A Series of Dickensian Events

It's the 175th anniversary of Charles Dickens' famous novella A Christmas Carol so naturally it seems the ideal time to review two of the most recent movies to be inspired by that classic tale.

First off there's Robert Zemeckis's 2009 animated film A Christmas Carol, which basically stars Jim Carrey in a multitude of roles (including the starring role of Ebenezer Scrooge). As far as Dickensian remakes go, I've seen better and I've seen worse. (I'm looking at you, An American Carol, when I say "worse", by the way.) For the most part, I found it relatively pain-free as long as it stuck to the original dialogue of the Dickens book. However, the moment Zemeckis tried to improve on it, the results were not that great. (For example, did we really need to see a mouse-sized Scrooge?)

On the plus side, the animation was good -- though surprisingly bright for what after all is a Christmas ghost story to end all Christmas ghost stories. And it didn't hurt that Zemeckis's version was one of the few versions of A Christmas Carol I can remember that mentioned both Scrooge's sister Fan and his ex-girlfriend Belle. (Granted, Dickens himself didn't give them much space in the original book but all too many versions of A Christmas Carol leave them out altogether.)

Much of the movie was predictable -- and not just because it was based on a book almost everyone had to read in school. (For example, anyone not acquainted with the novel who couldn't guess the obvious connection between the fate of Scrooge's only sibling and his dislike of his sole nephew either hadn't seen a lot of movies or else wasn't really trying.) Moreover, online complaints about how dark the movie was for a children's movie seemed odd to me, if for no other reason that the various versions of A Christmas Carol that I've seen over the years -- most of which were aimed at children as well -- have always been dark. And I first became acquainted with this story when I was still in grade school.

That said, I can think of many animated versions of A Christmas Carol that I like far better -- though I will give Zemeckis and Carrey credit for giving us the first version I've ever seen in which the Ghost of Christmas Past spoke with an Irish accent.

I'm not sure how literally to take the title of the 2017 movie The Man Who Invented Christmas and it's probably just as well I didn't. Like all too many movies based on the lives of famous people, this movie was perhaps best viewed as alternative history.

If screenwriter Susan Coyne and director Bharat Nalluri had anything original to say about Dickens and his famous novella, it certainly didn't show up on screen. But what they did put up there proved to be watchable as long as you don't mistake it for a documentary.

Part of the problem with the movie was that anyone who knew enough about Dickens to get more than half the jokes also knew enough to predict the ending -- including the obligatory surprise plot twist. Moreover, some characters seemed more contrived than others. Granted, I still have a soft spot for Tara the Imaginary Irish Maid whose obvious purpose was to inspire Dickens to write his famous novella and give him advice along the way to its completion -- no doubt playing her part in the old Irish literary tradition of inspiring other writers. But I would have liked it better if she had not seemed to be such an obviously fictional character.

Oh, well. They obviously didn't make this movie for me. But in the wake of Great Depression II, it would have been nice if they had made it for someone who wasn't nostalgic for the days of good old Queen Vic.

Christmas Movies We Will Never See

1. Indiana Jones and the Lost Corpse of Christ.

2. Miracle on Elm Street.

3. Nativity Scene of the Living Dead.

4. Strip Club Santa.

5. A Corleone Christmas.

6. It's a Wonderful Death.

7. The Sweatshop Around the Corner.

I Not Only Survived Surviving Christmas -- I Also Lived to Laugh About It

I'll admit it. I did not have very high hopes for the 2004 film Surviving Christmas the first time that I watched it and I watched it with low -- very low -- expectations. Ben Affleck was not exactly my favorite actor, Christina Applegate did not exactly have a good record when it came to picking movie scripts and the very idea of a Christmas movie being released in October just seemed weird.

