In our American culture It’s a Wonderful Life has become almost as familiar as Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The saga of George Bailey, the Everyman from the small town of Bedford Falls, whose dreams of escape and adventure have been quashed by family obligation and civic duty, whose guardian angel has to descent on Christmas Eve to save him from despair and to remind him by showing him what the world would have been like had he never been born that his has been, after all, a wonderful life. This fine dramatization not only celebrates the faith of the season, it also celebrates the American philosophy of life: hard work, fair play and the love and support of one’s family and community will be rewarded.