Guillermo del Toro is unpacking just how impactful “It’s a Wonderful Life” is on cinematic history.
The director told Sight and Sound that Frank Capra‘s beloved 1946 Christmas film starring Jimmy Stewart as a suicidal father who reflects on his life is a distinct portrait of the “nightmare” side of the American Dream.
“‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ is one of my favorite movies for many reasons,” del Toro said. “I find it fascinating that [Frank] Capra, an immigrant [from Italy], gave back America a view of itself that was more lovely and wholesome than it really was, and at the same time darker and more nightmarish than movies tended to imagine.”
The “Frankenstein” filmmaker continued, “Like Walt Disney, Capra is very often misinterpreted as an eternal optimist, but the nightmarish nature of the dark episodes in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ demonstrate that he understands terror, that he understands darkness. It’s a nightmare that is adjacent to the American Dream, and to the American psyche. There’s always this creepier, darker, edgier side to the Norman Rockwell goodness. The hopefulness of the ending only exists in a contrast.”
Del Toro added, “To me it’s perfectly timed, in terms of comedic tone and deliver and melodrama. It’s a movie that it would be impossible to go through without that final release. In a strange way, it’s the greatest ‘what if?’ speculative fiction.”
“It’s a Wonderful Life” became a staple film in the del Toro household, and is a viewing tradition for the auteur.
“I first saw it as a kid on TV and every time I see it, it’s inevitably one of those movies that makes me cry three, four times,” del Toro said. “We watch it in the cinema every year around Christmas, and we watch it on TV at least another time, because it’s just impeccable.”
“It’s a Wonderful Life” is based on the short story “The Greatest Gift” by Philip Van Doren Stern. Stewart stars as George Bailey, a man who has spent his life in the small town of Bedford Falls where his bank has recently been in financial trouble. George is visited by his guardian angel Clarence (Henry Travers), who attempts to show him all the good he has done for his community. Donna Reed, Thomas Mitchell, Beulah Bondi, Ward Bond, Frank Faylen, and Gloria Graham also star in the classic film that earned a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars.