Yet for some reason I found myself chuckling during this movie far more than I had expected to. I am not saying that this movie is in any danger of replacing Miracle on 34th Street as my favorite Christmas movie or even nudging its way onto my list of all-time favorite holiday movies. Yet I found Ben Affleck a lot easier to take as an obnoxious rich guy (the role he was born to play?) than he was as a superhero in Daredevil and the film did a good job as long as it attempted to be an outright farce. Some elements like the cyber-porn subplot were in questionable taste and the fashion shoot sequence -- obviously meant to be a sendup of Glamour Shots -- needlessly humiliated one of the main characters in a way that was not at all funny. But the film did not really get into trouble until it tried to take its own plot seriously.

Let's face it. Some plots are not meant to be taken seriously, and the plot of this movie -- which involves a young rich executive attempting to create his own Christmas from elements of other people's lives and literally paying people to pose as his own relatives -- was definitely one such plot.

I doubt I will be remembering this film any more fondly than I do similar mediocre holiday fare like Jingle All the Way. But for a Christmas flick that was released out of season, it was not that bad. Besides, I can't help thinking that the most obvious pitch for this movie involved the success of the movie Scream. After all, if a Halloween movie like Scream can hit it big at the box office despite being released in December, then why can't a Christmas movie being released in October achieve similar results?

All the Christmas Movies That I Have Seen

1. Arthur Christmas (2011).

Before I saw this movie, I was beginning to think they stopped making good Christmas movies. I mean, sure, Nothing Like the Holidays was not a bad effort, but it was hardly a classic. And most other Christmas films I've seen within the last decade -- with one obvious exception -- did not even try to approach the same level as NLtH.

Then came this flick and my faith was restored. Granted, when you have the reliable vocal talents of Jim Broadbent and Hugh Laurie, it is kinda hard to make a bad Christmas movie. But writers Sarah Smith and Peter Baynham give it their best shot anyway. And although only time will tell if this film is as fondly remembered in 2052 as It's a Wonderful Life and the original Miracle on 34th Street are today, I would like to think that the odds are in this film's favor. If nothing else, Arthur Christmas' humorous but good-hearted quest to do the right thing on Christmas Eve is a pleasant alternative to the usual "dysfunctional-and-proud-of-it" Christmas movie that has so recently become the rage.

2. Rise of the Guardians (2012).

This year's Arthur Christmas. Granted, it is a bit darker than AC and less traditional than your average holiday movie. But in its own way, it works.

When I first saw the trailer for this movie, I feared that Alec Baldwin's very untraditional take on Santa Claus -- among other things, his version speaks with a Russian accent, carries two swords and proudly displays two arm tattoos that say "Naughty" and "Nice" -- would end up ruining the movie. But I was wrong to think so.

Not only was Mr. Baldwin's Slavic Santa surprisingly charming, but so were Hugh Jackman's Australian Easter bunny, Chris Pine's Impish-American Jack Frost and the oh so silent (and definitely not Neil Gaimanish) Sandman. For that matter, I also liked Isla Fisher's Tooth Fairy character though it was a bit surprising for me to see Ms. Fisher in a role that was so Earth Motherly after seeing her play so many ingenues on the silver screen.

If there is one flaw in the movie, it is the way that it veers away from any of the traditional religious elements associated with Christmas. But then the same thing could be said of many classic Christmas movies including Arthur Christmas. And quite frankly, I would prefer that Hollywood stay away from such religious works as The Little Drummer Boy and The Night the Animals Talked lest they receive the same dismal treatment that Dr Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas received from director Ron Howard. After all, there are worse things a good Christian could watch than a shamelessly pagan Santa Claus.

Christmas Movies

Beyond Tomorrow (1940)
Black Christmas (1974)
Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
Holiday (1938)
Holiday Affair (1949)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Love Actually (2003)
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Nothing Like the Holidays (2008)
Remember the Night (1940)
The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

The Last Great Christmas Movie?

I'm trying to think of a great Christmas movie that has been made since Love Actually was released in 2003 but not a whole lot of movies come to mind. Nothing Like the Holidays was okay but it was hardly as memorable an effort as this film was. And the less said about such dubious efforts as Elf and Deck the Halls, the better.

