A special Christmas Eve screening of classic seasonal film It’s a Wonderful Life is to take place in Skipton.

The inspirational film will be shown at the Plaza Cinema, Skipton, at 11.00am on Saturday December 24.

Frank Capra's Christmas classic from 1946, starring James Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore, tells the tale of a small-town philanthropist whose loan company has gone bust and who is saved from suicide by an elderly angel (Henry Travers).  

Stewart wishes he had never been born, but Travers shows him what a hell-hole his home town would have been without him.

The film was nominated for five Oscars and is also one of Barry Norman's 100 Best Films.

"It's the perfect film for Christmas," said the Plaza’s proprietor Charles Morris.  

"It’s become an annual tradition with us; some people come who have never seen it before, others come time and time again.   It is the ideal film to set you up for the day.   

“If anyone can’t make it at that time, however, there is a later screening at the Picture House, Keighley, at 5.00pm when people will be able to relax and round off their day.    We will have home-made mince pies at both cinemas; I just hope I’ve organised enough !”

The Plaza has a number of other attractions over the Christmas period, including the long-anticipated ROGUE ONE : A STAR WARS STORY which begins on Thursday 15th December, plus the new Disney animated film MOANA.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the first standalone film in the Star Wars, and is directed by Gareth Edwards.

It stars an ensemble cast including Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, with Jiang Wen and Forest Whitaker.

It tells the story of the mission to steal the plans for the Death Star, which play a key role in the original Star Wars: A New Hope, and is the first of potentially infinite spin-offs from the Star Wars series.