Mister Potter

Henry F. Potter (commonly referred to as "Mr. Potter" or just "Potter") is the archvillain and antagonist of hero George Bailey in the 1946 Frank Capra classic film It's a Wonderful Life. He is a greedy miser who makes George Bailey's life as miserable and as penniless a one as is possible. He occupies slot #6 on the American Film Institute's list of the 50 Greatest Villains in American film history (in its list entitled AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains). Mr. Potter was portrayed by veteran actor Lionel Barrymore, who previously had success in teaming with Capra in the 1938 Best Picture winning film You Can't Take It With You.

The persona of Mr. Henry F. Potter

Throughout the entire film, Mr. Potter is heartless, cold, apathetic, and downright evil. He denies everyone happiness because he has the power to do so. He has a severely twisted, sadistic sense of humor. Though Potter has no wife, he does have a mistress: money.

Everything that Mr. Potter does in the film is motivated by money. Be it "saving" George's clients during a bank run or offering George the job of his dreams, all are thinly veiled plots (and very crafty ones, as must be said) 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 peoples 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 propositionss may seem fair, even charitable at first, but one must always remember that Potter's only motivation is money. Thus, he can, shall, and 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 was in the middle of a business meeting, and a very young George barged in yelling for Peter. To Potter, this action by George convinced him further that the Bailey clan was hard-willed, upstanding, and annoyingly so.

When Mr. Bailey dies many years later, George must stay behind from a collegiate life abroad and continually wrest control away from Mr. Potter. George Bailey is the son of Peter Bailey. Upon the initial death of Peter Bailey from a stroke, Potter attempts to take control of the Building & Loan, as he is principal shareholder in the company. After much argument, George stands up to Potter for the first time in his life as owner of the Building & Loan. Potter's attempt to take power is crushed by George and the rest of the board of trustees.

Later, when there is a bank run at the Building & Loan, Mr. Potter tries again to cripple the company. Mr. Potter offers $.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. Potter's scheme is best summed up in George's lament:

Don't you see what's happening? Potter isn't selling; Potter's buying!

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 offers him the job of his dreams.

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.

1) George could never go to college and 2) cannot leave the Building & Loan because he has always been obligated to stay behind and tend the company that his father started. His brother Harry is not able to run the company because he has a wife and a job at her father's plastics company. Therefore, Potter knows that George is the last of his family to run the company, so if he leaves, nobody from the Bailey clan will have control.

3) George wants to have the best life for his young bride Mary Hatch. Potter knows that George offered his honeymoon money to the clients during the bank run, and knows this is an example of how money constraints are affecting the Bailey marriage. They also live in the old house at 320 Sycamore: a rundown, previously-abandoned mansion with horrid drafts.

4) George has always wanted to travel and work for the world. Earlier in the film, during a soliloquy to then-girlfriend Mary, he cries:

I'm shakin' the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I'm gonna see the world: Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Coliseum. Then, I'm comin' back here to go to college and see what they know. And then I'm gonna build things. I'm gonna build airfields, I'm gonna build skyscrapers a hundred stories high, I'm gonna build bridges a mile long.

Cognizant of these four desires, Mr. Potter welcomes and "congratulates" him on such good business. As a matter of honor, Mr. Potter proposes George a winning token. Potter offers George an incredibly profitable career at Potter's company, to run all of his properties and financial affairs. George is offered an insanse salary: $20,000 a year (2), benefits and business trips to New York City and maybe even Europe (4). Potter knows that George will think of all the fine clothes Mary could wear, and how nice of a house he could live in (3), and all that extra income and time off for vacations also might mean a chance at finally getting educated (1). Potter has crafted the ultimate temptation for George, a man who knows that he has sacrificed everything for the goodness of the people of Bedford Falls.

Amazingly, George seems to take the bait. He asks for 24 hours to talk it over with Mary, to sort everything out in his head. But once he shakes Mr. Potter's hand, George realizes what he has done.

I don't need 24 hours. I don't have to talk to anybody. I know right now, and the answer's no, no! Doggone it... You sit around here and you spin your little webs and you think the whole world revolves around you and your money! Well, it doesn't, Mr. Potter! In the, in the whole vast configuration of things, I'd say you were nothing but a scurvy little spider!

Mr. Potter is left alone in his office, his hopes of crushing the Building & Loan dashed.

Of course, this is not the last time that he 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 rejects George from going onto the war front because George is deaf 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" against Mr. Potter.

On Christmas Eve, George's brother Harry is to return to Bedford Falls after being decorated with the Medal of Honor for saving lives of countless soldiers in the war. Uncle Billy, an associate of the Building & Loan since the days of Peter, arrives in Potter's bank with $8,000 to deposit and a newspaper in his hand. The miser is wheeled into the bank on 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?

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. Taking a peek into the lobby and seeing Uncle Billy searching the bank for his envelope, Potter hides inside of his office, stealing the money, knowing the ensuing ruin for George's company.

Later that night, George has discovered Billy's slip-up, and 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. 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 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 equity: a trifling 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.

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.

When George returns to town, he has triumphed over Potter, because he finally realizes that after all he has done for Bedford Falls has resulted in a constituency that supports George more than they do Potter. Even though Potter holds most of their money, he does not hold their trust or their love. This is Potter's true downfall.

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Film villains