Tis the Season for Christmas Movies -- The Author Offers 18 Suggestions For Your Viewing Pleasure

It's a Wonderful Life

For the first three years of this blog (2008-2010) I published a list of my twelve favorite Christmas-themed films (for the twelve days of Christmas). It’s long past time for a reprise of the list — but now with fifty per cent more content! That’s right, I’ve added six films to the original list so that you can enjoy eighteen days of Christmas. 

You'll note that some of these are not, strictly speaking, Christmas movies. Indeed the most revered of all, It's A Wonderful Life, begins and ends on Christmas but most of the story takes place at other times of the year. That's true of several many of the movies on my list; if they aren't plain and simple Christmas movies they at least end during the holiday. That's one reason I don't include the delightful Bachelor Mother (1939) starring Ginger Rogers which is often show in December. It begins in the Christmas season but the rest of the movie is after the holiday. It thus — to me, anyway — doesn’t have the holiday feel to it. So although in point of fact there's not a lot of Christmas in The Man Who Came to Dinner, for example, it's a season staple and makes my list as it ends on December 25. 

Enough preamble, here are movies to make your holiday all the brighter. 

(Other than the fact that the first two are my favorites on the list, they are offered in no particular order.)

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) Capra. An obvious choice. I never tire of great films and this is one of the best of all time, Christmas-related or otherwise. Jimmy Stewart is at his best as we all know, but so is Donna Reed, Thomas Mitchell, Lionel Barrymore and the rest of director Frank Capra's great cast. This is a movie that has stayed with me all my life as a reminder to be forever thankful for what I do have and not to underestimate the role each of us plays in one another's lives.

Christmas in Connecticut

Christmas in Connecticut (1945) Godfrey. You're not going to get any more Christmasy than this classic. Barbara Stanwyck, stars as a magazine writer whose boss, an avuncular Sydney Greenstreet, has her host a war hero in the kind of rustic traditional Xmas she extols in her columns (and claims to live in). The problem is that Stanwyck's character is a big faker and has to go through all manner of shenanigans to pull the wool over everyone's eyes including the heroic sailor, the handsome and humble Dennis Morgan. You'll not find a warmer, fuzzier, cozier Christmas film. I’ve watched it every year since the early 2000s and have yet to tire of it. 

Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944) P. Sturges One of the great films from Preston Sturges's brief but spectacular run of classics. It's another film that begins and ends at Christmas. The usual Sturges' troupe is on hand led by William Demarest as Constable Kockenlocker (great name). Betty Hutton and Eddie Bracken co-star. It's a typically frenetic and witty Sturges comedy. Slipping the story of a pregnant young women who doesn’t know who the father is by the censors was the true miracle of Morgan's Creek. 

The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)Keighley. I've never seen anyone else in the role so I'm really not qualified to say but I can't imagine anyone better suited than Monty Wooley to play Sheridan Whiteside. What ego, what pomposity, what fun. Whiteside is of course the world famous columnist of print and radio whose fall down wet steps make him the unwelcome house guest in a small town home. Along for the fun are Bette Davis as his erstwhile assistant, the delicious Ann Sheridan and Jimmy Durante essentially playing themselves.  

The Shop Around the Corner (1940) Lubitsch. Very little of the holiday season is present in this Ernst Lubitsch classic, but it ends on Christmas Eve. The director's famous "touch" is evident in this story of two store clerks who anonymously fall in love as pen pals. Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan star but Frank Morgan as the store owner is a scene stealer. It's one of the better done love stories of all time.  

Miracle on 34th Street

Miracle on 34th Street (1947) Seaton. Avoid the newer and far inferior version. This original stars Edmund Gwen as Santa Claus. Is he really Saint Nicholas? So it would seem. He'll at least have you believing he's the best cinematic Santa of all time. Maureen O'Hara is the mom and Natalie Wood the precocious child. 

