A Seasonal Celebration: Uncovering Underrated Christmas Movies
One thing that irks concerning a lot of contemporary Christmas features is their excessive meta-commentary – the ostentatious decorations, the formulaic music tunes, and the clichéd conversations about the true meaning of the season. Maybe because the style was not yet ossified into routine, pictures from the 1940s often explore Yuletide from far more imaginative and far less obsessive angles.
It Happened on Fifth Avenue
One delightful find from delving into 1940s Christmas comedies is It Happened on Fifth Avenue, a 1947 semi-romantic tale with a brilliant concept: a happy-go-lucky hobo spends the winter in a empty Fifth Avenue mansion each year. During one cold spell, he invites strangers to stay with him, including a former GI and a runaway who turns out to be the daughter of the home's wealthy proprietor. Director Roy Del Ruth gives the picture with a surrogate family heart that numerous contemporary seasonal stories strive to attain. This story expertly balances a class-conscious commentary on shelter and a charming city fantasy.
Tokyo Godfathers
The acclaimed director's 2003 animated film Tokyo Godfathers is a engaging, sad, and thoughtful version on the festive tale. Drawing from a John Wayne picture, it centers on a triumvirate of displaced people – an alcoholic, a trans woman, and a young throwaway – who discover an abandoned baby on Christmas Eve. Their journey to find the baby's family unleashes a series of hijinks involving gangsters, foreigners, and apparently fateful connections. The animation doubles down on the enchantment of coincidence often found in holiday tales, presenting it with a cool-toned visual style that sidesteps cloying sentiment.
Introducing John Doe
Although Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life rightly earns plenty of praise, his earlier film Meet John Doe is a powerful holiday story in its own right. Featuring Gary Cooper as a handsome drifter and Barbara Stanwyck as a clever journalist, the movie kicks off with a fake letter from a man promising to fall from a rooftop on the holiday in frustration. The public's embrace forces the journalist to hire a man to impersonate the invented "John Doe," who subsequently becomes a national icon for kindness. The narrative acts as both an uplifting tale and a sharp indictment of powerful media magnates trying to exploit grassroots feeling for political ambitions.
The Silent Partner
While holiday horror movies are now a dime a dozen, the Christmas thriller remains a strangely underpopulated subgenre. This makes the 1978 feature The Silent Partner a unique discovery. Featuring a delightfully sinister Christopher Plummer as a bank-robbing Santa Claus and Elliott Gould as a clever bank employee, the film pits two types of morally ambiguous oddballs against each other in a stylish and surprising narrative. Mostly ignored upon its initial release, it is worthy of new attention for those who enjoy their festive films with a chilling edge.
The Almost Christmas
For those who enjoy their family reunions messy, Almost Christmas is a hoot. Featuring a stellar group that includes Danny Glover, Mo'Nique, and JB Smoove, the story explores the tensions of a family compelled to share five days under one home during the Christmas season. Secret dramas bubble to the forefront, resulting in scenes of extreme farce, such as a dinner where a weapon is pulled out. Of course, the narrative finds a heartwarming ending, giving all the entertainment of a holiday catastrophe without any of the personal cleanup.
Go
Doug Liman's 1999 movie Go is a Yuletide-set story that is a young-adult take on woven stories. Although some of its edginess may feel of its time upon rewatch, the movie nonetheless boasts several things to appreciate. These include a composed role from Sarah Polley to a standout performance by Timothy Olyphant as a laid-back drug dealer who amusingly sports a Santa hat. It captures a particular kind of fin-de-siècle film energy set against a festive setting.
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek
Preston Sturges's wartime comedy The Miracle of Morgan's Creek forgoes typical Christmas cheer in return for cheeky fun. The movie centers on Betty Hutton's Trudy Kockenlocker, who ends up pregnant after a hazy night but cannot identify the father responsible. Much of the humor arises from her situation and the devotion of Eddie Bracken's simping Norval Jones to marry her. Although not explicitly a holiday movie at the beginning, the narrative winds up on the festive day, making clear that Sturges has created a clever version of the Christmas story, packed with his characteristic witty edge.
The Film Better Off Dead
This 1985 adolescent comedy with John Cusack, Better Off Dead, is a quintessential specimen of its era. Cusack's