It's a Wonderful (and sometimes odd) Life

First released in 1946, It's a Wonderful Life has become one of America's best known and most loved films. George Baily is granted a chance to see what life for those around him would have been like without his contributions. What's not to like about Frank Capra's heartwarming tribute to the ordinary man?

Well, plenty, if you worked for the FBI in 1947 and you were worried that Communist infiltration of the movie industry was sapping the moral fiber of America.

A fascinating entry entitled "FBI Considered 'It's A Wonderful Life' Communist Propaganda" in Will Chin's blog on Wise Bread presents a redacted FBI memo detailing concerns about subversive elements in Capra's film. The memo reads, in part,

With regard to the picture "It's a Wonderful Life", [redacted] stated in substance that the film represented rather obvious attempts to discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as a "scrooge-type" so that he would be the most hated man in the picture. This, according to these sources, is a common trick used by Communists.

In addition, [redacted] stated that, in his opinion, this picture deliberately maligned the upper class, attempting to show the people who had money were mean and despicable characters.

The Reel Classics entry on "It's a Wonderful Life" notes that although it was nominated for five Oscars, it didn't win any. More interesting is this observation:

After slipping quickly into obscurity, it began appearing on television occasionally in the late 1950s. But when the film's copyright lapsed in 1973, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE quickly became a staple of American TV programming between Thanksgiving and Christmas and belatedly earned its rightful place in the lexicon of American popular culture.

In other words, this classic film owes much of its place in American culture to the simple fact that it moved into the public domain. At the time "It's A Wonderful Life" was released, it was protected by copyright for 28 years, with the possibility of a 47 year extension. Recent changes in copyright law now protect such works for 90 years.

Here's an overview of the Copyright Extension Act from Wikipedia.