There is plenty of discourse about what is considered a Christmas Movie. The topic, so it seems, is sometimes treated as a competition to conjure up a title widely considered a counterintuitive selection and proclaim it a Christmas movie—just waiting for a debate to confidently explain there is a December scene with a lit-up tree in someone’s window: ergo, Christmas Movie!
For example, you may encounter someone who insists their favorite Christmas movie is Scorcese’s GOODFELLAS (e.g., Christmas party after the heist and Christmas morning with Henry Hill’s family), or a coworker might be eager to explain their top Christmas movie is LETHAL WEAPON or IRON MAN 3 (both directed by Shane Black).
I subscribe to the assessment of sage movie critic (and Christmas movie aficionado) Alonso Duralde: the “Christmas Movie” label is a personal choice and can be tied to your perspective and history.
If your family watched DIE HARD each December, it may top your list of must-watch holiday fare. It may infuse you with the pleasant feelings of bygone Christmas viewings.
Maybe your parents loved FITZWILLY (1967), in which Dick Van Dyke masterminds the robbery of a department store on Christmas Eve. Thus, for you, the warm nostalgia of the film (and brilliant humor) takes you back to happy holidays past.
Mayhap your tradition is to watch ROCKY on Christmas Eve—so, that is a required part of your seasonal customs.
If all goes well, this compendium of my Christmas Movies List (in no particular order) might lead you to discover new additions to your own list. I endeavor to wrangle these into my carefully plotted viewing schedule each December.
HOLIDAY INN (1942)
Starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, this Christmas classic introduced the world to Irving Berlin’s beloved song “White Christmas.”
A trio of song-and-dance performers (Crosby, Astaire, and Virginia Dale) finds their act broken up as Jim Hardy (Crosby) seeks a slower-paced life on a farm.
Hardy pursues his leisure existence and transforms his farmhouse into an inn that is only open on major holidays. When each holiday comes around, it offers him a chance to return to the stage for guests’ entertainment. Linda Mason (Marjorie Reynolds) is looking for her big show business break and begins performing with Hardy at his Holiday Inn.
The course of true love never did run smooth. Enter a love triangle. Complications beget much hilarity, and the setting allows for a host of wonderful tunes from Irving Berlin.
From the Golden Age of Cinema, the combination of Crosby and Astaire (and Irving Berlin’s songs) has a potent holiday appeal.
ADVISORY ALERT: Some 21st century audiences may be shocked to find a big production number performed in black-face (celebrating Lincoln’s birthday) in a film more than 80 years old, with the gag being key to a plot situation in which a character is being disguised from those in pursuit. When broadcast on TV these days, you’ll typically find the “Abraham” number edited out.
SCROOGE (1970)
A Christmas Carol is a required presence during the season of its namesake holiday. When the holiday season arrives, I often read the Dickens novella, listen to a few versions of old-time radio plays, and watch some of the numerous film versions. Some seasons I see the 1938 version with Reginald Owen, the 1951 version with Alistair Sim, Patrick Stewart’s 1999 TV movie, or Disney’s 2009 animated offering with Jim Carrey in multiple roles. This year, I hope to see AN AMERICAN CHRISTMAS CAROL (1979) with Henry Winkler.
If I were only allowed one viewing of the tale, it would be 1970’s SCROOGE with Albert Finney in the titular role and Alec Guinness as Jacob Marley’s ghost.
This version escorts you through Ebenezer’s transformation with humor, fine performances, and several tunes guaranteed to linger in your mind beyond the closing credits. More than other movies of Dickens’ Christmas ghost story, SCROOGE delivers the most engaging filmic representation of Ebenezer’s redemption and his ultimate beneficence toward the Cratchit family.
We spend time with many of the debtors that Scrooge torments, a band of street urchins hoping to collect a few pence for their caroling, and the Cratchits, doing their very best to make merry—with Scrooge wandering through it all as a committed misanthrope. The highlights include (as they should) Scrooge’s interactions with his ghostly visitors and the abundance a great songs. There is also a singular sequence during the visitation of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (better experienced than told about).
