Analyzing Evil: Mr. Henry Potter From It's A Wonderful Life 

he's a business man. my dad would always go off on how this old man got away with so much, but in the end of the film mr potter is a crabby old scamp, stewing in his venom, while George bailey got the recognition and love of his friends and family.

I personally think that the fact that we don’t see what becomes of Potter is actually important to the story itself. I think he is there to act as a force of negation, nature and opposition - he is an obstacle. The story isn’t about how George wins and Potter loses… the story is about how George is renewed in his faith in life… after all, that’s the name of the movie. As an obstacle, Potter isn’t important… George has overcome the obstacles he faced by the end of the film, and is renewed. Potter, in effect, is a literal allegory, and is incidental to the plot. It could just as easily have been a dragon, a plague, a war. He is in opposition to George, and that - not the man himself - is the important part to the story as it is told to us. Just an idea.

Loved that the actor playing Potter was also a mentor for James Stewart throughout filming

Plenty of more physically and vocally imposing actors were considered for the role of Mr. Potter, including the great Vincent Price, whom I adore, but I'm glad that wheelchair-bound Lionel Barrymore won the part. It reminds us that evil comes in all shapes and sizes, including deceptively diminutive ones. Fun fact: Potter was supposed to keel over from a heart attack while the town came to George Bailey's aid, but the scene was deemed too dark and shocking for such an otherwise wholesome film, so it was cut. In the live stage production, there's now an added scene where Clarence uses his powers to expose Potter to the police. There is one crucial scene I feel you overlooked: when Potter becomes head of the draft board during WWII. Maybe I'm reading too deeply into this, but the rate at which he approves drafting countless citizens of Bedford Falls while barely glancing at their files strongly suggests to me that he knew many of them should've been rejected 4F but enlisted them anyway because he was looking forward to seizing their assets once they died overseas. And even if their surviving estate holders managed to stop him with George Bailey's help, Potter still saw their deaths as a benefit because it meant fewer people to hate and oppose him. Being head of a draft board with no oversight committee despite the obvious conflict of interest, he'll never be held accountable for essentially committing mass murder and war profiteering, which is far more egregious than stealing the $8,000 later on. If you're looking for another great Frank Capra villain, you should do Jonathan Brewster from Arsenic and Old Lace.

Like a lot of the villains covered on this channel probably the scariest thing about Mr Potter is that he was very much real during that time and you can definitely say there are people still like him now causing misery to anyone and everyone. We need more George Bailey's in the world.

I've always felt like I'm living in the world where George Bailey doesn't exist and Henry Potter got his greedy mits on the ol Building and Loan. Wonder what life would be like with him here.

I figure that the fact of Potter being in a wheelchair is the key to his character. Most likely from an avoidable accident than an illness. He possesses all of his mental facilities, yet is never even seen standing, much less walking with the aid of a cane or crutches. His infirmity must have been complete and happened in the prime of his life, its cause leading him to be permanently angered and embittered toward humanity itself. And, of course, Barrymore was one helluva an actor.

"And a merry Christmas to you George!...........IN JAIL" this quote has bounced around my brain for the longest time, what a great movie this is

He's one of the main inspirations for Mr. Burns from The Simpsons.

One of our close family friends is a retired financier and last year around xmas, he said "Aside from keeping the envelope of money, I wouldn't have done much different from Mr Potter"

I know that we're suppose to hate Mr. Potter, but I hate the fact that he stole $8000 from the Baileys's hands, put out an arrest warrant for George Bailey, and technically got away with his crimes. Sure, with the help from the town's residents George was able to get the money, and in term was no longer going to jail, but the fact remains is that Mr. Potter stole the money so that he could bring down George, and still kept the money on his person. Rot in Hell, Henry F. Potter.

Happy holidays everyone!

I always envisaged Mr. Potter as being the future recipient of a Christmas Carol-style ghostly visit, after which he finds redemption, because maybe someone in Bedford Falls was out there praying for Mr. Potter, too.

One of my all-time favorite Christmas movies. Thank you for analyzing this “warped, frustrated old man”!

I like the think the act of kindness the whole town expressed towards George in his greatest time in need, put Potter in the grave.

Your Analysis of evil characters should be mirrored by a Analysis of heroes. In depth reflections of movie protagonists can be just as compelling as that of villains. In the same vein that not all villains are purely evil, no hero is purely good.

Few things I would love to see. An analyzing hero's playlist added. Seeing that the characters we hold to be true and virtuous are in fact very flawed. Contrasting the protagonist with the antagonist could easily be yet another playlist. Last is more esoteric as you can't really know where the author, director or real life person's direction but a what could they have done differently. Thanks for this series, it is really infotainment at its core and I personally love it.

