No it isn't Italian. I actual built it. ;-)
Posted on 12/15/2013 6:22:57 AM PST by SES1066
Is there a movie that you search for at this time of year? Do you despair that even with 500 channels, you only find dreck? Do you have fond memories of a TV Show Xmas or a TV Xmas Special? I'm including some of mine below that I look for every year but find only infrequently!
Tennessee Ernie Ford's variety show, "The Ford Show" on NBC from 1956-61, had at least a couple of outstanding Christmas shows that have been re-broadcast from time to time. Always seasonal but with deep religiosity being very evident and lots of family emphasis. One that sticks in my memory has Ford singing to cast&crew children and a too cute 4-5 yo boy bouncing his head to the music like it was going to come off!
"A Christmas Without Snow" (1980) Michael Learned and John Houseman, Director: John Korty A divorced mom with son moves to snowless SanFran and in trying to retrieve the Christmas spirit, joins a church and church choir led by the John Houseman character as they aim high to do justice to Handel's Messiah! Houseman reprises his "Paper Chase" person in not accepting anything but the very best from his victims!
Finally, and not least, George C. Scott's run at that Dicken's classic, "A Christmas Carol" (1985) I know that there is great dispute about all the versions of this perennial, but this one is my choice to date!
NOW, have at it my fellow FReepers!
I very much agree with We’re No Angels. Great film but very unappreciated. I also like Pocket Full of Miracles with Glenn Ford and Betty Davis.
This one!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbfgVEk-mxQ
and this one!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX87QQLVD5k
this one too!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohlSF_TNrBo
That’s tonight’s DVD.
“Buddy Elf, what’s your favorite color” I’m too embarrassed to call it my name.
My wife hates it, but A Christmas Story is a favorite with the boys.
The original Miracle on 34th Street.
I used to love It’s a Wonderful Life but binged on it and will have to wait a few years to enjoy it again.
I have to go with George C. Scott’s A Christmas Carrol, my wife prefers the Capt Piccard version.
Agreed~ “The George C Scott version of A Christmas Carol.”
Available to watch on line free here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0evT7NWsB0
It’s a Wonderful lIfe
A Charlie Brown Christmas. It doesn’t go on for too long, and has a great soundtrack. The Rankin-Bass classic Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is a close second. But this one is a guilty pleasure, as well, though I doubt Charles Schulz would have approved (NSFW).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajg8QrSsr_A
The old Jackie Gleason Show and the Red Skelton Show specials.
Penny Serenade with Cary Grant and Irene Dunn... love this movie... then Elia Kazan’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn with Dorothy McGuire and Joan Blondell...
I have really, really fond memories of Natl. Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. My whole family would sit and watch it together every year, my parents always hitting the mute at the bad words and fast forwarding the odd risqué bits when we kids were younger. Years later watching it on my own, I had several "hrm, I don't remember THAT scene" moments.
I also look for the Claymation Rudolph the Rednosed reindeer, but it seems like they show it before Thanksgiving these days. Sometimes I'll sit through with the younger relatives, sometimes I register an objection with the early showing by skipping it.
Speaking of early, they REALLY cut the Christmas trees early now. Weeks before Thanksgiving, and for more traditional folks (I know some people who put up the tree Christmas eve, I compromise to about a week and a half before Christmas) you can't find a good one that late, and all the trees are dry and crumbly as heck.
Fra-jee-lay! Very cool.
No Christmas is complete with a viewing of Santa’s Slay.
A Charlie Brown Christmas. It’s about 50 years old, but it’s timeless.
They used real children as the voices. I guess by now those children are grandparents.
That's Ernie's younger son, Brion. The amused boy directly in front of Brion (not, as stated in the youtube comments, the one who walks off at the end) is elder son Jeffrey.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.