Xmas - How "It's a Wonderful Life" went from flop to classic. $$$
As Roger Ebert is quick to note in his Great Movies entry on the film, copyright (or, the lack thereof) played a big role in revitalizing the film’s public appeal. In 1974, a filing error caused the film to fall out of copyright and allowed television stations anywhere to show the film, for free, on their networks. PBS spearheaded the opportunity and began running the film on their stations across America, noticing its popularity climb with each year. This was the major push that, almost thirty years after the film was made, finally brought it out of the shadows and transformed it into a ritualistic part of the holidays for millions of families. (It also led to colorizations and garish debasements of the film, which Ebert adamantly cites as the worst consequence of it falling from copyright.) Beyond that, it is a well-balanced holiday film that hits all the right notes at the right times.
http://screenprism.com/insights/article/how-did-its-a-wonderful-life-go-from-a-flop-to-a-holiday-classic
Though Henry Fonda was also in the running for the lead, Capra always had James Stewart in mind as he collaborated on the final script. The two had worked together twice before, on 1938’s “You Can’t Take It with You” and the following year’s “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”
Few people realize that this so-called Christmas movie was shot between April and July of 1946 in Encino, California. A heat wave descended on the set, with temperatures rising to 90 degrees on some days. If you look closely, you can see Stewart perspiring in several scenes.
“It’s the damnedest thing I’ve ever seen,” Capra said in a 1984 interview. “The film has a life of its own now, and I can look at it like I had nothing to do with it. I'm like a parent whose kid grows up to be president. I'm proud ... but it's the kid who did the work.”
https://www.bestmoviesbyfarr.com/articles/making-of-it-s-a-wonderful-life/2016/12
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