So few days to Christmas. It’s a well-known fact that time accelerates at the end of the year. All those jobs that I’d promised I’d get done by the end of the year now seem hopeless. Schedules get shredded. Looming over the horizon is the prospect of a new year diary.
With the weather blowing a gale and travel being intermittently unadvisable it’s better to slump on the sofa. Switch the box on and see if any of the streaming services have anything entertaining to watch. And wow there’s a lot of complete tosh out there in digital streaming land. Two hours can easy be lost in a gravy wasteland of TV nothingness.
Here’s my list of movies that I’m not disappointed to see turn-up every year. Christmas favourites bound to bring in an audience. The list changes a little every year and so does the world. Not for me candy coated Technicolor, snooze making romance flicks. Put aside the family hijinks and plots out of the script writer’s dustbin. Let’s have some real classics.
Starting where the movie that is almost immortal.
A Christmas Carol.
Charles Dickens’ Christmas ghost story has been made and remade more often than a roman road. My favourite is Alastair Sim as the “real” Scrooge. From 1951, this black and white version of the story has every magic ingredient. A grumpy old man on the road to Damascus.
The Muppet Christmas Carol.
People and puppetry blend seamlessly with Scrooge’s well-trodden voyage. Those universals of past, present and future entwine. The very word entertainment was made for this movie.
Elf.
It does matter who plays the part. Will Ferrell is ungainly, innocent and overflowing with goodness. He’s an elf on a quest. Beautifully knitted together, Buddy’s journey is unmissable.
It’s A Wonderful Life.
Again, supernatural contrivances shape a man’s destiny. This well-worn movie is a roller-coaster of emotions. From the deepest depression to the highest joys. Happy endings are why such tales hook us every time.
The Grinch.
The creature who stole Christmas. Borrowing from the meanness of Scrooge, this character shows us how the seasons joy expels the little green monster of envy. A film with a message and the message is – have fun.
White Christmas.
Unquestionably a song-and-dance movie that transcends song-and-dance. We all hope that we could have comrades and colleagues who would think so much of us. A celebration of life well lived.
Miracle on 34th Street.
Fine it’s Americana write large. That said, Richard Attenborough is so much the part that I start to believe in Father Christmas. It’s a reminder that Department Store’s have a special place at Christmas despite Tom Lehrer’s “Christmas Carol”.
I’m sure others should be added to this short list. What’s here are first thoughts written on a scrap of paper now sent to recycling.
John Vincent 