Christmas, the season of celebration and goodwill to all men and all that… But who would disagree to a cosy night watching their favourite Christmas movie filling them with Christmas spirit and memories of their childhood?
A timeless classic with the young and old Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol is as poignant now as it was when it was first published on December 1843. Dickens’ tale has been adapted for film so many times that according to the Internet Movie Database, various movie adaptations of the story were filmed as early as 1910. The most popular are the Albert Finney 1970 musical adaptation, The Muppet Christmas Carol with Michael Caine as Scrooge and the Bill Murray delightful comedy Scrooged.
White Christmas is another favourite starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye as two army buddies who together with two beautiful sisters team up and become a top song-and-dance act. When they travel to perform a Christmas show, they find their former commander is the lodge owner. What follows is a series of comic mix-ups as the performers try to help the General. The film is very famous for the theme carol song White Christmas which was introduced by Bing Crosby and has been featured in Christmas-themed films ever since.
Miracle on 34th Street (1947) is one of those films that get better with age. It tells the story of a gentle old man, working as a Santa Claus at a department store in New York City, who insists that he is the real thing. He befriends a little girl and what ensues is a chain of events where he is put on trial and has to convince everyone that he really is Santa Claus.
If there’s one film synonymous with Christmas, it has to be Frank Capra’s 1946 fantasy drama It’s A Wonderful Life. The plot is set on Christmas Eve and stars Jimmy Stewart as a Scrooge-like businessman George Bailey (Stewart) who is feeling that taking his life is the only option, when all of a sudden a man (who happens to be an angel in disguise) by the name of Clarence appears and George is given the chance to see what would have become of his family and his beloved small town had he not entered their lives.
Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year and surely on everyone’s top 10 Christmas movie list, this is the kind of experience movies were made for…
The tagline couldn’t be any better: “A family comedy without the family”. No Christmas is Christmas without watching Home Alone. We all know the story by now: this classic Christmas comedy stars Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, an eight-year-old who is mistakenly left behind when his family flies to France for the Christmas holidays. While initially relishing his time alone, he is later threatened by two burglars, whom he outwits by rigging the house with booby traps. The sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is also a must-see, with Kevin (Culkin), once again separated from his family during a Christmas trip, this time finding himself in the city that never sleeps, encountering the burglars (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) from the first film.
If anyone ever wanted a glimpse of Santa’s birthplace then look no further than Santa Claus. Produced by the Superman Team Alexander and Ilya Salkind, the first half of this film, set hundreds of years ago, shows how the old man who eventually became Santa Claus was given immortality and chosen to deliver toys to all the children of the world. The second half moves into the modern era, in which Patch played by Dudley Moore, the head elf, leaves Santa’s lair and unknowingly assists an evil toy manufacturer (John Lithgow) who wants to corner the market and eliminate Santa Claus.
In Plane, Trains and Automobiles – which is probably one of the best festive comedies ever – stiff businessman Steve Martin must struggle to travel home for the holidays, with an obnoxious slob of a shower ring salesman (John Candy) who seems to live in a world governed by a different set of rules. Their journey is doomed from the start but they are determined to use all means of transport in what turns out to be a very funny mishmash of cancelled, broken, and worthless trips in the wrong direction. This movie is ideal for anyone who has ever been late in catching a flight before Christmas.
A lesson for anyone who is planning to commit a crime on Christmas Eve, Trapped in Paradise starring Nicholas Cage, is a delightful comedy, about what happens to three thieves when they decide to rob a bank on Christmas Eve, in probably the world’s friendliest town. Once they rob the bank, their journey out of the town is only the beginning as they encounter the town’s kind inhabitants who offer them a place to stay for Christmas.
Disney also has its Christmas jewel with One Magic Christmas where an angel played by Harry Dean Stanton shows a mother (Mary Steenburgen) the true meaning of Christmas. It’s not just presents and materialistic things, but the people she cares about.