Mr. Potter
 | This article is written like a story. (February 2008) |
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Henry F. Potter (commonly referred to as "Mr. Potter" or just "Potter") is a fictional character in the 1946 Frank Capra film It's a Wonderful Life. He occupies slot #6 on the American Film Institute's list of the 50 Greatest Villains in American film history (in its 2003 list entitled AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains). Mr. Potter was portrayed by veteran actor Lionel Barrymore.
The persona of Mr. Henry F. Potter
Throughout the entire film, Mr. Potter is heartless, cold, apathetic, and downright evil. Everything that Mr. Potter does in the film is motivated by money. Be it "saving" George Bailey's clients during a bank run or offering George the job of his dreams, all are thinly veiled plots to fill his own wallet.
Though he is also a mill owner, banker and slumlord, Mr. Potter is a businessman at heart. If there's one thing he's talented at besides making people's lives miserable, it's his ability to manage, plan, and keep order. During the length of the film he seems particularly deft in the ways of finance and business, much to the chagrin of the good people of Bedford Falls. His business propositions may seem fair, even charitable at first, but his ulterior motives are of a far more sinister nature. Thus, he will stop at nothing so long as it means more money in his coffer and the downfall of the Bailey Building & Loan.
Early attempts
Mr. Potter, even before the story starts, has already tried many times (albeit fruitlessly) to nab the Building & Loan company from Peter Bailey, proprietor for many years. His first run-in with George Bailey was in the middle of a business meeting, when a very young George barged in yelling for his father, Peter Bailey. To Potter, this action by George convinced him further that the Bailey clan was annoyingly upstanding.
When Peter Bailey dies from a stroke some years later, a 20-year old George must abandon his dreams of going off to college or traveling the world. Mr. Potter takes advantage of the crisis by attempting to take control of the Bailey Bros. Building & Loan, which he admittedly has the right to do as the principal shareholder in the company. The bereaved George must fend off Potter in order to save the Building & Loan. The rest of the savings bank's board of trustees endorses George's leadership, thwarting Potter's plans to take complete control of the Bedford Falls financial market; but George Bailey pays a heavy price. The board's decision is contingent upon the son taking over full-time management of the struggling, marginal business.
In one scene, Potter scoffs at the idea of a lowly man such as Ernie Bishop, the taxi driver, receiving a loan because George can vouch for his character. Potter snorts, "What does that get us? A discontented, lazy rabble instead of a thrifty working class."
Later, when there is a bank run at the Building & Loan, Mr. Potter tries again to cripple the company. He offers fifty cents ($0.50) on the dollar for George's clients to put their accounts in Potter's bank. George refuses, and instead creatively offers each client his own honeymoon money ($2,000) to hold them over until the week ends, when the money arrives in the Building & Loan vaults.
First Real Attempt: Temptation
Years later, Mr. Potter's own investments and income are threatened by Bailey Park, a new suburb-like development upstart by George's company. Complaining that the Building & Loan has "been a boil on my neck long enough," Mr. Potter summons George to his office and extends him the job offer of his dreams. On condition that he turn the Building & Loan over to Potter, George will receive a plentiful salary with a bonus.
Mr. Potter, by this time, knows that George has always wanted but never received. There are four things Potter knows that George has always desired, and implements these in a dastardly scheme to coax the Building & Loan from George's safe hands.
Sensing George's desire to leave Bedford Falls behind and see the world, Mr. Potter proposes George an incredibly profitable career at Potter's company, running all of Potter's properties and financial affairs. George is offered an immense salary, benefits and business trips to New York City and maybe even Europe.
George takes the bait, and asks for 24 hours to talk it over with his wife, Mary. But once he shakes Mr. Potter's hand, George realizes Potter's true intentions, and refuses him.
Of course, this is not the last time that Potter connives to draw George's company into his clutches. The next time he tries, George will have much more at stake.
Second Real Attempt: Arrest (and Death)
During World War II, Mr. Potter becomes head of the draft board in Bedford Falls. He is satisfied to see that George is ineligible to serve on the war front because of deafness in one of his ears; it is a scar and trophy from when his brother Harry fell through the ice at the age of nine and George rescued him from the freezing waters. Instead, George stays behind and fights the "Battle of Bedford Falls", supervising scrap metal drives and allocating ration coupons.
On Christmas Eve, George's brother Harry (serving as a U.S. Naval Aviator) is to return to Bedford Falls after being decorated with the Medal of Honor for saving the lives of countless soldiers on a troop transport in the war. George's scatterbrained Uncle Billy, an associate of the Building & Loan since Peter Bailey's days, arrives in Potter's bank with $8,000 to deposit and a newspaper in his hand. The miser is wheeled into the bank in his wheelchair, is greeted by four bankers and then, sarcastically, by Billy, who is brandishing a copy of the Bedford Falls Sentinel.
