Cast: Chris Kroesen, Valerie Hobbs, Dick Parish, Charles Nix
Credits: Producers: Diane Johnson and Chris Kroesen; Director: Richard C. Parish; Writer: Harold Vaughn Taylor; Holiday; 1964
This film is unavailable for viewing, but sources describe it “As a boy is knocked unconscious while trying to save a cat, he dreams of adventures including saving Santa who has been kidnapped.”
The Three Stooges-Malice in the Palace
Cast: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Shemp Howard, George J. Lewis, Frank Lackteen, Vernon Dent
Credits: Director: Jules White; Writer: Felix Adler; 1949
The humorous shenanigans of The Three Stooges-Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard and sometimes Shemp Howard-is anything but subtle, being based upon physical violence and abuse, pratfalls and other forms of visual/physical humor. Although unsubtle, The Three Stooges are still accomplished, well-rehearsed craftsman, perhaps even artists, whose recurring comedic antics reveal an unvarnished and rough-around-the-edges style. Such a style would not easily lend itself to the Christmas movie sentiment, although The Stooges’ short, Malice in the Palace, while technically not a Christmas story, allows the boys to wear Santa Claus outfits for half the short’s running time and to poke some fun at the holiday season. With a screenplay by Felix Adler and produced/directed by Jules White, Malice in the Palace becomes an above-average exercise in costume comedy with all the Christmas fringes.
The title card tells us the setting is the Stooge-run Cafe Casbahbah, the meeting place of Black Sheep-Bah-Bah-Bah! Sinister Middle Eastern stereotypes make an entrance into the Cafe: one heavy-set man with a turban and full beard, Hassan Ben Sober, and his skinnier accomplice who wears a fez and a thick mustache. The two men are soon joined by a third man who carries the map of the tomb of King Rootin’ Tootin’. However, he informs his partners a duplicate map exists and then he disappears. The goal is to acquire the rare gem to be found within the sacred tomb, but a curse falls on anyone who touches the gem: That person is doomed to 1,000 deaths. After the Stooges first break china over the heavier man and then spill pasta over the head of the skinnier one, these fools still order dinner. In a protracted sight gag, the men order hot dogs, and when a cat steals a hot dog from the kitchen, Larry, armed with a meat cleaver, chases the cat out into the restaurant. Capturing the cat, Larry forces it back into the kitchen where the people in the restaurant hear Larry hack away with the cleaver while the cat wails (in actuality, Larry is stepping on the cat’s tail). A few minutes later Larry is now chasing a dog around the restaurant, and after capturing the dog, the patrons again hear a chopping sound and a dog’s frantic howling (in actuality, the window fell on its tail). Outside in the restaurant, our friends from the Middle East have lost their appetite and force the equally repulsed Moe and Shemp to eat Larry’s cooking.
Soon a note, delivered at knife-point by messenger, announces that the Emir of Shmow has gotten the diamond and that these gentlemen “got the gate.” Hassan Ben Sober cries, “Ruined, defeated, that murderous cutthroat has the famous 100-carat diamond... the map is useless... I could have quit my job as doorman at the Oasis.” Shemp, distressed that this impressive-appearing man is a doorman, tells him, “There’s the door, man!” and kicks him out. The other man, pulling out his knife, asks if the Stooges would give him five for it, but Moe offers, “No, but I’ll give you two,” poking the man in the eyes and twirling him around before shoving him out the door. The Stooges then decide to find the valuable gem and return it to the government to collect a reward.
Approaching the Palace is a horse-drawn sleigh manned by Larry, Moe and Shemp all disguised as Santa Claus. Stopped by a guard who demands, “Halt, who goes there?” To which, in unison, the Stooges respond, “Santa Claus.” The guard replies, “There ain’t no Santa Claus.” Then as the Stooges open up their white Santa bag, they claim, “Oh yes there is, and we have a present for you,” knocking the guard unconscious and stuffing his body in the bag.
Inside, still wearing full Santa Claus get-up, a large Nubian with a sword approaches the Stooges who engage him in a game of leap frog, using his own sword to knock him unconscious while he bends down and waits for the next man to leap over him. The Emir of Shmow enters the room wearing the diamond on his turban. Hoping to frighten him, the Stooges stand on each other’s shoulders, Shemp on top, still wearing his Santa outfit, yelling, “Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum. I’m the evil spirit that guards the Rootin’ Tootin’ diamond.” With four arms waving, Shemp demands, “Give it to me!” The Emir, after handing over the gem, is then commanded to stand on his head in his Lily pond, and within the next few minutes, he swallows all the water, still standing on his head.
While passing through a low entranceway, the Stooge beast is knocked on its behind as all three men fall, quickly losing their beards but still wearing their Santa suits. Soon the revived Nubian is in full pursuit screaming, “I will kill you!” as the Stooges bombard him with fruit. The counterfeit Santas run out of the Palace, screaming all the way.
Even though this Palace slapstick really has nothing to do with Christmas, the sight of Moe, Larry and Shemp running around doing the typical manic things they do, dressed as Santa Claus, is a treat. The Stooges as Santa create a visual that is not easily dismissed from the mind.
The Man in the Santa Claus Suit
Cast: Fred Astaire, Gary Burghoff, John Byner, Burt Convy, Nanette Fabray, Harold Gould
Credits: Producer: Lee Miller; Director: Corey Allen; Writers: Leonard Gershe and George Kirgo; Dick Clark Productions; 1978
While it is wonderful seeing Fred Astaire in just about anything, he is really the only reason to watch The Man in the Santa Claus Suit. Overall the acting is fairly bad and the stories pedestrian. Astaire is Nick, a man who helps people by renting them Santa Claus suits. He helps John Byner find the man he once was, Gary Burghoff propose to a fashion model and Burt Convy discover the importance of his neglected family. Of course, Astaire is really Santa Claus.
The Man Who Came to Dinner
Cast: Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, Monty Woolley, Richard Travis, Jimmy Durante, Billie Burke
Credits: Producers: Jerry Wald and Jack Saper; Director: William Keighley; Writers: Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein (Based on the Play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart);Warner Bros.; 1942
Imagine preparing for a lovely family Christmas when your entire life is turned topsy-turvy by the houseguest from Hell. That is the premise of Warner Bros.’ The Man Who Came to Dinner, a delightful farce starring Monty Woolley and Bette Davis.
The film was based on the stage play by the dynamic Broadway team of Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, who also penned the highly successful You Can’t Take it With You (1938), which was turned into a memorable film starring Lionel Barrymore and Jimmy Stewart. The writers wanted a play to feature their friend Alexander Woollcott (infamous curmudgeon who was a theater critic, actor and one of the founders of that vicious circle known as the Algonquin Round Table). The scribes based the lead character of Sheridan Whiteside on Woollcott. Other roles were parodies of Gertrude Lawrence, Noel Coward and Harpo Marx.
As with many plays and films written in the 1940s, the dialogue is sharp, biting and extremely witty. The dialogue, combined with a grand cast, spells grins galore in this holiday entry.
