It’s that time of year, again, when movie fans indulge in watching some of their favorite holiday films and I’m no different. A while back, I started sharing some of my favorite Christmas movies and have finally found the time to continue my list.
To refresh your memory, reader, as to how I am compiling this list:
- I have both classic and modern films on the list and decided to split the list between those two categories. This post covers part 2 of my classic holiday films list.
- Some of these, you might not consider a holiday film. Some of these, you might not care for while others you might not have even heard of. I just hope that you might find something new or different in these posts to help you enjoy your holiday season.
- Although I may have some absolute favorites, there was no possible way that I could arrange them in any particular order. So, I’ve tried to be a bit creative in how I am choosing to unveil these two catalogs.
Here we go….
Now, I’m sure that you have heard of the theory regarding six degrees of separation or even the game based on that theory, The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. I formulated my own version of that game which I like to play but my version is all about movies. I randomly select two actors/actresses from any era and figure out how many movies it takes to connect them.
For example, let’s take Katherine Hepburn and Tom Hanks. This is all solely on my movie knowledge and memory since I often play it at night when I’m having a hard time getting to sleep. It would go something like this:
- Katherine Hepburn was in On Golden Pond with Jane Fonda…
- Jane Fonda was in Nine to Five with Dabney Coleman…
- Dabney Coleman was in You’ve Got Mail with Tom Hanks
Got the idea?
So, the next 3 classic films I have listed here in (Some of) My Classic Favorites: Holiday Edition – Part I…continued, are all connected to each other through the method shown above.
If you’d like to refresh your memory of the films listed in Part 1, you can check it out here.
WHERE WE LEFT OFF: White Christmas (1954)
CONNECTION: Mary Wickes who appeared in White Christmas as Emma Allen also had another enduring, comedic role in The Man Who Came to Dinner starring alongside Betty Davis and Ann Sheridan.
The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941)
In the weeks before Christmas, Sheridan Whiteside (Monty Wooley), a famed New York-based national radio host and general man about town, arrives in Mesalia, Ohio by train alongside his faithful secretary Maggie Cutler (Betty Davis) on a national speaking tour, enroute to Los Angeles in time for his traditional Christmas Eve broadcast. Caustic and difficult, Whiteside has agreed to have dinner with a Middle America family, Bert & Daisy Stanley (played by Grant Mitchell and Billie Burke) and their children. Upon his arrival at their home, Whiteside slips and falls on the icy steps and then, turns the lives of not only the Stanley’s but also everyone else in his wide wake into chaos, pandemonium, and anarchy at every turn.
Why this choice? Based on the highly-successful Broadway play by legendary playwrights Moss Hart & George S. Kaufman, which also starred Wooley as Whiteside, The Man Who Came to Dinner is a unique classic Christmas film filled with comedy, wit and sophistication in addition to have a rare comedic performance by Betty Davis. This is film is such an absolute delight with each and every performance entertaining to watch. Although this film is set during Christmas, it is a film that can be watched and enjoyed any time of year. So, if you’re one of those people who has a deep fondness for the holiday season and need a movie in, say, June, to scratch that itch, then this might be the film for you. Let’s also not forget the appearance in this gem of a movie by one of the most revered character actresses, Mary Wickes, who is always the definition of a scene stealer, even when sharing the screen with Betty Davis, Monty Wooley, and Ann Sheridan.
My favorite scene…Any of the moments when Nurse Preen (Mary Wickes) is going toe-to-toe with the insufferable Sheridan Whiteside (Monty Wooley) including this specific moment: “I am not only walking out on this case, Mr. Whiteside, I am leaving the nursing profession. I became a nurse because all my life, ever since I was a little girl, I was filled with the idea of serving a suffering humanity. After one month with you, Mr. Whiteside, I am going to work in a munitions factory. From now on, anything I can do to help exterminate the human race will fill me with the greatest of pleasure. If Florence Nightingale had ever nursed YOU, Mr. Whiteside, she would have married Jack the Ripper instead of founding the Red Cross!”
CONNECTION: A few years after the release of The Man Who Came to Dinner, Monty Wooley had a role in another enduring Christmas film, The Bishop’s Wife starring alongside Cary Grant, David Niven, and Loretta Young.
The Bishop’s Wife (1947)
Newly appointed Episcopal Bishop Henry Brougham (David Niven), feeling crestfallen and facing adversity in his attempts to raise funds to build a cathedral, implores heaven for direction and support in his efforts. Enter Dudley (Cary Grant), the bishop’s heaven-sent ally, claiming to be an angel sent to answer the bishop’s prayer who, not only helps everyone he encounters, but is also loved by each one in the process. Everyone that is except Bishop Henry Brougham who is highly skeptical that Dudley is, in fact, the angel he declares to be and becomes suspicious that he was sent as a replacement in both his role as a bishop and as the head of his family which includes his wife Julia (Loretta Young) and daughter Debby (Karolyn Grimes). Despite Dudley’s divine influence and impact on those around him, Henry continues to challenge heaven but it soon becomes clear that it will be a merry Christmas in spite of his resistance.
Why this choice? Honestly, this movie stars the eternally charming, handsome and debonair Cary Grant – what other reason does there really need to be? Okay, for those of you who are not convinced of this movie’s Christmas perfection simply because of Cary grant’s divine intervention as its star, here are a few more reasons to make sure this one is on your holiday watch list. To me, this film is in the same realm of other classic Christmas films including It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street in that it has a bit of Christmas magic that reignites, for many, the wonder and delight of the holiday season, no matter one’s age. It simply makes you marvel in the spirit of the season and restores your faith in what could be if only skepticism, negativity, and cynicism would get out of our way, allowing us to see what is possible not what is impossible.
