Have yourself a merry little suicide? For Frank Capra, the holidays were the perfect time for dejected men to find redemption after being snapped from the brink. This occurs in two of his classic movies. The obvious Capra film that falls into this category is the Christmas standby
It's a Wonderful Life (1946), where Jimmy Stewart's George Bailey reconsiders suicide with some help from his guardian angel Clarence. The second is Capra's 1941film,
Meet John Doe, where the titular character (played by Gary Cooper) almost jumps form the top of City Hall on Christmas Eve, after being used by a scheming political magnate to be the spokesperson for the common man. Instead of an angel, John Doe finds the will to live when common men everywhere come to his rescue to show that men can triumph over society's evils. In the end both men learn that there's something worthwhile in life, but the suicide angle seems a little extreme...