Great video. I always loved Potter as a wonderfully realistic type of villain. As a practicing Christian, I also really appreciate the respect with which you treat the religious aspects of this film.

1) I see Pottersville as what happens when you get people to be slaves through their own desires, which is something that Potter must have understood given his cynicism. By getting people to “live for themselves”, they become easier to control. This is also ties into despair, misery and loneliness. 2) Relatedly, Potter never being married and having a family is indeed a strong contrast to nearly everyone else at Bedford Falls, who are married and have families. For Potter, people should be a “thrifty working class” (and he could even be quite derogatory by calling them “garlic eaters”). Owning a home, to him, is a privilege, not a necessity to both present families and to their future. 3) I was actually thinking of the very criminal act that Potter does commit, which would be grand larceny ($8,000 1945 is about $120k 2020) and malfeasance as well as a gross violation of his duties as a B&L stockholder and the *president of a bank*. 4) Until I heard “alternate Violet” knowing Potter personally, I always thought that Potter had already died in “alternate 1945” and “his spirit lives on in the town”. 5) Potter is what happens when you treat economics and commerce as a system to be used and manipulate rather than humans interacting with each other to everyone’s benefit. Furthermore, he is also happens when you let people with ambitions for power, control and dominance “have their way”. George Bailey, even with his flaws, is truly the bulk-wart against him.

Mr. Potter: “But I’ve got a monopoly to maintain! I own the electric company, AND the waterworks, not to mention that hotel on ‘Baltic Avenue’!”

Hmmm doing this one made me think how about doing Mr Burns from The Simpsons 🤔🎄✌️… Happy holidays to Mr Vile Eye and the entire Vile Eye community 😀😎🐶

Just watched this the other night. Stellar acting from Lionel Barrymore (Drew Barrymores grandfather) Also, Kratos from God of War!!!

This timeless classic has aged remarkably and is hands down my favorite Christmas movie.

Just watched this gem last night! One of the greatest films ever.

I saw the movie recently and yes I agree, this guy was totally a douche, I just never expected him to get a spot on this channel 😂 but hey, you're the pro man.

Love this movie, easily the best Christmas film ever made and one of the best movies ever, period! Makes me cry every time ❤️ And I HATE Mr. Potter! As much as I love this movie, the fact that he never got any comeuppance or suffered any kind of punishment for his actions is the one major flaw I have with the movie.

Here are a couple of suggestions for Analyzing Evil: 1. Hal Stewart/Tighten from Megamind 2. Rasputia Latimore from Norbit 3. Jafar from Aladdin 4. Zira from The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride

Analyzing Evil: Colin Sullivan From The Departed

I love watching analyzing evil.

John Kreese, from Karate Kid/Cobra Kai, would make a good episode, and Jax Teller from the Sons of Anarchy

Part of what makes the film so compelling is how easy it is to relate to George. He is a regular guy struggling with his own emotions and feelings, not wanting to do what is right but who knows he has to do what is right or else he would regret it later. It is the tension between doing what we want and doing what we know is best that makes him relatable. He is a good man who is not perfect - this is what makes it a classic story.

Great video for the holidays. One of my favorite Christmas movies, that and die hard. A lot of people would say all Mr. Potter did was play the system to the best of his abilities, but he was an evil wicked man. After he took the 8 bands I was like he had no redeeming qualities

I just want to say here how great Jimmy Stewart's acting was, and how much he deserved an Oscar for this film. In the boardroom scene where Potter motions to dissolve the Building and Loan, Stewart's character George tells Potter that he wants what he "can't get his fingers on". When he says the line "can't get your fingers on", his voice creaks, as I think commonly happens when we're really angry at someone and stressed.

A lil analyzing evil for my lunch break? Don't mind if I do

Great work as always. Thanks so much for your commitment to quality editing and writing.

Dude, your growth has been insane. I've been watching you since you were in the hundreds and even just the past year going from a couple thousand to hundreds of thousands is insane. Fantastic job👍

I had the pleasure to be cast as Mr. Potter for my theatres show, and it was such a fun time. In the show script he visibly finds the money and think about returning it but changes his mind and shoves it in his pocket. I was shooting to be cast as George but ended up thinking Mr. Potter was more fun to play

Happy Holidays. An interesting insight of a Scroogy styled villain. As suggestions for more videos in the future; 1. Ned Trent - The Specialist 2. Vicious - Cowboy Bebop (Anime) 3. Dorian Tyrone - The Mask 4. Simon Phoenix - Demolition Man 5. Athena - Noir (Anime) 6. King Haggard - The Last Unicron

Have a very Merry (and Vile) Season. I look forward to each of your Analyzing Evil vids! Keep up the stellar work.

