It's a Wonderful Life

MAN

Who?

BERT

The groom, idiot. Come on, get that ladder.

MAN

(disgustedly)

What are they – ducks?

CLOSE SHOT – SIDE PORCH OF HOUSE

Bert and the man are putting up travel posters to cover up the broken windows.

BERT

Get that ladder up here.

MAN

All right – all right.

BERT

Hurry up... hurry up... hurry up.

MAN

I'm hurrying.

MEDIUM CLOSE SHOT

George is approaching the front door of the house, on which a sign is hanging: "Bridal Suite." Ernie looks out through the curtain covering the broken glass of the front door.

ERNIE

Hiya... Good evening, sir.

Ernie opens the door, revealing himself as a homemade butler. This has been accomplished by rolling up his pants and putting on an old coachman's hat. George enters.

ERNIE

Entray, monsieur, entray.

INT. GRANVILLE HOUSE – NIGHT

CLOSE SHOT – GEORGE ENTERS

The house is carpetless, empty – the rain and wind cause funny noises upstairs. A huge fire is burning in the fireplace. Near the fireplace a collection of packing boxes are heaped together in the shape of a small table and covered with a checkered oil cloth. It is set for two. A bucket with ice and a champagne bottle sit on the table as well as a bowl of caviar. Two small chickens are impaled on a spit over the fire. A phonograph is playing on a box, and a string from the phonograph is turning the chickens on the spit. The phonograph is playing "Song of the Islands." Mary is standing near the fireplace looking as pretty as any bride ever looked. She is smiling at George, who has been slowly taking in the whole set-up. Through a door he sees the end of a cheap bed, over the back of which is a pair of pajamas and a nightie. Ernie exits and closes the door.

MARY

(tears in her eyes)

Welcome home, Mr. Bailey.

GEORGE

(overcome)

Well, I'll be... Mary, Mary, where did you...

They rush into each other's arms and hold each other in ecstasy.

EXT. SIDE OF HOUSE – NIGHT

CLOSE SHOT

Bert and Ernie, standing in the pouring rain, start singing "I Love You Truly."

INT. HOUSE – NIGHT

CLOSE SHOT – GEORGE AND MARY

They remain embraced.

GEORGE

Oh, Mary...

MARY

Remember the night we broke the windows in this old house? This is what I wished for.

GEORGE

Darling, you're wonderful.

EXT. SIDE OF HOUSE – NIGHT

CLOSE SHOT – BERT AND ERNIE

They finish their song, and Ernie kisses Bert on the forehead. Bert slams Ernie's hat on his head.

FADE OUT

FADE IN:

EXT. SLUM STREET BEDFORD FALLS – DAY – TWO YEARS LATER

MEDIUM CLOSE SHOT

In front of one of the miserable shacks that line the street are two vehicles. One of them is George Bailey's rickety car, and the other is an even more rickety truck piled high with household goods. The Martini family is moving. The family consists of Martini, his wife and four kid of various ages, from two to ten. George and Mary are helping the Martinis move. About a dozen neighbors crowd around. Martini and George, assisted by three of the Martini children, are carrying out the last of the furniture. As they emerge from the house, one of the neighbors, Schultz, calls out:

SCHULTZ

Martini, you rented a new house?

MARTINI

Rent?

(to George)

You hear what he say, Mr. Bailey?

GEORGE

What's that?

MARTINI

I own the house. Me, Giuseppe Martini. I own my own house. No more we live like pigs in thisa Potter's Field. Hurry, Maria.

MARIA

Yes...

GEORGE

Come on...

(to Mary)

Bring the baby.

(to Martini)

I'll bring the kids in the car.

MARTINI

Oh, thank you, Mr. Bailey.

Mary gets in the front seat of the car, with the baby in her arms.

GEORGE

All right, kids – here – get in here. Now get right up on the seat there. Get the... get the goat!

The family goat gets in the back seat with the three kids.

MARTINI

Goodbye, everybody!

GEORGE

All in...

The rickety caravan starts off down the street, to the cheers of the neighbors.

WIPE TO:

EXT. BAILEY PARK – DAY

CLOSE SHOT

Sign hanging from a tree "Welcome to Bailey Park."

CAMERA PANS TO follow George's car and the old truck laden with furniture as they pass – we hear Martini's voice singing "O Sole Mio." Bailey Park is a district of new small houses, not all alike, but each individual. New lawns here and there, and young trees. It has the promise when built up of being a pleasant little middle class section.

WIPE TO:

EXT. MARTINI'S NEW HOUSE – DAY

MEDIUM CLOSE SHOT

George and Mary are on the porch of the new house, with the Martinis lined up before them.

GEORGE

Mr. and Mrs. Martini, welcome home.

The Martinis cross themselves.

