Holiday films. 🎄

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“Do you have Christmas in France? Chrisss-maaas! Christmas!”
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F_Marturana said:
Last night I saw a film called “Holiday Affair” on Turner Classic Movies.

It’s the story of a young widowed mom, played by Janet Leigh with a cute little son, and a dependable nice boyfriend, who would like to marry her. Then she meets Robert Mitchum, who also is a very nice man, and he would like to marry Janet Leigh as well. At the end she chooses Robert Mitchum .

It was a cute film.

What films do you like around this time of year?
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I love this film. It is one of my Christmas films I watch every year. I like Robert Mitchum, Janet Leigh and Wendel Corey. In fact, I just watched it the other
night.

@F_Marturana
 
I also like

Remember the Night
White Christmas
A Christmas Carol
Christmas in Connecticut
Home Alone
Come to the Stable
 
Someone mentioned the Rankin Bass movies (I loved them all, especially “The Little Drummer Boy”) but does anyone remember “The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow”? I had forgotten all about it until we happened upon it while channel surfing the other day. In the story, a young boy, Lucas, is blinded by a lightning strike and taken in by nuns. Angela Lansbury narrates it. It’s a sweet movie. I have a great niece who will be gifted with a lot of Rankin Bass movies when she’s older (she’s only two months old, so not this Christmas!)

I also love to watch the first part of “Jesus of Nazareth” during the Christmas season, then watch the second half at Easter.
 
Home Alone
Miracle on 34th Street

And I surprised that no one had yet mentioned this movie:
the original Heidi starring Shirley Temple and Arthur Treacher.
 
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White Christmas (nowadays with any and all bonus features)

Love Actually (I know, I know, everyone loves to hate this one!)

Rudolph/Frosty the Snowman

The Vicar of Dibley Christmas Specials (Love “The Christmas Lunch Incident”!)

More Vicar episodes if available…

The Sound of Music (only because it always used to air this time of year)—dvd extras of course

Little House on the Prairie Christmas episodes (if I can find it)

Pride and Prejudice (Jennifer Ehle /Colin Firth)—only reason is that this is the only time of year that I have enough time that I can binge watch this…nothing to do with the holiday per se.
 
I guarantee I mentioned this the last time this topic was around last year, but one of my favorite TV Christmas Episodes is from MASH called “Death Takes a Holiday”.

One of the plots is the camp plans to have a party for the nearby orphanage. Everyone is encouraged to donate from their families’ care packages. Charles Winchester donates a small tin of oysters despite being well-to-do and having recently received several large boxes.

That night he takes a jeep and drops off those boxes at the front door. The man who runs the orphanage hears him. Winchester explains that it’s a family tradition that they purchase chocolates from a certain shop and donates them to those in need. He says it absolutely has to be done in secret for it to be a true act of charity. The man understands and thanks Winchester for the generous gift.

The party comes around with the orphans there and Winchester notices that one of the soldiers has one of the donated candies. He said he got it on the black marker. He also finds the children weren’t given chocolate, Winchester confronts the man running the orphanage. He apologizes saying that while the candy would have given the children a brief bit of happiness, on the black market it got them enough to give the children staple foods for a month. Winchester realizes what a fool he’s been and apologizes saying, "It is sadly inappropriate to give dessert to a child who’s had no meal, " and goes off to his tent.

Later, Klinger went to his tent. He had mocked him earlier for his gift of oysters but he also saw the exchange about the chocolates. He gives what remaining food there was from the party, but told him it had to be a secret – just like what Winchester told the man from the orphanage.
 
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Some of you might be interested in Mystery Play Internet Radio for your Christmas entertainment needs. It’s a website that plays old time radio programs for free. It puts several hours of programming together under a theme and repeats it over several days. The theme now, obviously, is Christmas. At this moment they’re playing the condensed version of Miracle on 34th Street. For those of you who mentioned Holiday Affair upthread, I know last year this site played a radio version of that movie also starring Robert Mitchum. Hopefully they do so again this year.
 
0Scarlett_nidiyilii said:
A Year Without a Santa Claus
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That was on last night. It’s the first time I’ve seen it in years. I forgot how good it was.

I also watched this for the first time in years. I especially liked the ending. A heads up this is on Get TV this Saturday at 8 PM. Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus is on at 6PM. The Little Drummer Boy is on this Saturday at 8 AM on Freeform.
Camehome4john6 said:
I absolutely LOVE Charlie Brown Christmas and can never get through it without tearing up at Linus’ monologue.
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That’s one of the best moments in the history of television.

Many others listed here I also like.

Today a local library was showing The Christmas Chronicles which came out last year. I couldn’t stay for all of it but what I saw looked good.
 
Zach said:
Today a local library was showing The Christmas Chronicles which came out last year. I couldn’t stay for all of it but what I saw looked good.
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Just looked at the preview for that and Kurt Russell’s performance looks really good despite a silly premise and ridiculous-looking “elves”. I grew up watching Kurt Russell as a teenager in all the old Disney films and then as a hot leading man so it’s a bit weird to see him now playing an old Santa, but he does a great job. One of the few child stars who managed to continue his career into adulthood.
 
I realize most of you folks are probably celebrating Christmas Even as opposed to popping on CAF and talking about it, but I wanted to mention two final Christmas favorites of mine.

One. of the Rankin-Bass specials, my favorite was Santa Claus Is Coming to Town. Modern Santa Claus is an amalgamation of different traditions, so it can get confusing for kids. This one masterfully pulls it all together and answers all the questions kids ask: Why does he go down the chimney? How do his reindeer fly? Why is he sometimes called Kris Kringle? Who’s Mrs. Claus? Plus the Bergermeister Meisterberger is the best 🙂

Two,. I know a few people have mentioned Miracle on 34th Street, but I want to talk about one particular scene. In the original there was an orphaned Dutch girl who was recently adopted after the war. Her new mother explained that this store Santa wasn’t going to be able to speak Dutch to her, but the girl assured her he was the real Santa. So Kris talks to her in Dutch, and they don’t translate it in the movie. but translated he asks her what she wants for Christmas. She tells him she doesn’t want anything, that she’s happy being with “this nice lady”. Then they sing a Dutch song about “that rascal” Santa. It’s so heartwarming to see a character that lost her home and her family and just being happy to have a new home and family.

In the remake with Richard Attenborough they replaced the Dutch orphan girl with a deaf girl, played by a real deaf actress. Supposedly, she didn’t know that Santa was going to be using American Sign Language to talk to her, so the joy on her face when she talks to her with ASL is real.

One last item, I want to talk about the WORST holiday film ever. It’s Kirk Cameron’s “Saving Christmas”. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a Christmas film that extols the virtues of conspicuous consumption on Christmas. Usually it’s the other way around, where a greedy self-interested person learns the importance of compassion and giving. I don’t recommend watching the movie, since it’s aggravating and boring; but if you want to check a review for a few clips on YouTube it’s eye-opening.

Anyway, Merry Christmas everyone!
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Just looked at the preview for that and Kurt Russell’s performance looks really good despite a silly premise and ridiculous-looking “elves”. I grew up watching Kurt Russell as a teenager in all the old Disney films and then as a hot leading man so it’s a bit weird to see him now playing an old Santa, but he does a great job. One of the few child stars who managed to continue his career into adulthood.
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Good points! Who knows with a celebrity, but it seems like Kurt Russell has never been full of himself and he likes acting. So not only do people want to hire him in their films but also he’ll do whatever suits his fancy, whether it’s those Disney movies, or John Carpenter, or a comedy, or playing Santa.
 
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