Something offbeat for Xmas: A tv video you can watch for free, with the sight-for-sore-eyes Bethel Leslie and Ross Elliott

By RM
wednesday, december 24, 2025 at 10:59:00 p.m. est

Meet John Doe (1941) is my favorite Xmas movie. Stanwyck is devastating in the final scene. Interesting that Riskin wrote two movies for Capra in which the hero intends to commit suicide on Xmas Eve, and both were failures when first released (understandably, given moviegoers' taste at that time). It's a Wonderful Life only became a "beloved classic" after many years of TV showings.

Don't know if anyone's interested, but here's something offbeat for Xmas:

https://archive.org/details/s-01-e-26-papa-benjamin/Thriller+(1960)+-+COMPLETE/S01E21+-+The+Merriweather+File.mp4

Thriller, season 1, ep. 21- "The Merriweather File": Excellent mystery-type episode with the sight-for-sore-eyes Bethel Leslie, and Ross Elliott outstanding as an innocent man condemned to death. Not giving anything anyway, but Christmas is the punchline to this story.

Merry Xmas,

-RM

N.S.: Thanks, RM. Merry Christmas to you and yours, too.

Actually, Bob Riskin (1897-1955) didn't write It's a Wonderful Life. By then, he'd gotten tired of living In Capra's Shadow, and had split from him. Plus, in 1945, he suffered a massive stroke from which he never recovered. Goodrich & Hackett wrote the script to Life, with contributions from Capra.

However, Capra was notorious for re-cycling script ideas and even entire pictures.

After Riskin's stroke, his heroic wife, Fay Wray (yes, that Fay Wray!) stuck by him, and went through old scripts of his, plucking out great passages of dialogue, typing them up, and rehearsing them with him. Then, when company came a-calling, the couple would would perform. The visitors would come away, thinking Bob had completely recovered!