EXT. STREET – BAILEY PARK – DAY

CLOSE SHOT

Sam Wainwright is standing in front of his big black town car. Sam is the epitome of successful, up-and-coming businessman. His wife, in the car, is a very attractive, sophisticated-looking lady, dripping with furs and jewels. Sam is watching George across the street.

SAM

That old George... he's always making a speech.

(to George)

Hee-haw!

(wiggles his hands)

EXT. NEW HOUSE – DAY

CLOSE SHOT – MARY AND GEORGE ON PORCH

GEORGE

(to Mary)

Sam Wainwright!

MARY

Oh, who cares.

(to Mrs. Martini, giving her loaf of bread)

Bread! That this house may never know hunger.

Mrs. Martini crosses herself.

MARY

(giving her salt)

Salt! That life may always have flavor.

GEORGE

(handing bottle to Martini)

And wine! That joy and prosperity may reign forever. Enter the Martini castle!

The Martinis cross themselves, shaking hands all around. The kids enter, with screams of delight. Mrs. Martini kisses Mary.

INT. POTTER'S OFFICE IN BANK – DAY

CLOSE SHOT

Potter seated in his wheelchair at his desk, with his goon beside him. His rent collector, Reineman, is talking, pointing to maps spread out on the desk.

REINEMAN

Look, Mr. Potter, it's no skin off my nose. I'm just your little rent collector. But you can't laugh off this Bailey Park any more. Look at it.

A buzzer is heard, and Potter snaps on the dictaphone on his desk.

SECRETARY'S VOICE

Congressman Blatz is here to see you.

POTTER

(to dictaphone)

Oh, tell the congressman to wait.

(to Reineman)

Go on.

REINEMAN

Fifteen years ago, a half-dozen houses stuck here and there.

(indicating map)

There's the old cemetery, squirrels, buttercups, daisies. Used to hunt rabbits there myself. Look at it today. Dozens of the prettiest little homes you ever saw. Ninety per cent owned by suckers who used to pay rent to you. Your Potter's Field, my dear Mr. Employer, is becoming just that. And are the local yokels making with those David and Goliath wisecracks!

POTTER

Oh, they are, are they? Even though they know the Baileys haven't made a dime out of it.

REINEMAN

You know very well why. The Baileys were all chumps. Every one of these homes is worth twice what it cost the Building and Loan to build. If I were you, Mr. Potter...

POTTER

(interrupting)

Well, you are not me.

REINEMAN

(as he leaves)

As I say, it's no skin off my nose. But one of these days this bright young man is going to be asking George Bailey for a job.

Reineman exits.

POTTER

The Bailey family has been a boil on my neck long enough.

He flips the switch on the dictaphone.

SECRETARY'S VOICE

Yes, sir?

POTTER

Come in here.

EXT. STREET IN BAILEY PARK – DAY

CLOSE SHOT

George and Mary are talking to Sam Wainwright in front of the latter's car. Hs wife, Jane, is now out of the car.

SAM

We just stopped in town to take a look at the new factory, and then we're going to drive on down to Florida.

GEORGE

Oh...

JANE

Why don't you have your friends join us?

SAM

Why, sure. Hey, why don't you kids drive down with us, huh?

GEORGE

Oh, I'm afraid I couldn't get away, Sam.

SAM

Still got the nose to the old grindstone, eh? Jane, I offered to let George in on the ground floor in plastics, and he turned me down cold.

GEORGE

Oh, now, don't rub it in.

SAM

I'm not rubbing it in. Well, I guess we better run along.

There is handshaking all around as Sam and Jane get into their car.

JANE

Awfully glad to have met you, Mary.

MARY

Nice meeting you.

GEORGE

Goodbye.

JANE

Goodbye, George.

SAM

So long, George. See you in the funny papers.

GEORGE

Goodbye, Sam.

MARY

Have fun.

GEORGE

Thanks for dropping around.

SAM

(to chauffeur)

To Florida!

(to George)

Hee-haw!

GEORGE

Hee-haw.

The big black limousine glides away, leaving George standing with his arm around Mary, gazing broodingly after it. They slowly walk over to George's old car and look at it silently.

WIPE TO:

INT. POTTER'S OFFICE – DAY

CLOSE SHOT

Potter is lighting a big cigar which he has just given George. The goon is beside Potter's chair, as usual.

GEORGE

Thank you, sir. Quite a cigar, Mr. Potter.

POTTER

You like it? I'll send you a box.

GEORGE

(nervously)

Well, I... I suppose I'll find out sooner or later, but just what exactly did you want to see me about?

POTTER

(laughs)

George, now that's just what I like so much about you.