Besides, Love Actually is more artistically ambitious than most feel-good holiday movies and though not every subplot works as well as it should, the film itself ends on a more satisfying note than most conventional movies. Not everyone in the movie gets a particularly happy ending and some people don't even get a particularly realistic ending. But the whole thing still works despite itself and this is despite my usually being a diehard Anglophobe who delights in poking fun at imperfect British movies.

Besides, I don't really feel up to griping about Elf this week even though it's about as shameless a waste of cinematic talent as I've seen in ages. Even Zooey Deschanel couldn't save it for me and I usually love everything Ms. Deschanel does.

I'm Dreaming of a Latino Christmas Movie

Geez, one would think that if Hollywood was going to wait until the 21st century to make a Latino Christmas movie, they would at least get it right. Not that 2008's Nothing Like the Holidays was a bad movie. It just was not the instant classic I kinda expected after all the hoopla I read about it.

The movie itself was about a family of Puerto Ricans and their assorted significant others who were gathering for a family Christmas celebration in Chicago. The father (played by Alfred Molina) was a bodega owner who might or might not be having an affair. His wife (played by Elizabeth Peña) was contemplating a divorce. One of his sons was a returning veteran who had issues with the girlfriend he left behind while yet another son was having issues with his white non-Hispanic wife. Though many scenes in the movie were neatly done -- the trailer had led me to expect a far broader comedy than ever turned up on screen -- it was still depressing to note how familiar some of the plot elements were: a murdered sibling, a non-Latin wife, a spouse who may or may not be unfaithful, an old girlfriend who may or may not have been pregnant with a certain family member's illegitimate child... To be fair, things improved toward the end but for a while there the movie seemed all too predictable.

Moreover, certain details were off. I could not help but wonder why a Puerto Rican would have the first bars of a Mexican folk song as a tune on his car horn and why Alfred Molina's character used the same Spanish term of endearment for his wife that I used to use for my Mexican grandmother. Granted, even the best screenwriters can't know everything, but given that one of the movie's screenwriters -- Rick Najera -- was Latino, I kinda expected a bit more than the same old Hollywood hand wave.

It is to the cast's credit that the movie is still watchable. (Though I must confess that seeing former I Married Dora star Elizabeth Peña as a would-be grandparent was almost as shocking to me as seeing her former co-star Juliette Lewis appear on an episode of My Name Is Earl.) Indeed, I found the movie to be a pleasant enough time-waster. But I hardly doubt I will be visiting it again next winter. And is not the whole point of a holiday movie that you wish to see it over and over again?

Maybe they will get it right next time.

My Ten Favorite Christmas Movies

At least for this year. Ask me again next year and it might change.

1. Miracle on 34th Street (1947).

The original. Accept no substitutes. Writer Connie Willis once argued that it was the ideal Christmas movie because it is one of the few such movies in which the ordinarily bad elements of human nature combined to create something positive for a change. Which would count as a true Christmas miracle in my book.

2. The Shop Around the Corner (1940).

Not really a Christmas movie but it takes place around Christmas time so I guess it counts. Plus, at the risk of echoing the Self-Styled Siren, I must confess that the movie does a good job of capturing the type of Christmas time retail atmosphere that I experienced when I worked as a store clerk.

3. Remember the Night (1940).

I love Barbara Stanwyck. And I really love the way Preston Sturges took a premise that could have turned out hackneyed and made something pretty special. Especially poignant is a scene between Barbara Stanwyck and Elizabeth Patterson in which what is said is not as important as what is not said.

4. Christmas in Connecticut (1945).

I really love Barbara Stanwyck. And the rest of the movie is not bad either.

5. Holiday (1938).

The one Christmas-ish movie with Cary Grant that I like best even though it is not really a Christmas movie.

6. Holiday Affair (1949).

You would not think Robert Mitchum would be the type of person that you would associate with a decent Christmas movie but you would be surprised.

7. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993).

I actually used to know most of the songs in this by heart -- and who doesn't love Sally?

8. The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942).

A contrarian Christmas movie made long before they started making contrarian Christmas movies.

