CITIZEN KANE II: XANADU IN RUINS or how I wish they would leave IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE alone
By Jerry Saravia
Not to worry, there are no plans for a "Citizen Kane II." There are plans for a sequel to "It's a Wonderful Life." Yes, the classic 1946 weeper with James Stewart and Donna Reed, the cinematic staple of every Christmas season (that and Bob Clark's "A Christmas Story"). According to Variety, "the proposed $30 million sequel still lacks a director, yet the producers have lined up 73-year old Karolyn Grimes, the actress who played Zuzu Bailey in the original, to reprise her role — though now she’ll play the angel who has to guide George’s grandson through a similar crisis. The twist: the new George Bailey is unlikeable and Aunt Zuzu shows him how much better the world would be if he’d never been born. The filmmakers are also in discussions with long-retired septuagenarian actors Jimmy Hawkins and Carol Coombs to revisit their Bailey-child characters as well. None of the three actors have been in a major film in decades."
This is not the first time that a continuation or remake of the perennial classic has been considered. Marlo Thomas appeared as a gender-reversal of Jimmy Stewart's George in a 1977 made-for-TV remake called "It Happened One Christmas." The film retained the 1940's setting, good old Bedford Falls, and featured Emmy-nominated Cloris Leachman in another gender-reversal role of the angel Clarence known as Clara Oddbody. Despite high ratings, few remember the film since it got shuffled aside in favor of the endless TV airings of the original. There was also 1990's TV-movie "Clarence" starring Robert Carradine as a more youthful Clarence helping another human, but who needs to be reminded.
But is a sequel necessary? Definitely not. Sequels rarely work or eclipse their original counterparts so a sequel or continuation of the George Bailey saga feels unseemly and a tad sacrilegious. Perhaps the makers will have their hearts in the right place but the central Frank Capra theme of an alternate reality where the protagonist does not exist has been done to death. Everything from even a subplot of "Last Temptation to Christ" to "Back to the Future Part II" to the insufferably cute "Mr. Destiny" with Jim Belushi are just a few examples of how important the idea of one's destiny in our universe matters. I would have bought a sequel back in the late 40's or early 50's with Stewart and Reed filling in for their iconic roles, but I do not see the sense in revisiting something that was as much a staple of that era as it was universal in its themes of commitment and family values. The original film had a complete beginning, middle and end - it was airtight in its complex narrative of George Bailey's life as a banker who cared about his small town more so than himself (what a distant past that was compared to now). Was the colder, darker reality that the angel proposed to Bailey suppressed truth or pure fiction? Would Mr. Potter ever have a change of heart towards George and the citizens of Bedford Falls? Do you see now why we do not need a new chapter? Heaven forbid.
