It's unbelievable we don't have a board for this film yet, but few can deny the impact it makes on its viewers.

Amazon.com summary:
Now perhaps the most beloved American film, It's a Wonderful Life was largely forgotten for years, due to a copyright quirk. Only in the late 1970s did it find its audience through repeated TV showings. Frank Capra's masterwork deserves its status as a feel-good communal event, but it is also one of the most fascinating films in the American cinema, a multilayered work of Dickensian density. George Bailey (played superbly by James Stewart) grows up in the small town of Bedford Falls, dreaming dreams of adventure and travel, but circumstances conspire to keep him enslaved to his home turf. Frustrated by his life, and haunted by an impending scandal, George prepares to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. A heavenly messenger (Henry Travers) arrives to show him a vision: what the world would have been like if George had never been born. The sequence is a vivid depiction of the American Dream gone bad, and probably the wildest thing Capra ever shot (the director's optimistic vision may have darkened during his experiences making military films in World War II). Capra's triumph is to acknowledge the difficulties and disappointments of life, while affirming--in the teary-eyed final reel--his cherished values of friendship and individual achievement. It's a Wonderful Life was not a big hit on its initial release, and it won no Oscars (Capra and Stewart were nominated); but it continues to weave a special magic. --Robert Horton

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In my opinion, one of the finest films of all time.

This was James Stewart's first film after returning from WW II also, and his performance was also doubtless influenced by his war experiences. Stewart has said that out of all the films he did, this was his personal favorite. (Keep in mind his body of work includes classics like Rear Window, Vertigo, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and too many more to list here.)
Also an extremely influential film, it was remade by Marlo Thomas in 1977 as It Happened One Christmas (with Orson Welles as Potter!) It has been imitated countless times. My favorite Next Gen episode, "Tapestry," where Q (!) stands in for Clarence, borrows quite liberally from it.
Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz' (thirtysomething, Once & Again) production company is called "Bedford Falls Productions", and their logo is George Bailey's house.

There was a board for this a while ago, but it mysteriously disappeared.

This is my favorite film for a variety of reasons. While commonly remembered as an inspirational Christmas movie (which it is), it perfectly captures the subtle fears and anxieties of both a postwar generation (and future generations). I come from a small town and like George Bailey, I occasionally grow anxious over the fact I see people I went to school with seemingly have more success and win greater plaudits and I get afraid that I have made the wrong decisions in life. However, as this film shows, no man is a failure who has friends.

I love this movie. As Clarence said, no man iis a failure who has friends. George Bailey realizes this at the end when the whole town comes to his rescue.

One has to wonder how old man Potter took the news when he found out George had been saved. He thought he finally had George, but was thwarted because he underestimated how much George meant to the town.

I don't know if this is true or not, but rumour has it that a scene was considered in which Clarence pays Potter a visit. He tells Potter that he knows what he did (taking the money) and that if the truth ever came out, Potter would be headed to jail real fast (because no jury in the county would even consider not sending him up the river). Clarence then says that what's waiting in the Afterlife for Potter is NOT pleasent. I can see Potter dragging the same kind of chain that Jacob Marley was forced to drag.

Potter was essentailly Bedford Falls Ebenezer Scrooge, only without any ghosts to try and redeem him.

Michael A. Novelli of the Agony Booth has posted a short (and very cynical) recap of this flick here. Personally, I think Novelli's colon is where his brain should be, but that's just my opinion.

Personally, I think Novelli's colon is where his brain should be, but that's just my opinion

I agree. He clearly missed the whole point of the movie.

As the Martinis get into the car for the ride to their new home, a goat is shoved into the back seat and Mary, sitting in the front seat, hold onto it by one of its horns. Then the shot changes and she is facing forward with both hands by her sides.

Why, in the Pottersville universe, would Mary need glasses, just because George didn't exist?

On a similar topic, why would George's presence cause it to snow. The presence or absence of snow seems to be the indicator of which universe George is in. When he's crying, "Let me live again!" the snow appears again suddenly. I suppose you could call it coincidence, but earlier it stopped snowing just as Clarence granted his wish.

Walsh's idea of comforting his upset wife is to go to a bar and drink. Not exactly the loving husband type, is he?

Mary was probably depicted with glasses in the alternate universe because she became a librarian and reading was blamed for poor eyesight in those days.

The presence or lack thereof of the new factory George brought to Bedford Falls might cause enough local atmospheric change to provide for snowfall.

I watched my DVD of this movie every Christmas.