What's your favorite Christmas movie?

[metta]

What's your favorite Christmas movie?

 

[metta]

It's a Wonderful Life

 

[purina]

A Chirstmas Carol 1951

 

[lockeroomguy]

Polar express is one of my favorites.

 

[Alistair]

I hate Christmas movies.

 

[D'oh Nutz]

Die Hard

 

[MusicMan321]

The Santa Clause movies with Tim Allen

 

[smokeshadow]

I'm guessing that you are referring to the 1947 version of Miracle on 34th Street; and, not the 1994 version. And, with A Christmas Carol, are you referring to the 1910 version, the 1916 version, the 1923 version, the 1928 version, the 1938 version, the 1960 version, the 1998 Muppet version or the 2008 version. It would help if you could have been a LITTLE bit more specific

 

[peeonme]

I'm not a fan of Christmas movies, but Christmas Vacation if funny.

 

[Kahaih]

It's a Wonderful Life

I wasn't going to say anything, but I must.

These days, a lot of people don't take kindly to a movie that glorified a kid keeping his trap shut about an adult hitting him in the head so hard as to make his ear bleed and cause him permanent loss of hearing in that ear.

Kids need to be encouraged to tell someone if they have been seriously abused, not taught that it's noble to keep quiet about it.

 

[fredroy]

I think I finally saw all of the Dolly Parton Christmas show with out missing the middle because Buddy wants a walk "right now". I'm not sure though, it seemed to end but no credits, just a few commercials and something else started.
It's a decent story. Sure, lots of bible sorta of stuff but that's part of the story.

The commercials were bizarre compared to the content of the movie. First commercial was Marylin Manson ? who Madonna is trying to look like, playing a piano and pushing some drug for eczema or whatever with the usual side effects like liver failure and strokes. Take this drug and have a stroke? Yeah, scratch that.

 

[Alistair]

^ I actually started watching that last night but stopped as soon as I saw Rick Schroeder. I won’t support anything that asshole is associated with.

 

[fredroy]

You should have watched anyway. Why, he was in a mine and it blew up! And everyone thought he was dead! And a couple of days later he walked out of the mine! Just in time for Christmas!

Yeah, I did roll my eyes. ◔_◔

 

[NotHardUp1]

It's a Wonderful Life

I'm confused. Was it left out accidentally from the list? It has historically been rated as the #1 favorite of all time. It could be the reason why Other is leading the survey.

 

[NotHardUp1]

I wasn't going to say anything, but I must.

These days, a lot of people don't take kindly to a movie that glorified a kid keeping his trap shut about an adult hitting him in the head so hard as to make his ear bleed and cause him permanent loss of hearing in that ear.

Kids need to be encouraged to tell someone if they have been seriously abused, not taught that it's noble to keep quiet about it.

Many things are depicted in movies that are not intended as exemplars. The focus on the ear cuffing seems as misdirected as someone trying to turn a parable of Jesus into an allegory.

Here is a link to the subject scene for any not familiar: It's a Wonderful Life (I'm sorry, but the scene obviously features a boy, so cannot be shown directly on JUB.)

George clearly refers to his "sore ear," an obvious reference that might imply he had an ear infection or previous damage, and possibly the cause of his deafness there.

His act was "glorified" not because he covered up for some child-abuser. He himself did not blame the druggist. The boss was out of his head, drunk, reeling from the death of his son. Remember this was a 1946 film. It was not set in '46 though, but earlier, with horses still pulling carriages in the street. It's even likely the scene was a pastiche of Dickens by the director, except the child was the model of forgiveness and heroism, not merely the hapless victim of a tyrannical adult or guardian.

The depiction of George is both of a messianic sacrificial hero as well as an everyman, a moral not lost on America as it staggered past the second world war in a generation, losing many sons, putting many people into anguish and grief.

The druggist was not portrayed as any habitual child abuser. He was simply out of control due to grief, which even George saw, and had observed closely enough to detect the poison.

The quality of mercy is not 'strained. George is painted as a forgiving, perceptive, and heroic figure, in marked contrast to the foil, a flawed, harsh, and ignoble employer/adult. It is a very effective dramatic device.

No one generally perceives the moral lesson to be for children not to tell. It was to set up the hero as extraordinary, and in the face of very hard times.

 

[NotHardUp1]

^ I actually started watching that last night but stopped as soon as I saw Rick Schroeder. I won’t support anything that asshole is associated with.

I rewatched that Costco meltdown. Kings indeed. Sheesh.

 

[LilBit]

I'm a fan of the original Black Christmas.

 

[metta]

I'm a fan of the original Black Christmas.

 

[gsdx]

My favourite, too. Nobody could beat Sim as Scrooge.

Bit of Trivia: Scrooge says 'Humbug' a number of times, but not once does he utter the words, 'Bah! Humbug!'

Something to watch for: When Scrooge wakes up 'a changed man' on Christmas morning and Mrs. Dilber brings him his breakfast, Scrooge starts dancing around the room, he approaches the wall mirror and talks to himself - twice. Look at the mirror to the left of Sim's face. You can see a stage curtain/wall and a sitting stage hand leaning forward from behind the screen and drinking from a paper cup.

 

[Latimer]

I'm a big fan of the Guy Pierce series (always a fan of Pierce) from about five years ago with Joe Alwyn as Bob Cratchit. Emotionally complex, baroque and visually arresting:

I'm also partial to the Muppet version:

I love Polar Bear Express:

And, although I never seen the whole movie, I'm a total pushover for the "Have yourself a merry little Christmas" scene in Meet Me in St. Louis. It doesn't get any better than this, does it?