The cast also boasts some other highly respected and beloved actors including Elsa Lanchester as Matilda, Gladys Cooper as Mrs. Hamilton, Sara Haden as Mildred, and Tito Vuolo as Maggenti.
A few fun facts about this film:
- It is based on the novel of the same name written by Robert Nathan in 1928. Author John D. Weaver described his friend Nathan as a “gentle writer of romantic fantasy” which I think is a perfect description for the film’s source material.
- Karolyn Grimes, who plays the Brougham’s daughter Debby in the film, can also be seen in another Christmas movie essential, It’s a Wonderful Life, in which she portrayed Zuzu Bailey, youngest daughter of George (James Stewart) and Mary (Donna Reed) Bailey. Remember Zuzu’s petals? Makes me cry every time.
- That’s not the only cast member this film shares with It’s a Wonderful Life. Robert J. Anderson, who portrayed young George Bailey, also appears in The Bishop’s Wife as Defense Captain in the snowball fight scene. “I wish I had a million dollars. Hot Dog!”
- This film was re-imagined in 1996 under the direction of Penny Marshall as The Preacher’s Wife, starring Whitney Houston as Julia, Courtney B. Vance as Henry, and Denzel Washington as Dudley. This version, in my opinion, still has the same Christmas magic but just for a different generation as well as a marvelous soundtrack filled with the exquisite voice of Whitney Houston. I absolutely adore the “Who Would Imagine a King” number in the film. As young Jeremiah Biggs, the only son of Henry and Julia, so eloquently says, “Just because you can’t see the air doesn’t keep you from breathing. And just because you can’t see God doesn’t keep you from believing.”, this movie, just like its predecessor, will make you believe again.
My favorite scene…The very first moment when Dudley appears, he is surrounded by all of the wonderful things one might associate with Christmas – snow, caroling, ornate and beautifully decorated store windows, the excitement of children, and kindness, as displayed when Dudley helps a blind man cross the street and saves a baby’s carriage when it begins to roll away from its mother as she lifts her other child up to look in the window. As Dudley comes upon Julia looking longingly in a store window at a hat she would desperately love to receive as a Christmas gift, its as if he forgets that he is no longer an apparition and she forgets that she is not a child looking at her Christmas wish in the window. Such a beautiful moment.
CONNECTION: Actress Sara Haden who appeared in The Bishop’s Wife as Bishop Henry Brougham’s secretary also had a role 7 years earlier in yet another entry in the holiday classic film canon, The Shop Around the Corner featuring James Stewart, Margaret Sullivan and, the Wizard of Oz himself, Frank Morgan.
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
An adaptation of the 1937 play Parfumerie by Hungarian playwright Miklós László, The Shop Around the Corner is set at the Matuschek and Company store in Budapest, Hungary in the weeks before Christmas. The story revolves around the lives of the kindly and amiable owner Hugo Matuschek (Frank Morgan) and his loyal and hard-working employees. Two of the employees, Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) and the newly hired Klara Novak (Margaret Sullivan) are like oil and water, they simply do not mix, and often express their ongoing aggravation with each other trading barbs while working together. While outwardly appearing to be independent and satisfied in their own companionless existence, in private, they both are engaging in anonymous, romantic correspondence with unknown pen pals who they dream of meeting in person someday, Although surrounded by the tension and tragedy of their co-workers and friends, both Alfred and Klara continue their respective correspondence completely unaware that they are, in fact, exchanging letters with each other.
Why this choice? Another classic Christmas movie starring James Stewart centered around themes of love, family, and the surprises that can happen in life when you open yourself up to the possibilities that surround you. To me, there is nothing more Christmas-y in a movie than the theme of love and family, be that a family of relatives or a chosen family of those that surround us every day, who support us, encourage us, challenge us, and love us with all of life’s ups and downs. This captivating film reflects to the audience how preconceived ideas, thoughts, opinions or misunderstandings can result in missing out on something truly extraordinary that might be right in front of you or could cause you to make a bad decision in the moment. The story, while seeming to be simple and straightforward is multi-layered with a gratifying ending all wrapped up with a bow like the perfect Christmas present.
A couple of interesting facts about this film:
- The film was made in 28 days and came in under $500,00.00. Director Ernst Lunitsch considered it to be “just a quiet little story that seemed to have some charm”.
- If this story sounds familiar to you, it might be because it has been turned into a 1949 movie musical with Judy Garland and Van Johnson (In The Good Old Summertime), a Tony Award winning Broadway musical (She Loves Me) which premiered in 1963 as well as a highly successful revival in 2016, and a 1998 modern classic directed by Nora Ephron (You’ve Got Mail) and starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. In You’ve Got Mail, the bookshop owned by Kathleen Kelly (Ryan) which is fighting against closure thanks to Joe Fox (Hanks) and his “big, bad chain store”, is named The Shop Around the Corner. Nice reference!
My favorite scene…My favorite scene…The moment when Alfred (James Stewart) realizes that the secret pen pal who has stolen his heart and dared him to dream of a true love connection turns out to be the co-worker he can hardly stand to be in the same room with for more than 2 minutes. As he comes to this realization outside the café, inside the café Klara, unaware of the identity of her romantic ideal, still clings to the fantasy of her knight in shining armor who springs to life with each and every letter she receives.
Well, that does it…we have made it from The Apartment (1960) to The Shop Around the Corner (1940) with many unforgettable film stops in-between. Hopefully, this first list will help you explore and enjoy some new to you films or remember some that you’ve not seen in awhile.
Next up, I will have a post of Modern Holiday films that I love, so stay tuned.
Thanks for reading & Happy Holidays!
PlayItAgain.blog 