Top 5 Christmas movies for me, in no particular order.
The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)
The Thin Man (1934)
Last Holiday (2006 Queen Latifah version)
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966 Chuck Jones animated version)
Bell, Book and Candle (1958)
I also watch Christmas episodes of certain TV shows - The Avengers (Steed and Mrs. Peel), Warehouse 13, Pushing Daisies, Doctor Who, The Addams Family, etc. - but I save those for Christmas Eve/Christmas Day.
• Hawkeye (a new entry, but I can already tell that going forward this is going to be a Christmas staple in our house)
Honorable Mentions:
• The Sound of Music
While this movie isn't really "about" Christmas, I cannot think of the Christmas season without thinking of it because I would watch this on network TV every single year during this time as a kid.
I agree with you about The Sound of Music not being about Christmas (except for that damn song), BUT! Your Hawkeye choice is inspired and will go into my rotation, as well, so they cancel each other out. Great list!
*cracks knuckles* I'm very glad you asked that, Mark. I live for this shit! However, I won't attempt an order of preference, other than #1:
1. The Box of Delights (1984 BBC TV series). It's not a movie, but that's irrelevant. It rules Christmas in this house. I know every word of the script. If I'm hormonal, I cry at (spoiler alert) the ending when the cathedral manages to hold its 1000th anniversary service despite the magical machinations of Abner Brown (Robert Stephens in a magnificent performance), hundreds of scrobbled clergymen, and an absolute fuckton of snow.
To back up a little: this is based on the classic 1930s children's fantasy novel by John Masefield, and in my view it's an improvement on the book. While the slang and the costumes charm us because they're dated, a key aspect of it is that it's about Christmas being "brought up to date, with gangsters and aeroplanes" - but also, some very old magic. Kay Harker, returning from school for the holidays, meets an ancient Punch and Judy man ("only I do date from pagan times...") who bears a magical object people will kill to own: the Box of Delights.
You may well find it on Britbox, but here's the intro, a Proustian madeleine of British Christmasses for people of a certain age: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BxxdE9GvZc
2. Prancer (1989). A beautiful, underrated film that slipped in before the 90s glut of Professional Hollywood Children playing the roles of Kids In Holywood Movies. It has naturalistic charm and innocence, but it works in the context of real loss. Jessica, a motherless eight-year-old who plays Christmas records all year round, hides an injured reindeer believing he's one of Santa's. When you watch it as a child, her father seems relentlessly taciturn in his attempt to get Jessica to live in reality. As an adult, you see his strain from trying to save the family farm, and his own grief. Jessica's wounded response to her best friend's insistence that there's no Santa, and maybe no God, cut deep for me as a bereaved child.
3. A Christmas Story (1983). I saw the first half of this on TV when I was eleven or so, before being dragged out to a party, and spent years with no way of finding it in the pre-internet world. In 2001, I joined an internet movie forum and discovered what I'd seen through the American members' incessant referencing of it, but I didn't find a UK DVD release until 2008. There are things about it that are hard to ignore - racism, the modern context of gun violence - but I suspect that it's the cosiness that gets us - if you grew up in the 70s or 80s with older parents, then you're seeing your own earlier innocence reflected, but set in a period you grew up hearing your parents' stories about, making childhood feel close enough to grasp.
4. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992). I do not acknowledge that any superior adaption could possibly exist. I think that if they had made this today it would have been just too knowing, too insincere, too intent on Whedon-influenced quippiness. Instead, it's genuinely funny but deeply earnest. It is the summer of the soul in December.
5. Home Alone (1990). I had no idea this existed until a babysitting neighbour brought the VHS round for us to watch together, and I feel like maybe it's nicer to have met it without advertising hype. Like everything else I've listed here, the music is a huge and deciding part of the nostalgia for me (for one thing, it introduced me to Carol of the Bells), but it's also got that balance of cosiness and threat that seems to be the mark of a memorable Christmas movie. What really got me, a couple of years ago, was realising I was now older than Catherine O'Hara. WELP.
My top five Xmas movies in no particular order: Muppet Christmas Carol, Love Actually, midwinters Tale, White Christmas, and The Man Who Stayed For Dinner.
Top 5 Christmas movies for me, in no particular order.
The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)
The Thin Man (1934)
Last Holiday (2006 Queen Latifah version)
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966 Chuck Jones animated version)
Bell, Book and Candle (1958)
I also watch Christmas episodes of certain TV shows - The Avengers (Steed and Mrs. Peel), Warehouse 13, Pushing Daisies, Doctor Who, The Addams Family, etc. - but I save those for Christmas Eve/Christmas Day.
Bell, Book, and Candle is a deep cut!
