Dead of Night
Cast: Mervyn Johns, Roland Culver, Mary Merrall, Sally Ann Howes
Credits: Producer: Michael Balcon; Director "The Christmas Story" Alberto Cavalcanti; Writers: John Baines, Angus Macphail and T.E.B. Clarke; Rank; 1945
A truly frightening horror film with five separate stories. "The Christmas Story" is related by Sally Ann Howes and concerns her remembrances of attending a Christmas party as a child. While playing a game of hide-and-seek she hides upstairs behind a curtain with another child, Jimmy, who tells her about a horrible murder that occurred in the house where a young girl killed her brother in 1860. Howes goes off by herself and finds a weeping child in a nursery whom she comforts. Howes later learns that she was comforting the ghost of the murdered child.
Dear God
Cast: Greg Kinnear, Laurie Metcalf, Tim Conway, Roscoe Lee Browne
Credits: Producer: Steve Tisch; Director: Garry Marshall; Writers: Ed Kaplan and Warren Leight; Paramount; 1996
Greg Kinnear is a small-time con man who is sentenced by a judge to find a job, which he does in the Post Office dead letter department. He is about to rip off some jewelry when his supervisor walks by. Kinnear hurriedly addresses an envelope using a return address he spies on a letter to God, stuffs in the jewelry and accidentally puts in his freshly cashed paycheck. He goes to get the money back, but can't when he finds the woman so desperately in need. He begins to leave when co-worker Metcalf spies him. She is a former lawyer who went off the deep end and ended up working at the Post Office. She still uses her knowledge of law by doing charity work.
The workers begin to read the mail addressed to God and select letters of those they can help. A joyful holiday spirit infests the city as people begin to place their faith in God. Everyone that is except the Post Office, which arrests Kinnear and puts him on trial. Metcalf defends him and gets him off after hundreds of postal workers and the Post Master (Garry Marshall) himself show up to speak up for Kinnear.
Critically lambasted, but this is a sweet little film that sends a message of faith and hope. 
The Devil Makes Three
Cast: Gene Kelly, Pier Angeli, Richard Rober, Richard Egan
Credits: Producer: Richard Goldstone, Director: Andrew Marton; Writer: Jerry Davis (Based on a Story by Lawrence P. Bachmann); MGM, 1952
Kelly is an American war veteran who returns to Germany to spend Christmas with a family who saved his life during the war. Most of the family had been killed during an allied air raid with Angeli the only survivor. Kelly becomes involved with her and a spy plot. Most Kelly fans would rather see him sing and dance than emote in this dark film.
Die Hard
Cast: Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald Vel Johnson, Paul Gleason
Credits: Producers: Lawrence Gordon and Joel Silver; Director: John McTiernan; Writers: Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza (Based on the Novel by Roderick Thorp); Fox; 1988
Cop John McClane (Willis) must rescue his wife who is being held by terrorists who have invaded a corporate Christmas party.
Die Hard 2
Cast: Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, William Atherton, Reginald Vel Johnson, Franco Nero
Credits: Producers: Lawrence Gordon, Joel Silver and Charles Gordon; Director: Renny Harlin; Writers: Steven E. de Souza and Doug Richardson (Based on 58 Minutes by Walter Wagner and on original characters by Roderick Thorp); Fox, 1990
McClane (Willis) and his wife just can't catch a break. It is two years later and McClane is waiting for his wife's plane to land. Unfortunately, terrorists have taken over the airport and he has to once again save the day.
A Different Kind of Christmas
Cast: Shelley Long, Barry Bostwick, Nathan Lawrence, Nancy McLoughlin
Credits: Director: Tom McLoughlin, Writer: Bart Baker, TV, 1996
A lonely man decides to bring the joy of Christmas to children year round by turning his home into Santa's castle. Unfortunately, the neighbors are not as willing to have Christmas joy on their streets all year.
Diner
Cast: Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Timothy Daly, Ellen Barkin, Paul Reiser
Credits: Producer: Jerry Weintraub; Director/Writer: Barry Levinson; MGM-UA; 1982
Levinson received an Academy Award nomination for Screenplay for this film that is close to the hearts of everyone in Baltimore as well as anyone who ever spent hours on end sitting in a diner with their friends. The film takes place over Christmas but mostly focuses on a close group of friends and the problems they are having. Guttenberg, about to be married, is such a devout Colts fan that he is preparing to give his fiancée the ultimate Colts trivia test, which she must pass before the nuptials can take place.