It is November 26 and Sheridan Whiteside, the “First Man in American Letters” is about to descend upon Mesalia, Ohio, but Mesalia is nowhere near ready for the whirlwind known as Sheri. As a train bears the irascible Whiteside (Monty Woolley) and his patient secretary Maggie (Bette Davis) to Mesalia, Whiteside whines, “I simply will not sit down to dinner with mid-Western barbarians. I think too much of my digestive system.” Maggie, knowing full well her boss’ foibles, listens with a slight smile.
As they meet their hosts Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Stanley (Grant Mitchell and Billie Burke), Mrs. Stanley asks (in that unmistakable Billie Burke voice), “Did you have a pleasant trip?” To which Whiteside replies, “Charming. I killed the woman in the next compartment. She asked me to lunch!”
Things are not boding well for the Stanleys. Ernest never wanted Whiteside there in the first place and his qualms are even stronger after meeting the annoying old coot. As they mount the stairs to the Stanleys’ house, Whiteside slips and falls on the ice, making national headlines, “Sheridan Whiteside Famous Author Injured in Fall on Ice!”
Whiteside banishes the Stanleys to their upstairs bedroom while he grandly takes over the downstairs. Cards, letters, telegrams and packages are delivered by the dozens. December 10 arrives and the massive effort of getting the great man out of bed proceeds. When asked by his reluctant hosts the harmless, “I hope you’re better?” he replies, “Thank you. I’m suing you for $150,000. Since this corner druggist at my elbow tells me I will be confined to this moldy mortuary for at least another 10 days-due entirely to your stupidity and negligence-I shall have to carry on my activities as best I can.”
Whiteside is even harsher (if that is possible) with his poor nurse Miss Preen (Mary Wickes), telling her, “You have the touch of a love-starved cobra.”
Mr. Stanley’s sister Harriet comes downstairs and drops some holly into Whiteside’s lap and hastily departs.
“And what may I ask was that?... Strange, she’s right out of the Hound of the Baskervilles!”Whiteside continues to terrify his hosts and nurse Preen, who dumps some pills in his lap and scurries away. He enjoys himself immensely by running up their phone bill, calling his famous friends from around the globe. One such friend is the actress Lorraine Sheldon (Ann Sheridan), a spoiled beauty who is trying to get her claws into dull, old Lord Bottomly. Whiteside calls her “my lotus blossom” to which Maggie cattily replies, “little Miss Stinkweed.” Maggie manages to smile while enduring Whiteside’s fits but draws the line at the obnoxious Lorraine.
Local newspaper man Bert Jefferson (Richard Travis) arrives to interview the great man. Whiteside is his usual charming self, “There’s nobody home. The Stanleys have been arrested for peddling dope-go away.” He introduces Maggie to Jefferson, “This aging debutante, Mr. Jefferson, I retain in my employ only because she is the sole support of her two-headed brother.”The doorbell rings admitting Whiteside’s luncheon guests, murderers from the nearby penitentiary. Maggie explains to the confused newshound, “You see Mr. Jefferson, the fact that Mr. Whiteside happens to be the nation’s foremost authority on murder and murder trials forms a bond between them.” Maggie becomes enchanted with small-town America and specifically with Mr. Jefferson.
Christmas Eve arrives and an eagerly awaited broadcast from Whiteside is to take place that evening. Whiteside is not content to prepare his radio show; he decides Maggie cannot be serious about loving Jefferson and devises a plan to stop the romance. He also offers his worldly wisdom to the Stanley children, who desperately need some guidance. Son Richard is an avid photographer whom Whiteside convinces to follow his dream of hopping a ship and photographing the world. Daughter June is in love with a union organizer who is trying to unionize her father’s company. Whiteside tells the young couple to run away and be married tonight. While Whiteside meddles with the Stanleys’ lives, Bert is giving Maggie a charmbracelet for Christmas.
Now Whiteside has been able to walk for a while (the doctor sheepishly tells him he was looking at the wrong X-rays) but decides to remain in his wheelchair until he devises a plan to keep Maggie working for him.
The once peaceful house now becomes even more riotous as gifts arrive from Winston Churchill, Deanna Durbin, Gypsy Rose Lee, along with four penguins that are from Admiral Byrd! The strange mix is stirred as Lorraine Sheldon breezes in, anxious to see Jefferson’s play that Whiteside has informed her has a lead for which she would be perfect.Maggie is surprised to see Lorraine as the two indulge in a little girl talk. “You know every time I see you I keep thinking your hair could be so lovely. I always want to get my hands on it,” Lorraine snips. “You know, I’ve always wanted to get mine on yours, Lorraine,” Maggie replies.
Meanwhile, the doctor is trying to get Whiteside to read the massive and boring book he has written: “Dr. Bradley is the greatest living argument for mercy killing,” and ham actor Beverly Carlton (Reginald Gardiner) arrives for a quick visit demanding to see his “magpie,” his pet name for Maggie. Now men are arriving to begin setting up for the big Christmas Eve broadcast. Confusion reigns supreme.Maggie knows Bert Jefferson is about to be offered for slaughter to the man-hungry Lorraine and fights sneakiness with sneakiness and gets Beverly to phone Lorraine impersonating Lord Bottomly. Beverly eagerly complies, happy to play the trick on the obnoxious Lorraine and one-upping Whiteside. Things are going swimmingly for Maggie until Jefferson spills the beans telling Whiteside about Beverly’s call from a phone booth and the funny faces he was making. Whiteside puts two and two together and comes up with a phony phone call. Lorraine is now even more eager to ruin Maggie’s love affair, “If I were you, I’d hang onto that charming little bracelet my dear. It’ll be something to remember him by.”
Mr. Stanley stalks in, Jefferson innocently brings in drinks, and Maggie runs out sobbing. Stanley finds the notes from his children who have run off, the penguins get loose, choirboys are rushed in and begin singing “Silent Night” with angelic voices.
“This is Whiteside speaking. On this eve of eves when my heart is overflowing with peace and kindness...”
This is infamy at its most obnoxious as the revered Whiteside plays fast and loose with the lives of the little people.
Christmas morning dawns. Mr. Stanley is off searching for his children. Mrs. Stanley is crying in her room and Maggie is deeply hurt and about to leave, but not before giving Whiteside a piece of her mind.
“Sheri, you’re quite wonderful in a way... I wish I had a laugh left in me. I think you’re a selfish petty egomaniac who would just as soon see his mother burning at the stake if thatwas the only way he had of lighting a cigarette. I think you’d sacrifice your best friend without a moment’s notice if he interrupted the sacred ritual of your self-centered paltry little life. I think you are incapable of any emotion higher up than your stomach.”
“Well... as long as I live I’ll never do anyone a good turn again,” he indignantly proclaims.
Jefferson arrives drunk as a skunk declaring everything is wonderful... Miss Sheldon thinks the play is wonderful but needs a little work. She’s taking him away to Lake Placid to “fix” the play. Maggie flees the room and the doctor goes with Jefferson for some breakfast and coffee.
