Babe

Cast: Christine Cavanaugh, James Cromwell, Roscoe Lee Browne, Miriam Margolyes
Credits: Producers: Bill Miller, George Miller and Doug Mitchell; Director: Chris Noonan; Writers: George Miller and Chris Noonan (Based on the Dick King-Smith Novel The Sheep Pig); Universal; 1995

      This delightfully charming fantasy is not a Christmas movie, but its warm-hearted message of peace on Earth goodwill to men (and animals) makes this a holiday favorite. Babe is so joyful at the arrival of Christmas, he hums a chorus of “Jingle Bells,” one of our favorite scenes in the film. Little does Babe know, he’s on the menu, but Farmer Hoggett realizes Babe is a special animal and convinces his wife to serve duck! But we have grown attached to Ferdinand the duck too! We hear a duck cry out, but luckily Ferdinand was spared the ax.

Babes in Toyland

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Henry Brandon, Charlotte Henry
Credits: Producer: Hal Roach; Directors: Gus Meins and Charles Rogers; Writers: Nick Grinde and Frank Butler (Based on the Operetta by Victor Herbert); MGM; 1934

     Stanley Dum (Laurel) and Ollie Dee (Hardy), who work for the Toymaker, have gotten Santa’s order for wooden soldiers wrong. Instead of 600 soldiers, one foot tall, Stan and Ollie made 100 soldiers, six feet tall! Meanwhile, they must try to help Little Bo Peep (Charlotte Henry) avoid marrying the nasty villain Barnaby (Henry Brandon). They are unable to come up with the mortgage money for the Widow Peep because they were fired by the Toymaker. So, they decide to break in Barnaby’s house and steal Widow Peep’s mortgage. Of course they are caught and Barnaby uses them to force Bo Peep to marry him. She sadly agrees. Barnaby meanwhile kidnaps one of the Three Little Pigs and puts the blame on Tom-Tom, the true love of Bo Peep. But Stan and Ollie, with the help of the wooden soldiers, eventually save the day and they all live happily ever after.

Babes in Toyland
Cast: Ray Bolger, Tommy Sands, Annette Funicello, Ed Wynn, Tommy Kirk
Credits: Producer: Walt Disney; Director: Jack Donohue; Writers: Lowell S. Hawley, Ward Kimball, Joe Rinaldi (Based on the Victor Herbert and Glen MacDonough Operetta); Walt Disney Productions; 1961

     Disney version of the Victor Herbert and Glen MacDonough operetta upon which the Laurel and Hardy version had been based. Ray Bolger portrays the evil Barnaby, which most critics agree was a bad idea. Bolger is most loved for his Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz and doesn’t fit the villain mold.
      Although critically blasted, many baby boomers, myself included, remember this Annette Funicello film as wonderfully entertaining and, even if today we watch it with the jaded eyes of adulthood, there is still that little kid in there having the time of his life.

Babes in Toyland

Cast: Voices of: Lacey Chabert, Joseph Ashton, Christopher Plummer, James Belushi
Credits: Directors: Toby Bluth, Charles Grosvenor, Paul Sabella; Writer: John Loy; Based on the Operetta by Victor Herbert and Glen MacDonough; MGM/UA, 1997

     An animated version of the classic story. TV Guide Online writes: “Within its modest budgetary and formulaic genre limits, Babes in Toyland is surprisingly tolerable, favoring a warm, hand-drawn (if admittedly overly anthropomorphic) look. Mixing in numerous fairy tale characters, the film takes great liberties with the original story and is actually much closer in spirit to such classics as How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Wizard of Oz (1939) than to either the Laurel and Hardy or Disney film versions.”

Babes in Toyland

Cast: Drew Barrymore, Eileen Brennan, Keanu Reeves, Jill Schoelen, Pat Morita, Richard Mulligan
Credits: Producers: Tony Ford and Neil T. Maffeo; Director: Clive Donner; Writer: Paul Zindel (Based on the Victor Herbert and Glen MacDonough Operetta); Orion; 1986

     Lisa (Barrymore) takes responsibility for her family when her single mom (Brennan) works. On Christmas Eve she goes to the store where her sister works, and while on the way home in a blizzard, is knocked unconscious and lands in Toyland where Mary and Jack Be Nimble love each other, but the evil Barnaby (Mulligan) has other plans for Mary.

Bachelor Mother

Cast: Ginger Rogers, David Niven, Charles Coburn, Frank Albertson, E.E. Clive
Credits: Producer: B.G. DeSylva and Pandro S. Berman; Director: Garson Kanin; Writer: Norman Krasna (Based on a Story by Felix Jackson); RKO; 1939

