58. Every Time a Bell Rings

58. Every Time a Bell Rings: The Legacy of It's a Wonderful Life, America's Most Beloved Holiday Film. Emily St. James and Lauren Theisen. 2026. 304 pages. [Source: Library] [2 stars, adult nonfiction, essays]

First sentence: Certain movies take on lives of their own.

Premise/plot: Emily St. James and Lauren Theisen have teamed up to write about the holiday movie, It's a Wonderful Life. What should YOU the reader expect?

Each chapter is essentially an essay tackling the film. The essays cover a wide range of topics. Some expected. Some unexpected. What do I mean by unexpected and expected? Obvious and NOT obvious. Points of view that are not traditional, obvious, deducible by reason or logic no matter how many times you view the film. They come from nowhere. The book avoids sticking with the traditional, obvious, literal meaning of the film. Not every essay goes where no person has gone before. Some are more obvious--for example, providing background on the ACTORS, on the DIRECTORS, on other films released the same year. Other essays examine specific elements of the film--Pottersville, for example.

Chapter One: You Are Now In Bedford Falls
Chapter Two: George Bailey's American Dream
Chapter Three: Frank Capra's Last Stand
Chapter  Four: 1946: A Movie Year Like No Other
Interlude
Chapter Five: Harry Bailey, American Hero
Chapter Six: Uncle Billy and the Safety Net
Chapter Seven: Peter Bailey's Son
Interlude
Chapter Eight: Nick, Martini, and Annie
Chapter Nine: The Many Wonderful Weirdos of Bedford Falls
Chapter Ten: Seneca Falls Eighty Years Later
Interlude
Chapter Eleven: Welcome to Pottersville
Chapter Twelve: Henry F. Potter's American Dream
Chapter Thirteen: The Strange Copyright Journey of It's a Wonderful Life
Interlude
Chapter Fourteen: Outside Bedford Falls
Chapter Fifteen: Clarence Odbody, Angel Second Class
Chapter Sixteen: Mary Bailey

The chapters--or essays--vary in topic and subject. Some were informative. Some were speculative. Some were just weird and weirder. The book was--for better or worse--surprisingly or unsurprisingly VERY political. Again, for better or worse, it tried to take today's issues and make It's a Wonderful Life have some comment one way or the other. To be fair, it also tackled some of yesterday's issues--of the 1930s and 1940s--and tried to make It's a Wonderful Life have strong opinions one way or the other. For example, IS the film pushing communism? For all that is being addressed in the book, the book doesn't particularly tackle morality, faith, and spirituality--at least not well for being so front and center in the movie itself.

Some essays try a little too hard. George Bailey is too white and a white male at that. Mary Bailey is not feminist enough. Their traditional family life is too oppressive.

My thoughts: It's a Wonderful Life is a wonderful, wonderful movie. It is timeless and universal. It is spiritual and philosophical. It tackles the harder questions of life. WHO AM I? WHY WAS I BORN? DOES MY LIFE MATTER? DOES MY LIFE HAVE MEANING? WHY AM I HERE? It asks not only what kind of person am I when life is easy and going my way but WHAT KIND OF PERSON AM I WHEN THINGS ARE DIFFICULT AND ANYTHING BUT WONDERFUL. These kinds of questions can be answered by many different faiths, but are often associated--or would have been associated in 1946--with Christianity. In fact, the film opens with not a couple of people praying but the whole town coming together to pray. Which indicates a COMMUNITY with shared values if not specific faiths (or denominations) AND compassion and empathy. When they heard that George Bailey was in trouble, they didn't just say, "Oh, that's too bad." Or "I'll add him to the prayer list at church." Or the equivalent of a prayer emoji. They stopped what they were doing and prayed. There was genuine concern and worry. And they were directing that to God. The movie doesn't go into defining God--or limiting him to one denomination. And their faith wasn't limited just to their prayers.

If the book had fewer essays I might have liked it more. I appreciated the historical chapters best--the ones that focused on the director, the actors, the short story the movie was based on, etc. I liked the politicized chapters least of all. The ones that tried to pull all the "hot" issues of the past four to eight years and make the movie say something about the current times.




© 2026 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews