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Martha Jones: It's like in those films: if you step on a butterfly, you change the future of the human race. The Doctor: Then don't step on any butterflies. What have butterflies ever done to you? Science fiction writers can't seem to agree on the rules of time travel. Sometimes, as in Doctor Who (above), characters can travel in time and affect small events without appearing to alter the grand course of history. In other stories, such as Back To The Future, even the tiniest of the time travellers' actions in the past produce major ripples that unpredictably change...

At 75, Jimmy Hawkins is just a little older than “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946), the film he is most closely associated with and the one for which he had his first credited screen role, as George (James Stewart) and Mary Bailey’s (Donna Reed) young son Tommy. Though his acting career continued — including a recurring stint as Shelley Fabares’ boyfriend on “The Donna Reed Show” — and he eventually became a producer, it is to “It’s a Wonderful Life” that he keeps returning, writing numerous books on the subject. Now, with Paramount releasing “It’s a Wonderful Life” in a...

“Clearly, a civilization that feels guilty for everything it is and does will lack the energy and conviction to defend itself.” - Jean-Francois RevelAlthough it’s the wrong holiday,the theatrical reference of the century comes to us this Labor Day weekend via Instapundit’s Facebook friend: “What is happening now is basically America’s version of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The President of the United States — supported to an exceptional extent by an electorate both uncomprehending and untrusting of the outside world — is Clarence the Angel, and he’s showing us what the world would be like if we’d never been born…”...

Many of us will gather our families around the TV this Christmas Eve to watch Frank Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life. The story behind the movie is well known, so I won’t bore you with reiterations of such. Capra based It’s A Wonderful Life on the short Christmas story, The Greatest Gift, by Philip Van Doren Stern. His adaption on the big screen of the ultimately undeniable importance and fragility of each and every one of our lives has become a gift to us in and of itself. But Capra’s real gift to us was his philosophy as a filmmaker....

George Bailey was driving the old black car the last time you saw it. He was drunk and crashed into the big tree on the outskirts of Bedford Falls, and then he ran to the bridge, where he was going to jump off and end it all. That’s how the story began. One of the most popular Christmas movies, “It’s a Wonderful Life” has been televised every year since 1970. The movie, starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, was made in 1946. And Friday, the old car that crashed into the tree arrived in Johnstown. Keith and Marilyn Smith bought...

Robert J. Anderson, a former child actor best known for playing the young George Bailey in the 1946 Christmas film classic "It's a Wonderful Life," has died. He was 75. Anderson was 12 when director Frank Capra cast him as Jimmy Stewart's youthful counterpart in the heartwarming tale set in Bedford Falls. As the adult George Bailey contemplates suicide, his life is told in flashback so his guardian angel Clarence can get to know him. Young George rescues his brother from drowning, dreams about being an explorer and saves the town pharmacist, Mr. Gower, from accidentally poisoning a customer. The...

While watching the new colorization of “It's a Wonderful Life" on DVD - this time they got it right; no longer do you get the feeling you're watching a black-and-white film through stained glass - I thought: you know who would love this? Why, that visionary American innovator Henry F. Potter. That's right, Mr. Potter - the unsung hero of “It's a Wonderful Life," the canny businessman who tried (and, alas, failed) to turn boring, repressed Bedford Falls - a town full of drunks, child beaters, vandals and racial and sexual harassers - into an exciting new destination nightspot called...

We all remember the great Christmas movie classic "It's a Wonderful Life." The hero, played by Jimmy Stewart, stays home to save his family-run savings-and-loan institution, while his brother heads off to become a war hero. Stewart's character, George Bailey, forsakes his own comfort and tries to find some for his depositors and his town. When a mix-up puts Bailey and his company in great peril, the townspeople rally around the selfless man and rescue him. I'm happy to report that real George Baileys exist. At least one does. That's all the more gratifying because we live in a distinctly...

CHRISTMAS STORIES Tim Burton's holiday classic, THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993), makes a return to the big screen each holiday season.The dazzling new make-over of the musical-fantasy was led by writer/producer Tim Burton and the technical wizards at Industrial Light + Magic. Audiences will get closer than ever to Halloweentown's beloved Pumpkin King, Jack Skellington, as he attempts to take over the Christmas holiday. Against the advice of Sally, a lonely rag doll who has feelings for him, Jack enlists three mischievous trick-or-treaters – Lock, Shock, and Barrel – to help him kidnap Santa Claus. Jack eventually realizes his...

That super-hot kiss between Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. The Charleston contest, and the retractable dance floor with a pool underneath. Hee-haw, Sam Wainwright! Clarence the unlikely guardian angel. "I want to live again!" And of course the famous line uttered by little Zuzu: "Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings." Courtesy photo Jimmy Stewart overcomes thoughts of suicide and decides that indeed, It's a Wonderful Life. Starring with him in the 1940s classic are Donna Reed, Larry Simms, Carol Coomes and Jimmy Hawkins. Those are just some of the things we love about Frank...

George Bailey: "Just remember this, Mr. Potter: that this rabble you're talking about, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath?" That line from the most familiar Christmas film of all, It's a Wonderful Life, shows what a fictional institution, the Bailey Brothers Building and Loan, was all about. But in the Hill District of Pittsburgh a real institution, Dwelling House Savings and Loan, has for almost half a...

<p>George Bush is taking on George Bailey from Frank Capra's 1946 chestnut It's a Wonderful Life.</p> <p>The former president provides descriptive narration of the perennial holiday favorite, airing on NBC Dec. 7 and 24, for the benefit of blind or visually impaired people in the audience.</p>