It's A Wonderful Life at Overshadowed Theatrical Productions

It was made in 1946 and stars Jimmy Stewart as the small-town owner of a family-run bank who dreams of leaving so he can explore the world in order to accomplish something "big and important." Several times he is on the way to doing just that, and each time something interrupts his plans at the last moment, and he instead remains there. He eventually marries, he and his wife have several children, and he manages to keep the bank afloat, even through the harrowing days of the Depression. At one point he is wrongfully accused of mishandling funds and faces bankruptcy, scandal and even possible imprisonment. Despondent, he is about to take his own life, but the people who love him have been praying for him, so God sends an angel, Clarence, to prevent his fatal act. When George states, "I wish I was never born," Clarence shows him what life in the town and elsewhere would be like had that been the case.