9. Love Actually (2003).

Not quite the ultimate Christmas romcom that it aspires to be but not a bad holiday movie. Some parts I like, some parts I really like, some parts are eh? One of the few movies released this decade that are anywhere near the top of my list of favorite Christmas movies.

10. It's a Wonderful Life (1946).

Some obscure movie that director Frank Capra made with actor Jimmy Stewart. Perhaps you have heard of it...

God Rest These Merry Gentlemen

Stop me if you heard this one but once upon a time, there were these three ghosts and they were haunting this guy, you see... No, I'm not talking about A Christmas Carol. As much as I love Dickens, I'd like to think that he would prefer that I not mention his name every December. And anyway, I'm talking about yet another story -- the 1940 film Beyond Tomorrow.

Beyond Tomorrow can be described as one of those old-fashioned holiday movies that really should not work but end up doing so anyway. Of course, it helps your appreciation of this movie if you actually like people and have gotten sick and tired of holiday movies that seem perpetually obsessed with gloom and misery. As much as I appreciate social realism, I cannot help but wonder if it's always a kindness to continually remind people of the down side of life at a time when most folks are getting all too many real-life reminders of such a side, especially when said movie does not really have anything novel to say apart from “Life really stinks sometimes, doesn't it?”

Anyway, Beyond Tomorrow does have enough dark scenes toward its end to satisfy the most determined pessimist but it also has a lot of likable characters and a genuine love for humanity. It may lean a bit too heavily on certain character types but it is never eyerollingly bad.

The movie begins in the mansion of three eccentric millionaires. One is a pessimistic Okie named George Melton (played by Harry Caray). Another is an optimistic Irishman named Michael O'Brien (played by Charles Winninger). And the third is an Englishman named Allan Chadwick (played by C. Aubrey Smith) whose temperament falls somewhere between Melton's and O'Brien's. Playing housekeeper for them is a White Russian refugee named Madame Tanya (played by Maria Ouspenskaya) who generally plays mother hen to the three aging bachelors.

The three men are awaiting guests for a Christmas Eve dinner, only to find that the guests have canceled at the last minute. Melton believes it had something to do with an old unnamed scandal he was once associated with; O'Brien tries to persuade him otherwise. When such persuasion fails to lift Melton's spirits, O'Brien decides to conduct a Twainian experiment by going to the window and throwing out three wallets containing only ten dollars and one of the millionaires' business cards. The idea behind the experiment is to select the ideal stranger to be a guest for dinner by seeing who among the passersby is honest enough to pick up a wallet and return it to its rightful owner.

One woman named Arlene Terry (played by Helen Vinson) blatantly flunks the test by taking the ten bucks and tossing the wallet aside. But a visiting young gentleman from Texas named James Houston (played by Richard Carlson) and a female refugee from New Hampshire named Jean Lawrence (played by Jean Parker) prove more honest and return their wallet to their rightful owners. The two honest folks get invited to dinner, get acquainted afterward and celebrate Christmas Eve with the three millionaires and their servants.

Pretty soon it becomes obvious to even the slowest observer that Houston and Lawrence are falling in love with each other and the three millionaires do their part to ease the path of Cupid. But then tragedy strikes and despite a warning from Madame Tanya, the three millionaires end up dying in a plane crash.

The two young people get an inheritance from the late gentlemen and do their best to honor their memory. But the path of true love is never all that easy and pretty soon the two lovers are parted by the above-mentioned Terry. Terry uses the promise of a singing career and her own rep as an entertainer to lure Houston away from Lawrence. At this point the movie enters rather questionable territory by modern standards because even though the movie has already established that Terry is hardly an honest person, it seems a bit much to believe that Houston bears absolutely no responsibility for allowing himself to be seduced by her. Indeed, for such an honest fellow, he seems to forget Lawrence -- his one true love -- remarkably fast.

