| Vol.
I, No. 3 | Winter
Solstice & Holidays | Dec.
15th, 2000 |
Radio
& Television
Our Votes for the Best Classic
Christmas Shows .  | Charlie
Brown & Linus
Ponder the Meaning of Christmas |
It'll
be a year in February since Charles Schultz passed away. Thankfully,
Charlie Brown & Co. will be with us for years to come. ... A
Charlie Brown Christmas is at the top of our list of favorites.
Why? Well, we could point to the fact that the cast is made up entirely of
kids. Or we could point to the breezy piano score. But neither of
those are the reasons. It's at the top of our list because,
in this world of children and a couple of strange animals -- more than in any
other Christmas world we're invited to enter -- both Christmas and the
characters come across as something other than the usual formula.
... The characters are who they've been all the rest of the year.
They are not magically transformed by some epiphany. And they aren't
portrayed, especially the always noisome Lucy, for example, as little angels
whose biggest problem is their parents' unbelief. Nope. Charlie
Brown, Lucy & Linus, Schroeder, Pig-pen, Patty ... even Snoopy -- all of
them enter the holiday exactly as they enter the rest of life. ...
And yet ... And yet, for all that, they are
transformed. They don't get to find an absolute and unshakeable
meaning. But they come to some kind of understanding, and some sort of
acceptance about things ... perhaps even some kind of peace. ...
We'll miss Charles Schultz. But we'll long be grateful for one of the best
Christmas presents of all -- A Charlie Brown Christmas. Our
Votes for the Best Classic Christmas Shows
We're not out to be hip
here, or offer up some offbeat choices. We're simply trying to be honest
about what stirs us in a good way for the holiday season. Also, while we
could've included more modern films, and while many of them are good in their
own right, we were basing our choices on the ones that seemed to us to come
closest to 'the meaning' of the holiday. So ... Accuse
us of being schmaltzy if you like. Nevertheless, here our choices stand,
and here, we stand by them. ... A Charlie
Brown Christmas ... {See above.} Director: Bill Melendez.
1965.
. It's a
Wonderful Life ... We like this one for some of the same reasons we
like the story of A Charlie Brown Christmas. but also because
we just plain like the cast, too ... Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel
Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell ... and the director {see below}. It
manages to take on the all-too-often-trite message of 'count your
blessings', but it does it in a way that's genuinely dramatic rather than a
formula. Beyond that, the character of George gets to wax eloquent and
dream, fall and, before being lifted up, be guided by a rather
inebriated-looking angel. Plus, he gets to do it all in the company of
a Donna Reed we wish had been the mom on the '60's TV show. Director: Frank
Capra {It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Arsenic
and Old Lace, Pocketful of Miracles [see below]}. 1946.
. Scrooge
... There are other versions of the Dickens classic we've liked,
even a lot ... for example, the 1984 offering with George C. Scott, or last
year's production with Patrick Stuart. But to our mind, the best of
them is this one, partly because it stays closer to the 19th century tone
& spirit, but mostly because of the acting of Alistair Sim. Sim
chalked up some 60-plus films over the course of his long career, which also
included numerous West End Theatre credits. But the way he lets us
feel the blessed relief of the old curmudgeon on the morning after, the
tenderness with which he looks upon his nephew's betrothed after his
conversion ... Well ... Sim and this production get our top Dicken's
spot. Director: Brian Desmond Hurst. 1951.
. Michael
... If this one had been more overtly about Christmas, it might've
climbed the list. But ever since Christmas releases could be just
about anything, Michael not only comes closest to the spirit of the
season, it comes close to being one of the best of any of the holiday genre
films. We were never particularly impressed with the young Travolta.
But we've liked just about everything the resurrected, mature version of him
has taken on. And Andie MacDowell. Well, if Groundhog Day
had been a Xmas flick, she might have had two entries for the holiday
genre. {In fact, there's a third, with a Xmas theme, but we can't
remember the title, and were unable to track it down.} And, of course,
there's the ever-brooding William Hurt. This flick is solid, fun,
curious, and even just a little bit contemplative. Director: Nora
Ephron. 1996. Miracle on 34th Street
... Ok. You think this one is at least a little over the
top. And maybe it is. But the story-line is timeless enough so
that even a recent episode of Ally McBeal saw fit to use it, almost
unadulterated. Nor is it the otherwise adorable presence of Natalie
Wood as a child that grabs us. Nope. The center of the film for
us is the tension between Doris Walker {Maureen O'Hara} and Fred Gailey
{John Payne, who we're especially fond of from the film of a year earlier, Sentimental
Journey}. Add to that the wonderful scene when Kris Kringle
{Edmund Gwenn} is ordered to see the company shrink at Macy's, Mr.
Shellhammer {Philip Tonge} ... and the results ... and we're convinced this
one's worth a look each and every year. Director: George Seaton. 1947.
. The
Nightmare Before Christmas ... Christmas with a Halloween
twist, from Tim Burton's poem. Director: Henry Selick. 1993.
. The
Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe ... First part of C.S.
Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, which begins in a land where it's
"always winter, but never Christmas." TV. Director:
Marilyn Fox. 1988. The Dead ...
Ok. So maybe we're cheating a bit here. But otherwise this
story-based film, which begins in a Christmas setting, might've made
#1. From the James Joyce story of the same name. And her
father-director got an amazing performance from Angelica Huston.
Director: John Huston {his last film}. 1987.
How
the Grinch Stole Christmas ... The original animated Grinch.
TV. Director: Chuck Jones. 1966.
. Pocketful
of Miracles ... Bette Davis as boozed-up Apple Annie. A sort
of Wonderful Life meets My Fair Lady. With a great cast,
including Glenn Ford, Arthur O'Connell, Hope Lange, Peter Falk, Thomas
Mitchell {again}, Edward Everett Horton, Sheldon Leonard, and the then-young
Ann-Margret. Director: Frank Capra. 1961.
. *******
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