THE LEMON DROP KID (1951)
This classic romp is based on a Damon Runyon tale full of grifters, hustlers, gangsters, and racketeers. Bob Hope portrays the title character who finds himself in debt to a gangster. With the money due on Christmas Day, The Kid concocts a hustle to assemble a crew of neighborhood regulars and send them out into New York City’s streets as bell-ringing Santas soliciting donations in the name of a fictional home for elderly widows.
This movie brought us the holiday classic song “Silver Bells.” In our house, it also brings hearty laughter every year. This is Bob Hope in his comedic prime.
Consider giving this one a viewing, if you love to settle in on a December evening for an exuberant Christmas movie. I’ll wager it makes your annual list, too.
NATIVITY! (2009)
Martin Freeman portrays Paul Madden, a despondent, often exasperated primary school teacher in England, who shuffles through a humdrum existence since his girlfriend left him on Christmas Day.
I understand that first sentence isn’t likely to convey to you the sheer comedy gold on display in this movie, or the laugh-out-loud moments that make it a holiday joy. Even so, that is where we find things when the movie starts.
However, Christmas is coming again, and Paul is tasked with directing the school’s annual Nativity play, try though he does to dodge the chore. His obligation is made more challenging when he is assigned a new assistant, Mr. Poppy (Marc Wootton), who is more childlike than the young school children in their charge.
Things take another turn when Paul is needled by his nemesis and former friend who directs the annual Nativity show at a rival (and snobbish!) school, and Paul blurts out a lie that Hollywood is going to make a film about his own school’s production. Unfortunately, his boast is overheard. The grapevine carries this news far and wide, and things are promptly out of hand.
The endearing charm in this sweet film is the cast of children. Much of the movie was filmed in improvised scenes to elicit natural performances from the young actors. You are destined to love them and root for their success.
If this is the first you are learning of this movie, find it, buy it, watch it, love it. This is my Christmas gift to you.
THE BISHOP’S WIFE (1947)
An Episcopalian bishop and his wife are visited by an angel in response to a prayer for help in this classic with Cary Grant as the angel and David Niven and Loretta Young as the couple. The cast includes many brilliant supporting characters.
The opening scene brings us into wintry city streets bustling with holiday activity, and the movie’s action takes us through the lead-up to Christmas Day. The bishop frets, worries, and obsesses on his single-minded goal to raise the funds to build a new cathedral—while neglecting his wife and child.
Grant, as Dudley the angel, is beloved by all he meets aside from the bishop, who distrusts his motives. When the bishop declines to allow Dudley to represent him in a work obligation, the angel instead represents the bishop in plans made with his wife. Therein lies trouble.
Observant viewers might spot THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN’s Elsa Lanchester as the bishop's servant and the appearance of child actors from another noted Christmas classic: Karolyn Grimes as the bishop’s daughter (ZuZu from IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE) and Robert J. Anderson as a kid in the park (Young George Bailey from IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE).
For many years, this was designated our Christmas Eve movie viewed after the kids were in bed and we were waiting for Santa to do his thing.
NOTE: You may be aware there was a 1996 remake as THE PREACHER’S WIFE with a stacked cast. However, I have avoided it due to my dedicated devotion to the original and its place in all my Christmases through the decades.
CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS (2004), DECK THE HALLS (2006), & TRAPPED IN PARADISE (1994)
This trio of holiday hijinks comedies is standard viewing for us, although we may rotate through them when there is not enough time to view them all. If we skip one, we bring it back the next year.
We enjoy each of these because we love the casting, the merry antics, the performances, and the overall holiday vibe.
CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS is based on John Grisham’s slim novel Skipping Christmas. When their daughter leaves to join the Peace Corps, the Kranks (Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis) decide to skip Christmas and redirect all of their holiday funds into a tropical cruise. Their friends, acquaintances, and neighbors all take issue with the decision to skip Christmas. Holiday Hijinks Ensue.
DECK THE HALLS finds Matthew Broderick at odds with his new neighbor (Danny DeVito), whose goal is to saturate his property with so many Christmas lights that it can be seen from space. You guessed it: Holiday Hijinks Ensue.
TRAPPED IN PARADISE has three criminal-minded brothers (inexplicably Nicholas Cage, Dana Carvey, and Jon Lovitz) bumble their way through the robbery of a small town bank on a snowy Christmas Eve. Say it with me: Holiday Hijinks Ensue.
WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954)
WHITE CHRISTMAS is a sort of spiritual successor to HOLIDAY INN. Both are Irving Berlin musicals that center around song-and-dance performers, and a country inn factors heavily in both plots. Oh, and the song “White Christmas.” And Bing Crosby.
Crosby and Danny Kaye meet at the beginning of the movie while serving in the army during World War II and are destined for post-war fame as performers Wallace & Davis. Their duo becomes entwined with a sister act played by Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen.
The quartet finds themselves on a train to a Vermont inn, where they discover the innkeeper is the retired Army general who led Crosby and Kaye in the European theater. In a scheme to help out the floundering inn, they secretly plan a big Christmas Eve show and summon many of the men who served abroad with the general (all of this unbeknownst to the general).
Highlights include Kaye’s hilarious performance, Clooney’s brilliant voice, Crosby’s masterful crooning, Vera-Ellen’s mesmerizing dancing, the always-funny Mary Wickes as a meddlesome busybody, and Berlin’s compositions.
This Technicolor film was the first to be released in VistaVision, a new widescreen process developed by Paramount.
ELF (2003)
This must-watch holiday movie follows the outrageous adventure of an elf from the North Pole, Buddy (Will Ferrell), who discovers he isn’t an elf at all, but a human raised by elves. He strikes out for the Empire State Building to find his biological dad, Walter (James Caan), a sardonic businessman.
Buddy’s childlike elf perspective and naive worldview sets up nonstop Christmas chaos as he navigates human interactions clothed in his colorful elf garb. He is a veritable fish-out-of-water in New York City and begins living with Walter’s family—innocently disrupting their entire existence.
Buddy wanders into Gimbels department store, where he is mistaken as a worker (quite appropriately) in the Santaland section. He finds himself drawn to coworker Josie (Zooey Deschanel) and at odds with his supervisor and a fake Santa. He also befriends his young half-brother and wins the day during a snowball fight in the park. Mostly, he spreads Christmas cheer and awkwardly stumbles through bonding with his dad, who reluctantly accepts the arrival of an unknown son.
When Christmas Eve night arrives and Santa is stranded in Central Park, Buddy is uniquely equipped to come to the rescue.
If you’ve not watched this one, get cozy this Christmas with The World’s Best Cup of Cocoa and get ready to laugh.
CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT (1945)
Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyck) is a single woman in a dreary New York apartment. Under the guise of a persona, she writes a very successful magazine column about the bucolic farmhouse life of a wife and mother—painting the appealing scenes of tending livestock, raising a baby, and cooking meals.
The success of Elizabeth’s beloved column is due in part to the input from her dear friend Felix (S. Z. Sakall), a restauranteur with the necessary culinary skills to impart to the readers. She, of course, cannot cook at all.
When the magazine’s publisher (who doesn’t know the truth behind the column) arranges to have a war hero spend Christmas at the famed farmhouse of Elizabeth Lane, she must scheme to pull off the ruse and avoid being fired. She reluctantly agrees to marry a successful architect (and longtime pursuer of her affections) who happens to have a spectacular upstate farmhouse.
Elizabeth brings along Felix to help in the kitchen. When the publishers decides to come along, too, and the war hero arrives, she also must devise a plan to address the issue of the alleged baby. The architect keeps bringing in a judge and pressing Elizabeth to have a quick wedding ceremony, requiring her to dodge the vows with clever maneuvering.
It is a brilliantly crafted script with excellent performances from Stanwyck and Sakall. Just writing about it today makes me look forward to this year’s viewing.
RECOMMENDATION: Ignore the existence of a 1992 made-for-TV remake directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
CHRISTMAS DO-OVER (2006)
Jay Mohr and Daphne Zuniga star as a divorced couple (Kevin and Jill) in this amusing TV movie that gives Christmas Day the Groundhog Day treatment—with Kevin reliving Christmas Day over and over and over.
Kevin is an unredeemable jerk and fully unlikable when the movie begins (spoiler: he is redeemable). He travels to his former in-law’s house on Christmas morning to see his son and ex-wife. Once there, he learns his wife’s new beau is successful and kind (the anti-Kevin).