(pleasantly and smoothly)

George, I'm an old man, and most people hate me. But I don't like them either, so that makes it all even. You know just as well as I do that I run practically everything in this town but the Bailey Building and Loan. You know, also, that for a number of years I've been trying to get control of it... or kill it. But I haven't been able to do it. You have been stopping me. In fact, you have beaten me, George, and as anyone in this county can tell you, that takes some doing. Take during the depression, for instance. You and I were the only ones that kept our heads. You saved the Building and Loan, and I saved all the rest.

GEORGE

Yes. Well, most people say you stole all the rest.

POTTER

The envious ones say that, George, the suckers. Now, I have stated my side very frankly. Now, let's look at your side. Young man, twenty-seven, twenty-eight... married, making, say... forty a week.

GEORGE

(indignantly)

Forty-five!

POTTER

Forty-five. Forty-five. Out of which, after supporting your mother, and paying your bills, you're able to keep, say, ten, if you skimp. A child or two comes along, and you won't even be able to save the ten. Now, if this young man of twenty-eight was a common, ordinary yokel, I'd say he was doing fine. But George Bailey is not a common, ordinary yokel. He's an intelligent, smart, ambitious young man — who hates his job – who hates the Building and Loan almost as much as I do. A young man who's been dying to get out on his own ever since he was born. A young man... the smartest one of the crowd, mind you, a young man who has to sit by and watch his friends go places, because he's trapped. Yes, sir, trapped into frittering his life away playing nursemaid to a lot of garlic-eaters. Do I paint a correct picture, or do I exaggerate?

GEORGE

(mystified)

Now what's your point, Mr. Potter?

POTTER

My point? My point is, I want to hire you.

GEORGE

(dumbfounded)

Hire me?

POTTER

I want you to manage my affairs, run my properties. George, I'll start you out at twenty thousand dollars a year.

George drops his cigar on his lap. He nervously brushes off the sparks from his clothes.

GEORGE

(flabbergasted)

Twenty thou... twenty thousand dollars a year?

POTTER

You wouldn't mind living in the nicest house in town, buying your wife a lot of fine clothes, a couple of business trips to New York a year, maybe once in a while Europe. You wouldn't mind that, would you, George?

GEORGE

Would I?

(looking around skeptically)

You're not talking to somebody else around here, are you? You know, this is me, you remember me? George Bailey.

POTTER

Oh, yes, George Bailey. Whose ship has just come in – providing he has brains enough to climb aboard.

GEORGE

Well, what about the Building and Loan?

POTTER

Oh, confound it, man, are you afraid of success? I'm offering you a three year contract at twenty thousand dollars a year, starting today. Is it a deal or isn't it?

GEORGE

Well, Mr. Potter, I... I... I know I ought to jump at the chance, but I... I just... I wonder if it would be possible for you to give me twenty-four hours to think it over?

POTTER

Sure, sure, sure. You go on home and talk about it to your wife.

GEORGE

I'd like to do that.

POTTER

In the meantime, I'll draw up the papers.

GEORGE

All right, sir.

POTTER

(offers hand)

Okay, George?

GEORGE

(taking his hand)

Okay, Mr. Potter.

As they shake hands, George feels a physical revulsion. Potter's hand feels like a cold mackerel to him. In that moment of physical contact he knows he could never be associated with this man. George drops his hand with a shudder. He peers intently into Potter's face.

GEORGE (CONT'D)

(vehemently)

No... no... no... no, now wait a minute, here! I don't have to talk to anybody! I know right now, and the answer is no! NO! Doggone it!

(getting madder all the time)

You sit around here and you spin your little webs and you think the whole world revolves around you and your money. Well, it doesn't, Mr. Potter! In the... in the whole vast configuration of things, I'd say you were nothing but a scurvy little spider. You...

He turns and shouts at the goon, impassive as ever beside Potter's wheelchair.

GEORGE (CONT'D)

... And that goes for you too!

As George opens the office door to exit, he shouts at Mr. Potter's secretary in the outer office
 

GEORGE (CONT'D)

And it goes for you too!

WIPE TO:

INT. BEDROOM – GEORGE AND MARY'S HOUSE – NIGHT

CLOSE SHOT – GEORGE ENTERS THE BEDROOM

The room is modestly furnished with just a cheap bed, a chair or two, and a dresser. Mary is asleep in the bed. As George comes in, his head is filled with many confusing thoughts, relating to incidents in his past life.

POTTER'S VOICE

You wouldn't mind living in the nicest house in town. Buying your wife a lot of fine clothes, going to New York on a business trip a couple of times a year. Maybe to Europe once in a while.

George takes off his hat and coat, moves over to the dresser and stares at his reflection in the mirror.

GEORGE'S VOICE

I know what I'm going to do tomorrow and the next day and next year and the year after that. I'm shaking the dust of this crummy little town off my feet, and I'm going to see the world... And I'm going to build things. I'm going to build air fields. I'm going to build skyscrapers a hundred stories high. I'm going to build a bridge a mile long.