This beautiful version of Dickens’ classic story captures
its essence entirely. Never you mind that there are singing vegetables,
Fezziwig (now Fozziwig) as a rubber chicken manufacturer or ice-skating
penguins, that’s what makes it great. The great Michael Caine plays Ebenezer
Scrooge with many a snarl and a dead eye. Kermie and Piggy are Bob Cratchit and
his wife Emily, Robin the frog is Tiny Tim and the Great Gonzo is Charles
Dickens himself. This is one of the masterstrokes of the film. A great deal of
Dickens’ original language is used throughout the film and the delicate hand
behind this keeps the integrity of the story intact whilst using the familiar
Muppet madness to make its point. People forget that Dickens would employ much humour
and absurdity to tell his stories – it is entirely fitting here. I tear up every
time Scrooge heads to the Cratchits house with the Ghost of Christmas Yet To
Come – the scene is deeply touching.
This was the first Muppet film made after the death of Jim
Henson, with Kermit the Frog (and Henson’s regular other roles) being voiced by
Steve Whitmire. When it was released, the film was up against Home Alone 2 and
Aladdin, so it had some very tough competition. It was financially successful,
and largely speaking, critically successful as well. It has gone on to become a
staple of Christmas viewing for many – and so it should for you.
This 1994 Christmas offering might have many turning up
their nose – but I love it. The story of a cynical, divorced father who,
through a series of misadventures, inherits the role of Santa Claus is
genuinely heartwarming. Tim Allen is a consistently underrated performer (I’m not saying Home Improvement is Oscar
worthy or anything, but take Galaxy Quest. Superb.) and his genuine and
earnest Santa Claus is a delight. If the rumours that he was at least third
are true (Bill Murray and Chevy Chase ahead of him) then I am happy that they
turned it down. Wendy Crewson, Judge Reinhold (Mock Trial with J. Reinhold), Eric Lloyd, David Krumholtz and Peter
Boyle all co-star.
Awesome 10 Days of Christmas Movie Greatness - Number 4 - Elf
On paper, we'd all be forgiven for passing on Elf. Will Ferrell plays a human, accidentally raised as an elf in Santa's workshop after a delivery mishap in the orphanage. His world is turned upside down when he is finally given the heart-to-heart that not only is he adopted, but his birth father and family have been located in the mysterious far-away land of New York.
Buddy the elf has an incredible journey ahead, and much growing up to do, and it's easy to see the clear referencing of "Miracle on 34th St": updating the tale of a cynical world coping with the possibility that festive fantasy is real. Crucially, the film hinges on Ferrell's utterly devoted and un-satirical fish out of water performance, who will not - CAN not - see anything but positivity and joy in everything he experiences.
Birth Father, James Caan, thinks the entire story is a crock, and Step-mother Mary Steenburgen simply wants a family Christmas without tension. Director Jon Favreau's debut, best known for penning and starring in the '96 surprise hit "Swingers", and Ferrell's first feature after leaving Saturday Night Live, 'Elf' steers clear of schmaltz by showing us Buddy's pure heart break in slow motion, as he struggles to comprehend how something as magical and honest as Christmas has been tainted by his own race, and just because you have a family, it doesn't necessarily guarantee you'll fit in. Ferrell reportedly turned down a $30 Million offer to star in a sequel last year, hopefully well aware that the adventure of Buddy the Elf is perfect just the way it is.
Legend has it that 8 year old Natalie Wood was convinced she was starring in a film with the real Santa Claus during production. Whether this is urban legend, or perhaps what she was led to believe by sneaky producers, is a case of life imitating art somewhat. Not only is this a story of a jolly old man, perceived as a lunatic when claiming to be the real Kris Kringle who ultimately has his day in court, but actor Edmund Gwenn was in fact Father Christmas in the 1946 Macy's Thanksgiving parade, all planned by 20th Century Fox, and all footage of the parade was shot live on location - a feat virtually unheard of at the time. Studio head Daryl F. Zanuck disliked the script so much, he forced writer / director George Seaton into an unconditionally assigned three picture deal, and pulled the release date forward to summertime to try and maximise box office profits. The film grossed four times its original budget, was nominated for an Oscar, and is ranked 9th on the AFI's Most Inspirational Movies of All Time.
I have thought long and hard about posting this. It is so sad and so strange that we now live in a world and in a city where this is an issue. A week ago, this was one of my top tenChristmas movies. It still is. Should I let what happened this week prevent me from listing it? I don't think so, which is why I have. Feel free to stop reading, if you'd rather.
