Hyde Park Pick: It's A Wonderful Life

I fell somewhat in love with James Stewart when I was very young. Thanks to some diligent babysitting by my Nana and Granddad, I was fed an early years diet of classic films, musicals, westerns… a range not totally in keeping with the norms of a young girl growing up in 1980s Leeds. The love stuck, and films like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Harvey, Winchester 73, to name but a few, were formative.

It's a Wonderful Life didn’t stick so much in those early years, and I can’t say why. I guess it’s a film for a different season in my life and whilst the setting of experiencing Harvey for the first time with family undoubtedly plays a part in why that film means so much to me, it’s the experience of watching It’s A Wonderful Life scores of times here in the Picture House with the most magnificent set of regulars and new faces alike which has certainly made Stewart’s 1946 masterpiece so significant for me.

To dig in a little more, the different notes of the film land differently each year and the film I fell in love with is perhaps a little different to the one I’ll be watching this Christmas, and that’s part of the joy of it. I think a few years ago it was the idea of the Bailey Bros Building and Loan which caught my heart. The idea that everyone could play a part in building one another’s home and in doing so form a community, that felt like absolutely everything.

Later I watched it thinking instead of Annie, played by the incredible Lillian Randolph. By the time It’s a Wonderful Life was released Randolph had already been working tirelessly across TV and radio since the 1930s. I thought of how magnificent she is on screen but held in a role so thinly crafted. I spent time working out how to celebrate the performance that was there in a film I loved, whilst looking at the system holding back or denying the performances which might have been based on prejudices like race.

This year, despite not yet sitting down for my annual viewing yet, I already know what line I am looking out for and version of the film I am going to embrace with open artms.

Senior Angel: Joseph, send for Clarence.

Clarence: You sent for me, sir?

Senior Angel: Yes, Clarence. A man down on Earth needs our help.

Clarence: Splendid. Is he sick?

Senior Angel: No, worse. He's discouraged.

I think when talking about the significance of It’s a Wonderful Life, this is a sentiment I’ve gone back to time and again. It’s perhaps the one I keep needing the most, the life lesson I most benefit from remembering, especially this year.

There are so many reasons in this world to feel discouragement, we can’t lose sight of the significance or the sincerity of the dark actions humanity commits on one another. But, finding the guiding lights, the causes for hope, humour and warmth – they’re the things we must hold onto at the very minimum. At the most, we must find ways to be those things for one another.

For me, the cinema is an eternal source of encouragement in this world. The films, the audiences, the colleagues and partners. Each facet of what we do is wrapped in layers made of kindness, generosity, inspiration and creativity.

This looks like all the kind hellos I get from customers when checking tickets at the door. New faces coming for the first time, that mix of uncertainty and delight, alongside the regulars I have been lucky enough to know for five, 10 and 20 years or more, who always give me a nod hello when passing on the street.

It looks like a team who always take the time and care to write a birthday card for every colleague, making every effort to ensure everyone signs and no one is forgotten. The simplest and kindest of ways to show that the people we come into work with day after day are appreciated.

It looks like the partners, whether festivals, volunteers, individuals coming to us with ideas, sharing generously the thing they care most about and working with us to make the strangest array of events and screenings happen. Not just the outcomes but the warm hugs along the way, the difficult conversations, the problems solved, the lessons learnt.

So, this year I am holding and recognising the reasons to feel discouraged, whilst also looking for the ways we can counteract that for others to help make things at least a little bit more wonderful.

See It's A Wonderful Life with us this year, including special screenings on Wed 17 Dec at 20:20 & Fri 19 Dec at 19:30 which will begin with a brass band performance by Otley Brass Band. Find out more & book here.