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ATLANTA — The one-time lost Christmas classic "It's A Wonderful Life" staged an unlikely comeback in the 1970s and 1980s by becoming a December TV staple, after underperforming at the box office and failing to win big at the Oscars when it debuted in the 1940s.
Ubiquitous every December on the small screen, it has also become a staple in the last two decades at a select group of independent art theaters across the U.S. aiming to give film buffs the ultimate Christmas experience: watching George Bailey's "crucial night" unfold in a theater not unlike the one seen in the movie.
The film is a holiday tradition for many
Annual theater screenings of "It's a Wonderful Life" have taken their place along with holiday shopping and cookie swaps as must-do traditions, and they speak to the enduring appeal of the film, which chronicles the story of a small-town savings and loan manager — George Bailey (Stewart) — who decides one fateful Christmas Eve that life is not worth living.
"There are people who have made it a key part of their holiday traditions," said Toby Leonard, director of programming, at the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville, which has been showing the film every holiday season since 2001.
At Cinestudio, Trinity College's jewel box of a theater in Hartford, Connecticut, patrons like to put the annual showings on their calendars in advance.
"It's definitely a holiday tradition for patrons to come to Cinestudio to see the film, and I get calls in early September from people asking, 'What are your dates for 'It's a Wonderful Life?'" Lew Michaels, the executive director told CNN, while sitting in the theater, a converted chemistry lecture hall.
Jessica Montano, an human resources manager who lives in Manchester, Connecticut, is one of those patrons. She attends a screening every year with her husband. Montano, 48, said she began watching the film as a young girl on TV like most American fans. But she's been attending screenings at Cinestudio for the past several years and she said it makes a big difference.
"You feel like you're going back in time at the theater," she told CNN. "I can enjoy how beautiful the theater is, and I sit down, get away from everything and take a moment out of the crazy Christmas season to just enjoy it."
Jennifer Eberle has been a fan for as long as she can remember and now watches the film at the Belcourt every year with a group of friends. They attend a late afternoon showing so they can have dinner after the movie, shown in the original black and white, which Eberle, 46, says enhances the experience.
"It is a story of loss and failure followed by joy and redemption," the Nashville trial attorney told CNN, explaining its appeal.
The movie, which debuted shortly before Christmas in 1946 in order to qualify for the 1947 Academy Awards, has long had a cult following.
There's a 'collective' feeling of seeing it in the theater
There are at least two "It's A Wonderful Life" festivals — one held in Seneca Falls, New York, site of a museum dedicated to the film, and another in Indiana, Pennsylvania, the hometown of Stewart, the actor who played George Bailey.
The festival in Seneca Falls brings together the actors who played the Bailey children and members of Capra's family.
Anwei Law, one of the museum's founders, told CNN that Capra always stressed "the value of each individual person," which she said renders the film's message endlessly relevant.
It's that timeless appeal that Fathom Events hopes to tap with the two days of event screenings.
The company, which is owned by theater chains Cinemark, AMC and Regal Cinemas, distributes content to theaters and organizes limited-engagement event screenings of older films.
"There is a collective feeling that you don't get on your couch at home," said Michaels of Hartford's Cinestudio.
'We're all George Baileys'
While often seen as schmaltzy, sentimental fare, there is a distinctly dark side to the film. Bailey, after all, goes to a bridge in his fictional small town, Bedford Falls, to end his life in a tragic scene.
"When you get down to it, it's really about the ongoing struggle," Leonard at the Belcourt in Nashville told CNN.
For many fans, the film's darker side deepens its appeal.
Montano, for example, likes Lionel Barrymore's character, Henry F. Potter, "the richest man in town," as he's described in the film, and the person who pockets $8,000 of Bailey's company's money, sending the main character into a suicidal tailspin.
"I know he is a meanie but he adds depth to the movie," she said.
Eberle, in Nashville, agrees. "It is not necessarily a happy film," she said, adding that the movie is captivating for the range of emotions it inspires in viewers.
The actions of the Potter character also add a layer of realism. Some fans wished for a different ending so that the film's villain would be punished. But in real life, sometimes the bad guys get away with it.
In a 1956 letter to a fan who said the film struck his heart, Capra said the movie "has probably touched ... more people than any of the others I've made."
"You see," he wrote in the letter, "we're all George Baileys in one form or another."
