Christmas Comes But Once A Year

And it's a Proud Day for Canada!

So Canada got a sincere thank you from Hamas this week! A proud day for us! (This is sarcasm, people. It’s a day of great shame for us.) The gratitude from the psycho-terror Nazi death cult also known as Hamas was because Canada, at the UN, supported a ceasefire resolution that did not include the conditions that all the (not yet murdered) hostages should be released, Hamas should lay down all their arms and leave Gaza but not before turning over every single terrorist who took part in the massacre and rapes of October 7th. Dear God, how did we come to this? My guess is that Prime Minister Trudeau is worried about the election and pollsters have told him his base is not happy with his support of Israel’s right to defend itself and to take out Hamas, tepid and wavering though that support has been.

The government has also announced that we will make it easier for Palestinians in Gaza with relatives in Canada to come here. Now, I am a big dove on immigration. But given recent polls that indicate overwhelming support for Hamas in Gaza, concern about this decision strikes me as entirely legitimate, though any people expressing such concern will likely be accused of Islamophobia. Polls, of course, are odd things, particularly in wartime (folks tend to circle the wagons), and even more so in a dictatorship. It is unlikely many people in Gaza feel free to give their real opinion.

So here we are and it is depressing. Time, therefore, to focus on Christmas and Christmas movies. I wrote last year about the greatest Christmas movie ever, and I enjoy so many of the popular, well-known ones: Miracle on 34th Street (but only the Natalie Wood version), It’s a Wonderful Life, Die Hard and so forth. But I’d like to offer up some alternatives, some lesser-appreciated festive films.

Come to the Stable, 1949: Gorgeous film, with the often-used Christmas-y theme of charity versus profit. Two nuns - Celeste Holm and Loretta Young - are trying to do good in a community and being impeded by a businessman who, embittered by his experiences in World War II, sees a way to make money, instead. There’s a comical scene where the nuns have a meeting with a mobster (who owns some land they want to use for a hospital) and manage to straighten his crooked heart. At the time of its making, Come to the Stable received some studio opposition due to its Catholic themes. Hollywood executives wondered if it would have broad appeal. (Remember that only 11 years later, JFK had to deal with anti-Catholic bigotry during his presidential run.) Thankfully, the film got made as originally planned and was a success. It’s extremely lovely and TCM occasionally includes it in their Christmas schedule.

The Holly and the Ivy, 1952: Dysfunctional family Christmas, a la post-war Britain, anyone? What was it about the English, still struggling so much after the loss and trauma of the war, and yet so able to produce awesome writers, movies, music, art? For all the economic dismay, there was clearly a vibrancy, a spark there. The cast is phenomenal, enough all by themselves to make you want to watch - including Ralph Richardson, Denholm Elliott and Celia Johnson. Richardson is a village parson who welcomes his adult children home for Christmas. They, however, are doing what kids have long done - rejecting their father’s beliefs, making all kinds of insane mistakes in their lives and assuming that their father is too rigid and narrow to understand or help. Spoiler alert: he isn’t.

3 Godfathers, 1948: I want to start by saying the grammarian in me hates using the number 3 in the title. Would have preferred “three” be used, but the title was, in fact, 3 Godfathers. There were several previous takes on this story, some apparently quite grim. I love this one, though, directed by John Ford (who also directed one of the other versions) and starring John Wayne, Harry Carey Junior and Pedro Armendariz as a trio of ne-er do wells who rob a bank and, while on the run, come across a covered wagon where they find a woman in labour. Rather than abandon her, they stay by her side and help deliver her baby boy. She does not survive but before dying she names her son after them, and asks that they care for him. It’s got every John Ford thing you want: big skies, amazing use of colour and cinematography, anti-heroes, John Wayne and, of course, this song.

[They have buried the dead and then Harry Carey has to go and sing this song! Pardon my goosebumps and tear drops.]

Our Vines Have Tender Grapes, 1945: This is not, technically, a Christmas movie, though a good chunk of the story is set at Christmas. But I think this is such an eloquent, simple film about growing up and, bonus points - it is about Norwegian-Americans. It certainly captures Jante law and aspects of Norwegian parenting such as the “get the heck over yourself, you’re not at all special” aspect that permeated my childhood. Edward G. Robinson and Agnes Moorehead are raising their little daughter - the magnificent Margaret O’Brien - in Wisconsin and trying to guide her through some painful lessons, teach her values and help her understand sacrifice. Also, they don’t care about her self-esteem! So Norwegian. Seriously, it’s beautiful and Robinson is so sure in the role - what a fine actor. (Honestly, the Norwegian cultural part of this story was so convincing I had to look up who wrote it. The source material was a novel written by George Victor Martin, not a Norwegian, but a man who had married one. At the time of the novel’s publication, she was his ex-wife and sued him for using her stories.)

Carol for Another Christmas, 1964: This was a TV movie, another take on A Christmas Carol, and while I would not say it is particularly good, it is a really fun watch. It’s like an early-mid 1960s zeitgeist flashback (heck, it was written by Rod Serling). Also, there is Ben Gazzara, with his presence and voice (one of the best voices in Hollywood history, I think). The story centers on Sterling Hayden as the Scrooge character, in grief over the death of his son in World War II and hiding away in his home, an isolationist, greedy, anti-communist American who doesn’t want to engage with the world. Tremendously ham-handed stuff, with the political posturing seeming quaint, at this point. What we wouldn’t give for those innocent days! Gazzara plays Hayden’s sanctimonious and handsome nephew, Fred, who lectures him about the UN and blah blah blah - now, this was before the UN became just a bunch of countries shrieking at Israel, so to a 1964 audience, it may have resonated. Anyway, after the three ghosts - Steve Lawrence, Pat Hingle and Robert Shaw - take Hayden through his paces, he is a changed man who listens to the UN children’s choir on the radio and eats breakfast with his servants rather than bossing them. (Did I say ham-handed?)

I’m sure I’ve forgotten one or more and if you’d like to remind me, I’ll leave comments open. What are your favourite holiday movies?