A tornado blows into town in the form of Whiteside’s friend Banjo (Jimmy Durante) who stops to visit Whiteside on his way to Nova Scotia. Nurse Preen answers the door and the short Banjo swoops the towering nurse into his arms and demands a kiss. “I can feel the hot blood pumping through your varicose veins,” he jests. Whiteside admonishes, “Put thatwoman down... you mental delinquent.” Banjo complies (the sight of Jimmy Durante carrying the tall Mary Wickes into the room is hilarious), “Come to my room in a half hour and bring some rye bread,” he tells the now hysterical nurse.
But Whiteside is not all bad, merely self-centered, and realizes he’s made a mistake ruining Maggie’s romance. He turns to Banjo for help.
“She’s turned on me like a viper... I didn’t believe for a moment she was in love with him.” He explains the situation to Banjo, forgetting to tell him why Lorraine is in town. And Banjo, knowing his friend’s devious side, announces, “I smell a rat Sheri-a rat with a beard.”
Whiteside admits his error, “I got Lorraine out here, now I’ve got to get her away.” Banjo, always willing to help a friend (and mess with Lorraine) assuredly answers, “We’ll get Lorraine out of here if I’ve got to do it a piece at time!”Poor old nurse Preen has reached the end of her rope. Playwrights Hart and Kaufman offer some of their most waggish lines to Mary Wickes (here recreating her stage role) in this scene. “I am not only walking out on this case Mr. Whiteside, I am leaving the nursing profession. I became a nurse because all my life... I was filled with the idea of serving a suffering humanity. After one month with you, Mr. Whiteside, I’m going to work in a munitions factory. From now on anything I can do to help exterminate the human race will fill me with the greatest pleasure!”
Stanley arrives home with the unwed June and announces a detective is bringing Richard home. Stanley has a warrant forcing Whiteside to depart and gives him 15 minutes. Banjo comforts Maggie, Lorraine arrives for Christmas breakfast-“better make it a one-minute egg,” Whiteside tells John, the butler. As Lorraine gloats over her victory over Maggie, a sarcophagus arrives for Whiteside. Lorraine dramatically enacts the life of an Egyptian princess by placing her hands over her chest and stepping into the coffin. Whiteside and Banjoexchange knowing glances and, after a bit of subtle coaxing, manage to shut Lorraine up in the artifact. “I’ll let her out as soon as we get on the plane,” Banjo announces. Maggie is delighted and forgives Whiteside.
But what to do about Mr. Stanley? Whiteside recognizes Stanley’s sister Harriet as the infamous murderer who hacked up her parents with an ax. Banjo laughs, “She gave her mother 40 whacks... how the Dodgers could’ve used her!”
Not only does Whiteside blackmail Stanley into allowing his children to pursue their dreams, but he also steals Stanley’s cook and butler. Finally, the Stanleys’ nightmare is almost over as Whiteside descends the front stairs when Mrs. Stanley excitedly calls him back to take a phone call from Eleanor Roosevelt. Well, you guessed it, he falls again on the ice, now proclaiming he’s going to sue for $300,000!While we all can remember Christmases that didn’t quite live up to our expectations, hopefully many aren’t as bad as Mr. and Mrs. Stanley’s holiday was that year.
A truly versatile cast added to the merriment as Monty Woolley portrayed the blustery Sheridan Whiteside with appropriately annoying pomposity. Woolley was a former Yale professor before turning to acting. He portrayed himself in Night and Day (as composer Cole Porter’s professor and friend). Of his performance Variety noted, “Monty Woolley is even better than he was in the Broadway edition.”
Bette Davis had a rare charisma, dominating the silver screen with her presence. Her best moments as Maggie are when she turns on the venom and lets Whiteside and Lorraine feel her wrath. That side of her talent would be put to excellent use in one of the best pictures Hollywood has ever produced, All About Eve. Davis occasionally played softer characters, notably in this film and Dark Victory, but was at her best as a murderous female. Reportedly, when Jack Warner was asked to define the term movie star he replied, “Bette Davis.”Ann Sheridan as Lorraine Sheldon was proclaimed by Warners to be the “Oomph Girl.” Sheridan had a varied film career with roles in They Drive by Night, Angels With Dirty Faces, Kings Row (with Ronald Reagan) and Shine on Harvest Moon. Variety called her “a pip as the beautiful and hammy actress menace.”
Reginald Gardiner makes a too brief appearance as Beverly Carlton (the playwright’s tribute to Noel Coward). His appearance in Christmas in Connecticut is much more substantial, although his character is not as likable as Beverly.
Jimmy Durante as Banjo (the Harpo Marx spoof) brings his usual frenetic energy to the screen. Durante was a much-loved performer whose mediocre singing and slaughter of the English language only served to endear him to audiences. His last film was It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in 1963. Thanks to 1993’s Sleepless in Seattle, Durante’s rendition of popular songs such as “Make Someone Happy” enjoyed a new-found popularity when they appeared on the movie soundtracks.The film is centered in the living room of the Stanley home, and with its grand gestures and over-the-top theatrics, one can easily imagine being seated in a theater while watching it performed on stage.
The Man Who Came to Dinner is a witty farce as well as a biting satire of fame and as such is a welcome addition to any collection of holiday cinema. As an added bonus, the film’s dysfunctional characters will make one appreciate his/her down-to-earth friends and family.
The Man Who Saved Christmas
Cast: Jason Alexander, Ed Asner, Kelly Rowan, Jake Brockman, Ari Cohen
Credits: Director: Sturla Gunnarsson; Writers: Joe Maurer, Debra Frank, Steve L. Hayes; Television, 2002
A toymaker, who created the Erector Set, inventor A.C. Gilbert (Alexander) turns his factory into an arms manufacturer during WWI but rather than disappointing children during Christmas, turns his home into a makeshift factory and produces Erector Sets.
A Matter of Principle
Cast: Alan Arkin, Barbara Dana, Alison Jacoby, Virginia Madsen
Credits: Producer: Neal Miller; Director: Gwen Arner; Writers: Nancy Miller and Neal Miller; Rubicon; 1983
Arkin plays a grim man who will not allow extravagances. When his family wants a Christmas tree, he throws it out. The next morning they are gone, but the man comes to his senses in time to regain his family.
Meet John Doe
Cast: Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan, Spring Byington
Credits: Producer/Director: Frank Capra; Writer: Robert Riskin (Based on The Life and Death of John Doe by Robert Presnell and Richard Connell); Warner Bros.; 1941
In 1941 the world was changing rapidly and the “New Deal” era was envisioned much as the world of today is envisioned: The world was going to Hell in a handbasket. All the apple pie American values that built our country were being reexamined as the modern world created even more political corruption, big corporations squeezed out the little guy, the media’s increasing power controlled people’s opinions and votes, and the average Joe felt naked and alone. Director Frank Capra created Meet John Doe as his tribute to the great working class masses, the increasingly forgotten average guy or gal, the very people who made America the great nation it had become. Those same people who now felt neglected and victimized.