At Christmas dinner, Kevin’s son wishes it could be Christmas every day. Cue Christmas magic! And so it begins.
Kevin gradually transforms, learns lessons, and understands the error of his earlier ways, but not before we are given lots of entertaining quips and circumstances. Mohr is uniquely qualified to portray an unjustifiably smarmy guy who lashes out to overcome his own insecurities.
Because we return to this one every year, we bought it, so we do not have to rely on it being broadcast or streamed. (At the time of this writing, it is available to watch on Youtube.)
KRAMPUS (2015)
This campy and creepy Christmas tale is full of silly, comical situations embedded in horror-movie trappings. However, Christmas is at the center of the discussions and action.
In the midst of an unpleasant holiday gathering of extended family (and the associated tribulations of distasteful relations), a young boy inadvertently summons Krampus, the dark and sinister counterpart of Santa Claus from European folklore. Krampus, legend has it, comes to punish the naughty just as Santa rewards those who have been good. It turns out everyone is naughty.
Mayhem erupts as with the arrival of a freak winter storm, and the families come under attack from goblin-like trolls, mutated evil toys, and other frights. Please know all of this plays out with a healthy dollop of comedy, and it ultimately leads the young boy to learn a valuable lesson. (But at what cost?)
If a comedy-horror mash-up sounds like fun entertainment, give this one a chance. Elsewise, don’t summon Krampus.
A CHRISTMAS STORY LIVE! (2017)
First, a note about the original movie: Based on my keen awareness, I suspect many of you may have scrolled down to this entry on the list looking for A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983).
Prima facie, the original movie should appeal to me: a young boy in the early 1940s getting into adventures and misadventures, the allure of the yuletide season, a narrator. Those ingredients are tailored to my liking. However, I have tried without success (literally) more than two dozen times to watch the original movie—sometimes with great determination.
I think the faulty factor for me is the narration by Jean Shepherd, the author of the story collection that was amalgamated into the movie’s script (In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash, which I have read and liked). There is A LOT of narrating, and I cannot get past his oversaturated performance.
All was saved by the live television broadcast of the Broadway musical version (subsequently made available to me on BluRay) with Matthew Broderick as the narrator in a flash of brilliant and inspired casting.
The other primary players include Maya Rudolph and Chris Diamantopoulos as the parents, Andy Walken (THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT) as Ralphie, and elsewhere Jane Krakowski, Fred Armisen, Ana Gasteyer, and David Alan Grier.
This version has all the components of the original that I was meant to love AND corrects the hurdle that kept me at bay these many Decembers. Plus, it delivers musical numbers staged with cleverness and whimsy.
Because it was performed live on television, all scenes/sets/songs/transitions must be staged for the continuous performance. I appreciated the artful and inventive planning required to film such a live show.
Those of you that have loved the original might find this version a worthy variation. For those of us who could not stomach 1983’s version, at least we have this BluRay redemption.
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
Do I really need to write about his one? I would feel remiss if I did not list it, but I presume most anyone who would bother reading my list is familiar with this enduring Christmas icon.
Clarence, a novice angel, is sent to earth to help a decent man, George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart), who is in dire straits. George’s trouble comes about because of two men: his fumbling and absent-minded Uncle Billy and Old Man Potter, a sinister and villainous bully whose wealth put him in a position of power.
If Clarence does a good job, he will earn his wings. So, when George suggests everyone would be better off if he was never born, Clarence uses his powers to show George exactly what would have happened if he had never existed.
Lionel Barrymore plays the antagonist Old Man Potter, and the lovely Donna Reed is radiant as George’s date-and-eventual-wife.
This movie is perfect for the spirit of the holidays. It is imbued with a certain recognition throughout that decency is the preferred manner of behavior, that helping our fellow humans better themselves is a worthy pursuit, that kindness matters, and the antithesis of all those things is the wrong worldview.
…ALSO, HALLMARK CHANNEL CHRISTMAS MOVIES
For many years, I wrongly mocked the existence of Hallmark Christmas movies, which I deemed assembly-line/interchangeable fare with no meat on the proverbial bone.
