Howdy, y’all. For this week’s post, as we head into the Christmas season (and hear countless versions of “Last Christmas” and “All I Want for Christmas is You” *shudder*), I thought I’d bring up some of my favorite Christmas movies. Watching Christmas movies and TV specials, many of which were recorded on VHS tapes from TV viewings, was my family’s preferred method of preparing for Christmas. There are far too many to fit into one post, so if I’m still doing this blog next year, perhaps there will be a sequel. Some of these may be hard to find, some are streaming and some you may never have heard of. So I’ll start in more or less chronological order. I suppose this is where I say to get your popcorn, hot chocolate and gingerbread cookies ready for some great/debatably great movies.
These are two Rankin and Bass claymation TV specials from the 1960s. My parents grew up watching them, so they’re from my childhood as well. The Rankin-Bass catalogue is well known, whether claymation or regular animation. And I believe that these are two of the more well-known ones. They air them on TV at times, or sell them on DVD. If you’ve never watched them, I recommend them. Okay, if you want a REALLY bad, cheesy, makes-you-laugh-because-it’s-so-bad Christmas movie, this is it. In 1964, Martian children are raised without joy, and are super depressed. The Martian parents decide to kidnap Santa Claus (after seeing him on a TV news report, because Santa is always down for press conferences) and bring him to Mars, to make their children happy. Two American children wind up coming too, and together with Santa and some friendly Martians, defeat the Martians who want to kill Santa because they don’t want joy. Santa makes a toy factory on Mars, laughs way too much, and is delighted to share the spirit of Christmas, especially when he appoints a Martian as the new Mars version of Santa. You can find this online or on DVD. But be prepared for campy cringe and laughing way too hard.“A Charlie Brown Christmas” is a classic Christmas TV special, first aired in 1965. Charlie Brown is depressed because everyone around him just wants everything for Christmas. Even his dog Snoopy is trying to win a Christmas decorating contest! Charlie Brown and Linus just want a simple Christmas, but everyone tells them it must be bigger and better. It’s a very simple story, but very sweet and enjoyable every year. They air it on some TV channels every year, but college meant I had no access to cable (expenses), so I finally caved and got it on DVD.This is a 1985 movie about Santa Claus’ origins and how he helps two children in 1980s New York. I’ll be honest- the first half(?) of the movie is a fairly well-done origin story for Santa and the myths surrounding him. Once they move into the 1980s, it gets very cheesy. John Lithgow as a smirking villain running a toy factory does not help that fact. Candy that makes people fly, an oblivious Patch the Elf (Dudley Moore), and child actors who do their best but often go overboard… Thankfully, it’s that fun kind of cheesy that’s mostly enjoyable to watch. I think you might be able to find it on DVD.A 1987 animated TV special. Garfield, his owner Jon, and Odie the dog, go to Jon’s family’s farm for Christmas. It’s a pretty simple story, with food, presents, and songs. In spite of the jokes and simplicity, it has a very heartwarming vibe that gets me every time. But my favorite part has to be the song Garfield and Jon sing in the car; while Jon sings about the greatness of childhood Christmases, Garfield cuts in with snarky comments about how awful it is. Thankfully, this is available to watch on YouTube!!This is a 1996 TV movie that might be hard to find. Mrs. Santa Claus (Anna, Santa’s wife) is worried about her husband, as he is growing more and more busy every year, as Christmas 1910 increases his workload of letters and presents. He is so busy, that he has no time to listen to Anna’s suggestion of a new, time-saving Christmas Eve flying route. Anna decides, a week before Christmas, that she will take the reindeer and sleigh to test out the route. Bad weather forces her to hastily land in New York, where she must stay until the reindeer are well enough to fly. As Mrs. North, she makes friends with the suffragettes, the Italian stableman, her Jewish landlady, and her young Irish friend who works at a horrible toy factory. Anna gets caught up in matters of voting rights, immigrant fears, child labor laws, and loving everyone (even the villain!). It’s a beautiful, if sentimental, musical, with plenty of dancing and singing by the incomparable Dame Angela Lansbury. Some people might recognize the elf foreman Arvo as Mr. Noodle from Sesame Street, Michael Jeter.
And no list of Christmas movies is complete without the requisite “A Christmas Carol.” This is an absolute classic. The original story was written and published Charles Dickens in 1843. A greedy man named Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. They show him how he has changed since childhood, how the people around him see him, and how his future is horrible, because everyone will be really glad when he’s dead. He then decides to change his life and become a better person, and starts on Christmas Day.
Since this is an older story, there have been tons and tons of adaptations made over the decades, like stage plays, radio plays, movies and parodies. So I tried to narrow it down to my top 3 favorites. I cannot rank these in order of favorite, because I love them all. So I’ll stick them in order of year they came out:
This is a 1983 TV special, only about 25 minutes long. It tells the basic story of A Christmas Carol while squeezing in as many characters from classic Disney movies as possible. It’s very sweet and heartwarming. Since it is a Disney special, you can only really watch it nowadays on Disney+ or DVD. But it’s worth watching if you can.A 1984 high quality TV movie. It’s a mostly faithful adaptation of the book, and manages to capture the bleak and hard life of the poor while not being too dramatic. George C. Scott plays an angry, bitter Scrooge, managing to melt into a softer version of himself by the end of his ghostly visits. My absolute favorite serious version.I don’t know if you know the Muppets, but they’re a pretty famous American puppet company. They tell a pretty faithful version of the story, while adding lots of songs and sillness to balance out what is sometimes a depressing and sad story. Michael Caine plaays Scrooge in this 1992 version, balancing a gruffness and tenderness that stands out amidst the heartwarming zaniness of his Muppet co-stars. My family has to watch this at least one time before Christmas because we love it so much.
So that’s it. There are plenty of other movies we watch, such as “White Christmas,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and the requisite VeggieTales Christmas movies. But I chose these because they are my favorites (“Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” is not so much a favorite as it is an experience). And like I said, if I still continue this blog next year, there’ll probably be a sequel to this post. But for now, I’ll see you on the flip side.
Random English Major Thoughts 