A Holiday Tour de Force: Uncovering Overlooked Holiday Movies
One thing that annoys concerning many present-day seasonal films is their excessive self-consciousness – the gaudy decorations, the formulaic soundtrack choices, and the clichéd conversations about the essence of the festive period. Maybe because the genre was not hardened into tradition, movies from the 1940s often explore Yuletide from increasingly inventive and not as neurotic angles.
The Fifth Avenue Happening
One favorite find from delving into 1940s seasonal films is It Happened on Fifth Avenue, a 1947 romantic farce with a brilliant premise: a jovial vagrant takes up residence in a empty luxurious townhouse each year. During one cold spell, he welcomes strangers to reside with him, including a veteran and a runaway who turns out to be the daughter of the home's wealthy landlord. Helmer Roy Del Ruth gives the film with a makeshift family coziness that many modern holiday stories strive to achieve. The film beautifully occupies the space between a class-conscious narrative on housing and a charming city fantasy.
Godfathers in Tokyo
The acclaimed director's 2003 feature Tokyo Godfathers is a entertaining, sad, and thoughtful interpretation on the Christmas story. Inspired by a John Wayne picture, it centers on a trio of displaced people – an alcoholic, a trans woman, and a young throwaway – who come across an left-behind baby on a snowy December night. Their mission to find the baby's mother triggers a chain of misadventures involving gangsters, foreigners, and ostensibly magical encounters. The film celebrates the magic of fate often found in holiday stories, offering it with a cinematic visual style that steers clear of overly sweet sentiment.
Introducing John Doe
Although Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life deservedly gets plenty of praise, his other work Meet John Doe is a notable holiday tale in its own right. Starring Gary Cooper as a handsome "forgotten man" and Barbara Stanwyck as a resourceful journalist, the film starts with a fake letter from a man threatening to fall from a ledge on December 24th in frustration. The people's embrace compels the journalist to recruit a man to impersonate the mythical "John Doe," who subsequently becomes a national icon for kindness. The narrative functions as both an heartwarming fable and a pointed indictment of powerful publishers trying to manipulate grassroots goodwill for their own ends.
The Silent Partner
While Christmas horror pictures are now plentiful, the festive suspense film remains a somewhat rare subgenre. This makes the 1978 feature The Silent Partner a fresh surprise. With a superbly vile Christopher Plummer as a bank-robbing Santa Claus and Elliott Gould as a mild-mannered bank teller, the story sets two kinds of opportunistic individuals against each other in a stylish and surprising tale. Mostly unseen upon its first release, it merits new attention for those who enjoy their festive stories with a cold tone.
Almost Christmas
For those who enjoy their holiday get-togethers chaotic, Almost Christmas is a riot. Boasting a star-studded group that includes Danny Glover, Mo'Nique, and JB Smoove, the story delves into the tensions of a household gathered to share five days under one home during the Christmas season. Hidden dramas come to the top, culminating in situations of over-the-top comedy, including a dinner where a firearm is brandished. Of course, the narrative arrives at a heartwarming conclusion, offering all the fun of a family mess without any of the real-life cleanup.
The Film Go
The director's 1999 movie Go is a Christmas-set tale that functions as a teen-oriented riff on crisscrossing plots. While some of its humor may feel product of the 90s upon revisiting, the movie nonetheless offers several aspects to savor. These are a engaging role from Sarah Polley to a standout performance by Timothy Olyphant as a dangerous drug dealer who fittingly wears a Santa hat. It represents a very kind of 1990s film attitude set against a Christmas backdrop.
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek
The satirist's 1940s comedy The Miracle of Morgan's Creek rejects conventional Christmas warmth in exchange for cheeky humor. The film centers on Betty Hutton's Trudy Kockenlocker, who ends up pregnant after a drunken night but cannot recall the soldier involved. A lot of the fun stems from her predicament and the efforts of Eddie Bracken's simping Norval Jones to rescue her. Although not immediately a holiday film at the beginning, the narrative winds up on the festive day, revealing that Sturges has created a satirical version of the nativity, filled with his trademark satirical style.
Better Off Dead
This 1985 youth movie with John Cusack, Better Off Dead, is a textbook artifact of its time. Cusack's