So I was watching the movie the other night, and they get to the part where George hasn’t been born. Now, Mary is an old maid, Nick the bartender is a thug, his brother died, Gower is a drunk, Violet whats-her-name is getting hauled off for something, and Ernie the taxi driver’s wife ran out on him and took his kids. Did anybody ever notice that Bert the cop didn’t seem to be any different? He wasn’t mean or anything like the rest were (he didn’t want to hit George, even though he didn’t know who he was, and he shot at George only because he thought George was a lunatic), he didn’t seem to have been affected by George’s not being born! Why wouldn’t he be affected? Did anybody notice that?
Hmm. I think Bert the Cop may be the only character who was not somehow directly helped by George in his original life. All the others were, in some fashion. This is weak, but Burt’s relative stability between the two realities does provide a sense of continuity that is all the more disturbing because he hasn’t changed.
Interesting question.
There probably wasn’t enough discussion with the Bert to find out how his life had changed. The only reason they knew Ernie’s life had changed was that they had a discussion in Ernie’s cab. Probably Bert’s wife left him too, they just don’t talk about it. It is a good question though.
I think Yondan is on to something. Before George tries to jump off the bridge, we already know how he’s helped Violet, Mr. Gower, and Ernie. He gave Violet money to leave town. He stopped Mr. Gower from accidentally giving poison to that sick family. George approved a home loan for Ernie. Their lives were changed because he wasn’t there to do anything for them. We never saw Bert benefit from George’s goodness so it stands to reason that he would not be affected by the change. He wasn’t as nice, but he was still the same person.
The change most frightening in the movie is that of Ma Bailey, George’s mother. The look on her face when he tries to get a room is so scary and intense when compared to the look she has before the party and when she sends George off to Mary’s house.
Nice to be supported by such Grace. Actually, I think the nice thing George did for Violet was to treat her more like a person than most (or all) men did. The one time he does seem to succumb to her charms, he is actually doing her a favor by letting her know how scandalous her behavior is. Granted, the movie is informed by the gender roles of the time, but his refusal to use Violet as she has learned all her life to be used is the nicest thing a man could do for her.
I have always gotten shivers from the dual roles so many characters played. It was a really brilliant performance by all involved. Mr. Gower is equally convincing as a saintly old man and a complete wreck of a drunk. Nick is great as a good son and a nasty bartender. Mary is just perfect as the homemaker and the old maid.
I love this movie! I’m really glad NBC has the restraint to show it only once a year.
But there isn’t any explanation about why Nick has become a meaner person. I suppose it’s because he doesn’t friendly Mr. Martini as his boss and the whole town is generally depressed.
We don’t see Mr. Potter in the alternative world. But I assume that he probably didn’t change much either.
I think he serves as a control, just to show you how different things really are without needing to remember parts of the movie.
Well, the town is called “Potterville.” what else do you need to know?
As to Nick…in the George-graced Bedford Falls, he works in a pleasant tavern where guys come in, call him by name, and enjoy nice conversation and a brewski or two before heading back to their happy Building-and-Loan-financed homes.
In the George-free Potterville, he serves up hard liquor to unhappy men who want to get drunk and pass out as cheaply as possible. And who do you think gets to mop up all the vomit? I’d be a meaner person, too.
While these are all good suppositions, it was because Bert was played by Ward Bond. Ward Bond was one tough hombre, no old fart is gonna push him around. Besides, Bert was a cop and didn’t have to work for Potter, still paid the same.
What methods could they have been allowed to show “bad” Bert, without offending the era’s respect for the police in general? Showing cops on the take was strictly prohibited by the Hayes Code, and a depiction of police brutality would have been years ahead of its time.
But does Bert still play the accordion in both worlds? And how did he get his accordion so quickly at the end of the movie? Did he keep it in the trunk of his police car?
As for police brutality, Bert does shoot at the crazy George Bailey in the alternate world through a crowd of people. But he does yell, “Get down!”
Somehow, I don’t think this is appropriate police behavior. Nor was the nasty mass arrest of the women (including Violet) by the other cops.
Trivia I happen to know: Bert and Ernie of Sesame Street were named for the It’s a Wonderful Life characters.
I really like Donna Reed in this movie. Though I haven’t seen all that many episodes, it’s always hard for me to believe she’s the same person in the Donna Reed Show. In IAWL, she had depth. I agree Ma Bailey’s transformation is remarkable. Perhaps she overdid it? Maybe she was more suscepible to the poor influences of the town. Otherwise it seems harder to believe that one’s son’s goodness could so completely transform a person.
Have we all seen the Marlo Thomas TV remake, “It Happened One Christmas”? I think it’s universally agreed that to remake this movie was a bad, bad idea. However, I’ve always liked the fact that it depicts a woman saving a family business. Cloris Leachman played the angel part in that movie, if I recall correctly.
It’s not just that George was good. Her entire life changes because of George was never born. Think about it. Her only child Harry dies in an accident. Her husband suffers a stroke and dies. Soon after that, the board which include Mr. Potter forces the Building and Loan to closes its doors. Her brother Billy gets put in the mental hospital. She has to take in boarders to make money and I’m sure Mr. Potter, who owns the whole town, is making her life difficult.
So is that where they got Ernie and Bert (the muppets) from?
Depends on who you ask. According to Roger Ebert, a publicist at Jim Henson told him the naming of Ernie and Bert was a coincidence.
Although it is the subject of a gag in the Sesame Street special Elmo Saves Christmas. At the beginning of the show, Elmo makes a wish that Christmas was every day. Before he learns the error of his ways, he sees the problems. One of them is that all the TV stations play is It’s A Wonderful Life. In one scene, Ernie walks by a TV set, and is somewhat puzzled at hearing his and Bert’s names being called on TV.
“Showing cops on the take was strictly prohibited by the Hayes Code”
??? I think I’ve seen movies made during the Hayes Code era with crooked cops clearly depicted. They were caught and punished in the end, but crooked they still were. Wasn’t the main Hayes Code rule on crime that it could be depicted so long as crime or the criminal wasn’t glamorized and the criminal was clearly punished or received some other sort of come-uppance?
What on earth is the Hayes Code?
Do a Google search for “Hays Code” and you should get plenty of information.
Will Hays was a former Postmaster General hired by Hollywood Studios in the early 1930s to “clean up” the film industry.
Guinastasia, it’s also called the Production Code. You read comics, don’t you? It was similar to the Comics Code Authority in the degree to which it restrained movies.
By the late sixties it was pretty much ignored, and was finally replaced by the MPAA ratings.
I’ve always felt sorry for Nick. In the George-less world, he owned his own bar and had his name in neon light. With George, he’s just a bartender working for someone else.
No, not really-I mean, read comics, that is.
I’ll look it up, thanks.