And by placing the plot during the Christmas season, with the climax itself occurring on Christmas Eve, that spirit of brotherly love and the unity of the common people could be symbolized by Christmas itself. Also, though slightly awkward by movie’s end, John Doe is recast as a Christ figure, whose rebirth on Christmas Day drives that unsubtle point home.
The movie begins with images of scary changes: “The New Bulletin-a streamlined newspaper for a streamlined era” replaces The Bulletin when it is purchased by a larger corporation and “40 heads are chopped off” as new Managing Editor Connell (James Gleason) is installed. He tells the startled columnist Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck), “Sorry sister, I was sent down here to clean house.” The feisty Mitchell receives these words as a slap on the face: “I cannot afford to be without work, not even for a day.” Espousing the new philosophy the newspaper is projecting, Connell states “people who can hit with sledgehammers” are the type of writers they will maintain. Cold-heartedly Connell demands, “Turn in your last column before collecting your check.”
Such a sequence seems more fitting to today, with hostile corporate takeovers, downsizing, dedicated workers callously given their walking papers/pink slips. But this was Capra’s vision of America at the start of the new decade of the ’40s.
American ingenuity takes over as “never say die” reporter Mitchell writes a bogus letter to the paper, her attempt to create sledgehammer journalism. “...but looking around it seems the whole world’s gone to pot, so in protest, I’m going to commit suicide by jumping off the City Hall roof, signed a disgusted American Citizen, John Doe. Editor’s Note: If you ask this column, the wrong people are jumping off the roofs.”
The governor, reading the published letter, thinks the newspaper’s new owner, D.B. Norton (Edward Arnold), is out for his scalp. The mayor, in disgust, sighs, “Why did he have to pick on my building,” referring to the negative publicity involving City Hall. The mayor is advised to “pull down his blinds,” as if out-of-sight-out-of-mind is an effective answer to the problem.
Revealing the truth to Connell, that no such John Doe exists, Ann Mitchell states “you say you wanted fireworks” to which she is told-”Don’t you know there are nine jobs waiting for this guy, 22 families want to board him free, five women want to marry him, the mayor’s practically ready to adopt him.” To which Mitchell shrewdly responds, “There’s enough circulation in that name to start a shortage in the ink world.” Her gimmick is to have “John Doe” write a column-“I Protest”-everyday in The New Bulletin until Christmas Eve, when he is supposed to commit suicide at City Hall. While Mitchell will write the daily column (once she is rehired and given a $1,000 bonus to keep her mouth shut), she suggests they hire an out-of-luck hobo to become John Doe to give visual impetus to the column.
Enter Gary Cooper, America’s Everyman, who as John Doe delivers one of the definitive characters of his career. The down and out baseball player (always in bush leagues, never the majors-out of luck because of a chipped bone in his elbow which ruined his pitching career), ruggedly handsome but a tad rough and dirty, reduced to riding the rails, cleans up perfectly to fit his proper media-controlled image. His best friend and moral conscience, the “Colonel” (Walter Brennan), becomes that little voice in the back of John’s mind that encourages him to do the right thing. Long John Willoughby, “desperate for money,” agrees to accept money to say he wrote the letter (rewriting the original in his own handwriting) and is told he will be given a railroad ticket to get out of town on Christmas Eve, his job done.
While the newly christened John Doe thinks his actions are being motivated by practicality, his old buddy the Colonel tells him his soul is now owned by the corporation. “You’re gonna get used to all that stuff that will wreck you.” Doe stresses that “$50 won’t ruin me.” But the Colonel digs in deeper: “When you become a man with a bank account, they got you... and when they got you, you have no more chance than a road rabbit.” To the Colonel the enemy is the “helots,” referring to lots of heals.
Soon the columns begin spinning out daily: “I Protest!”; “Against Collapse of Decency in World”; “Against Corrupt Local Politics”; “Against Graft in State Relief”; “Against County Hospitals Shutting Doors to Needy.” And the newspaper’s daily circulation increases as the weeks continue.
The governor realizes that John Doe is a myth, but he feels his political adversary (and newspaper owner) D.B. Norton is behind this entire campaign.
And the conniving Norton does indeed have a scheme: to put John Doe on the radio to reach 130 million listeners around the nation. He requests that Mitchell write the radio speeches, to be delivered live in the studio by Doe, and that she answer directly to him and not Connell any longer. But Mitchell cannot come to grips with the subject matter of the radio programs, as her newspaper columns have already tapped into the negativity of big-city corruption. But Mitchell’s mother (Spring Byington) comes up with a solution: “People are tired of hearing doom and despair on the radio... let him say something simple and real... with hope in it.” Her source of inspiration is the personal diary kept by her late husband... “enough in here for 100 speeches,” she says, quietly stating that the diary keeps his memory alive for her.
Meanwhile, preparing for the first radio broadcast, the Colonel is working on his friend John. “When John Doe is revealed as a fake, you’ll be washed up in baseball [his plan for accepting money is to finance surgery on his elbow to return to baseball]. What about the kids who idolize you?” The owner of the rival newspaper The Chronicle offers John $5,000 for getting on the radio and reading one of their speeches, stating the whole thing’s a fake, to embarrass The New Bulletin and especially D.B. Norton. John’s actual speech, prepared by Ann Mitchell, is delivered to him at the station where he can read the speech cold (his preferred choice so his performance seems unrehearsed).
When push comes to shove, even when The Chronicle plants a heckler in the studio audience, John Doe reads Mitchell’s speech. “I’m gonna talk about us, the average Joes. He’s simple and wise... we’re the people and we’re tough... the little punks who have always counted... we all have to get in there and pitch, to get together with your teammates. It’s no miracle. I see it happen once every year at Christmas time-to see what it does to people, all kinds of people. Now why can’t that spirit, that same warm Christmas spirit, last the whole year round? If each and every John Doe would make that spirit last 365 days out of the year... we would create such a tidal wave of good will that no human force could stand against it.”
Soon grass roots organizations spring up all over the country, so-called “John Doe Clubs,” whose members, the common Joes, try to keep the philosophy of the radio broadcasts alive at the neighborhood level. When D.B. Norton observes the power of such clubs, he decides to organize a national John Doe Convention at which time Doe will announce the formation of the John Doe political party, for which D.B. Norton will be their candidate for President of the United States. But Doe, who is falling in love with Mitchell, is afraid that she is in love with “another man, the one she made up, John Doe.” And Doe wants her mother to help break the ice to help them get together. But when Doe finds out she is willing to write the speech putting forth the name of Norton for political office, he is disappointed in his foolishness in believing she was decent and pure. Doe is insistent, “They can’t use the John Doe Clubs for politics!” Connell, getting drunk at the local watering hole, prepares John for the corruption generated by Norton, showing himself to be imbued with the American spirit and everything that Doe stands for in his speeches.