Here's another greedy SOB you might want to analyze: Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), "Wall Street"

Happy Holidays Everyone!

What a fun choice of subject for the holidays, thank you for the excellent content as always 😊

Happy Christmas Vile and thank you for a year of entertaining and thought provoking videos!

Excellent choice with Mistborn! I read it earlier this year and I loved it, and the sequels were even better. Great video too!

I love your videos and the way you use your voice, everything in your videos feel master crafted and preplanned. I really appreciate your efforts in making your videos so much fun to watch and/or listen to. ❤️ Forever a fan

Awesome analysis! Well worth the wait! Mr. Potter isn't just an iconic Christmas villain but an iconic cinema villain, I'm glad you did this video! The thing about Pottersville is it may look appealing to the visiting tourist, but the residents are clearly miserable and then taking into account the establishments(all owned by Potter) are all a designed as a means to entice people into carelessly spending their money on the temporary pleasures and distractions they provide from the poverty Potter deliberately keeps everyone in, providing them means to cope with their inescapable situation but only to suck more money from them, leading to them falling further into debt with Potter or working for him at one of his establishments, further fitting the Devil analogy you gave and how he uses temptation as his greatest weapon, offering you something you want but taking all you have in turn. One way or another, in Pottersville, eventually, he will own you.

7:18 I wouldn’t say it’s “Temptation” per say, more like he targets a persons desperation perfectly, choosing his words carefully in order to make a person think they have no choice other than to side with him.

Got a huge smile on my face when I saw this vid. An unexpected but wholly welcome Analysis of Evil

My head just exploded 🤯 I’ve watched this movie every Christmas Eve for the past 20 years and never saw the connection you made. Well done 👏👏👏

I'm glad you did this one.

one of my fav new channels. A merry Christmas to you and your loved one's. Craciun Fericit from Romania

I've gotta rewatch this now. Thanks!

Every little town in America had this duel fate most of the time. Sad thing is the Potters win most of the time.

I absolutely love this channel! I have a weird one for you though. I've been binging Seinfeld on Netflix and I think you could do one on George Costanza from that show. He's a great example of every day evils that we come across in our day to day lives. Selfish, cowardly, manipulative, a pathological liar. Shallow, cheap, whiny and so on so forth.

Watch this every Christmas. For some reason I always remembered Mr. Potter returning the money in the very last scene. After watching this video I looked up the ending on RU-vid and saw it was actually the cop who came to arrest him ripping up the warrant that I was thinking of. Don't know if that's a Mandela Effect or just bad memory but there you go. Great video and Merry Christmas

Great work as usual! I think a breakdown on Marlo Stansfield from The Wire would make for a great episode of analyzing evil!

What an awesome video man!

Auric Goldfinger arguably the most iconic Bond villain I would love to see a analysis of. He's loves gold, only gold.

"Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you're talking about, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn't think so. People were human beings to him, but to you, a warped, frustrated old man, they're cattle. Well, in my book he died a much richer man than you'll ever be." From my favorite Jimmy Stewart monologue.

Fun fact: Harry Potter had a great grandpa was also named Henry Potter but went by Harry. Be funny if someone did a parody were turns out Mr. Potter was a wizard in disguise. This would also explain all the wealth young 11 y/o Harry had at Gringotts. The timeline matches up, too.

Please. Analyzing Evil : Jim/James Moriarty (BBCs Sherlock)

Merry Christmas sir! Keep the good content comin!

I first saw this movie when I was like 10 or 11, and all the business stuff just went over my head at the time. Yet after watching this video, which was primarily focused on the antagonist, I now see the genius of this movie.

Your assessment is correct. I’m glad you chose my favorite movie😀🎄

Excellent timing

I just always wondered why George never asked the angel where did his uncle put the money lol

This is such an underrated channel!

One of my favorite movies of all time.

I'm always fascinated by the voiceless character who seems to be Potter's PA (pushing his wheelchair and so on). He sees Potter steal the money, and he gets a close-up showing his disgust and discomfort. It's a great little character moment, and I wish we saw more of him.

Merry Christmas Vile Eye. 🧐

In a sense I'm glad that Mr. Potter didn't get his "come-uppance" at the end for what he did. That way, the film more realistically portrays that evil is sadly not always punished, but we all must press on the best we can despite that...That said, SNL's alternate ending is very entertaining!