     Although Bachelor Mother takes place during the Christmas holidays, after the opening sequence little remains to be seen of the season except for a New Year’s Eve party. However, the film is a charmer and will appeal to all ages.
    Single working girl Polly Parrish (Ginger Rogers) receives her pink slip from J.B. Merlin and Son thanking her for working the holiday season. As Polly visits an employment office on her lunch hour, she finds a baby on the doorstep of a foundling home. The people within assume the baby belongs to Polly. She mentions where she worked and the home not only gets her job back but a $5 raise. David Merlin (David Niven) tells her not only has she received her job and a raise but that night she will receive the greatest gift possible. Polly’s confused but doesn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
    That evening, as she prepares to leave for a dance contest with obnoxious co-worker Freddie (Frank Albertson), the baby is delivered, complete with gift basket. She insists she is not the mother, but with disgust, the employees of the foundling home leave the adorable bundle with Polly.
   She indignantly takes the baby to David Merlin, telling the butler the baby is David’s responsibility, he got her into this, now he can get her out! She hops in the car with Freddie—David and butler (E.E. Clive) in hot pursuit. David, baby in arm, enters the dance hall where Polly and Freddie are in the contest, but he manages to get himself ejected. Three hours later, Polly arrives home to find a disheveled David and the baby waiting. He not only assumes she is a loose woman, but also a terrible mother and threatens to blackball her from a job at any department store in the city. Polly quickly decides to give up and play along. Feigning regret, she tells him she had nowhere to turn. She even shows David where the baby’s father supposedly hit her on the head with a coffee pot! David gives her the job back and beats a hasty retreat.
    Of course David soon falls victim to the charms of Polly. When he is stood up on New Year’s Eve, he invites Polly out for a night on the town, arranging to have a complete formal outfit (including fur coat) delivered to her apartment. The romance seems to be blooming until Freddie (who thinks Polly used her influence to get him a better job at the company), mistaking David for a shoplifter, tackles him and is immediately busted back to stockboy. Well, Freddie is basically a heel and writes an anonymous note to the big guy, David’s father, J.B. Merlin (Charles Coburn), telling him he is a grandfather.
   J.B. discovers the duo in the park and with a tear in his eye, picks up the baby. “What’s his name?” he asks. “John.” Merlin looks at David grimly, “Well, thank you for that.” David is panic-stricken when he realizes what his father is thinking and rushes after him. Polly laughs delightedly. But her delight is short-lived when David tells her J.B. wants to take the baby away from her.
   Polly talks her landlady’s son Jerome (Leonard Penn) into pretending he is the father, and they pay a visit to J.B. He’s almost convinced when in bursts David with Freddie proclaiming he’s the father. Well, David, thinking Jerome is the father, hits him on the head with a coffee pot. Freddie thinks David is the father. And J.B. thinks he is the grandfather and doesn’t care who the father is!
   Polly sneaks away from the ruckus and rushes home to pack. She is interrupted by David who proposes and tells J.B. he is the father. They are to be married that very night. As they embrace, Polly gives a little “ha, ha,” knowing David is in for a big surprise on their wedding night.
   Bachelor Mother is another sophisticated farce from Hollywood’s golden age. The film was directed by relative newcomer Garson Kanin and written by Felix Jackson, who received an Academy Award nomination for his effort. Kanin directed several films but would forever make his mark on Hollywood with his clever writing skills, often collaborating with his wife at the time, Ruth Gordon. The duo would win an Academy Award for their script for Adam’s Rib. In 1940 Kanin would direct another hit, My Favorite Wife, starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant.
   Jackson’s script was risqué for the time and, amazingly, many of his double entendres managed to slip past the censors. The film was based on a Hungarian film from 1935 called Klein Mutter which in turn was a version of a 1934 German film called Klein Mutti directed by Henry Koster, the director of The Bishop’s Wife.
   Ginger Rogers, always an appealing screen presence, brings her usual charm to the part of Polly. Rogers began her film career in the chorus but soon gained fame as the partner of Fred Astaire. Their big break would come as supporting characters in RKO’s Flying Down to Rio in 1933. Rogers would eventually break away from the dance partnership to tackle a solo career. That move paid off in Bachelor Mother, a role that garnered her major attention. The next year she would make Kitty Foyle, earning an Academy Award for her performance as the title character.
   David Niven, the personification of debonair, was, as usual, wonderful as the playboy conquered by the charms of a typical working girl. Niven would appear in over 80 films including The Bishop’s Wife and Around the World in 80 Days.
   Variety’s review of Bachelor Mother stated, “Will play a sweet tune at the summer box offices. It’s a broad farce-comedy, decidedly human in texture, and studded with laugh situations and dialog. Carries some rather spicy lines aimed for the adult trade...”

Bad Santa

Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Bernie Mac, Lauren Graham, John Ritter
Credits: Director: Terry Zwigoff; Writers: John Requa, Glenn Ficarra Based on a Story by Joel and Ethan Coen; 2003

Two con men decide to rob malls during the holidays dressed as Santa and his elf. Their plans go awry when they meet an eight-year-old girl who teaches them the true meaning of Christmas.

Batman Returns

Cast: Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Michael Gough
Credits: Producers: Denise DiNovi and Tim Burton; Director: Tim Burton; Writers: Daniel Waters and Sam Hamm (Based on characters by Bob Kane); Warner Bros.; 1992

Holy Christmas Disaster, Batman! The Penguin (Danny DeVito) gleefully disrupts Gotham City during the Christmas season leaving few survivors in his wake. But never fear, Bruce Wayne, aka Batman (Michael Keaton), saves the day. The film is generally detested by critics but is worth watching for the stunning Michelle Pfeiffer, whose sleekly sexy Catwoman steals the show and gleefully pays back those who have wronged her in the past, including the evil Max Shreck (Christopher Walken) who tossed her from a skyscraper.