Villain Mr. Potter resonates as ‘It’s Wonderful Life’ turns 75
Now more than ever, we can all take heart in director Frank Capra’s supremely inspiring 1946 tale, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” featuring Jimmy Stewart’s struggling everyman George Bailey finding life’s meaning with help from a clumsy angel.
But as the holiday classic turns 75 this month it’s vital to savor the screen’s deliciously irredeemable villain, Mr. Potter.
You don’t have to root for him, just appreciate him.
Played to ruthless perfection by the great Lionel Barrymore, the crooked businessman owns the #6 slot on the American Film Institute’s list of 50 Greatest Villains. That means Darth Vader, #3 on the list, should really watch his back. Because Mr. Potter is only gaining more relevance with every CNN business headline.
“He’s power hungry, the only things important to Mr. Potter are owning property, having lots of money and owning people,” says Karolyn Grimes, 81, who played Zuzu Bailey, one of Bai
ley’s children in the film. “The scary thing is, we see so much of that today.”
Mr. Potter is labeled, by an angel no less, as the “richest and meanest man in town.” The perpetually sneering fiend gleefully runs with the title from there. He earns despicable immortality from a handful of impactful scenes, flanked in his wheel chair by his wordless, looming assistant (onetime pro boxer Frank S. Hagney).
The Bailey Building and Loan nemesis purloins the business’ mislaid $8,000, putting George into legal jeopardy and self-crisis. Mr. Potter then completes George’s spiral with the infamous crushing blow, “You’re worth more dead than alive.”
But the intervening angel Clarence (Henry Travers) miraculously shows what life, and quaint Bedford Falls, would be like without George and his Building and Loan. The town’s alternate life, finally in Mr. Potter’s clutches, is literally called Pottersville, featuring jitterbug-friendly bars (which frankly look hopping).
Barrymore’s performance is so fullon dastardly that it’s jarring to watch the legendary actor at the “It’s A Wonderful Life” wrap part (seen in home movie extras from an upcoming anniversary home release). Barrymore, in a wheel chair due to severe hip and arthritis issues, is glimpsed socializing with cast and crew. He’s even (gasp)
smiling.
“I was surprised he was there,” Grimes recalls of the party. “I was pretty scared, but I managed to have a conversation with him. And he was actually very nice.”
Capra wanted the Academy Awardwinner for the role based on Barrymore’s annual radio performance of Ebenezer Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol.” But Mr. Potter is next-level Scrooge, without the how-life-went wrong sympathetic backstory and definitely lacking the Christmas morning Scrooge redemption.
He is bad to the bone until his bitter end.
Mr. Potter is last seen chuckling gleefully, alone in his office on Christmas Eve, making the sheriff ’s call he believes will send George to jail. The classic 1986 “SNL” skit, “It’s a Wonderful Life: The Lost Ending,” imagines Bailey (Dana Carvey) and company seeking over-thetop pummeling revenge.
But there isn’t need for a final scene to overstate that Mr. Potter and his evil ways have been resoundingly defeated by the virtuous George Bailey. Movie historian Sal St. George, who will highlight Mr. Potter in his 75th anniversary talk at the It’s a Wonderful Life Museum in Seneca New York, says Mr. Potter’s comeuppance already arrived when Bailey is home surrounded by his children, wife and friends.
“One of the last lines in the movie is a toast to ‘George Bailey, the richest man in town,’ ” says St. George. “George Bailey takes the richest man title from Mr. Potter.”