DVXUser 100 Films Discussion - Greatest Holiday Movies

[Erik Olson]

THE FORMAL MONTHLY DISCUSSION OF BENCHMARK FILMS AT DVXUser!

DVXUser has become widely known and regarded as an online "virtual film school". Through its membership, DVXUser provides comprehensive user-to-user artistic, business and technical support. Now, through this discussion, I hope that we might extend this concept toward the critical study of filmmaking itself.

The DVXUser 100 Films Discussion will normally assign one film each month from the most current version of the AFI's 100 Years, 100 Movies list. In ten months, we will cover ten films selected by our members from the field of 100.


How will the films be selected?

DVXUser members vote on which film we should watch and discuss each month. You decide which film you want to nominate. It can be a personal favorite or simply a film you've always wanted to watch, but never got around to. After you vote, post a short plug on why you chose one film over the other nine. Whatever film ranks highest will be the one we all watch after voting closes!


What will be discussed?

Within the confines of the DVXUser rules of engagement (no religion and politics and so forth) we will discuss the film in the context of the world when it was released, writing, performances and techniques. Subject to regular moderation, it should be an open discussion of what goes into filmmaking now and within the historical context of the film we're examining.

Here is the list for December, 2007. Each film centers on holiday themes, please add your own favorites to the list if you don't see them here! Thanks for participating and please enjoy a happy and healthy holiday season.

Remember the Night (1940)
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
A Christmas Carol (1951)
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
The Bishop's Wife (1947)
Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
Holiday Inn (1942)
It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
How The Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
A Christmas Story (1983)
A Christmas Carol (1951)

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[David Jimerson]

Irving Berlin's White Christmas is probably a better choice than Holiday Inn, as the latter didn't spend THAT much time on Christmas and incorporated many other major holidays.

White Christmas was planned as a direct sequel, but was reworked when Fred Astaire didn't reprise his role. Now, it's true that Holiday Inn had the first instance of the song "White Christmas" -- and it fact it won the Oscar for that film -- but White Christmas had the debut of other much-loved Berlin tunes.

Besides an always amiable Bing Crosby, it was Danny Kaye at some of his finest, Rosemary Clooney when she was very pretty, Dean Butler as General Waverly . . . just an overall delightful cast.

It was also the first film shot in VistaVision, and was the showpiece for Paramount's use of the Academy (1.85:1) aspect ratio, which was touted as being superior to Cinemascope because it was TALLER. Interesting; today a lot of us tend to like 2.35:1 because it's wider, because we consider it and 1.85:1 to be the same height, whereas Paramount's spin on it was that they're the same width, but 1.85:1 gives you more picture from top to bottom.

It's also interesting to note that some theaters still project that way -- 1.85:1 the same width.

Anyway, White Christmas is a top-ten favorite of mine, any genre.

 

[Batutta]

No Bad Santa?

 

[jpeck]

No Jingle All the Way?

 

[Batutta]

No Showgirls?...Back in my single days, my friends made a tradition out of watching Showgirls at Christmas because one year, we sent a non film savvy buddy out to get a Christmas film, and when everything was already rented out, he came back with Showgirls. In all seriousness he thought this was a good idea.

 

[krestofre]

I have to agree with Jimmerson. I was surprised that White Christmas wasn't on the list. That would have received my vote.

And I still haven't forgotten about the last two Film Discussions. Trying to find the time.

 

[Blaine]

My favorite Christmas film is Die Hard. :cheesy:

 

[Sad Max]

Ho Ho Ho

Now I Have A Machine Gun

 

[jpeck]

My favorite Christmas film is Die Hard. :cheesy:

I watch this every year with my brother on Christmas day. :laugh:

 

[Erik Olson]

It did rock. But it isn't on the list.

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[krestofre]

Alright, so it didn't win in the vote, but I watched Holiday Inn for the first time the other night. Having seen White Christmas so often that I just point out the continuity errors to whatever group I'm with at the time, I was really expecting something along the same lines.

After watching it, however, it almost feels like Berlin made White Christmas to fix what was wrong with Holiday Inn. Kind of like Holiday Inn was the test run for the picture he wanted to make. Now, obviously there's the connection with the song White Christmas, and the fact that the song appears in both films is what is forcing my mind to compare the two. Despite the fact that White Christmas was a planned sequel to Holiday Inn, it didn't work out that way, they were over ten years apart, and the song appears in both films mostly because it was (and is) incredibly popular.

What I found most interesting was the difference in dramatic tension between Holiday Inn and White Christmas. Both of them are "boy wants girl, must figure out how to get girl" stories, but the fact that for the majority of Holiday Inn there's only one girl and two guys, instead of two girls and two guys really makes for a different experience.

Now, before you make that the "duh" statement of the year, what I'm talking about is the difference in the way I reacted to the film. I found Holiday Inn to be a very antagonistic film. When I did a little research into the history of the picture I was surprised to learn that it was the highest grossing musical at the time of release. I didn't enjoy the movie very much because Astair and Crosby were established as friends at the beginning of the film. Friends with different outlooks on life, but friends nonetheless. Then when Lila Dixon (Virginia Dale) comes between them, it just created unconfortable drama for me. This is partially because I was expecting more of a Bing Crosby / Danny Kaye relationship a la White Christmas.

Holiday Inn strkes me as a more serious film despite some rather outlandish set pieces. What I'm unsure of is if it really is a more serious film, or if my expectations of another White Christmas are clouding my perception of the piece. I'd be interested to hear other peoples' take on that.

Lastly I'll reiterate what David Jimmerson said. Holiday Inn is not much of a Christmas film. It more or less starts at Christmas, and ends at Christmas, but in between it's all over the calendar. At one point my wife turned to me and said "Is this really a Christmas movie?"

Holiday Inn may have been where the classic song White Christmas originated, but the fact that the film White Christmas retains the popularity throughout the years is something to be greatful for.