But Norton tries to remind Doe of the truth: “Get off that righteous horse... and come to your senses. You’re the fake, the one who was paid 30 pieces of silver. You’re a fake John Doe, and I can prove it.” In utter disillusionment, John Doe sputters back to Norton, “You mean to tell me you’ll kill the John Doe movement if you can’t use it to get what you want... like dogs, if you can’t eat something, you bury it!”
At the Convention, Norton, with his money and power, calls all the shots. The newspaper runs a headline revealing John Doe as a fake, Norton pays people to disrupt the proceedings, and he himself appears live to confront Doe with the facts directly. When Doe tries to respond, his mike is turned off and nobody can hear him. The mob grows ugly and starts pelting Doe with trash and fruit. The worm has turned, and John Doe has disgraced the very movement he helped create.
There’s only one thing left for Doe to do to prove his honesty and commitment to his cause: commit suicide by jumping off the roof of City Hall on Christmas Eve. Amidst the joyous celebrations of the season, as choruses sing of “Silent Night, Holy Night,” as servants wish their employers “Merry Christmas,” Norton and his men rush to City Hall to search out Doe. On the other side, a bedridden Ann Mitchell and the Colonel rush to City Hall to try to find Doe before he takes his own life. Ann has finally come around and turns against Norton realizing her love for John.
Of course John Doe manages to sneak up to the 14th floor, the rooftop, and is preparing to jump‚ but is soon confronted by Norton and his men; he is told that if he jumps the mayor has orders to remove any identifying articles from his clothing and see that he is buried immediately in Potter’s Field, so nobody will know that he even jumped.
John replies, “You killed a John Doe movement-now you’re going to see it born all over again... now take a good look, Mr. Norton!” People from the disbanded John Doe Clubs are assembled, having had second thoughts about their too-quick dismissal of a wonderful idea. By now, Ann Mitchell has arrived, pleading, tears streaming down her face. “It’s not too late, the John Doe movement is not dead yet. See John, it isn’t dead or they wouldn’t be here... We can start clean. It can grow big. If it’s worth dying for, it’s worth living for... You don’t have to die to keep the John Doe movement alive. Someone already died for that one, the first John Doe, and he’s kept that idea alive for 2,000 years... They’re calling to us to keep on fighting... this is no time to give up.”
Capra, unfortunately, stretches too far by creating both a metaphor for the common spirit of middle class America and of Jesus Christ in the John Doe character. The fact that Capra links the American spirit and the spirit of Jesus (sort of in the spirit of “God is on our side”) becomes a little too pat and sugary to drive home the realistic message that the film’s harsher tone seems to support. In a sense, Meet John Doe seems to echo the spirit of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, most explicitly in the line “we’re the people and we’re tough.” The concept of strength from the unity of the middle class spirit, all people and their neighbors bonding, comes directly from the Steinbeck classic. But while Of Mice and Men (both the novel and the classic Lewis Milestone movie) are serious, solemn and gritty, Meet John Doe seems set to attack all the evils of modern society, so brilliantly illustrating the corruption of corporate America in the film’s first minutes, that by the time the John Doe Clubs are formed, and we hear the story of how one grumpy neighbor Sourpuss is revealed to be partially deaf and not ignorant of his neighbors’ needs after all, well, the good spirits, humor and warmth seem too simplistic in such a subtle satire of modern society. It’s almost as if Capra took the easy way out instead of investigating the hard, brutal problems head on.
However, the idea of using the Christmas holiday as both a metaphor for the message of Christ and of the bonded spirit of working class people across America seems satisfying. The despondency and suicidal urges, which contrast most greatly to the spirit of Yuletide, would be revisited in the superior It’s A Wonderful Life (also directed by Frank Capra) several years later. But once again, it is the spirit of the people, the solidarity of the working class, that saves a desperate, lost soul. Since John Doe embodies that spirit, when the spirit thrives so does John Doe, but when the spirit strikes out against itself, John Doe himself withers and dies.
Interestingly, the movie flees to the rural riverside twice, escaping the ravages of the corrupt city, with John Doe and the Colonel seeking the sanctuary of nature’s respite to rethink and energize. “Glad we’re out of that mess,” the Colonel declares sitting near the river bank. And Long John, seeing his surgery within his reach, cries out, “What was I doing up there doing that speech... $5,000 bucks, had it in my hand!” referring to the offer made by The Chronicle to expose himself on national radio as a faker. The image fades to the duo playing harmonica duets on the midnight train, poor but satisfied. The song played out? “Hi Diddly-Dee, An Actor’s Life for Me!”
Ultimately, Gary Cooper’s portrayal of John Doe is so startling because, like all of us, he can be tempted by greed, money, sex and power, but like the best of us, he can rise above these flaws and become someone truly great by looking deep inside and remembering all the values that are part of his spirit and soul. John Doe becomes so much more than a flesh and blood character: He becomes the barometer of the American spirit. The cohesion of people working in harmony keeps him thriving; the corruptive influences that force men to turn against their brother momentarily weaken him. Fortunately, in the optimistic world-view of Frank Capra, there’s very little chance that John Doe will belly-flop off City Hall. Capra simply bursts with too much faith in the human community to allow that to happen.
But in the spirit of Christmas and the American spirit, would we want it any other way?
Meet Me in St. Louis
Cast: Judy Garland, Margaret O’Brien, Lucille Bremer, Tom Drake, Marjorie Main, Leon Ames, Mary Astor
Credits: Producer: Arthur Freed; Director: Vincente Minnelli; Writers: Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe (Based on the Story by Sally Benson); MGM; 1944
It’s difficult to know where to begin discussing Meet Me in St. Louis. Do we start with the stunning sets shown in glorious Technicolor that helped create the richness and beauty of the early 1900s? Or perhaps the Academy Award–nominated cinematography by George Folsey as we marvel at his use of light and camera angles. Of course there is the sure direction of MGM wunderkind Vincente Minnelli whose work on Cabin in the Sky would lead him to the welcoming streets of St. Louis for this classic film. And then there is a stellar cast consisting of Mary Astor, Leon Ames, Marjorie Main, Lucille Bremer (whom MGM was grooming for stardom), Tom Drake, Harry Davenport and the scene-stealing Margaret O’Brien as Tootie. Let’s not forget the outstanding score that featured songs such as the Academy Award–nominated “The Trolley Song” as well as “The Boy Next Door” and “Under the Bamboo Tree.” Or should we begin with the fabulous Judy Garland, who was never more beautiful and appealing than in this film?
Each viewing of this filmic wonder leaves one longing for those glorious days when life was polite, elegant and simple, and the biggest worry the loving Smith family had was leaving their beloved St. Louis for the frightening New York.
The film was based on a series of stories by Sally Benson that appeared in The New Yorker. Benson was also a talented screenwriter who co-wrote Anna and the King of Siam, The Farmer Takes a Wife and Shadow of a Doubt.