Die Hard
No Christmas movie list ever, nay, no list of any kind relating to screencraft can be without Die Hard. Released just four months prior to Scrooged, Die Hard manages to take the combined stresses of marital woes, holidaying in L.A. and office Christmas parties, throw in a band of menacing German thieves, and trap them all in the Nakatomi Plaza over the course of just a few hours of madness. Television star Bruce Willis, who at the time was filming for "Moonlighting" during the day, and then shooting relentless action sequences all night, was roughly the seventh choice for the role of Officer John McClane, and it's fair to say his fame was then catapulted somewhere above the stratosphere. So, too, was unknown British actor Alan Rickman, debuting here as possible terrorist Hans Gruber, after director John McTiernan saw him on stage in Dangerous Liaisons the year before. (Actually, the first time I saw this film I saw Dangerous Liaisons and Die Hard on the same night - straaaaange) The suspense is beautifully plotted, the action is manic, the set pieces are seamlessly blended into the plot, it's got soul, it's got laughs, it's got terrible European accents, it's got around 700 unnecessary sequels, it's got the Christmas spirit all over it, and it's just as much fun watching it for the fortieth time as it is the first.
Another ripper black comedy from yuletide days of yore (is that a thing?), Scrooged is a screwball take on Dickens' Christmas Carol from 1988, starring Bill Murray at roughly the beginning of his actually-fascinating-and-not-just-wacky-novelty phase. Scrooged was Murray's first non-ensemble role, and he carries the film effortlessly on his dour back, encountering the three ghosts who are trying to change his ways before he, well, gets even more dour, I suppose.
Director Richard Donner made the film in-between the first two Lethal Weapon movies, and despite clashing with Murray often on set, he had been pitching Murray to Tim Burton for the role of The Joker in the about-to-be-cast Batman. A couple of moments are a tad too ghoulish for youngsters - one in particular was an unexpected bone-shattering special effect that stayed with me for years - but if you like a touch of mayhem with your Dickensian fables, give it a whirl and see if you think it's aged as well as I do. (Extra props to the supporting work of Karen Allen, Carol Kane from TV's "Taxi", and a bonkers score by Danny Elfman at the peak of his bonkers-ness)
Ten years ago, I made a seven-year-old child watch this movie. I said 'We're going to watch a Christmas movie and it's black and white and you're going to like it'.
Fortunately, I was right on all counts.
It's A Wonderful Life is, infact, a wonderful film. There is so much to this film that I could have gasbagged on for at least another twenty minutes in the review. So, what didn't I tell you?
This film was honest to God investigated by the FBI. A number of writers who were blacklisted, at least four, worked on this film (without credit). Marc Connelly, Clifford Odets, Dalton Trumbo and Dorothy Parker all contributed towards the film script and the FBI, who had watched Frank Capra and his 'if we all just band together and work out our problems we'll triumph over all ills' viewpoint of the world with increasing scepticism, reported on this film.
The report says at one point 'this picture deliberately maligned the upper class attempting to show that people who had money were mean and despicable characters'. Oh dear. I mean, you can scoff now, but people were taking this deadly seriously and careers were ruined. The fear of Communism, or at the very least, the fear of being thought you were a Communist was so all pervasive that it led individuals act in ways that are still being judged today. It wasn't that long ago that a number of contemporary Hollywood actors refused to acknowledge Elia Kazan when he won the Lifetime Achievement Academy Award because he had named names at the HUAC hearings. (Actually, there is this amazing documentary - 'American Masters - None Without Sin' about Arthur Miller and Elia Kazan and this whole period - well worth a watch)
Enough Tangentialism.Back to the film at hand. So - yes, originally this was a package with RKO Radio Pictures and Cary Grant, but that fell through and they sold the rights to Frank Capra and his newly established company, Liberty Films. He and a number of other directors had set up this company because they disliked being under the thumb of the major studios and wanted to have more say in the stories they told and how they told them. Aside from Capra, they were Samuel J. Briskin, William Wyler and George Stevens. In a weird twist of everything, it was 'It's A Wonderful Life' that ruined everything for Liberty Films. It cost a great deal of money to make. The set was incredibly detailed. A huge section of the RKO backlot was dedicated to it, and the set also had to be extremely adaptable as it needed to change from Bedford Falls to Pottersville, and also to age a number of years into the bargain. When Life did not break even at the box-office, they offered Liberty Films to any major studio rather than have the bank foreclose on them. The other kick in the teeth is that the 1947 Oscars (which had Life nominated for a few things but winning none of them) were dominated by William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives, a magnificent film and utterly deserving of everything that it won - but it must have gone pretty hard for Capra.
