Though a classic now, when it first came out it was a box office bomb. I can't find too many solid reasons for this. Perhaps poor advertising is to blame. I know some critics panned it when it was released to theaters. Even with its star power (Jimmy Stewart and Lionel Barrymore are in it, playing their usual reluctant hero and rich villain, respectively) it was not taken well. The title makes it sound like it's going to be a musical so perhaps that threw audiences off.
Since then, it has become synonymous with the holidays. It glorifies life, even the troubled parts of it. The film shows that if you have the strength to hope, you will persevere. And that, sometimes all you've ever wanted is already with you at home. That's a welcome thought for these days, which is fitting as this film was made during another of this country's recessions. It also shows that moral values shouldn't and cannot be compromised even during the most strenuous of problems.
This is a good family film, though old and without color so it might take some coaxing before the kids will shut up and watch it. But it's worth it.
Trivia Bit: the scene where Jimmy Stewart's character is walking his drunk uncle home was not written the way it appears in the film. The film shows the uncle leaving the set, some noise happens and he says, "I'm alright! I'm alllright!" as if he had fallen into some trash cans or something. That had actually been an accident. When they were filming that scene, one of the set builders was moving something to another set and as the drunken uncle was leaving the scene the set builder dropped it. The guy playing the uncle, Thomas Mitchell, was actually a comedy actor, so he jumped on the opportunity. The director and editors liked the imprompted line so much they kept it in the movie.
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