Arthur Freed and Minnelli were convinced of the charm of the film, but their lead wasn’t so sure she wanted to take a step backward by playing another teenager. At 21 Judy Garland was already an old pro. She had just completed Presenting Lily Mars, a role she considered her first grown-up part. Freed prevailed and Judy, however reluctant, was to star.
The story revolves around a year in the life of the Smith family and their misgivings about moving to New York when their father (Leon Ames) is promoted. The family is also in a tizzy over the romantic relationships of oldest daughter Rose (Bremer), 17-year-old Esther (Garland) and brother Lon (Henry Daniels, Jr.).
Meet Me in St. Louis occurs throughout four seasons. The Christmas vignette highlights the family spending their last bittersweet Christmas in St. Louis. As the scene opens the children are outside building a family of snowpeople. Rose and Lon, neither having dates for the big Christmas Eve dance, begin arguing and eventually are convinced to go together. Esther is a bit smug since she has a date with her handsome boy-next-door John (Tom Drake). Little Tootie, an endearing five-year-old with a delightful sense of the macabre, has already dug up her dead dolls from their graves in the backyard and readied them for their trip to New York. The sisters prepare for their dance deciding they must be particularly outstanding for they plan to monopolize all the attractive young men so Lucille Ballard (June Lockhart) and her date Warren Sheffield (Robert Sully) will be suitably jealous. Warren is Rose’s beau who has not proposed to her yet and, as Esther notes in the beginning of the film, “she’s not getting any younger you know.” Meanwhile, Lon is pining for Lucille. As Esther primps, John arrives to announce sorrowfully his tuxedo is locked in the tailors and he can’t escort Esther. She sheds unhappy tears until her grandpa (Harry Davenport) comes to the rescue and squires her to the ball.
Garland’s wardrobe has never been more suitable to her. The red velvet gown she wears to the dance is a thing of beauty enhancing her girl-next-door loveliness. Rarely has a more Christmasy pair been seen as Esther stands beside Rose, who is wearing an appropriately green gown. In his autobiography I Remember It Well, Vincente Minnelli notes how Technicolor advisor Natalie Kalmus kept telling him he couldn’t have red and green in a scene. Minnelli notes, “I had enough faith in the technology of the time to assume the camera wouldn’t distort the colors, as it picked up the movement of the costumes under the constantly changing lights.” Minnelli couldn’t have been more correct; the sequence with the sisters in their Christmas finery is a visual delight.
Esther has taken the liberty of filling out Lucille’s dance card, managing to find every pathetic bachelor at the dance. But the tables are turned when Lucille announces that Warren would rather be with Rose and she pairs up with Lon-leaving Esther the unpleasant task of changing dance cards and heroically taking the dances she had mischievously lined up for the unsuspecting Lucille.
Grandpa rescues Esther, whirling her behind a huge Christmas tree to the strains of “Auld Lang Syne” and, lo-and-behold, out she dreamily waltzes with John, who has managed to get to the ball.
After the festivities John and Esther stand beneath a tree outside her house. Garland has never looked more lovely as a sparkly scarf covers her auburn hair and the camera seems to adore her. John has asked her to marry him, to which she tearfully agrees, but the much-too-young couple soon decide that is a mistake and perhaps they can still carry on their relationship even if she is in New York.
As Esther climbs the stairs to her room, she hears music coming from Tootie’s bedroom.
The little girl is curled up on a window seat playing her music box and waiting for Santa Claus. She asks Esther if Santa has been there yet and how he will find her next year. A light shines through the window and we expect to see Santa, but it is only John in his neighboring room. He slowly pulls down the shade. Shadows fall softly on Esther as she comforts Tootie, who tells her she is taking everything to New York, even her dead dolls. She can take everything but her snowpeople Esther replies, “We’d look pretty silly trying to get them on the train!” The tot giggles and then sorrowfully looks out at the snowy creations. The sisters sit before a window staring at the snowpeople as Garland heartbreakingly sings “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” to Tootie. Although the lyrics of the song are not truly sad, Garland’s rendition of this holiday treasure rarely leaves a dry eye in the house. The song and Judy Garland brilliantly manage to compress all the confusing feelings of Christmas into a few short stanzas-the love, happiness, sadness and longing for perfection.
As viewers are sniffling into their handkerchiefs, Tootie, sobbing, runs from the house and begins to destroy the snowpeople. Esther runs after her, soothing the hysterical child. From above the camera looks down on the pair, Tootie in her white nightgown almost blending into the landscape and Esther’s brilliant red dress flowing over the blanket of snow. Father sees this from the upstairs window, calls the family downstairs and announces they will not be leaving for New York. Instead, they are staying right here in St. Louis. Warren rushes in to propose to Rose, presents are opened and a merry Christmas is had by all.
Mary Astor, Leon Ames and Margaret O’Brien would reunite as a family in 1949’s Little Women. Meet Me in St. Louis was the film debut of lovely Lucille Bremer, who went on to become one of Fred Astaire’s most talented partners in Yolanda and the Thief and Ziegfeld Follies. However, even with the stellar casting of Meet Me in St. Louis, the film belongs to little Margaret O’Brien and Judy Garland.
O’Brien is mesmerizing as little Tootie, who ghoulishly gives her dolls fatal diseases and happily buries them in the backyard. In his autobiography Minnelli relates how Margaret couldn’t get worked up enough for the snowpeople scene. Her mother and aunt would whisper to her before her dramatic scenes, but that night she was angry at her mother, who told Minnelli he would have to get Margaret to cry:
“‘But how?’ I asked. ‘She has little dog,’ her mother replied. ‘You’ll have to say someone is going to kill that dog.’ ...I could see Margaret sitting inside the house, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. It was a bitterly cold night. She looked expectantly at me. I braced myself, then walked over to her. ‘Margaret... There’s this little dog... and somebody is going to take a gun... and shoot it.’ Her eyes got even larger. ‘Is there going to be lots of blood?’ ‘Yes,’ I answered... and the dog is going to suffer terribly,’ I heard my sinister voice saying. ‘AND THE DOG IS GOING TO DIE!’ ‘Oh no,’ Margaret said in a tiny voice. Her tears started flowing. I turned to the assistant director. ‘Turn them!’ She did the scene in one take... mercifully for me... and went skipping happily off the set. I went home feeling like a monster.”
What an incredible story, but that’s all it is, a story. When I spoke with Margaret O’Brien about this, she was amazed and emphatically denied the incident. She proudly remarked that as a child she could cry at will and had never needed any prodding. She also told me how wonderful Judy Garland was to work with and how she truly became her big sister.
In her biography of Judy Garland, Anne Edwards notes that Judy was broke at the beginning of the film and needed to work, although she didn’t want to face another lavish musical. Garland, after seeing the performance Minnelli drew from her, grew to trust the director and they were later married in 1945. Their daughter Liza was born in 1946 and appeared at 
the ripe old age of two in another holiday film, In the Good Old Summertime.
Judy Garland faced many personal demons, but they were nowhere to be seen in her magnificent performance as Esther. It is one of the highlights of her film career.