Home Alone (1990) Columbus. The mark of a really good comedy is that it remains funny with each viewing. This is the best of the many films writer, director, producer John Hughes cranked out in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Obviously star Macaulay Caulkin had a lot to do with the film's surprising success. He plays an eight-year-old left behind when the family jets off to France for Christmas. Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, as the two burglars he terrorizes, help with the mirth-making. There's also a touching element to the story. Not to be forgotten is John Candy's cameo -- polka, polka, polka!  

Home Alone 2 (1992) Columbus. A sequel that's almost as good as the original! Another holiday miracle. Caulkin, his family and Pesci and Stern are back but this time the setting is New York and the cameo is provided by our old friend Eddie Bracken. The laughs continue and so too does the holiday message.  

 

The Santa Clause (1994) Pasquin.  By all means pass on all the dreadful sequels to this Tim Allen vehicle. Ahh but the original is a delight with an interesting take on the whole Santa, elves and reindeer business. I haven't seen Allen in much I've liked but he comes through here in the story of an ordinary bloke who falls into the role of being the real Saint Nick. Some people think he's loony but he's got a surprise for them.

A Christmas Carol (1951)

A Christmas Carol (1951) Hurst. For my money (albeit there's not a lot of it) Alastair Sim is the best Ebeneezer Scrooge in film history. It’s not surprising then that this is the best cinematic version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. It is very dark when it needs to be and brightens up nicely when it’s supposed to. Along with It's A Wonderful Life, this is the ultimate secular holiday story, with its story of redemption and hope.  

Elf (2003) Favreau. A full-sized Will Ferrell as an elf is pretty much guaranteed laughs. Send him from the North Pole to New York City to find his biological dad who is played by James Caan and if you’re looking at comic gold. Add a love story and a threat to Christmas and you’ve got a Yule classic.

A Christmas Carol (1984) Donner. This was actually a made for TV movie but I don't see why that should exclude it. George C. Scott is Scrooge and, though no Sim, he's damn good. While the previously mentioned film makes a strong case for a black and white telling of the story, this film makes a compelling argument for a color version. This wonderful film was directed by Clive Donner.  

Remember the Night (1940) Leisen. A recent discovery of mine. How’s this a formula for a good film: A film directed by Mitchell Leisen from a script by Preston Sturges starring Barbara Stanwyck? Sounds like a sure fire winner and it is. Fred MacMurray co-stars as an attorney who takes pity on an accused shoplifter (Stanwyck) he's prosecuting who has to spend the holidays in the slammer and brings her home for Christmas. You guessed it, romance ensues.

The Bishop's Wife

The Bishop’s Wife (1947). Koster. Cary Grant plays an angel who goes to the aid of a bishop (David Niven) and his wife (Loretta Young). The bishop is trying to coax a wealthy and unpleasant widow to help fund a big new cathedral and in so doing has lost the Christmas spirt and his true calling. Grant is at his most charming as he eases the family’s burdens and helps the bishop see the light. 

It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947). Del Ruth. During the Christmas season two homeless men move into a mansion while the owners are vacationing. Eventually more guests arrive and hilarity comes with them. It’s a funny, warm and charming holiday story.

Mon Oncle Antoine (1971) Jutra. A French-Canadien film set in a rural Quebec mining town in 1949 is not your usual Christmas fare but this is a brilliant film that over 50 years after its release still deserves a wider audience. It’s part coming of age story for a fifteen-year old lad but it also examines life in small town dominated by the local mining boss. It’s set just before and during Christmas.

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) Henson. Something for the kiddies that Mom and Dad can enjoy. The Muppets appeal to all ages, of course, and so does Michael Caine as Scrooge. From what I remember of the Muppet films from when my children were wee ones this is the best of the lot. It's a musical with tunes that will dance your head like visions of sugar plums.

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010). Helander. This is a very different Christmas film from the land of my ancestors. Set in Lapland On Christmas Eve, Santa Claus is uncovered during archaeological dig. Children then start disappearing but a brave boy and his father, with the aid of other locals try to capture Santa and well… no spoilers here. It’s different, it’s fun and beautifully made.