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Post by lonesomepolecat on Dec 19, 2023 8:05:12 GMT
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! There are so many Christmas movies it’s hard to keep track, so help me compile a list of the ones you like! Not just traditional Christmas favorites like MIRACLE ON 34th STREET  But also winter related movies like SUN VALLEY SERENADE…  Or even “regular” movies with Christmas scenes like…. STALAG 17  And I’m even including classic B-movies like the MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 treatment of SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS  Add to the list! And Merry Christmas!! |
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Post by topbilled on Dec 19, 2023 8:17:44 GMT
Merry Christmas.
A film I discovered last year, which I plan to watch again this year at Christmas, is Universal's SWORD IN THE DESERT (1949) starring Dana Andrews, Marta Toren & Jeff Chandler.
Andrews plays a freight captain who agrees to help some Jewish immigrants obtain freedom. There is a very beautiful Christmas Eve sequence in the film that has stayed with me since watching it.
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Post by intrepid37 on Dec 19, 2023 8:47:52 GMT
My favorite "Christmas" movie (and reportedly the favorite of John Waters as well) is 1980's You Better Watch Out. For video sales purposes the title has since been changed to "Christmas Evil", but I like You Better Watch Out much, much more.
It's the story of a man who, as a child - how should I put it? - see's "Mommy kissing Santa Claus" and grows to adulthood forever obsessed with Christmas. He works in a toy factory all year round and keeps a list of good and bad children and wears a Santa suit and prowls the neighborhood and, of course, loses his grip.
The low-res photography that, as Waters puts it, reminds of those cheesy "let's all go to the lobby" Drive-In promos that made the hamburgers and egg rolls look pretty unappetizing back in our Drive-In days is the charm of the movie. Cheap, but an unmistakable feel of nostalgia while watching it. The narrative is certainly different and there's an unusual ending that, while dark in the tone of the overall narrative, is still, symbolically, in the "Christmas spirit".
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Post by lonesomepolecat on Dec 19, 2023 10:35:04 GMT
There are a couple Christmas Crime movies I like to watch this time of year — WE’RE NO ANGELS  LARCENY, INC  THE LEMON DROP KID  LADY IN THE LAKE  Another “regular crime movie” with a Christmas scene is ROBIN AND THE SEVEN HOODS  |
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Post by BunnyWhit on Dec 19, 2023 18:51:03 GMT
Trading Places (1983) -- I love Aykroyd's gross Santa.
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Post by lonesomepolecat on Dec 19, 2023 20:23:18 GMT
We always save IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE for Christmas Eve  But another good Christmas Eve suicide movie is THE APARTMENT  |
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Post by lonesomepolecat on Dec 19, 2023 23:37:15 GMT
Right now I’m watching THE CHEATERS for the first time thanks to TCM  It reminded me of other movies about inviting a charity case over for Christmas, like ANNIE  Another is I’LL BE SEEING YOU  But of course my favorite example of this is REMEMBER THE NIGHT, which is one of my favorite movies of all time, Christmas or otherwise  |
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Post by kims on Dec 20, 2023 1:15:49 GMT
Hope you like THE CHEATERS, Lonesome. I recorded it last year and sadly cannot find a dvd from the usual sources. It is available from individuals, but I'm afraid it will be a bad copy of a recording.
Another unexpected guest is Mitchum in HOLIDAY AFFAIR
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Post by lonesomepolecat on Dec 20, 2023 7:06:25 GMT
Hope you like THE CHEATERS, Lonesome. I recorded it last year and sadly cannot find a dvd from the usual sources. It is available from individuals, but I'm afraid it will be a bad copy of a recording. Another unexpected guest is Mitchum in HOLIDAY AFFAIR Thanks, I enjoyed The Cheaters! Anything with Eugene Pallette and Billie Burke is a good time. HOLIDAY AFFAIR has one of my favorite performances from a child actor:  Another brilliant child actor performance in a Christmas movie is Margaret O’Brien in MEET ME IN ST LOUIS :max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/meet-me-in-st-louis-2000-d399ccab617d46cfa1853085ef7f8174.jpg) |
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Post by lonesomepolecat on Dec 20, 2023 7:24:48 GMT
Even though the Christmas part of AUNTIE MAME lasts a short time, TCM usually schedules it anyway. MAME even includes a classic Christmas song, “We Need a Little Christmas”.  Another movie that isn’t a Christmas movie but that is set at Christmas time is THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE (1965). (Can’t find pix of the Christmas parts)  Disney always schedules it for Valentine’s, but LADY AND THE TRAMP starts and ends at Christmas and even has a cool Christmas song called “Peace on Earth”  |
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Post by sagebrush on Dec 20, 2023 12:06:26 GMT
I think my favorite Christmas scene within a film is from MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, when Esther and Grandpa waltz around to the back of the Christmas tree, and when they make their way back around, Grandpa has been replaced with John Truett as Esther's partner. Classic Minnelli moment!
(In the clip below, it starts at the @2:35 marker.)
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Post by Andrea Doria on Dec 20, 2023 14:48:36 GMT
"Remember the Night," is my favorite Christmas movie, too, and my favorite scene is when Sterling Holloway sings, "A Perfect Day."
Wikipedia says:
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Post by BunnyWhit on Dec 20, 2023 15:31:09 GMT
"Remember the Night," is my favorite Christmas movie, too, and my favorite scene is when Sterling Holloway sings, "A Perfect Day."
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Post by lydecker on Dec 20, 2023 15:37:54 GMT
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Post by Andrea Doria on Dec 20, 2023 17:43:13 GMT
Thanks for that one, it looks very good! I'd forgotten that DeNiro was once a handsome leading man and not always a ruthless mobster.
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