Such a deal of technical work went into this film. Not only the film enlarging from long shot to close up and the set flexibility, as I have mentioned, but they also pioneered a new method of making filmic snow for this movie. Prior to this, snow had been made by painting cornflakes white, but as you can imagine that was a fairly arduous and noisy solution. They were already spending a lot of time and money on the fancy set, they did not want to have to re-record the sound due to the extremely crunchy footsteps that would be ever present.So, they came up with a mxture of foamite, sugar and water that was NOT noisy, and could be sprayed all over the place. It has been reported that they won a Technical Achievement Academy Award for this, but I couldn't find anything on the Academy Award database about that so I remain uncertain. Check out Life Magazine's article on it - it has some amazing behind-the-scenes photos of the process: http://life.time.com/culture/its-a-wonderful-life-rare-photos-from-set-of-a-holiday-classic/#4
The fact that there was a heatwave going on at the same time can't have made things easy. Nothing like a massive heatwave to add verisimilitude to your performance as an imminent sucidee, is there?
http://karenmaezenmiller.com/tag/fear/
Other stuff. Did the bartender Nick from Martini's Bar look familiar to you? He did to me. So I Googled him. His name is Sheldon Leonard. ("Do it to meSheldon, you're an animal Sheldon, ride me big Sheldon" - name the film). He made a career out of playing heavies - and in particular he was in 'To Have and Have Not' (Bogart and Bacall) and he was Harry the Horse in 'Guys and Dolls'.
And, according to Wikipedia, but don't quote me on this - two of the leads on The Big Bang Theory are called Sheldon and Leonard because the writers of the show love his work. Interconnectness, my friends, interconnectedness. Robert Anderson, who played Young George Bailey in the film (and is an extremely personable juvenile actor, in my opinion) has said of that really quite remarkable scene between him and Mr Gower the pharmacist, played by H.B. Warner, that Warner was really drunk the day that scene was shot. He smacked him around quite a bit and then subsequently apologised profusely. If, as Anderson has said, Warner was drunk and really laying into Young George then I don't wonder at all at the believability of the scene.
A number of women were suggested for the role of Mary ahead of Donna Reed. Donna, of course, was yet to reach great stardom with 'From Here to Eternity' and later 'The Donna Reed Show' and she was still having to fight for every role. Jean Arthur, who Capra had worked with so effectively in 'Mr Smith Goes to Washington' 'You Can't Take It With You' and 'Mr Deeds Goes to Town' was the first choice, but she was either doing a Broadway play or didn't want to work with Jimmy Stewart again (both versions of the story exist) and so she was out.
Ginger Rogers and Olivia De Havilland were also suggested, amongst others. Rogers turned it down, as she thought it was 'too bland' - and then went on to question her wisdom in her autobiography. De Havilland, well, I know she is capable of playing humour and can have a lovely twinkle in her eye, but quite honestly I simply cannot imagine anyone other than Reed in this role. Go Reed.
And finally, the location of Jimmy Stewart's Oscar. He won it for 'The Philadelphia Story' and being the unassuming homespun guy that he was, he gave it to his Dad. For years, his Dad had it on display in a cabinet in his hardware store in his hometown in Pennsylvania, along with all the war medals. Nice one Jimmy.
It is truly A Wonderful Life. And just like J.M Barrie's suggestion about believing in fairies, I think it is just as valid to believe in the bell-ringing and Angel Wing Getting thing. Why not?
Awesome 10 Days of Christmas Movie Greatness! - Number 8
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Decades of advances in technology brought us the world's first feature length musical stop-motion extravaganza, imagined by Tim Burton and scored by long time collaborator Danny Elfman, and being the ghoulish tale of what happens when Jack Skellington of the creep-tastic Hallowe'en Town stumbles into the sweet, caring fantasy world of Christmas Town. Perhaps a tad too scary for the littl'uns, but older'uns will appreciate the attention to detail, catchy tunes, and the three years it took to complete, apparently culminating in a great deal of tension between Burton, Elfman and director Henry Selick. Voicing for the lead role of Sally is the incomparable Catherine O'Hara, and if you're a fan of Corpse Bride or Frankenweenie, you must check out the film that inspired them all.
Awesome 10 Days of Christmas Movie Greatness - Number 9
The Ref.
Frightfully overlooked, and possibly a favourite of yours if you are all to familiar with dysfunctional family festive seasons, this nasty little black comedy eventually shows its golden heart is in exactly the right place. On Christmas Eve, desperate crook Denis Leary very quickly realises he has picked the wrong household to take hostage and hide from the law, as Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis are quietly tearing each other to shreds (with some glorious crackling bitter dialogue) whilst their marriage implodes. The entire extended family is about to visit for dinner, and our anti-heroes have no choice but to pretend he is a therapist trying to stitch them back together. Directed by Jonathan Demme's nephew Ted, who sadly died of a heart attack in 2002. Def check out The Ref.
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