Holiday Classics: “Bell, Book and Candle” (1958)

There’s a perpetual debate as to whether or not “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is a Halloween movie or a Christmas movie (personally I fluctuate too much on the matter and just watch it for Thanksgiving), and the same question could be extended to the 1958 comedy “Bell, Book and Candle,” based on the stage play […]

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: “The Shop Around the Corner” (1940)

Soon after he wrapped filming his romantic comedy “The Shop Around the Corner”, director Ernst Lubitsch told a newspaper regarding the movie, “It’s not a big picture, just a quiet little story that seemed to have some charm….I hope it has some charm.” The film is, in fact, overwhelmingly charming, and is Lubitsch’s best work. […]