Summary
Just as the cab is leaving the town, George notices that something bad is happening at the bank: a bank run. In spite of Mary's protestations, George goes over to the bank and lets the people assembled outside into the Building and Loan office, where Billy is sitting and a crow sits on the counter.
Billy tells George that the bank called in their loan and the company has no money left. Suddenly, Potter calls the office and tells George that he just took over the bank and that George can send his clients over to him and he will pay 50 cents on the dollar. George hangs up and goes out to address the company's customers. They ask if Potter guaranteed George's company, but George insists that they do not need his money and that their money is invested all over the town.
"If Potter gets ahold of this Building and Loan, there'll never be another decent house built in this town," George says to his customers, begging them not to go to Potter. He reminds them that Potter will keep them living in slums and won't let them keep their houses, when Mary pulls out the stack of cash she and George were going to use for their honeymoon and asks the customers how much they need. George distributes enough cash to each customer to tide them over until the bank reopens.
At the end of the day, Billy, George, and Tilly the secretary wait for the clock to strike 6, which marks the fact that Potter could not close the company that day. "We have $2 left!" George exclaims, calling on Tilly to open up his honeymoon champagne. George gets a call from Mary, who tells him to meet her at the dilapidated house that they used to throw rocks at.
When George arrives at the house, his friends have conspired to turn the house into a honeymoon suite, with pictures and posters of exotic places up on the walls. When he goes inside, he sees Mary standing at a table made up for dinner. The ceiling is dripping, but the couple sits down for a meal, while two chickens roast on the fire. "Remember that night when we broke some windows at this old house?" Mary says, "This is what I wished for."
Some time later, George opens up a housing development, Bailey Park, that can help poorer citizens leave the overpriced slums established by Potter. We see George and Mary piling into a car with the Martini family, Italians headed to their new home. They even bring a goat with them. George presents their new house to them and Mary hands over bread, salt, and wine for the family. Sam Wainwright visits George and Mary at Bailey Park, inviting them to come with him and his wife to Florida. The couple declines and says goodbye to Sam.
Meanwhile, one of Potter's advisors tells him about Bailey Park and the fact that it is hurting his business with the slums. He tells him that every single home in Bailey Park is worth twice the money it cost for the Building and Loan to build it, but the company didn't make a profit.
Potter lights a cigar for George in his office, before complimenting George on being such a formidable businessman all these years. He notes that George probably makes about $45 a week, $10 of which he can keep. Potter offers George a job as his assistant for $20,000. Hearing this sum, George drops his cigar on the floor and his eyes widen. He asks for 24 hours to think about it, which Potter grants him, but suddenly George has a change of heart. He angrily declines the offer and goes home.
That night, when he returns home, George considers Potter's offer and the fact that he once had huge ambitions. He goes to Mary in the bed and asks her why she married him. "I want my baby to look like you," she says, revealing that she's pregnant. Mary has a boy, then a girl, and they renovate the old Granville home.
When the war starts, Mrs. Bailey and Mrs. Hatch join the Red Cross. Mary has two more children, and Potter becomes head of the draft board. Gower and Uncle Billy sell war bonds. Bert and Ernie, the two cabbies, fight in the army, each fighting heroically. Harry is a naval pilot and becomes the biggest hero of them all, winning a Congressional Medal of Honor.
George cannot fight in the army because of his ear, and so stays home working on the war effort from there.
Analysis
It becomes something almost like a motif that whenever George begins to find some kind of happiness or sense of possibility in his life, something tragic or difficult happens. In the previous section of the film, George's courtship of Mary and plans to travel were cut short by the untimely death of his father. Then, just as he and Mary are leaving Bedford Falls for an exciting honeymoon, a bank run makes it so that George must withdraw his money to help keep his father's business going. Time and time again, misfortune snatches George's dreams away from him, and he must make a sacrifice for the greater good.
With each misfortune, George proves himself to be an exceedingly philanthropic and generous soul. When the bank closes down and his customers need money, he distributes his own honeymoon fund in order to keep the Building and Loan alive and prevent Potter from controlling the economic wellbeing of the town. He and Mary, rather than wallow in their disappointment about a lost honeymoon, conspire to cheer other people up in a time of difficulty. They are kindhearted and giving people who think of others before themselves.
Mary and George's honeymoon suite, the repurposed dilapidated old mansion that they threw rocks at as young high school graduates, is a symbol for the couple's attitude towards hardship, their ability to always look on the bright side. Even though they cannot go on their glamorous honeymoon, they can still find joy in the seemingly unglamorous. Mary and some cabbies fix up some rooms in the old house and turn it into a charming location for their honeymoon, with a victrola playing a record while two chickens spin over an open fire.
George's ability to stick with his plan and keep going even in times of adversity makes him a rather admirable businessman, as it turns out. While he does not make a profit like the greedy and mercenary Potter, he holds his ground and manages to build community projects that help the citizens of Bedford Falls, and resists all of Potter's bids for control. Even when Potter offers him a job that would completely change his life and economic status, George sees that taking it would compromise everything he has built and take away from other citizens' quality of life.
In this section of the film, World War II takes place, and everyone gets involved in their own way. Harry, George's brother, comes out of the war a national hero, while George must stay home and keep things going on the home front. The war is a central and rousing plot point in the film, a common cause around which all of the characters can rally. Capra depicts the war efforts as patriotic, motivating, and invigorating for all involved, with uplifting music, depictions of everyone's role, and a tone of awe and heroism.