The three old gentlemen return from the dead and witness all these goings-on but prove powerless to stop them. For a long time, O'Brien remains in denial about the situation, continually insisting to Melton that Houston is a good lad who will eventually see the light. But then Melton is called away to face his own version of the afterlife and it does not seem likely that he will be meeting St. Peter. Then Chadwick is called away to a happier fate and O'Brien alone is left to try to mend matters on the mortal plane. So obsessed he becomes with fixing things that he forgoes a chance to go to Heaven in order to stay on Earth and bring the two lovers back together. But, alas, Terry appears to have a jealous ex and he has other plans...

It is tempting to dismiss this film as yet another predictable soap opera from those thrilling days of yesteryear but I found it quite entertaining. Granted, I wish Lawrence and Houston showed a little more backbone toward the end but then there probably would not be much of a story. Besides, the best part of the movie occurs towards the beginning when we are being introduced to the main characters. Not every movie can make good people interesting and it seems ironic that despite all the palaver from critics about how bad guys are always more interesting than the good guys, this appears to be one of those rare movies in which the good guys are actually more entertaining. I'd rather rewatch that multilingual session of “Jingle Bells” that our heroes take part in during the Christmas Eve party than any scene Terry appears in. And though it's tempting to declare the fate of our characters to be hokey and corny, I kinda like the fact that for all its darker scenes, the movie actually ends on a happy note. Besides, my inner Catholic relishes the thought of an afterlife in which a heavenly messenger can be forced to change his plans because of an especially feisty deceased matriarch -- and I cannot help but wonder my own mother would think of this flick. Somehow I doubt she would hate it.

Bob Clark's Other Christmas Story

Remember that horror movie released back in the 1970s that incorporated the name of a famous American holiday into its title? The one that was obviously shot on a low budget and which included scenes shot from the killer's point-of-view? The one that featured a future movie star in its cast?

You know which movie I'm talking about, right?

Bob Clark's 1974 classic Black Christmas.

What? You don't remember Black Christmas?

Okay, that is not surprising. I did not remember Black Christmas either -- and I was alive in the 1970s. Of course, there was another horror film released in December of 1973 that seemed to get the lion's share of media attention. And, of course, the summer of 1975 gave us Jaws -- which definitely eclipsed most of the horror film competition.

Of course, I was only about thirteen when this film came out so it was very unlikely that I would have gone to see it anyway. And there's a good chance that if I did go, I would not appreciate it. The film starts off slow, takes its time telling its story and ends on a rather quiet and ambiguously disturbing note.

At least one movie -- When a Stranger Calls -- and one TV show -- Twin Peaks -- owe a debt to this movie for key plot elements. Indeed, the film seems to deliberately defy the rules followed by more recent slasher movies. Instead of a serial killer with a genius-level IQ, for example, we get a killer who appears to be borderline retarded. Instead of having the first female victim turn out to be a sexually active teenager, the first victim is actually a sorority girl who is described by one of her cattier sorority sisters as a “professional virgin.” Instead of stupidly defying authority, the sorority girls actually do the right thing and call the police at the first sign of trouble. Alas, it does not help them. Even a trap set by the police to catch the killer ends up backfiring.

The only scene that seems all that off is the scene in which the sorority house receives what appears to be an obscene phone call from an unknown caller -- and instead of hanging up on the guy instantly or getting him a quick dose of his own medicine, the girls just hang on the line until the caller has had the chance to creep them all out. Granted, the director was still young and had a lot to establish in that scene. But would a real-life group of sorority girls in that situation have stayed on the phone for that long?

The movie ends with more than a few questions left unanswered. And it is to Mr. Clark's credit that when I had the chance to hear Mr. Clark's answers to these questions on the commentary part of the DVD, I actually did not want to hear them. For that matter, I would have preferred a much happier ending but alas, happy endings were not all that popular among filmmakers in the early 1970s -- which might explain why the one major horror film in the early 1970s that had a happy ending basically stole poor Bob Clark's thunder. Whatever possessed the makers of that movie, I will never know.

And The Most Misleading DVD Cover of the Week Award Goes To...



I'm not sure if the DVD cover for 1949's Holiday Affair was inspired by a movie poster or what but it certainly gives a misleading impression of the movie in question. Which is a big shame because Holiday Affair doesn't really need such a false image. It's that rarity of rarities: a holiday movie that is both actually good and yet not overexposed.

