Many things are iconic about our film, and the experience of watching or seeing it unfold conjures many images each and every time you see it. Some stick out more than others though, like bells, or banks, or bridges. We've covered the
bank, and we'll get to the bells, so here is the bridge. Bridges feature more prominently than maybe most people even originally think. They represent a lot in George's life and I think Capra wanted them to loom large in George's perspective of escaping Bedford Falls. George himself lists them as what he wants to build when he leaves. He states.
". . . and then I'm going to build things. I'm gonna build air fields. I'm gonna buildskyscrapers a hundred stories high. I'm gonna build bridges a mile long . . ."
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| George's bridge |
Those aspirations or at least inclinations stay with George throughout his life as we see it. We see him actually do some of those things , or at least on a smaller scale as in the Bailey home, George has a desk with many of his wishes represented, including what appears to be a model of the Brooklyn Bridge. The other bridge that is featured in the movies is the famous
Remagen bridge which is discussed with Marty Hatch in our visit back to
Bedford Falls High.
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| Bridge inside trestle structure |
But it is the Bedford Falls Bridge which we are most interested in. For it represents the staging point for George's divine intervention.
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| Bridge length compared to truck and George |
Seeing as the town has its definite main street running length wise we are not stretching too much if we assume that people traveling to and from Bedford Falls will drive and pass over the bridge. As George first approaches we see him almost get hit by the truck and then pass over to the side. Here we get a sense of the size of the bridge overall.
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| Notice the warning reflectors or stripes |
As George stumbles over to the walkway we see him run into some signage that lists a couple warnings for passing traffic. The first states "Trucks over 15 tons prohibited" which was and remains pretty common for that size and type of bridge.
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| Modern signage |
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| Better version of Bridge sign |
The other sign below that states something some might not understand at first. This sign reads "Tractors with lugs prohibited". Lugs where cleat like things that
older tractors might have had before rubber tires became most common before
World War 2 and universal afterwards. The cleats were metal usually iron and they would do damage to certain road materials including the wood used on many bridge roadways. Rare to see such signage outside an antique store any more.
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| Example of the type of lugs that Bedford Falls didn't want on their bridge |
The last sign you can see is one that just lists the walkway George is heading to as for "Pedestrians Only". Capra shows off some of his revolutionary snow special effects as George walks and picks out a spot to think.
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| Snow bridge walkway |
As George stops we can again gauge a bit of the size of this bridge. The structure is of course a steel trestle but as George stops we can get more a sense of scale of the structure. The three beams connect just behind him.
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| Bedford Falls Bridge |
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| Travers in a very different type of suit. |
Just before he checks both ways to see if anyone is looking, we get our first look at Clarence Odbody on screen. He standing in front of some of those warnings stripes that appear to be on the inside of the bridge. Clarence is played by the lovable
Henry Travers.
Travers was an English stage actor who stared some classics like
The Yearling and
Dark Victory. He was nominated for an academy award for his role in the famous
Mrs. Miniver. I think besides It's a Wonderful Life, my favorite role of his is for his part in the 1944 film
The Very Thought of You with a very un-Bailey like
Beula Blondi. Sadly Travers only lived three more years after playing our beloved Clarence, passing away in 1949.
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| Watching and waiting. We'll never know if George would have jumped |
Soon after Travers makes his appearance we also first see the brief face of the poor toll keeper of the bridge who is stuck working alone on CHRISTmas eve. The uncredited and unnamed dedicated soul is played by
Tom Fadden who if there was such a think as most proliferate uncredited actor award, he might get it. Fadden played in hundreds of roles in films and then televisions series over the years including the bigger series such as
Bonanza (
episode linked) and
Gunsmoke. He had one of his larger roles in a series from the 40's called
The Winners of the West in which he played a western sidekick. Screen shot below is blurry but you can make out the friendly features of the toll keeper which hopes out with his flash light on our famous bridge.
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| Fadden Compare |
Speaking of that flashlight, it's him and that torch which give us our only view at just how far above the water the bridge is.
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| Quite the jump George! |
As the unlucky worker of the toll house on this special evening, he's given a front row seat (literally!) to the first exchange between George and Clarence. The little gate house building is off to the side of the bridge and apparently just controls a bar or gate for traffic moving across. Tom Fadden died in 1980.
"Cheerio my good man!" Below are some shots of the inside and outside views of the little building.
TOLLKEEPER: "It's against the law to commit suicide 'round here"
CLARENCE: "Yeah, it's against the law where I come from, too."
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