It's a Wonderful Life and Rumors of a Comeuppance Alternate Ending with Mr. Potter

If you happened to be alive in the mid 1980s, then you not only remember the days when It's a Wonderful Life played 182 times during the holidays (on local stations and later via Ted Turner-owned cable) but also a legendary "Saturday Night Live" sketch that parodied the prospect of an alternate ending. This particular "SNL" had William Shatner as the guest host and featured him announcing the believable possibility that Frank Capra had filmed an extended ending involving the one thing that had bothered critics of the film for years: Why doesn't Mr. Potter get a comeuppance for not returning the envelope of $8,000 placed inadvertently in his newspaper by Uncle Billy?

Typical of "SNL", they showed George Bailey, family and friends going as a lynch mob to Mr. Potter's office and beating the old man to a pulp once Uncle Billy remembers who took the money. And, yes, that might have disturbed Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart who were both still alive when the sketch aired in December of 1986. No one's ever known what they personally thought of it. Perhaps they found it amusing considering they must have understood that fans of the movie found some catharsis in finally seeing Mr. Potter get what he deserved.

But why exactly did Frank Capra not show Mr. Potter getting a (less violent) comeuppance? Capra never really explained why, though a lot of analysis of the film written over the years seems to give the thought that Capra wanted to leave things a bit open to let people think for themselves what might have happened as all good movies do. Also, it's possible he had a sequel in mind. You probably remember hearing a revelation a few years ago that Capra wanted to make a movie updating what happens to the characters in the late 1950's/early 60's (involving the grown Bailey children), though it never came to pass.

More recently, I've been seeing online comments related to the movie that says Frank Capra really did film an alternate ending to "IaWL" utilizing a comeuppance to Mr. Potter, yet deciding to discard it at the last minute. If that's true, then we're looking at some of the most highly sought out missing film footage of all time as much as the missing pie fight scene from "Dr. Strangelove" or the excised footage from Orson Welles' "The Magnificent Ambersons", just to name a couple. Based on my extended knowledge of "It's a Wonderful Life", however, it appears this might be nothing more than an attempt to get an urban legend started.

Then again, when you see more and more secrets and information about the film coming to light lately, perhaps there is something to it.

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According to all of the trivia books about the film that are still in print, there isn't any mention of Capra actually filming an alternate ending and then discarding it. Really, if there was one, you'd think someone would have found it by now, unless Capra burned the original negatives. Doing that is certainly possible when many directors did the same thing to avoid anyone snooping into their secret vault after the director's death. Also, as we know, some negatives of unused footage to classic films were just destroyed by other forces to exact some kind of revenge.

In Capra's case, he didn't seem the type of director obsessive enough to destroy any extraneous footage nor had any enemies (as far as we know) who'd destroy film footage. That's why I've always wondered why there wasn't at least some extra footage shot for "IaWL" and still lying around somewhere ready to be placed as a bonus feature on an umpteenth DVD release. Or, it could be argued that its initial box office failure prompted any extra footage to go conveniently missing forever, particularly when Capra lost rights to it and the film ending up in public domain during the 70's.

In the smallest of chances Capra really did film a comeuppance ending for Mr. Potter and kept it under his ownership, perhaps FC hid or destroyed the footage once the movie became popular on TV during the 1970's/80's and beyond. After all, the film is about as perfect as you can get. And it's never bothered me as much as others that Potter wasn't shown getting return karma. Capra's extended ending probably wouldn't have satisfied today's audiences anyway when kicking the old man to the ground seems to be the immediate impulse in enacting revenge. Most likely, Capra's real footage would have merely shown Potter getting arrested for willingly not returning $8,000 of bank funds.

As moderately satisfying as that might even be for fans of the film, not knowing what happens to Potter afterward should be appreciated on its own. It's actually a great way to play on our psyche and feel more compassion for George Bailey in the long run. After umpteenth viewings, I've recently thought that because you feel more compassion for George (knowing he may still have to endure Potter in future years), it makes all the events in the first half of the movie much more poignant than what happens later. Just try watching it now as you know the ending and not be much more riveted or feel palpable emotion with all the early events in the film rather than the latter.

Whether Frank Capra had all that in mind by eliminating a Mr. Potter comeuppance, it'll always be up for debate. If there is footage still out there somewhere of Potter reaping what he sowed, the footage will undoubtedly be found eventually. The new information and insights into the film still are getting out there 61 years after the film debuted, and such a beloved film isn't going to be mired in politics to get extra footage released if it really exists.

Until that happens by small chance, people are still obsessed with that "SNL" Mr. Potter comeuppance sketch from 1986 and seek it out all the time on Youtube. Particularly this year, with all of America's George Baileys being run over by corporations and other big guys we can't control, the feeling of comeuppance to Mr. Potter probably has a stronger resonance.

We'll hope the film as it is will at least continue to bring considerable catharsis for those trying to survive through extreme economic turmoil...

Source:

http://www.answers.com/topic/it-s-a-wonderful-life#Theatrical_versions