I'll admit that star Robert Mitchum seems an unlikely candidate for a Christmas movie. However, he and fellow star Janet Leigh make a lovely couple, and I was surprised by how quickly I was drawn into their story.

The story begins when Leigh's character Connie Ennis goes to the department store where Mitchum's character Steve Mason is employed and inadvertently attracts his attention. Mason soon discovers that Ennis is a comparison shopper (an occupation discouraged by his department store), but instead of turning her in like he should, he takes pity on her and allows her to make a refund. Unfortunately, he loses his job as a result.

He confronts Ennis about this. Ennis feels guilty and allows him to buy her lunch. Complications ensue -- especially when Ennis's boyfriend and would-be husband-to-be Carl Davis finds out about Mason -- and both Mason and Ennis find their lives changed in a way neither of them would have anticipated.

Sound like a typical romcom? Maybe. But it's a nicely done romcom and not the type that has most sensible people grinding their teeth at the ridiculousness of the characters' actions. Especially refreshing is the movie's refusal to make Davis the classic “bad boyfriend.” Instead he's presented as a genuinely nice guy who is quite sympathetic but unfortunately not the type of person to whom Ennis is likely to be attracted. He even has a scene in which he recognizes this and deals with it in a mature fashion.

This film very easily could have been awful in different hands and I suspect the recent made-for-TV remake is not quite as interesting as the original. The original, unfortunately, has never gained the same attention as the more famous holiday films of the 1940s -- Holiday Inn, It's a Wonderful Life, and of course, Miracle on 34th Street. But that doesn't mean it deserves to be passed over either.

Just don't judge the movie by the DVD cover. Or for that matter, by this poster:

All the Classic* Movies That I Have Seen

1. Only Angels Have Wings (1939).

Cary Grant played a snarky guy who had been jilted by a former girlfriend and now had difficulty relating to any female. So totally not the type of guy I can identify with right now...

The film was one of those subtle thrillers in which the arrival of a key character was announced with a flash of lightning and a sound of thunder.

And yet in spite of it all, I kinda liked this film. If nothing, its ending was very memorable and emotionally satisfying.

Though I was kinda surprised to see Jean Arthur of all people -- an actress best known for playing homebodies like the mother in Shane and demure reporters like the one in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town -- playing a showgirl. Granted, she didn't fit the image one usually thinks of when one thinks of showgirls. (There's no way Ms. Arthur would ever be mistaken for, say, Jane Russell or Joan Blondell.) But she managed to pull it off.

I was even more surprised to see Rita Hayworth make an appearance. And though she played a character named Judy, Cary never once said the obvious “Judy, Judy, Judy” line so often attributed to him by celebrity impersonators. Yet another Hollywood myth bites the dust.

2. Holiday (1938).

Yet another Cary Grant movie. No, I don't have a thing for Cary Grant but I do admire his movies. And quite frankly, who wouldn't want to be a member of any club that has Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in it?

This movie has been eclipsed by its more well-known successor The Philadelphia Story, which is a shame. Both Grant and Hepburn gave memorable performances, and Lew Ayres actually managed to play the type of character I didn't think was possible -- an alcoholic character which was actually sympathetic.

Perhaps, it was because Ayres's character displayed a certain self-awareness about his drinking that certain characters in more recent films (Sideways, Crazy/Beautiful, etc.) have not. Ayres' character did not really ask us to pity him for his condition; indeed, he showed far more pity for his sibling (played by Katharine Hepburn) than for himself. And though we were not really told the reasons for his constant drinking (there was some hint of a riff between him and his father but it was never fully explained in detail), director George Cukor wasn't above dropping a few hints that might or might not have meant something. (For example, the way he responded to certain remarks Ms. Hepburn's character made about Mr. Grant's character.)

Anyway, the result was an enjoyable movie that really deserved to be far more well-known.

* “Classic” in this case meaning “made before 1970.”