Dan Stevens as Charles Dickens and Christopher Plummer as Ebenezer Scrooge in ‘The Man Who Invented Christmas’ (Photo by Kerry Brown / Bleecker Street)
Once again, the holidays – or is it holidaze? – are upon us, bringing with it a flurry of Christmas movies.
You have your endless parade of cartoons, specials, Christmas-themed episodes of your favorite TV shows, bad holiday comedies (1996’s Jingle All the Way and 2007’s Fred Claus come to mind), and Christmas-set horror movies (1984’s Gremlins). Then there’s the cheesy yet feel-good Lifetime and Hallmark films. And how can we forget the 24-hour marathon of 1983’s A Christmas Story (celebrating its 40th anniversary this year), beginning on Christmas Eve and ending on Christmas Day?
If those don’t do it for you, maybe these lists of Christmas movies will.
Classic Christmas Movies
You can’t go wrong with these classics, which can lighten the hearts of even the most ardent cynics.
Once again, the holidays – or is it holidaze? – are upon us, bringing with it a flurry of Christmas movies.
You have your endless parade of cartoons, specials, Christmas-themed episodes of your favorite TV shows, bad holiday comedies (1996’s Jingle All the Way and 2007’s Fred Claus come to mind), and Christmas-set horror movies (1984’s Gremlins). Then there’s the cheesy yet feel-good Lifetime and Hallmark films. And how can we forget the 24-hour marathon of 1983’s A Christmas Story (celebrating its 40th anniversary this year), beginning on Christmas Eve and ending on Christmas Day?
If those don’t do it for you, maybe these lists of Christmas movies will.
Classic Christmas Movies
You can’t go wrong with these classics, which can lighten the hearts of even the most ardent cynics.
- 12/9/2023
- by Kurt Anthony Krug
- Showbiz Junkies
Director Vincente Minnelli and his leading lady Judy Garland created magic with their first collaboration, MGM’s enchanting 1944 Technicolor musical “Meet Me in St. Louis.” Though she was playing a teenager in the box office hit classic, there was a real maturity and assuredness to her performance under Minnelli’s loving guidance. And she never looked so beautiful on screen. No wonder the two became a couple during the production.
And she’s even better in their second project, “The Clock,” which was released five months after “Meet Me in St. Louis” and marked her first non-singing role. Over the years “The Clock” had fallen through the cracks when critics and audiences talked about Garland’s film roles. But thanks to TCM, DVD and Blu-ray-Warner Archive is releasing the Blu-Ray as part of its Garland centennial celebration. “The Clock” has developed a legion of devoted fans and historians who consider...
And she’s even better in their second project, “The Clock,” which was released five months after “Meet Me in St. Louis” and marked her first non-singing role. Over the years “The Clock” had fallen through the cracks when critics and audiences talked about Garland’s film roles. But thanks to TCM, DVD and Blu-ray-Warner Archive is releasing the Blu-Ray as part of its Garland centennial celebration. “The Clock” has developed a legion of devoted fans and historians who consider...
- 6/8/2022
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Vincente Minnelli took a break from musicals to feature Judy Garland in the first movie to show her dramatic acting range, a charming and thoughtful wartime tale in New York: a whirlwind romance goes from nothing to marriage in 48 hours. She’s a working woman and he’s a soldier shipping out for combat; the miracle is that the whole thing is believable, and resolutely unglamorized. The illusion of ‘ordinary life’ in NYC is remarkable for 1945; star Robert Walker leaves behind the gangling bumpkin character he’d been playing. The Warner Archive’s Blu-ray is a welcome addition to the Minnelli disc library.
The Clock
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1945 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 90 min. / Available at Amazon.com / General site Wac-Amazon / Street Date June 7, 2022 / 21.99
Starring: Judy Garland, Robert Walker, James Gleason, Keenan Wynn, Marshall Thompson, Lucile Gleason, Ruth Brady.
Cinematography: George Folsey
Art Director: William Ferrari
Film Editor: George White...
The Clock
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1945 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 90 min. / Available at Amazon.com / General site Wac-Amazon / Street Date June 7, 2022 / 21.99
Starring: Judy Garland, Robert Walker, James Gleason, Keenan Wynn, Marshall Thompson, Lucile Gleason, Ruth Brady.
Cinematography: George Folsey
Art Director: William Ferrari
Film Editor: George White...
- 6/4/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Emmy winner Anthony Hemingway has signed on to direct a present-day “reimagining” of The Preacher’s Wife, featuring original cast member Courtney B. Vance, for Bassett Vance Productions.