The motion picture was nominated for several Academy Awards including Screenplay and Scoring but came up empty-handed. The big winners of 1944 were Going My Way and Wilson. However, Margaret O’Brien received a special miniature Oscar for outstanding child actress, joining the ranks of child stars such as Shirley Temple and Judy Garland.
Meet Me in St. Louis was released by MGM in November of 1944. Variety’s review read, “Meet Me in St. Louis is the answer to any exhibitor’s prayer. Perhaps accented in these days as ideal ‘escapist’ film fare, it would be surefire in any period. It holds everything for the film fan.” Or as The New York Times noted, “...it is a ginger-peachy show.” And so it is.
Mercy Mission: The Rescue of Flight 771
Cast: Robert Loggia, Scott Bakula, Rebecca Rigg, Alan Fletcher
Credits: Producer: Derek Kavanagh; Director: Roger Young; Writers: Robert Benedetti and George Rubino; Television, 1993
On a Christmas Eve flight from San Francisco to Sydney, a pilot (Bakula) gets lost, and his only hope is an Air New Zealand commercial flight.
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
Cast: David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jack Thompson
Credits: Producer: Jeremy Thomas; Director: Nagisa Oshima; Writers: Nagisa Oshima and Paul Mayersberg (based The Seed and the Sower by Laurens Van Der Post); Universal; 1983
Critically respected prisoner of war film is not something you’d look to for jolly holiday viewing.
Metropolitan
Cast: Carolyn Farina, Edward Clements, Dylan Hundley, Christopher Eigeman
Credits: Producers: Whit Stillman, Brian Greenbaum and Peter Wentworth; Director/Writer: Whit Stillman; New Line; 1990
Wealthy young New Yorkers party through the Christmas season while engaging in weighty after-party discussions. This film, more a character study than a holiday fest, would probably put viewers looking for happy holiday cheer to sleep.
Mickey’s Christmas Carol
Cast: (voices) Alan Young, Wayne Allwine, Clarence Nash
Credits: Producer/Director: Burny Mattinson; Writers: Alan Dinehart, Ed Gombert, Don Griffith, Tony L. Marino, Burny Mattinson and Alan Young; Buena Vista: 1983
With six credited screenwriters, including producer/director Burny Mattinson and starring voice (as Scrooge) Alan Young, 
Walt Disney’s Mickey’s Christmas Carol only runs 25 minutes, but unlike the over-padded and listless The Muppet Christmas Carol, this animated short recreates all the dramatic high points of the Charles Dickens original story but re-creates them as marvelous cartoon animation starring all the great Disney cartoon characters: Mickey Mouse as Bob Cratchit, Jiminy Cricket as The Ghost of Christmas Past, Scrooge McDuck as Ebenezer Scrooge, the Giant from Jack and the Beanstalk as The Ghost of Christmas Present, Goofy as Marley, Donald Duck as nephew Fred, etc.
Beautifully rendered sepia drawings from the story, lurking beneath the opening credits, bloom into full-textured Technicolor brilliance as the story begins in the snowy London streets as we approach the office of Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge, the “Marley” under his name scratched off his hanging sign. Telling us Marley was dead for seven years, the voice of Scrooge states “in his will he left enough money for his tombstone, and I had him buried at sea!” Opening his office door, Scrooge catches clerk Bob Cratchit about to pop a piece of coal into the fire, but the old miser tells Cratchit that “you used a piece last week,” so he kicks the coal back into the bin using his cane. Cratchit immediately reminds Scrooge that tomorrow is Christmas day and he needs to have off; the employer agrees immediately, but mentions docking him half a day’s salary. Scrooge mumbles half of two shillings, but Cratchit immediately reminds his boss of his raise granted three years ago, when he agreed to start doing his boss’ laundry. Scrooge, counting piles of gold coins on his desk and hugging bags of money, is interrupted when his nephew Fred appears to offer his uncle a Christmas wreath and to invite him to his annual Christmas party. Once again, Scrooge refuses, giving the wreath back, but the spirited Fred hangs it on Scrooge’s office door blurting out, “Merry Christmas!”
The two gentleman collecting for charity appear, but this Scrooge has a different way to refuse to contribute. “You realize, if you give money to the poor they won’t be poor anymore... then you won’t have to raise money for them anymore... and you would be out of a job!” Scrooge says he cannot put people out of work on Christmas Eve, hands them the wreath and tells them to share this with the poor. After slamming the door on the gents, Scrooge shakes his head and says, “What’s this world coming to, Cratchit! You work all your life to get money, and people want you to give it away!” But the clock strikes seven, and even though Scrooge echoes “two minutes fast” when checking his own watch, he still allows Cratchit to leave. Excited about the holiday, Bob wishes his boss a “Bah-humbug, er, Merry Christmas to you!”
Leaving the office at nine, Scrooge returns home, is haunted by the face of Marley/Goofy as his doorknocker, and once inside hears the haunting tones of Marley chanting his name. The eerie presence of Marley appears, wearing his chains, but his spooky demeanor is broken when the transparent Spirit trips over the cane lying on the floor. Scrooge is happy to see his former partner. “You robbed the widows and swindled the poor... all in the same day. You had class, Jacob!” But Marley corrects Ebenezer, “No, I was wrong... I carry these chains through eternity, maybe longer... same as will happen to you.” Telling of the coming of the three Spirits, Marley’s ghostly presence disappears beyond the wall, but as Scrooge yells out, “Watch out for that first step,” we hear the Spirit stumble and fall.
When Jiminy Cricket arrives at the crack of one, announcing himself as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Scrooge remarks, “I’d thought you’d be taller!” The Spirit lectures about kindness, but Scrooge rambles off, “Kindness is of little use in this world.” Scrooge is apprehensive about flying over the rooftops of the city, but giving his hand to the Spirit, both take off into space, Scrooge screaming all the way. “I thought you enjoyed looking down on the world,” the Ghost states. After the usual visits at Fezziwig’s party and the meeting/parting with true love Isabel (the marriage is off when Ebenezer forecloses on Isabel’s cottage when her payment is a mere one hour late), Scrooge winds up in his bed asking, “Why was I so foolish?”
The rumblings of “Fe, Fi, Fo Fum, I smell the blood...” can be detected as the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk appears as The Ghost of Christmas Present, wearing kingly robes surrounded by a virtual feast: turkeys, pigs and pies. The surprising thing the Spirit tells Scrooge is that, despite the way he treats people, “many still have warmth in their hearts for the likes of you.” The only place that Scrooge visits this time is Bob Cratchit’s house for Christmas, where the Spirit comments that Cratchit is poor and underpaid. Scrooge states there’s an entire pot of food on the fireplace, but the Spirit corrects him, “That’s your laundry!” When Tiny Tim makes a comment about all the wonderful things to eat, he asks that we give thanks to Mr. Scrooge.
