The best holiday movie you’ve never seen — wired.com

Whether it’s to avoid politicking with estranged uncles or because cinephilia is genetic, every family has its own holiday-movie tradition—and the largest share of that pre-Santa screentime likely belongs to It’s A Wonderful Life. Frank Capra’s feel-good tale is an elder statesman of holiday cinema, but for years it was also truly inescapable: Republic Pictures famously neglected to renew its copyright in the 1970s, accidentally allowing the film to enter public domain. It’s A Wonderful Life aired annually on seemingly every major cable channel until a 1990s Supreme Court decision allowed Republic to regain its rights (and eventually strike a deal with NBC).

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