Donovan's Reef
Cast: John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Elizabeth Allen, Jack Warden, Cesar Romero, Dorothy Lamour
Credits: Producer/Director: John Ford; Writers: Frank S. Nugent and James Edward Grant; Paramount; 1963 
Three old army buddies have settled in French Polynesia where Wayne owns a shipping company and saloon; Marvin sort of hangs around and Warden is beloved Dr. Dedham to the islanders. His grown Boston daughter arrives trying to cheat him out of shares in a prominent shipping company. Wayne, Romero and Marvin, along with Father Cluzeot (Marcel Dalio) trying not to offend the proper Miss Dedham (Allen), pretend Warden's three children are Wayne's.
Christmas is getting closer as Wayne, Allen and the children chop down an island Christmas tree. Christmas Eve they attend services at the local church where a Christmas pageant is presented. The oldest daughter Lelani (Jacqueline Malouf) plays the organ, Lamour sings "Silent Night" and younger children are adorable angels who lead the three kings solemnly down the aisle-the King of Polynesia, the Emperor of China and the King of the United States (Marvin). A rain storm erupts and worshippers casually put up umbrellas and continue the service until the rains become too fierce and poor Father Cluzeot sits on the stage, the leaky roof once again getting the best of him.
Although the film takes place entirely during December, Christmas actually has very little to do with the story. After the Christmas Eve rainstorm, the day dawns bright and clear and Lelani is carried to a beautiful celebration where the island inhabitants are presented to her, including her sister Allen who has forced Father Cluzeot to spill the beans. She embraces the young girl much to the happiness of her father. But it's uncertain whether this is a Christmas tradition or an island tradition. There is also a Christmas day brawl between Wayne, Marvin and British sailors but the fight has more to do with John Ford's love of a good manly fistfight than anything having to do with Christmas.
Ford had seen better days, Wayne and Marvin seemed a little too old to be engaging in roughhousing and there is a definite sexist bent to the film; however, it's still the two Johns, Wayne and Ford, and with that combination the audience is pretty much guaranteed a good time.
Don't Open Till Christmas
Cast: Edmund Purdom, Alan Lake, Belinda Mayne, Gerry Sundquist, Caroline Munro
Credits: Producers: Dick Randall and Steve Minasian; Director: Edmund Purdom; Writers: Derek Ford and Al McGoohan; Spectacular; 1984
This time it's Santas who are being killed by a holiday psycho.
Dorm that Dripped Blood
Cast: Laurine Lapinski, Stephen Sachs, David Snow, Pamela Holland
Credits: Producer: Jeffrey Obrow; Directors: Jeffrey Obrow and Stephen Carpenter; Writers: Jeffrey Obrow, Stephen Carpenter and Stacey Giachino; New Image; 1983
More murders of co-eds, and the yawns continue amidst a sea of gore.
Down the Wyoming Trail
Cast: Tex Ritter, Horace Murphy, Mary Brodel, Bobby Larson, Charles King, Bob Terry
Credits: Director: Albert Herman, Writer: Peter Dixon; Monogram, 1939
A cowboy (Tex Ritter) wanders onto a ranch on Christmas Eve and winds up portraying Santa Claus. Meanwhile, bad guy Blackie, also dressed as Santa, commits a robbery and kills a man. Tex, who is arrested for the crime, must escape and capture the bad Santa.
A Dream for Christmas
Cast: Hari Rhodes, Beah Richards, Lynn Hamilton, George Spell, Marlin Adams, Robert DoQui
Credits: Director: Ralph Senensky; Writers: Max Hodge and John McGreevey (Based on a Story by McGreevey); Producer: Walter Coblenz, Lorimar Productions; 1973
This television film follows the trials and tribulations of Reverend Will Douglas (Hari Rhodes) and his family as they leave the small town of Sweet Clover, Arkansas for the big city of Los Angeles. Things are tough in Sweet Clover in 1950, and Will has accepted a job as preacher at a Baptist church. The family eagerly looks forward to hearing Will's Christmas sermon in the new church.
Tearful farewells are said-the most heartfelt between Emmarine (Ta-Ronce Allen) and her best friend and between Bradley (Marlin Adams) and his dog Toby, whom he is leaving 
behind with his cousin.
Finally, after 10 days and numerous car problems, the family arrives at the new church. They think it's wonderful. The attached house seems huge with three bedrooms.
But their joy is tempered by a large sign outside the church announcing a new shopping center being developed by Briggs Construction. Will is told by the church deacons that there is no money to pay him and that the church will be foreclosed on January 1. Little Bradley has his own worries; there is no fireplace for Santa Claus.
The children go off to their new schools, but Emmarine is made fun of and is very quiet that night at dinner. Their first weekend they clean the church and make it ready for Will's first Sunday sermon. Unfortunately, the family is larger than the congregation. Will remarks in his sermon, "Let the Lord see this church jam-packed by Christmas... Make this Christmas dream of mine come true."