In no particular order:
• Babes in Toyland
• The Nightmare Before Christmas
• Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas
• White Christmas
• Hawkeye (a new entry, but I can already tell that going forward this is going to be a Christmas staple in our house)
Honorable Mentions:
• The Sound of Music
While this movie isn't really "about" Christmas, I cannot think of the Christmas season without thinking of it because I would watch this on network TV every single year during this time as a kid.
I agree with you about The Sound of Music not being about Christmas (except for that damn song), BUT! Your Hawkeye choice is inspired and will go into my rotation, as well, so they cancel each other out. Great list!
My Favorite Things is NOT a Christmas song.
I thought about also giving an Honorable Mention to Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (both the MST3K and non-MST3K versions)!
*cracks knuckles* I'm very glad you asked that, Mark. I live for this shit! However, I won't attempt an order of preference, other than #1:
1. The Box of Delights (1984 BBC TV series). It's not a movie, but that's irrelevant. It rules Christmas in this house. I know every word of the script. If I'm hormonal, I cry at (spoiler alert) the ending when the cathedral manages to hold its 1000th anniversary service despite the magical machinations of Abner Brown (Robert Stephens in a magnificent performance), hundreds of scrobbled clergymen, and an absolute fuckton of snow.
To back up a little: this is based on the classic 1930s children's fantasy novel by John Masefield, and in my view it's an improvement on the book. While the slang and the costumes charm us because they're dated, a key aspect of it is that it's about Christmas being "brought up to date, with gangsters and aeroplanes" - but also, some very old magic. Kay Harker, returning from school for the holidays, meets an ancient Punch and Judy man ("only I do date from pagan times...") who bears a magical object people will kill to own: the Box of Delights.
You may well find it on Britbox, but here's the intro, a Proustian madeleine of British Christmasses for people of a certain age: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BxxdE9GvZc
2. Prancer (1989). A beautiful, underrated film that slipped in before the 90s glut of Professional Hollywood Children playing the roles of Kids In Holywood Movies. It has naturalistic charm and innocence, but it works in the context of real loss. Jessica, a motherless eight-year-old who plays Christmas records all year round, hides an injured reindeer believing he's one of Santa's. When you watch it as a child, her father seems relentlessly taciturn in his attempt to get Jessica to live in reality. As an adult, you see his strain from trying to save the family farm, and his own grief. Jessica's wounded response to her best friend's insistence that there's no Santa, and maybe no God, cut deep for me as a bereaved child.
3. A Christmas Story (1983). I saw the first half of this on TV when I was eleven or so, before being dragged out to a party, and spent years with no way of finding it in the pre-internet world. In 2001, I joined an internet movie forum and discovered what I'd seen through the American members' incessant referencing of it, but I didn't find a UK DVD release until 2008. There are things about it that are hard to ignore - racism, the modern context of gun violence - but I suspect that it's the cosiness that gets us - if you grew up in the 70s or 80s with older parents, then you're seeing your own earlier innocence reflected, but set in a period you grew up hearing your parents' stories about, making childhood feel close enough to grasp.
4. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992). I do not acknowledge that any superior adaption could possibly exist. I think that if they had made this today it would have been just too knowing, too insincere, too intent on Whedon-influenced quippiness. Instead, it's genuinely funny but deeply earnest. It is the summer of the soul in December.
5. Home Alone (1990). I had no idea this existed until a babysitting neighbour brought the VHS round for us to watch together, and I feel like maybe it's nicer to have met it without advertising hype. Like everything else I've listed here, the music is a huge and deciding part of the nostalgia for me (for one thing, it introduced me to Carol of the Bells), but it's also got that balance of cosiness and threat that seems to be the mark of a memorable Christmas movie. What really got me, a couple of years ago, was realising I was now older than Catherine O'Hara. WELP.
Solid selections, all.
My top 5?
5. White Christmas
4. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
3. A Christmas Carol (1984 - TV movie)
2. Die Hard
1. We’re No Angels (1955)
Glad to hear that you’re on the mend. Happy holidays.
Any list with both White Christmas and Die Hard on it is good thinking, right there.
My top five Christmas Movies:
5. Die Hard
4. Miracle on 34th Street
3. It’s a Wonderful Life
2. Scrooged
1. Holiday Inn
Can’t go wrong with any of those.
My top five Xmas movies in no particular order: Muppet Christmas Carol, Love Actually, midwinters Tale, White Christmas, and The Man Who Stayed For Dinner.
I’m surprised more folks don’t have Love Actually on their lists.
I only agree on one of your choices, Mark. Mine, in no order are:
• White Christmas
• Love, Actually
• The Holiday
• Diehard
• Miracle on 34th Street (the original). Although Neal prefers It’s a Wonderful Life
We also watch old episodes of Andy Williams Christmas specials, Jack Benny, Red Skelton, and the Osmonds.
Hawkeye may make our list on occasion. It's a great show.
👍