- 1) CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT
(1945)
 Starring Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis
Morgan
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- Synopsis
A 1945 Warners romantic comedy (not the godawful Turner remade-for-TV
turkey.) Barbara Stanwyck plays a Martha Stewart type whose life
in print is all a lie. When her boss (Sidney Greenstreet) invites
himself to her house for Christmas she has to scare up a husband,
a baby and a house in the country in an instant. It's the kind
of sweet comedy they don't make any more in this jaded world.
It's slick entertainment with no schmaltz and a sharp screenplay
with some real heat between Stanwyck and costar Dennis Morgan.
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- 2.) A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983)
 Starring Peter Billingsley and Darren
McGavin
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- Synopsis
- Back to the '30s with Jean Shepard's
rememberances of childhood Christmas in Indiana. Darren McGavin
is inspired as the rarfin' snarfin' Dad in this sometimes hysterical
and sometimes weird Christmas card from a master storyteller.
This one scares the hell out my kids and annoys my wife (the
"mama's little piggy" scene makes her skin crawl.)
but I love it!
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- 3.) DIE HARD (1988)
- Starring Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman
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- Synopsis
- What's the Yuletide without
a bit of the ultra violence. Bruce Willis spends Christmas Eve
holed up in the Nokatomi Plaza facing an army of well armed hoods.
Sing along with "Let It Snow" as Bruce delivers the
holidays goodies and the bad guys to an early grave.
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- 4.) NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS
VACATION (1989)
- Starring Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo
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- Synopsis
- Chevy Chase delivers cheap laughs
as the bumbling Clark once more. The movie is funny but really
rises to the occassion when Chevy freaks out over his Christmas
"bonus". And the relatives from hell take a lot of
shots too.
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- 5.) RADIO DAYS (1992)
- Starring Woody Allen
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- Synopsis
- More of a Hannukah movie but
full of that American holiday spirit that knows no theology.
Woody Allen's affectionate memoirs of growing up in Brooklyn
in the '40s. It takes place over the holiday season and recreates
the shopping and the shows and general excitement of Christmas
in the Big City. There's lots of suprises and great characters.
One of his more affecting films in my opinion. Rich and rewarding.
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- 4
to 6 weeks delivery
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- 6.) REMEMBER THE NIGHT (1940)
- Starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray
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- Synopsis
- Barbara Stanwyck again. But
this time she's in her tough girl role. She's a shoplifter up
before the court in New York City just before Christmas. Through
a series of events only '40s writers could dream up she winds
up spending the holidays back home with Fred MacMurray, the attorney
who prosecuted her. A great romantic comedy with some edge to
it. If you've never seen MacMurray in one of his hardbitten wiseacre
roles you've never seen him.
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- 7.) IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
(1947)
- Starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed
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- Synopsis
- Speaking of edge, this Capra
fantasy has it in spades. Mistakenly thought of as a fluffy piece
of sentimentality this movie has a dark, dark noir edge that
throws the humor and romance into high relief. An American classic
that deserved being rescued from public domain limbo. James Stewart
gives an incredbile, multi-faceted performance that is still
daring today. The scenes where he's railing at his family in
near hysteria are harrowing. But he never gets away from the
core of George Bailey's character, loveable, sacrificing and
kind.
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- 8) THE SANTA CLAUSE (1994)
- Starring Tim Allen and Judge Reinhold
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- Synopsis
- This is THE Santa Claus movie.
My kids love it but there's plenty here for adults. Tim Allen
plays a toy compant executive who is reluctantly drafted to be
Santa Claus. Fast paced and fun.
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- 9) TALL, DARK AND HANDSOME
(1940s?)
- Starring Cesar Romero
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- Synopsis
- A silly comedy from the 1940s.
Gangster Cesar Romero creates a homey holiday atmosphere to impress
a "nice" girl that he's not so bad. He hires himself
a crowd of lowlifes and street urchins to pose as his own family.
The wisemouthed kid in the movie is hysterical.
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- 10) 3 GODFATHERS (1948)
- Starring John Wayne
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- Synopsis
- The only Christmas Western I
can think of. One of John Ford's smaller films and a gem. John
Wayne plays one of three down on their luck saddletramps who
are charged with bringing a baby to safety in the wilds of the
Old West. Very much a Birth of Christ parallel. One of Wayne's
best performances with Ford behind the camera. Touching and epic
at the same time.
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