Scrooge is back at the graveyard, with billowing clouds of smoke pouring in, as the black-cloaked presence of the 
grim reaper, The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, is causing the “fog” by huffing and puffing on a cigar. Interestingly, all the sequences presented by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come occur here in the graveyard, compressing all the action to one setting which works marvelously. When Scrooge asks what happened to Tiny Tim, he points his bony finger to another section of the graveyard, and we see the solemn figure of Cratchit, kneeling at a tombstone, Tim’s crutch leaning against the marker. Almost immediately we focus on two grave diggers finishing their newly dug hole in the ground, and when Scrooge inquires whose grave it is, the Spirit flashes a light on the tombstone bearing the name Ebenezer Scrooge, and finally the spirit, speaking and showing his dog face, declares Scrooge to be the richest man in the cemetery. Then amidst throngs of laughter, Scrooge falls into his grave which continues further down to a fiery Hell when he declares, “I’ll change!” and awakens in his own bed Christmas morning. This sequence works perfectly in its compactness and truly registers the horrors of Scrooge’s future with hardly a touch of humor.
Of course, on Christmas day, Scrooge has reinvented himself as the most generous man alive, giving 100 gold coins (which he wears on the inside of his coat) to the two gentlemen collecting for charities who were formerly refused, wishing strangers on the street a Merry Christmas, stopping Fred’s carriage and reminding his nephew that he will be attending his Christmas dinner party, until he finally arrives at Bob Cratchit’s house, with a big bundle on his back. The bag is filled with toys for all the children, and he announces to Bob that he is giving his clerk a raise and making him a partner in the business. With this, Tiny Tim chimes in with, “God bless us everyone,” as the story ends.
This short film, nominated for an Academy Award, succeeds on two entirely different levels. The first is the marvelous marriage of familiar Disney animated characters to well-loved characters in the Dickens story. Mickey Mouse is wonderful as Bob Cratchit, the always sincere but generally put-upon valiant mouse. Goofy makes for a clumsy and pitiful Marley’s Ghost, but at times is an eerily threatening presence who quickly sinks to pratfalls and stumbles, never making him too fearful to young children. Scrooge McDuck was inspired by the character Scrooge, and his miserly demeanor perfectly fits the character here. Jiminy Cricket’s relationship to Scrooge, becoming a wizened voyager whose job is to teach the nasty old Scrooge some humanity, is not that different from his similar relationship to Pinocchio. Amazingly, the Disney characters are so well defined that they seem naturals to fill in for their literary counterparts, and instead of the final film appearing too gimmicky by being populated by Disney cartoon characters, their usage blends in seamlessly.
The second major area of success is the manner in which Dickens’ masterpiece has been truncated down to its vital essence without losing too much of the message or subtlety. True, we have no relationship between Scrooge, his father and sister Fan, no childhood birth/death trauma. Yet for a children’s audience, the story still hammers home its message that love comes before money, that we bear some responsibility to our fellow man and that the Christmas message renews the spirit and the soul. The manner by which the final Ghost demonstrates so many ideas, mostly told visually (the silent Mickey at Tim’s grave, the falling down the shaft of the unmarked grave, the thick clouds of fog rolling into the graveyard, etc.), compressing so many complex morals into simple visuals that are stark and easily understood, only attests to how good the movie becomes. For once the screenwriters are not afraid to change or embellish Dickens’ lines, and the changes always remain true to the Dickens spirit. Thus, just because we are seeing the same old story, we are not hearing it told in the same exact way. And for once, besides the opening and closing theme song, “Oh What a Merry Christmas Day,” the feature is not stopped dead in its tracks by too many listless songs.
Even when cut down to 25 fast-paced minutes, Mickey’s Christmas Carol seems whole and complete, its message inventively told in a fresh, entertaining way.
A Midwinter’s Tale
Cast: Michael Maloney, Richard Briers, Joan Collins, Julia Sawalha, Hetta Charnley, Jennifer Saunders
Credits: Producer: David Barron; Director/Writer: Kenneth Branagh; Castle Rock; 1995
A band of depressed actors join for a slightly radical performance of Hamlet. The play is to open Christmas Eve but chaos reigns when the lead (Maloney) decides to leave for a film career. Happily he returns to take his place in the production which is met with cheers from the village crowd. Families are reunited and love wins out for the lead and his Ophelia (Sawalha). Watch for cameos by Jennifer Saunders and Joan Collins. It’s good to see Saunders and Sawalha (her television daughter from Absolutely Fabulous) together if only briefly.
A Midnight Clear
Cast: Gary Sinise, Peter Berg, Arye Gross, Ethan Hawke, Kevin Dillon
Credits: Producers: Bill Borden and Dale Pollock; Director/Writer: Keith Gordon (from the Novel by William Wharton); A&M films; 1992
A depressing war film that takes place during Christmas. A group of American soldiers and their commander (who is suffering a breakdown) are to report German troop movements during WWII. They encounter German soldiers who only want to surrender but must put up a fight so their families will not be harmed. The soldiers have a snowball fight and exchange gifts around a Christmas tree. They stage a phony battle, but the commander thinks the fighting is genuine with horrifying results.
Miracle Down Under
Cast: Dee Wallace Stone, John Waters, Charles Tingwell, Bill Kerr
Credits: Director: George Miller; Disney; 1987
A family in 1980s Australia endures hard times but a Christmas miracle brightens their holidays. Miller also directed family favorite The Man From Snowy River.
Miracle in the Wilderness
Cast: Kris Kristofferson, Kim Cattrall
Credits: Producer: Wayne Morris; Director: Kevin James Dobson; Writers: Jim Byrnes and Michael Michaelian (Based on the Novel by Paul Gallico); Turner; 1992
Beautifully filmed story of Jericho Adams (Kristofferson) and his wife (Cattrall) and baby son. Jericho has given up hunting and tracking and settled down to ranching with his wife and child. A Blackfoot chief burns their house and captures the family. Jericho had killed the chief’s son four years ago in self-defense. The chief has waited until Jericho had a son and plans to raise the baby as his own, give his wife to a brave and kill Jericho-but there is a grudging respect between the chief and Jericho: He plans to give him the death of a great warrior.
When storm clouds darken the sky, the tribe is astounded to find a family of deer, the female giving birth. Fawns are never born in the winter. Cattrall explains it is a sign from God and begins to tell the tribe the story of the Christ child and the first Christmas. This is where the film shines as the story is seen through the eyes of the tribe. Joseph is a strong brave and Mary a pure maiden. A message is brought to Mary by an eagle and Joseph sees a white stallion that assures him Mary is carrying the Son of God. They travel to a great meeting of the tribes where three wise chiefs follow a new star and give gifts to the baby.
The chief and Jericho go head-to-head since Jericho knows he will die one way or another. He bests the chief but cannot bring himself to kill him. The chief leaves the family behind and heads his tribe toward Canada and the realization that the wilderness is disappearing and one day perhaps all men will truly be brothers as Cattrall has told them. The scenery is stunning and the Native American scenes are gorgeously and respectfully filmed.