Great pick for the season!

In the spirit of the season - Ebenezer Scrooge; from specifically the best (imho) Christmas Carol ever. The Allistair Sim "original" (1951 b&w). Just curious about your take on ES. Love your work btw.

Thanos. Gollum. Voldermort. Bernie from Drive? '... wonderful life!' is certainly my favourite Christmas film and one of my favourites in general. Those last 15 minutes move me to tears, every time.

One of the great ironies of this is that the role of Mr. Potter was one of the very few heavies that Lionel Barrymore portrayed during his career. He usually portrayed gruff but kindly characters. But seems that he is always associated with the role of Mr. Potter.

Anybody from "The Wire" deserves to their own video.

Thanks for the video

What most impresses me here is that this entire video is underscored by the final movement of Ode to Joy, which does wonderful justice to George Bailey. Thanks.

In a way, Potter may have been punished for his crime as a consequence of his own avarice. He owned so much, yet he was obsessed with taking the last bits of Bedford Falls. As he was thwarted by George, he was left frustrated and spent the rest of his days sulking over what he didn't have, rather than taking pleasure in all he did possess. His avarice made him as miserable as any prison sentence. As usual, excellent work! Thank you! Suggestions/Hopes for future episodes, please: A collection of several "Columbo" killers Alice Morgan from "Luther" Arthur Mitchell from "Dexter"

I absolutely love your content. Maybe in the future you will do a Thematic analysis on 1987 Jerry Blake "The Stepfather".

So no mention of Potter being confined to a wheelchair? Which is pointed out in the movie to be one of the reasons why he is bitter? He probably came from a well off family, contracted Polio when young and lost the use of his legs. Back in that time people in his condition were often sent to live their life in care homes, sent out of the public eye. He became bitter and resentful in life as a result.

Bedford Falls was a family town, where George Bailey was raised and where Mary wanted to raise their children. The Bailey Savings and Loan helped keep the town that way as we see with the family that the home warming gifts were given to. Look at what Hill Valley became under Biff (who also did not have his own children) in Back to the Future 2.

I love your videos! I think clay puppington from morel Orel would be a great addition too!

Before anybody asks, he is not related to Harry Potter 🤣🤣🤣

Could you cover Lord Shen from Kung Fu Panda 2?

Mr. Potter reminds me a little bit of Brad Wesley from the film, "Road House". Both are greedy businessmen who go out of their way to extort money out of small businesses in their respective small towns and bullied the residents into submission. Though Wesley is more of a criminal than Mr. Potter, because he committed acts of violence and racketeering to get where he was, and he got his comeuppance in the end.

Great video as usual! I think this isn't as mainstream as some other people ask for but if like to see you analyze Jeremiah Sand from Mandy

George is definitely not a completely selfish person, although he is not completely selfless, and he always has a heart for others whilst having these dreams for travel.

Both Potter and Bailey were businessmen but Potter was a corporatist driven only by immediate profits and matket share. The business model of Bailey actually lifted people up by giving them a chance when their credit score was less than stellar. Their benefit ultimately saved Bailey when there was a run on the bank and the people actually returned the favor to Bailey and helped him stay afloat. By seeing people as only dollars and cents Potter forced people to their worst and caused them to do desperate things. That's why Pottersville was full of cabarets and saloons while Bedford Falls was a place to raise a family.

Damn... Thank you!

Best Christmas movie ever

How long has it been since you last did a video game villain? I suggest Frank Fontaine from Bioshock.

My mom has a book on "It's a Wonderful Life" and there was a proposed sequel set in the 1980s with an adult Zuzu helping out a now elderly George Bailey try to protect Bedford Falls from being knocked down by tycoons. Potter's fate was mentioned- he, surprisingly, had a change of heart toward the end of his life and became a philanthropist, but when he died in the mid 1950s he was buried clutching two $100 bills in each hand to show that you CAN take it with you.

a lonely old dragon. what a nice thing to say.

Love ur brakedowns man great work keep it comin also can u do dutch van der linde from red dead sometime in the future wuld love that

"It's a wonderFULL life in fact!.. For some..."

Can you do some of the Marvel villians? Thanos, Loki, Killmonger, Ultron, Kingpin are some that stand out to me. Also, maybe the characters in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, I think that could be a light, almost funny one. Thanks! Love your channel!

"Mr. Potter, I will no longer be doing my banking with you"

Based on your description, I can tell you've read all of two pages of that series.

I’d love to see an analysis of Koba from the new Planet of the Apes series. Definitely one of my favourite villains of all time!