Anytime I passed through the room when my wife was watching one, I could predict:
“Isn’t this the one where the career-
minded successful lady leaves the
big city, gets stranded in a small town
(or her hometown) and meets a strapping
young man in a job that requires him
to work with his hands? Then, they argue
until they recognize the spark between
them. So, she leaves her high-powered
city job to help him run his country inn
(or Christmas Tree Farm)?”
However, my wife ultimately converted me, explaining that with all the ill-will and indecency in the world, it was nice to watch wholesome movies with kind people moving through pretty scenes aglow with Balsam Hill holiday decor. There is comfort in knowing happiness will rule the day—and you can be certain that someone is baking cookies and serving hot cocoa before the credits roll.
Be cozy!
The wife generally watches Hallmark movies in November, as pre-game festivities before the main event of the other movies on this list.
Here is a look at some of the Hallmark holiday offerings that I enjoy (and which include captivating settings bedecked with carefully curated decorations):
A BILTMORE CHRISTMAS (2023) — Much of this pleasurable tale is set on the grounds and inside the magnificent Biltmore Estate (built by George Vanderbilt in the late 1800’s). Lucy (Bethany Joy Lenz) is a script-writer hired to rewrite a beloved holiday movie that was filmed on the estate in the 1940s. She arrives to soak in the atmosphere, but an enchanted object sends her back in time to the movie’s set! Time-traveling shenanigans create many antics, as Lucy interacts with the old movie’s star, Jack (Kristoffer Polaha). If you love Christmas movies, you should make time for this one.
CHRISTMAS IN VIENNA (2020) — Gorgeous backdrops and sweet sentiments abound in this story. Concert violinist Jess (Sarah Drew) travels to Vienna for a Christmas Eve performance. As a favor, she reluctantly agrees to look after the kids of a diplomat (Brennan Elliott). Spoiler: romance is in the stars, as are spectacular Viennese views and holiday decor.
MY NORWEGIAN HOLIDAY (2023) — This offering strikes the trifecta of setting (Scandinavian Christmas!), likable actors (Rhiannon Fish and David Elsendoorn in the lead roles), and plot developments that tug your heart along. After a chance encounter, JJ (Fish) accompanies Henrik (Elsendoorn) to Norway, where unexpected circumstances during the Yuletide season affect both of their lives for the better.
CHRISTMAS IN ROME (2019) — An American (Lacey Chabert) lives in The Eternal City as a tour guide. With Christmas approaching, she meets a visiting American businessman (Sam Page) and agrees to help him navigate the customs and culture while he pursues business with a local played by the legendary Franco Nero.
NOVEMBER CHRISTMAS (2010) — This one could be described as an old school Hallmark Christmas movie, as it was made “in the time before” (i.e., before Hallmark cranked up and optimized their holiday movie-making machinery). A young couple (John Corbett and Susan Paulson) bravely navigate their daughter’s illness. A neighborly couple (Sam Elliott and Karen Allen) offers help when they realize the young girl’s family is moving up holidays on the calendar to ensure the little girl gets to experience them. Unlike latter-day Hallmark Christmas Movies, this one doesn’t center on a romance, but it is absolutely about love.
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BONUS GIFT
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THE CHRISTMAS TREE (1996)
Sally Field directed this TV movie based on the book by Julie Salamon. (I’ve read this short book and really enjoyed it. I recommend it, too.)
Each year, Rockefeller Center’s chief gardener, Richard (Andrew McCarthy), must locate the tree that will be chosen to stand above the ice rink at Rockefeller Center as an icon of the holidays in New York City.
Richard’s search brings him to the grounds of a convent, where he meets the enigmatic Sister Anthony (Julie Harris), an elderly nun with a fascinating tale. Her story happens to involve a near-lifelong bond with a Norway spruce tree whose stately permanence has long been a reassurance to her. Did you guess? That same tree is ideal for the job as NYC’s Christmas Tree, whose twinkling presence is visited with delight during the holiday season by tourists and city-dwellers alike.
We learn Sister Anthony’s personal story and why that particular tree has such a special meaning in her life. We also see an important friendship grow between Richard and the nun.
As if I’ve left an extra gift in the bottom of your stocking, I can also report that (at the time of this writing), THE CHRISTMAS TREE is available to watch on Youtube.
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