THE DIRECTOR of It's A Wonderful Life showed the movie every Christmas to his own family.

Keighley Picture House has established a similar tradition by screening Frank Capra’s heart-warming classic every Christmas Eve.

The North Street Cinema will again bring black-and-white nostalgia back to the screen next Wednesday at 5pm.

The 1946 film starred James Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore.

It’s A Wonderful Life tells the tale of a small-town philanthropist whose loan company has gone bust and who is saved from suicide by an elderly angel.

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 originally performed poorly at the box office because of high production costs and stiff competition at the time of its release, but came to be regarded as a classic.

Picture House proprietor Charles Morris said It’s A Wonderful Life was a perfect film for Christmas.

He said: "It’s become an annual tradition with us; some people come who have never seen it before, others come time and time again.

“Hopefully people will be able to relax and round off their day; it certainly is the film to put you in the mood for Christmas.

“If anyone can’t make it at that time however, we are also showing it at the Plaza Skipton on Sunday, December 21 at 1.30pm.

“We will have home-made mince pies at both cinemas – I just hope I’ve organised enough!”