Once Again, It's Christmas-Past For NowWritten by Dan Pulick |
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I began to create a "Top-Ten Christmas Movie List" and realized that the last thing the world needs this time of year is another critic’s "Top-Ten Christmas Movie List." Really, the ordering of the same ten movies can only work out so many ways. Does it really matter whether A Christmas Story finishes in front of It’s A Wonderful Life? Or whether Christmas Vacation comes after A Miracle On 34th Street? No, of course not. In the end, it’s just one man’s idea of what makes the Christmas season special, as it has been in the past. But in preparing such a list (because of course, I have one) I was struck by how many of the movies were made before 1970, and really, before 1950. It’s staggering, the number of movies generally accepted as "Christmas Classics" that were made at least fifty years ago versus those made since then. |
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These are the films most commonly accepted as "Christmas Movies." The films above the solid line are the "Classics," the ones below it are…not. (Quickly, I want to talk about other periphery holiday
films before making any assessments about these. Of course, you all
have films that remind you of the holidays, either because that was
the time of year when you first saw them, or they contain some dominant
element that conveys winter or Christmastime to you personally. But
I think you’ll agree that when you compare those films to the ones
above, you’ll realize that they don’t centralize around the
holiday. I know a guy who says The Godfather is a Christmas movie
for him. He insists that many of the pivotal plot points take place
around the holidays, and that the sequence when Michael, while Christmas
shopping with Kaye, finds out his father has been shot is the most beautiful
Christmas footage of all time. People have told me they think of Citizen
Kane as a holiday movie, solely due to the early sequence in the
snow, when he’s sled-riding on Rosebud. The atmosphere Welles creates
through the obvious use of a studio set, the fake snow, the echoing
sound, adds to the romanticized-fantasy that we all harbor for the season.
But I think it’s fair to say, generally speaking, The Godfather
and Citizen Kane are far from being Yuletide films. |
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What is interesting to me is that even films that may only imply Christmas, or circle some idea of the season are both more numerous and of better quality…, then vs. now. Accepting this as a rule (which I think is fair; I’m throwing the modern list a bone by including Scrooged as a classic), why are the best Christmas movies from the old days? |
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Many answers quickly come to mind. One is that people were more religious early in the last century (of course this is a generalization; excuse me, but it’s the first of many to come). People carried their religion with them into their daily lives in some form or another more than they do now. There was a relationship with a god and it was real, whether fueled by fear, or guilt, or in rare cases, love, whether built on archaic concepts of Creation or merely accepted without any thought at all. The presence of such a relationship creates an audience that is more willing to receive a message of peace on earth, good will toward men, because they are reading the same message in church on Sunday (being brought up in a predominantly Christian world, I can’t comment on the appeal Christmas movies have for people of other faiths. However, I do believe the larger point of a deeper [or existent] relationship to a god and religion in past eras does apply to all religions equally, and that participation in at least the daily rituals of one’s faith was more common, leaving people more receptive to a Yuletide message of good will on earth.). Did everyone believe in angels back then? No, but the acceptance of another realm, one of the spirit with all its mysteries and superstitions, was more common, and allowed storytellers to explore whatever fantasy they wished as it applied. |
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Because of this prevailing faith-dynamic, there was a greater belief in Christmas itself. Christmas really was more than just one day, it really was, in principle, a way of being. (But was it really? you ask. No, I’m not so sure, but just go with this line of thought for a second.) And so, in some way, Christmas wasn’t just a big joke. It wasn’t just a fun time with a ho-ho-ho and a wink-wink-wink. People took Christmas seriously because of how it functioned within their religion and families, which in many cases, was their way of life. The archetypes of the Christmas story were questioned less. A virgin-birth in a manger under a star. Somehow, we were still connected to an oral history and a tradition of archetype and legend, both functioning in life unconsciously. We didn’t laugh at the humility of the manger-icon, or the glory of the sky opening and speaking to the shepherds, or of simply thinking of others before yourself, valuing people rather than material, feeling worthy of life simply for having friends rather than status and station. The value-set was different because of the relationship to these religious icons and age-old beliefs. That’s not to say the icons are real or not real, the value-set is better or not, but only to point out the lost generations of guaranteed believers who bought tickets and filled the theater seats (Am I saying that they were literally better receivers of such sappy Xmas hogwash? Possibly. The American Cynic has always been alive and well; I’m just not sure his voice has overtaken religion completely by 1940.). |
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Many of the people making these films were either of the same ilk, or were smart enough to recognize such wide sentiment across the country. These men and women were also some of the very best talents in Hollywood at the time (of all time, for that matter). Henry Koster, Frank Capra, Irving Berlin, Mark Sandrich, George Seaton, James Stewart, Cary Grant, Alastair Sim, Albert Finney, Fred Astaire, Hugo Friedhofer, Dimitri Tiompkin, Gregg Toland, Laurel and Hardy, Natalie Wood at age 5. We can’t necessarily say that about the people making holiday films today. Only A Christmas Story and Home Alone compare to the great classics in totality. In these two films, the casts, the direction, the scripts, the art direction, the music and the photography are as good as the very best from other eras. So obviously, back then, it was clear there was money to be made in Christmas, and it isn’t now. Because of this lack of faith in audience we are stuck with sub-par writers, directors, and actors making films out of nostalgia, with no original concept or organic center to draw from. Instead, they try to recreate past experiences (the horrid The Preacher’s Wife, Miracle On 34th Street [1994]). |
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