“It’s a Wonderful Life” is returning to the big screen more than 75 years later.
Frank Capra’s 1946 holiday classic will be shown in theaters nationwide, including at Syracuse’s Destiny USA and the Movie Tavern in Camillus, for a TCM Big Screen Classics event celebrating the film’s 75th anniversary (though it’s actually been 76 years since its debut). The movie will be shown Sunday, Dec. 18, at 3:30 p.m., and Wednesday, Dec. 21, at 7 p.m.
The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, who contemplates suicide on Christmas Eve after his building and loan company loses $8,000, potentially allowing Mr. Potter to take over his beloved town of Bedford Falls when an angel named Clarence shows him what life would be like if he never existed. It was named one of the greatest movies of all time by the American Film Institute and became an annual holiday favorite during frequent television broadcasts.
Tickets for the special screenings are available at fathomevents.com.
For fans who want a more immersive experience, the 2022 It’s a Wonderful Life Festival celebrates the Central New York town of Seneca Falls as “The Real Bedford Falls.” Original cast members Karolyn Grimes (who played Zuzu Bailey), Jimmy Hawkins (Tommy Bailey), Michael Chapin (Young George’s friend) and Donald & Ronald Collins (Little Pete Bailey) will participate in autograph signings and other events during the Dec. 9-11 festival coordinated by the It’s a Wonderful Life Museum.
Grimes and Hawkins played two of George Bailey’s children. Grimes, who was once in talks to star in a potential sequel, said the film’s most famous line: “Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.”
The cast members will be joined by a number of special guests, including late director Frank Capra’s granddaughter Monica Capra Hodges; Donna Reed’s daughter Mary Owen; Lauren Chapin, Michael Chapin’s sister who played Kathy on “Father Knows Best”; Mrs. World 2022 Shaylyn Ford; actor Brian Rohan, who played Jimmy Stewart/George Bailey in the documentary “The Real Bedford Falls: It’s a Wonderful Life”; and Elizabeth Kress, the granddaughter of Antonio Varacalli’s sister Elisabetta Varacalli Palandro.
Antonio Varacalli and Seneca Falls are believed to be major inspirations for “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which takes place in the fictional town of Bedford Falls.
Capra supposedly visited Seneca Falls while writing the script, which includes references to Upstate New York cities like Elmira, Buffalo and Rochester. Both Bedford Falls and Seneca Falls also have a steel truss bridge, similar architecture and a main road named Genesee Street.
The Bridge Street Bridge in Seneca Falls has a plaque commemorating Varacalli, who jumped into the frigid canal in 1917 to rescue a young woman who had jumped off the bridge in an apparent suicide attempt. Varacalli drowned, but saved the woman; in the film, George Bailey jumps off a bridge to save Clarence, giving him a reason to live.
The It’s a Wonderful Life Festival will also feature Seneca Falls transforming into Bedford Falls, multiple screenings of the film, a presentation by “The Essential It’s a Wonderful Life: A Scene-By-Scene Guide to the Classic Film” author Michael Willian, exhibits at the Seneca Falls It’s a Wonderful Life Museum, autograph signings and meet-and-greets with cast members, and a celebration of the 20th anniversary of Grimes’ first visit to Seneca Falls.
For more information, visit therealbedfordfalls.com.