- Well, good morning, Mister Potter! What's the news? Oh, well, well, well: Harry Bailey wins Congressional Medal. That couldn't be one of the Bailey boys. You just can't keep those Baileys down, now, can you, Mister Potter?
And after Potter acknowledges "Slacker" George's 4-F status (his deaf ear already having rendered him unfit for military service), Billy adds the frosting to the cake:
Uncle Billy then throws the newspaper (and the money he inadvertently wrapped inside of it) down on Potter's lap, and happily trots back to the register. Meanwhile, Potter goes into his office and discovers the $8,000 in an envelope, neatly wrapped, lying on the Sentinel. Potter asks to be wheeled back so that he can return the money, an instinctive yet often overlooked moment of decency, at least where money is concerned. Taking a peek into the lobby and seeing Uncle Billy frantically searching the bank for his envelope, however, Potter takes delight in the misfortune of the man who just taunted him, and then changes his mind. He hides inside his office, stealing the money, knowing the ensuing ruin that will happen for George's company.
Later that night, George has discovered Billy's slip-up. The company is inexplicably short $8,000 and the bank examiner is due shortly. George realizes what this means: bankruptcy of the company, scandal, and jail for whoever is responsible. If George goes to jail, Potter will control the Building & Loan, his family will suffer, and he will be shamed for the rest of his life. At first, he briefly entertains of notion of having his uncle accept responsibility for the act, but he realizes that he must save the bank. Obsessed with clearing his own name and saving the business his father started, George goes to the only person he knows who has enough money: Mr. Potter.
In this, George's ultimate moment of need, Potter merely taunts the desperate George cruelly.
- Look at you... you used to be so cocky. You were going to go out and conquer the world. You once called me a warped, frustrated old man. What are you but a warped, frustrated young man? A miserable little clerk... crawling in here on your hands and knees and begging for help.
Although it is George, Potter also thinks about money: a meager loan would be enough to hold George over. He asks for collateral for the loan, and George offers a life insurance policy with a $500 cash value: a trifling sum in 1946. Once more, Potter has an obsession over money and a disregard for human feeling, and says his most vile line in the film.
- Why, George... you're worth more dead than alive.
Potter then telephones the police and puts out a warrant for George's arrest. The charges are on malfeasance and manipulation of funds. George, realizing Potter's statement might be true, escapes the building and drives off, having lost faith in the world and man.
After the "Pottersville Sequence"
Later that night, Potter sees George once more, happy, as if he had never lost $8,000 and was positively overjoyed at the thought of a prison term. "Merry Christmas, Mr. Potter!" he shouts. Mr. Potter responds: "And a Happy New Year to you, too! ...In jail!" This is Mr. Potter's final scene in the movie.
What Potter does not know is that George has just been shown a vision by his guardian angel. George was on the verge of suicide after his conference with Potter and made a wish that he had never been born. So, his guardian angel (Clarence Oddbody, played by Henry Travers) showed him what would have become of Bedford Falls had the man known as George Bailey never been born. The ensuing town is called Pottersville, which is a sleazy city filled with jitterbug dance halls, whiskey joints, and unhappy people with meaningless, amoral lives. This is the "thrifty working class" Potter had allegedly envisioned years earlier.
When George returns to town, he has triumphed over Potter, because he finally realizes that all he has done for Bedford Falls has resulted in a constituency that supports George more than they do Potter, making him an important leader of his community, deeply respected and admired. This is evident when most of the town raises a collection to help make up the financial loss, culminating with a massive advance supplied by George's wealthy industrialist friend that more than makes up the difference. Even though Potter still remains George's rival in business, he does not hold their trust or their love. With that kind of support, the young Bailey's eventual triumph over the aged Potter is all but assured.
Alternate fate
Frank Capra noted that, in many letters and reviews he received for the film, people were somewhat upset that Potter never met justice for stealing the money and nearly ruining George in the process. A parody skit detailing the alternate ending appeared on Saturday Night Live, in an episode hosted by William Shatner. After the finale singsong commences, Uncle Billy realizes that he left the $8,000 in the newspaper he gave Potter. Realizing that his arch-nemesis set him up to take the fall, George leaves with an angry mob of citizens to confront the greedy miser. During the confrontation, not only is it revealed that Potter did steal the money, Potter is actually capable of walking after being pushed out of his wheelchair. Enraged, the townspeople beat Potter to death.
The supposed ending also inspired a reference in The Simpsons episode "Natural Born Kissers", in which Bart and Lisa Simpson are paid to bury the never-seen alternate ending of Casablanca along with It's A Wonderful Life- Killing Spree Ending.
This debate was unintentionally reincarnated during the 2000 Nintendo game The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask where the evil thief Sakon doesn't face justice for all of his misdeeds either. The Japanese magazine Famitsu joked about this situation saying that it makes Sakon the modern-day Mr. Potter.