By Dave McCoy
MSN Entertainment
For better or worse, Christmas is a time when most forget the year's problems and gather together, unembarrassed to sing carols, drink eggnog and exchange gifts. Even cynical, Scrooge-type behavior is ignored and washed aside in a gushing river of tradition and romanticism. Either jump in or go somewhere else for the next month. Sentimentality doesn't stop with family gatherings, obviously. All you have to do is flip on the TV or go to the holiday section at your video store during December. You've probably seen most of the titles listed below a dozen times but like candy canes and stockings and visiting Santa, it's all about tradition. Get in the spirit.
"The
Bishop's Wife" (1947)
Ah, if all angels could be like Cary
Grant. Here, the suave one visits earth to help out a bishop (David
Niven) and his wife (Loretta Young) raise money for a new church. Hardly the
stuff of miracles, true, but that cast makes it consistently entertaining. It
received a slew of Oscar nominations, including Best Director and Best
Picture.
"A Christmas
Carol" (1951)
This is by far the best, tightest
(only 88 minutes!) version of Charles Dicken's famous tale of holiday
redemption. Alastair Sim carries the film with his fleshed out depiction of the
penny-pinching Scrooge. No matter how cynical you are, it's guaranteed to cause
misty eyes.
"It's a
Wonderful Life" (1946)
Say what you want about Frank
Capra's over-shown morality fable: For a Christmas time classic, this is
pretty dark stuff. A weary James
Stewart, a do-gooder all his life in small town U.S.A., is about ready to
give his family a suicide present ... until an angel shows him what life would
be like without him. As comfortable as a pair of slippers...
"Christmas in
Connecticut" (1945)
Christmas AND Barbara Stanwyck? Sign me up! Here, Stanwyck plays a
housekeeping magazine columnist, know for her Martha Stewart-like domestic ways.
Problem is, she's a fraud. This becomes a problem when a war veteran (Dennis
Morgan) and her boss (Sydney Greenstreet) are invited her home for a proper
Christmas dinner. Fun fluff.
"The
Gathering" (1977)
An Emmy-winning tearjerker about a fallen
family man who's paid a price for his success. Now dying, he wants to reunite
his shattered family for one last Christmas gathering. Ed
Asner is heartbreaking as the patriarch and Maureen Stapleton equally impressive as his wife. It's like
"The Royal
Tenenbaums," except set during Christmas and substitutes sentimentality for
subtly.
"How the
Grinch Stole Christmas!" (1966)
The best (and shortest) of all
Christmas classics looks like it leaped directly from the pages of the Dr. Seuss
story from which it's based. All props go to late, great animator Chuck Jones
for the dazzling look and feel of the picture. The music, too, is a blast.
"Miracle on 34th
St." (1947)
A skeptical little girl (Natalie Wood) encounters a mall Santa and calls baloney on
the whole Kris Kringle myth. Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) goes to great lengths--like
going on trial-- to prove that the Christmas spirit is alive. This beloved
classic won a handful of Oscars, including ones for Gwenn and writer/director George Seaton for Best Screenplay.
"Muppet
Christmas Carol" (1992)
Further proof that Michael Caine will take any gig. Here, he stars as Scrooge
and is surrounded entirely by Muppets. It's a pretty grim tale for kids, but the
approach carefully balances wacky humor with melodrama. All in all, fun
stuff...except probably for Caine.
"Prancer" (1989)
Overlooked melodrama about a resilient little girl (Rebecca Harrell)
who finds an injured reindeer and, thinking it belongs to Santa, nurses it back
to health. Meanwhile, Dad (Sam
Elliott) is about to lose everything, but his daughter's reluctance to lose
her innocence inspires him and us. Director John
Hancock ("Bang the
Drum Slowly") handles it beautifully, without succumbing to the weight of
the material.
"
White Christmas" (1954)
Ok, the plot really stinks...
but oh, the music. Now, this is the stuff Christmas is made of. Oscar-nominated
composer Irving Berlin provides memorable material for Bing
Crosby, Danny
Kaye and Rosemary Clooney, making this one of the season's most
treasured, if flawed, classics.
