Holiday Classics: “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946)

Director Frank Capra once said that he never viewed his film “It’s a Wonderful Life” as a Christmas story when he took the project on—he just liked the story. But that story had roots in the quintessential Christmas story: Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Writer Phillip Van Doren Stern wrote a short story titled The […]

Holiday Classics: “White Christmas” (1954)

Irving Berlin’s song “White Christmas” had been out for around twelve years by the time a new movie musical of the same title that revolved around his music was made. Directed by the great Michael Curtiz, the plot of “White Christmas” is derived from the 1942 musical “Holiday Inn”, which also starred Bing Crosby and […]

Holiday Classics: “Carol for Another Christmas” (1964)

“Carol for Another Christmas” is one of the most interesting adaptations of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. It was director Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s first foray into television after a profilic film career, and was based on a script by Rod Serling of “The Twilight Zone” fame. The TV movie was the first in a series […]

Holiday Classics: “Beyond Tomorrow” (1940)

In the grand scheme of classic holiday films, the 1940 drama “Beyond Tomorrow” remains largely forgotten. It’s rather a shame, because it’s quite a charming story, about three wealthy but lonely businessmen—George (Harry Carey), Allan (C. Aubrey Smith), and Michael (Charles Winninger) who find themselves without guests on Christmas Eve. Each man decides to throw […]

Holiday Classics: “In the Good Old Summertime” (1949)

While its title suggests the opposite, “In the Good Old Summertime” is a musical set primarily during the Christmas season. In fact, it’s a remake of the Ernst Lubitsch comedy “The Shop Around the Corner”, which is also considered a holiday classic. The setting of this version of the story is moved from 1930s Budapest […]

Holiday Classics: “A Christmas Carol” (1938)

MGM’s low budget 1938 version of Charles Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol” is probably the most glamorized version of this dark tale. You all know the story: grouchy Ebenezer Scrooge (here played by Reginald Owen) is visited on Christmas Eve by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, prompting him to change his ways. While this […]

Holiday Classics: “Susan Slept Here” (1954)

It’s a minor miracle that “Susan Slept Here” is as charming as it is. Consider the plot: thirty-five year old Hollywood screenwriter Mark Christopher (Dick Powell, who was more like fifty when this film was made) is suffering writer’s block as he tries to make the transition from writing comedy to drama. On Christmas Eve, […]

Holiday Classics: “The Bishop’s Wife” (1947)

“The Bishop’s Wife” is a lovely little comedy that isn’t unlike “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which was released the year before. Only in this movie, the focus is every bit as much on the angel as it is on the man he’s providing guidance for. Cary Grant plays the angel Dudley, who answers Bishop Henry […]

Holiday Classics: “Meet Me in St. Louis” (1944)

The Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is a standard during the holidays, and has been ever since Judy Garland first sung it in the 1944 MGM musical “Meet Me in St. Louis”. But if it wasn’t for Garland, it probably would have been a much different song. Martin […]

Holiday Classics: “The Man Who Came to Dinner” (1942)

Writers Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman based the character of Sheridan Whiteside in their play “The Man Who Came to Dinner” on real life critic and radio personality Alexander Woollcott. They were both good friends with the man, although one day Woollcott came to Hart’s house unexpectedly and instantly took it over. Hart later […]