The Wonderful Film : Behind the Scenes of the Most Beloved Holiday Movie

When “It’s a Wonderful Life” was released in December, 1946, it was a box-office flop the way “Ishtar,” “Howard the Duck” and “Hudson Hawk” would be decades later.

On its initial release, the film lost $525,000--the equivalent of about $2.5 million in today’s dollars.

Despite that, it was nominated for five Academy Awards, including best picture, best director (Frank Capra) and best actor (James Stewart for his portrayal of George Bailey). It failed to win any, however, as “Best Years of Our Lives,” took home the big Oscars.

One of the cast members said recently that during the filming of “It’s a Wonderful Life” there was no hint of its eventual greatness.

“There was nothing to indicate that would be a classic,” said Sheldon Leonard, who played Nick the bartender. “Capra every so often came up with these incredibly durable films, but other than that we were just making another picture.”

Today--and for the past 10 or so years--”It’s a Wonderful Life” has become a television staple. Seemingly, at least one station or cable network has the film on its schedule each day between Thanksgiving Eve and Christmas. The reason: The film’s 28-year copyright lapsed in 1974 and was not renewed, thus permitting stations to show it without having to pay for the rights.

Leonard believes what hurt the film when it was initially released is responsible for its contemporary television success.

“The pendulum is beginning to swing back,” Leonard said in an interview. “Capra was a brilliant user of sentimentality, which the cynics called corn.

“Whatever they called it, he used it brilliantly, partly because of his personal belief that good would always triumph over evil and that people were basically good. For a while, this became corny and out of fashion as viewers became more cynical and sophisticated. (Now) the values of the film are evident and more appreciated.”

Bob Dorian, film expert and host on the American Movie Classics cable network, believes the frequent showings of “It’s a Wonderful Life” make it “lose its power.”

“People lock into this because there’s such a lack of this type of film being made nowadays, and we look at it as a representation of this sort of film,” Dorian said. “But it’s hard not to show it.”

Republic Pictures Home Video is not daunted by TV’s many airings of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Believing the video market for the film remains strong, Republic shipped 90,000 copies of a 45th-anniversary edition of “It’s a Wonderful Life” to stores last month.

“This is a perennial,” said Glenn Ross, Republic Pictures senior vice president for marketing. “We believe people will buy it every Christmas.”

Ross said Republic’s version has a key advantage over others on the market.

“Republic is the only company that’s in possession of the original negative, which we’ve gone through great pains with UCLA to restore, and from that we’ve created a high-quality state-of-the-art digital master,” Ross said. “You basically cannot get better quality reproduction than you can on this videocassette.”

The tape, which is selling for a suggested retail price of $19.98, also includes the original trailer and the 24-minute long “The Making of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ ” which includes interviews with Stewart, Leonard and Capra, who died Sept. 3 at 94. A fact booklet is also included in the package.

Among the behind-the-scenes details explained in “The Making of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ ” includes the truth behind a scene some reviewers denounced as Hollywood fakery and assumed must have been done on a specially constructed set.

Early in the film, George Bailey and Mary Hatch (Donna Reed) are participating in a Charleston contest. Freddie, Mary’s disgruntled suitor portrayed by Carl Switzer (best known as Alfalfa from the “Our Gang” film series), is prodded by a friend to turn the key that moves the basketball court covering the swimming pool underneath. George and Mary keep dancing, eventually falling into the water.

Instead, it was filmed at Beverly Hills High School’s Swim-Gym, built in 1939 as a Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works projects. The Swim-Gym remains in use today for physical education swimming classes and as the home court for the school’s basketball, swimming, volleyball and water polo teams.

“It’s a Wonderful Life” airs tonight at 9 on KCAL; Saturday at 1 p.m. on KABC and 3:30 p.m. on the Disney Channel.