’s the Christmas season and everyone is into making cookies. And their crescent shape reminds us of George Bailey promising Mary to lasso the moon for her.

So forget their exact origin and savor their sweet goodness. Almost as good and sweet as George and Mary Bailey, and that little angel who finally earned his wings.

Bermuda Crescent Cookies

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Cream together:

2 cups soft butter
½ cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract OR 1 tsp almond extract
(The almond flour provides a subtle, mellow almond flavour on its own. Use the almond extract only if you like a more intense, marzipan-like taste.)

Add and incorporate:

2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups almond flour (ground almonds)

If the dough is very soft, chill it in the fridge for half an hour or so, or until it’s firm enough to shape easily.

When it is, using about two teaspoons of dough at a time, form log shapes approximately 2 inches long; place these on parchment-lined baking sheets and then gently bend them to form a curve. (You don’t, in fact, want these to be true crescents, which are wider in the middle than at the ends, as this would result in different rates of cooking, with either the thinner parts burning or the thicker parts being undercooked. They should actually look kind of like fat slugs, with rounded ends) Oh, come on. They are crescent moon, not slugs. Who wants to munch on a slug? (DD)

Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for approximately 35 minutes and then dust with confectioner’s sugar, if you like. (Or dip the ends into chocolate, as my Aunt Rose used to do.

The Bermudian.com