Penny Marshall’s 1996 film, starring Denzel Washington, Whitney Houston and Vance, was itself a remake of The Bishop’s Wife, the 1947 film based on Robert Nathan’s book of the same name that starred Cary Grant, Loretta Young and David Niven. It centers on Dudley (Washington), an angel who comes to earth to help preacher Henry Biggs (Vance) and his wife Julia (Houston) save the church and their family. The film endures as a perennial favorite around the holidays; its soundtrack remains the bestselling gospel album of all time.
Hemingway’s version of The Preacher’s Wife will “creatively evolve the story in a new direction,” per Bvp’s producing partner Dwayne Johnson-Cochran, while boosting “the musicality” of the storytelling.
Penny Marshall’s 1996 film, starring Denzel Washington, Whitney Houston and Vance, was itself a remake of The Bishop’s Wife, the 1947 film based on Robert Nathan’s book of the same name that starred Cary Grant, Loretta Young and David Niven. It centers on Dudley (Washington), an angel who comes to earth to help preacher Henry Biggs (Vance) and his wife Julia (Houston) save the church and their family. The film endures as a perennial favorite around the holidays; its soundtrack remains the bestselling gospel album of all time.
Hemingway’s version of The Preacher’s Wife will “creatively evolve the story in a new direction,” per Bvp’s producing partner Dwayne Johnson-Cochran, while boosting “the musicality” of the storytelling.
- 11/3/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
David O. Selznick’s marvelous romantic fantasy ode to Jennifer Jones was almost wholly unappreciated back in 1948. It’s one of those peculiar pictures that either melts one’s heart or doesn’t. Backed by a music score adapted from Debussy, just one breathy “Oh Eben . . . “ will turn average romantics into mush.
Portrait of Jennie
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&W w/ Color Insert / 1:37 flat Academy / 86 min. / Street Date October 24, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Cecil Kellaway, David Wayne, Albert Sharpe.
Cinematography: Joseph H. August
Production Designers: J. MacMillan Johnson, Joseph B. Platt
Original Music: Dimitri Tiomkin, also adapting themes from Claude Debussy; Bernard Herrmann
Written by Leonardo Bercovici, Peter Berneis, Paul Osborn, from the novella by Robert Nathan
Produced by David O. Selznick
Directed by William Dieterle
Once upon a time David O. Selznick’s Portrait of Jennie was an...
Portrait of Jennie
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&W w/ Color Insert / 1:37 flat Academy / 86 min. / Street Date October 24, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Cecil Kellaway, David Wayne, Albert Sharpe.
Cinematography: Joseph H. August
Production Designers: J. MacMillan Johnson, Joseph B. Platt
Original Music: Dimitri Tiomkin, also adapting themes from Claude Debussy; Bernard Herrmann
Written by Leonardo Bercovici, Peter Berneis, Paul Osborn, from the novella by Robert Nathan
Produced by David O. Selznick
Directed by William Dieterle
Once upon a time David O. Selznick’s Portrait of Jennie was an...
- 10/10/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Billy Wilder directed Sunset Blvd. with Gloria Swanson and William Holden. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett movies Below is a list of movies on which Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder worked together as screenwriters, including efforts for which they did not receive screen credit. The Wilder-Brackett screenwriting partnership lasted from 1938 to 1949. During that time, they shared two Academy Awards for their work on The Lost Weekend (1945) and, with D.M. Marshman Jr., Sunset Blvd. (1950). More detailed information further below. Post-split years Billy Wilder would later join forces with screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond in movies such as the classic comedy Some Like It Hot (1959), the Best Picture Oscar winner The Apartment (1960), and One Two Three (1961), notable as James Cagney's last film (until a brief comeback in Milos Forman's Ragtime two decades later). Although some of these movies were quite well received, Wilder's later efforts – which also included The Seven Year Itch...
- 9/16/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
TCM has put out some great vintage film collections in the last few years. The collections usually have a fair collection of winners and so-so contenders who need the better films to make them palatable and Esther Williams: Volume 2 is no exception. However, to the volume’s credit, it has a better ratio than most sets with 4 good to great films supporting 2 mediocre ones. The set could very well help reel in some younger viewers as the films in this volume have a surprisingly modern feel to them all. This one maybe good, but it might still qualify as “for collectors only”.
Thrill of a Romance (1945)
Directed by Richard Thorpe and written by Richard Connell and Gladys Lehman.
Co-starring Van Johnson and Henry Travers.
Summary: Two lovebirds get swept up in a whirlwind romance; one a girl looking for love and one a celebrated veteran, the two find their...
Thrill of a Romance (1945)
Directed by Richard Thorpe and written by Richard Connell and Gladys Lehman.
Co-starring Van Johnson and Henry Travers.
Summary: Two lovebirds get swept up in a whirlwind romance; one a girl looking for love and one a celebrated veteran, the two find their...
- 10/8/2009
- by Lex Walker
- JustPressPlay.net
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