Learning of their financial difficulties, Will's wife Sarah (Lynn Hamilton) and mother Bessie (Beah Richards) go to work housecleaning. Older son Joey (George Spell) finds a job washing cars.
Will has a difficult time dealing with the fact that his wife and mother are working to support the family. He tries to find a job, but even with a college education, it is difficult. Meanwhile he tries to see Mr. Briggs (Robert DoQui) to save the church. Mr. Briggs is not a bad man and admits he'll feel sorry about tearing down the church since his father's name is on the cornerstone as one of the founders. But he thinks a shopping center will help his community more than an empty church.
Will is forced to sell his father's car to a junk dealer for $15. He feels unworthy and unhappy with his wife and mother working and insists they quit, for he has decided to give up the ministry. Christmas is two weeks away when Emmarine stuns her family by telling them how very unhappy she is. She hates her school and the girls who make fun of her and wants to go back to Arkansas. Her father tells her, "Don't toss in the sponge without a fight." He realizes the truth of his words and decides to fight for his church. He believes that the only way to convince Mr. Briggs is to fill the church with worshippers Christmas morning. He talks to people on the bus and in the market. He goes door to door and puts up a basketball court for the young men of the community hoping that will lead to their attendance at services.
Joe, while getting poles for the basketball court at the junkyard, finds a present for his father that the owner agrees to deliver on Christmas Eve. He pays for it with the money he has earned on his job.
Grandma Bessie collapses and Will feels even more anxiety, believing her illness resulted because she went to work. She agrees to rest and prays she is there for Will's Christmas sermon.
On Christmas Eve the family decorates the house with colorful paper chains and strings the tree with popcorn strands and homemade ornaments. Will carries Grandma into the living room as the family contentedly sings Christmas carols. Bradley awakens early this Christmas and is delighted to find Joey has made a ladder for him to climb into and out of the top bunk bed.
On Christmas morning the sound of a bell interrupts the festivities. That was the present Joey bought for his father. A more perfect gift could not have been imagined. The Christmas service is packed and even Mr. Briggs shows up. He sees the overflowing worshippers and approaches the lectern to shake the hand of Will. We know the church will be saved. The congregation sings "O Come All Ye Faithful" as the Douglas family happily realizes they have found a new home and a new beginning.
This television movie doesn't pack the punch of splashier bigger-budgeted Christmas films and at times seems to need a little editing. It also doesn't spend a lot of time focusing on Christmas but rather on the trials of the Douglas family. But it is an important film and one of the earlier Christmas features with an all African-American cast. And an impressive cast it is too. Hari Rhodes appeared in feature films including Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and many television shows such as Matt Helm, Most Wanted and Roots . He died in 1992. His performance as Will is low-key and strikes just the right chord as the man struggles with his love of God and his desire to provide for his family.
Beah Richards as Grandma Bessie appeared in another Christmas film, A Christmas Without Snow as well as Guess Who's Coming to Dinner . But it was in television she would make her mark, starring in Sanford and Son as the hilariously crabby Aunt Ethel. Lynn Hamilton, who perfectly matched film husband Rhodes' performance as the soft-spoken but tough-as-nails Sarah, also made television her home with recurring roles on The Waltons as Verdie Foster and as Donna on Sanford and Son .
The film doesn't seem dated and is actually refreshing in its approach to the Douglases and their troubles. No blame is placed for the family's plight; the tightly knit family just pull closer together and tries to make things better for themselves and their community. The Douglas family does not need to be reminded of "peace on Earth, good will toward men" only on December 25. They practice Christmas all year long by their love and belief in each other and in their commitment to the church and the local citizens. Their moral upbringing is strongly established when Joey shows remarkable courage by returning an item his friend Carter has stolen from a store, not allowing himself to be sucked into a bad lifestyle by peer pressure, and Emmarine, with the wise guidance of her father, refuses to give in to bullies and faces what to a lonely teenager is more terrifying than any monster-a new high school. She pulls herself together and finally makes friends and begins to enjoy her new life. This film is available on videotape and will made a pleasant viewing experience for the entire family.
Dondi
Cast: David Janssen, Patti Page, Walter Winchell, Mickey Shaugnessy, David Kory
Credits: Producers: Albert Zugsmith and Gus Edson; Director/Writer: Albert Zugsmith; Allied Artists; 1961
This film, based on the popular comic strip of the same name, begins with Dondi, a war orphan, befriending American GIs on Christmas Eve. Patti Page sings "Jingle Bells." This film is not available on videotape so the only hope of seeing it is on television. We were unable to find a copy to view and had to rely on other sources for the description.