The classic film It's a Wonderful Life celebrates George Bailey's Christian virtues and contribution to his community. George Bailey (played by James Stewart) is the proprietor of a local building and loan institution and helps countless families with their finances during the incipient stages of the Depression.

But when George's absent-minded uncle misplaces $8,000, the Bailey Building and Loan is in jeopardy. George realizes he could go to jail for his uncle's mistake and consequently wishes he'd never been born.

Clarence Oddbody, a rather unlikely angel, appears and shows George what the world would have been like had he never been born. His mother is a withered widow running a dilapidated boarding house; his Uncle Billy is in an insane asylum; his wife, Mary, is a spinster librarian. And Bedford Falls is called Pottersville. The once quaint and clean village is instead a dark city of bars, strip joints, and promiscuity. Even Bailey Park, the subdivision of homes he helped build for middle-class families, is a dark graveyard called Potter's Field.

"Why am I seeing all these strange things?" George asks the angel.

The angel responds, "Don't you understand? It's because you were not born. You've been given a great gift, George: a chance to see what the world would be like without you."

Without George Bailey's presence to stave off the evil influence of Henry F. Potter, Bedford Falls fell into decay. Similarly, if Christ had never been born, the church would not be the salt and light of the world.

Elapsed time: Measured from the beginning of the opening credit, this scene begins at 1:50:34 and lasts approximately four-and-a-half minutes.