<P> The film 's elevation to the status of a beloved classic came decades after its initial release , when it became a television staple during Christmas season in the late 1970s . This came as a welcome surprise to Frank Capra and others involved with its production . `` It 's the damnedest thing I 've ever seen , '' Capra told The Wall Street Journal in 1984 . `` The film has a life of its own now , and I can look at it like I had nothing to do with it . I 'm like a parent whose kid grows up to be president . I 'm proud ... but it 's the kid who did the work . I did n't even think of it as a Christmas story when I first ran across it . I just liked the idea . '' In a 1946 interview , Capra described the film 's theme as `` the individual 's belief in himself '' and that he made it `` to combat a modern trend toward atheism '' . </P>
when does it 's a wonderful life comes on
Christmas season