1946 It's a Wonderful Life One Sheet First American Release on Linen Christmas
This is a vintage original linen backed one sheet movie poster for the beloved Frank Capra directed Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life.
This film really needs no introduction but it has a more interesting backstory than most people realize. First, the film received mixed reviews and had lackluster box office ticket sales resulting in a loss of over $500,000 for RKO following the film’s initial release in December 1946. Although not a commercial success initially the movie was nominated for several Academy Awards including Best Picture but was largely forgotten soon after.
Copyrights were not renewed and the film lapsed into the public domain. Once in the public domain It’s a Wonderful Life began to appear regularly on television in the 1970s and enjoyed a rebirth not only becoming the Christmas classic loved by millions today but also widespread recognition as one the greatest movies ever made. The rebirth of the movie 30 years after its disappointing initial release came as a great surprise to the film’s director Frank Capra who told the Wall Street Journal in 1984 "It's the damnedest thing I've ever seen. The film has a life of its own now, and I can look at it like I had nothing to do with it. I'm like a parent whose kid grows up to be President. I'm proud ... but it's the kid who did the work. I didn't even think of it as a Christmas story when I first ran across it. I just liked the idea.”
The film was distributed by RKO Radio Pictures and starred James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore and Henry Travers among others. The movie is a mainstay on the AFI’s periodic lists of the 100 Greatest American Movies Of All Time and was No. 1 on AFI’s 1998 America’s Most Inspiring Movies list and is included in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
This vintage original first American release one sheet movie poster has been professionally linen backed. Prior to linen backing the poster was folded as issued and showed some toning from age, light handling wear and had a couple wax pencil marks and a couple small pieces of recently applied tape on the verso both of which were expertly removed. The poster also had a bit of a light dusty footprint at the bottom center which was mitigated. GoldenAgePosters offers a lifetime guarantee of authenticity and provides a letter of authenticity and photos of the poster prior to linen backing on request.