It was explained to me that it was a tribute to all the people who kept the the nation running during the war. The folks that had important work to do on the homefront and what the lives of others around them would be like if they weren’t there to do it.
It didn’t do well at the box office on its release. It’s reputation slowly built to become a holiday classic.
One of our favorites, and we watch it every year at Christmas time.
I can see how that film would have been written as a tribute to that generation of Americans. There were a lot of Archetypes used: The shifty businessman, the befuddled but sincere average Joe. The chance to get rich quick, followed by the crushing, breathtaking but nonetheless predictable disappointment of losing almost everything you have.
Act Three begins with: A chance of redemption and making it all better.