Ten great movies to warm the heart this Christmas
Frank Capra's 1946 classic, It's A Wonderful Life, starring James Stewart, is one of the great Christmas movies.
“Look, Daddy, Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.”
If you remember that scene from the ending of , Frank Capra’s 1946 classic, it will certainly make you smile. The title is well chosen – it’s a wonderful movie for sure.
The story unfolds like , except this time the lead character is the very opposite of Scrooge: a man who does not need redemption but reminding. That lead character is George Bailey, a small-town man despairing of life who realises over Christmas – with a little help from that angel in need of wings – that his life is full of worth and meaning.
With the one and only Jimmy Stewart in the lead, we are drawn into George Bailey’s story, hoping (no matter how many times we have seen it) that all will work out in the end. In tracing the disappointments and missed opportunities of life, Stewart portrays a classic everyman: the authenticity is the appeal. Orson Welles once said that he decided not to follow other actors in imitating Jimmy Stewart because, he said, "to imitate him is all we could do".
This season is made for watching such classics and admiring such classic actors. And it gives us that bit of time we need to do it. The pace of modern life is one reason we need the Christmas season to slow down. A second is that the addiction to smartphones and iPads has wrecked the capacity of so many to just sit down and watch something from start to finish.
‘Pressing pause’ was meant to refer to the break you took when you watched a movie: now it is what you do on Netflix when you want to check your phone after the opening credits. This season is a good time for old traditions, so maybe this is the time of year to put away the phone and the remote and just watch something, from beginning to end, with no distractions other than what the plot throws up.
We stand on good, old, traditional ground when we do that. The Christmas movie is at the heart of our west of Ireland Christmases Past, a ritual which when shared with family is at least as important as the dinner, the tinsel and the tree. Gathered around the fire, bellies full and treats in full flow, it is a happy time and one to savour. Christmas movies and Christmas memories are close neighbours.
How well I can remember them from growing up in the 1980s. Planning what to watch took up as much time as the watching itself, and how I looked forward to that debate, starting with the publication of the Christmas movie schedule, where the encyclopaedia was the . That magazine was produced in vast quantities for this was a time when no self-respecting house could go without it at Christmas.
Many hands would thumb it and sets of eyes would devour it. There were lots to see but the main item was always clear: movies. They came in types: blockbusters showing for the first time on terrestrial TV; the ‘feel-good’ Christmas movies; movies that were not for young ones (which young eyes most carefully sought out). Regardless of which type, there were always rows about which ones would be shown on the big days of Christmas. When you were the youngest you could not rely on strength of will to win the debate, but a loose lip might help. Oh, the emotional tools that were used would have kept many a film screenwriter in clover!
That dynamic got only fiercer as the 1980s wore on. It had been altogether simpler to choose when there was only RTÉ in the house, but by then a new technology was changing the dial. The TV deflector system was a window on the world long before the internet. It was a Christmas present that every house wanted. Governments would fall over proposed restrictions to it. Access to one of those complex-looking aerials widened our horizons and increased the intensity of those rows about what to watch. For with the BBC, UTV and (God forgive us our sins) Channel 4 to choose from, there was real competition, with new ideas and new movies deflected into our homes.
Younger readers cannot – in their always-on smartphone haze – discern what it meant to get the BBC back in the west of Ireland of the 1980s. There were – perhaps more extreme – parallels elsewhere. In old communist East Germany, there were two regions where you couldn’t access West German television. Those low-lying regions were collectively referred to by fellow East Germans as the ‘Valley of the Clueless’. There was a touch of that for any house in our part of the world that did not yet have the BBC.
Between those channels, we saw all the classics at one time or another, and we waited with excitement each Christmas to see what hit would get ‘its first airing on terrestrial TV’ as the advertisements on RTÉ for the Christmas movies would breathlessly proclaim. If RTÉ didn’t produce some serious hit movies, they would experience the kind of negative PR not seen by them since, well, recently.
Every publication is full of Christmas lists so I will not hide from mine, proudly declaring my bias right at the start. When compiling a list of top ten Christmas movies, your own nativity story determines what appears. So, for this '80s kid, born in 1977, here are the top ten that will be forever associated with Christmas.
First, – nothing can or will beat it, and of course, I mean the original Gene Wilder version. When Wonka says – in response to Charlie’s return of the gobstopper – "so shines a good deed in a weary world," it gets me every time.
Second, . It’s no masterpiece, but on a cold afternoon over the Christmas season, it’s a great piece of fluff. Be careful with the water!
Third, . I know, it’s gone a bit out of fashion, but as a simple gag fest in the best tradition of slapstick, it’s great fun. And who hasn’t a tear in their eye when the grandfather picks up his granddaughter at the end?
Fourth, . If ever a movie deserves its title, this is it. Bruce Willis gatecrashes a Christmas Eve party where – dear oh dear – things have gotten very awkward for the guests. But here comes their knight… in a vest and no shoes.
Fifth, . Yes, yes, I know it’s not a Christmas movie, but it is movie. Turn off the phone, pull the curtains, throw a sod on the fire and just enjoy the magic. Orson Welles didn’t need to imitate Jimmy Stewart for other reasons. He is a genius.
Sixth, . Yes, you can go for the more conventional telling of if you like (and there are a lot of good options) but you will never find a better role for Kermit than as Bob Cratchit and will be hard-pressed to find a more poignant Tiny Tim than in this Muppet classic. God Bless Us Every One.
Seventh, . Is it strictly speaking a movie? I don’t care. It’s gorgeous and if you can watch it without the deepest emotion, you could do with a nocturnal visit from the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future – as seen above. You’ll be walking in the air.
Eighth, . For the title song alone, this deserves inclusion on the list. It’s a strange movie in many ways, but enjoyable with it.
Ninth, , both the original and the pretty impressive . Sure, it is not set at Christmas but as a story about what matters at Christmas time, there is little to beat it. And in ‘The Place Where Lost Things Go’, the remake has one of the most beautiful and poignant movie songs there is.
Tenth, there are so many options for the last spot; …. But I guess it needs to be the series, the hardy perennials of the Christmas season. The movies – like the books – get better as they go along.
On reflection, for a publication called , there also needs to be a place for at least one movie with a Western theme or focus, which for me would be , but for others, it might be . wins it for this line: It’s the perfect movie for a dark night between Christmas and New Year.
Whatever or whichever movies you might choose, if sitting down together to watch is a tradition your house has lost, perhaps this might be the year to reinstate it. Gently suggest a phone ban and watch something after dinner on Christmas Day together, rather than retreating – literally – to your own devices. My list above might help you choose – or cause a row! Happy Christmas.
