It's A Wonderful Life is a touching story of a man who gives up his aspirations in order to help his home town. George Bailey (James Stewart) is a curious young man with aspirations of traveling the world and seeking adventure. As fate would have it, however, every time there is an opportunity for him to take a step towards his dreams, a crisis occurs, leaving him to make a choice: leave his old life (and the people who need him) behind and grasp for his dreams or give up his dreams to help those who need him. George Bailey is just the sort of man who always gives up his own dreams to help others; that's just the sort of man he is. However, when Henry F. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), a sleazy business man who keeps trying to get rid of the Building and Loan that George runs, secretly introduces a problem that George finds he can't fix on his own, George gets frustrated and considers taking his own life so that his family can have the insurance money, as he's decided he's worth more dead than alive. It's up to a second class angel-in-training, Clarence (Henry Travers), to keep him from throwing his life away. When he fails to get George to take him seriously, he decides that showing George what life would have been like had he never existed might help him see just how important his life really was.
Through this experience, George Bailey comes to realize that the most important things in his life are his wife, Mary Hatch Bailey (Donna Reed) and his children. He comes to realize that living in a small town all your life and never going on any adventures is not necessarily a horrible thing; settling down with a woman you love and raising a family can, itself, be a wonderful life.
It's A Wonderful Life is a heart-warming tale that has stood the test of time to become a Christmas classic. While there are few special features included, given that the movie is from 1946, it's a treat to have any special features at all. The Making of "It's A Wonderful Life" is an interesting reflection on the creation of this classic movie, with insight from the cast and crew and is hosted by Tom Bosley. I would highly recommend It's A Wonderful Life: 2-Disc Collector's Set; it will make an excellent addition to any Christmas movie collection.
