A Seasonal Tour de Force: Exploring Underrated Christmas Pictures
A factor that irks concerning a lot of present-day holiday features is their excessive self-awareness – the gaudy decor, the formulaic soundtrack selections, and the canned conversations about the true meaning of the festive period. Maybe because the style was not ossified into formula, films from the 1940s often tackle Christmas from increasingly imaginative and far less neurotic perspectives.
The Fifth Avenue Happening
One cherished find from exploring 1940s seasonal comedies is It Happened on Fifth Avenue, a 1947 lighthearted tale with a great hook: a happy-go-lucky drifter takes up residence in a vacant luxurious townhouse each year. During one cold spell, he welcomes fellow down-on-their-luck individuals to live with him, including a ex-soldier and a young woman who turns out to be the offspring of the home's affluent owner. Director Roy Del Ruth infuses the film with a makeshift family heart that many modern seasonal movies strive to achieve. The film beautifully balances a thoughtful narrative on housing and a whimsical metropolitan fantasy.
The Tokyo Godfathers
The acclaimed director's 2003 tragicomedy Tokyo Godfathers is a entertaining, sad, and profound interpretation on the festive narrative. Loosely based on a classic Hollywood picture, it tells the story of a trio of homeless people – an drinker, a trans character, and a young runaway – who come across an left-behind newborn on a snowy December night. Their mission to reunite the child's mother triggers a series of misadventures involving yakuza, immigrants, and ostensibly magical encounters. The film embraces the magic of chance often found in seasonal stories, delivering it with a cinematic aesthetic that sidesteps cloying emotion.
Meet John Doe
While Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life deservedly receives a lot of attention, his other film Meet John Doe is a compelling seasonal film in its own right. With Gary Cooper as a down-on-his-luck everyman and Barbara Stanwyck as a plucky reporter, the movie begins with a fabricated note from a man promising to fall from a rooftop on Christmas Eve in protest. The nation's response compels the reporter to hire a man to portray the invented "John Doe," who later becomes a national symbol for kindness. The movie serves as both an inspiring fable and a sharp critique of powerful publishers attempting to manipulate public feeling for their own gain.
A Silent Partner
Whereas Christmas slasher films are now plentiful, the Christmas thriller remains a relatively rare style. This makes the 1978 feature The Silent Partner a novel discovery. Starring a delightfully vile Christopher Plummer as a criminal Santa Claus and Elliott Gould as a mild-mannered bank employee, the story sets two varieties of morally ambiguous individuals against each other in a stylish and surprising yarn. Largely overlooked upon its original release, it is worthy of rediscovery for those who prefer their holiday entertainment with a chilling atmosphere.
Almost Christmas
For those who prefer their family get-togethers chaotic, Almost Christmas is a riot. Featuring a star-studded ensemble that features Danny Glover, Mo'Nique, and JB Smoove, the movie explores the tensions of a clan forced to endure five days under one roof during the Christmas season. Hidden problems come to the top, resulting in moments of over-the-top comedy, such as a dinner where a firearm is brandished. Naturally, the narrative finds a touching conclusion, giving all the enjoyment of a holiday catastrophe without any of the real-life aftermath.
The Film Go
Doug Liman's 1999 movie Go is a holiday-adjacent tale that is a young-adult riff on interconnected plots. While some of its edginess may feel dated upon a modern viewing, the movie nonetheless offers many aspects to appreciate. These range from a cool turn from Sarah Polley to a memorable performance by Timothy Olyphant as a charming drug dealer who appropriately dons a Santa hat. It represents a very style of fin-de-siècle cinematic vibe set against a holiday scene.
Morgan's Creek Miracle
The satirist's wartime comedy The Miracle of Morgan's Creek rejects typical Christmas warmth in return for cheeky humor. The movie centers on Betty Hutton's Trudy Kockenlocker, who discovers she is expecting after a hazy night but cannot remember the man involved. Much of the humor arises from her condition and the devotion of Eddie Bracken's hapless Norval Jones to rescue her. Although not explicitly a Christmas film at the beginning, the plot culminates on the holiday, showing that Sturges has created a clever version of the nativity, loaded with his trademark satirical humor.
The Film Better Off Dead
This 1985 youth movie starring John Cusack, Better Off Dead, is a quintessential artifact of its decade. Cusack's
