Top 10 Alternative Christmas Films

December 24, 3:38 PMClassic TV ExaminerDoug Krentzlin

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 Stanwyck & Cooper in "Meet John Doe" 

Everyone knows the big 3 of Christmas films: “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Miracle on 34th Street” and “A Christmas Carol” (Alistair Sim). For those of you who would like to view something different for the holidays, here is ten recommendations of alternative Christmas films (to be presented in chronological order).

1. “The Thin Man” (1934) When the groundbreaking screwball comedy/mystery “The Thin Man” was released in 1934, the stars, William Powell and Myrna Loy, went from being moderately successful movie actors to two of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Based on the best-selling novel by Dashiell Hammett, “The Thin Man” tells the story of ex-cop Nick Charles (Powell) and his wealthy wife Nora (Loy) who are vacationing in New York for the Christmas holidays. When an eccentric scientist Nick once worked for goes missing, Nora urges him to work on the case so she can see him in action. Two interesting bits of trivia: (1) In the first “Thin Man” film, which came out just under the wire before the new censorship code went into effect, both Nick and Nora were heavy drinkers, but in the post-code sequels, only Nick drinks, with Nora’s (mild) disapproval. (2) The title refers to the missing man, not Nick. (Hence, the next film was called “After the Thin Man” meaning the case after the “thin man” case.)

2. “Meet John Doe” (1941) “Meet John Doe” is director Frank Capra’s most ambitious and controversial film, a modern-day retelling of the Christ story, no less. Scripted by Capra’s most frequent collaborator, Robert Riskin (based on a short story by Richard Connell), “Meet John Doe” begins when reporter Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck) is fired because the newspaper she works for has been bought out by media mogul D.B. Norton (Edward Arnold). As a parting shot, Ann fabricates a letter from an unemployed man who promises to commit suicide on Christmas Eve to protest current conditions. When the public buys her ruse hook, line and sinker, Ann talks editor Connell (James Gleason) into taking her back and hiring someone to impersonate the fictional “John Doe.” The perfect candidate turns out to be John Willoughby (Gary Cooper), a former baseball player in need of an operation on his pitching arm. Willoughby becomes a nationwide sensation but has a crisis of conscience when he discovers Norton is planning to exploit this popularity for his political ambitions. After being publicly exposed as a fake by Norton, Willoughby decides that his only hope for redemption is to follow through on Doe’s original suicide threat. By his own admission, Capra couldn’t bring himself to kill off Cooper’s character and added a happy ending at the last minute. Still this remains, along with the better-known “It’s a Wonderful Life,” Capra’s finest work.

3. “The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek” (1944) Nobody in Hollywood made funnier movies in the 1940s than Preston Sturges and “The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek” may be his most hilarious film. The movie’s real-life miracle is that it managed to get past the 1944 censors. “The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek” tells the story of small-town gal Trudy Kockenlocker (Betty Hutton) who loves to party with servicemen. After one particularly wild night, she discovers that she is pregnant and has vague memories of marrying someone whose name sounds like “Ratzywatsky.” In need of a husband pronto, she sets her sights on local nerd Norval Jones (Eddie Bracken) who has always had a crush on her. After Trudy and Homer get in more and more trouble, the film ends with the funniest dues ex machina in the history of the movies. (I won’t give away the “miracle,” but it appropriately takes place on Christmas day.) As usual with Sturges’ films, the supporting cast gets the biggest laughs, especially William Demarest (as Trudy’s father, town constable Officer Kockenlocker) who steals the show with a series of exquisitely executed pratfalls.

4. “The Lemon Drop Kid” (1951) Based on a short story by Damon Runyon, “The Lemon Drop Kid” is one of Bob Hope’s funniest films. Hope plays the title role (named after his favorite candy), a penny-ante race track tout who makes the fatal mistake of giving a bum tip to a gangster’s girl friend. The gangster Moose Moran (Fred Clark) gives the Kid the following ultimatum: either cough up $10,000 by Christmas Day or else. To raise the money, the Kid invents a fake charity so he can get a license allowing him and his fellow grifters to dress up as Santa Claus and beg for money on the streets of New York. Another equally lethal gangster Oxford Charlie (Lloyd Nolan) moves in on the Kid’s racket and exposes him. Disgraced and on the lam, the Kid must come up with one last scam to foil the gangsters and save the day. Frank Tashlin, who co-wrote the screenplay with Edmund L. Hartman and Robert O’Brien, made his (uncredited) directing debut when he took over retakes from the original director, Sidney Lanfield. Tashlin’s most notable contribution was his staging of the classic Christmas song “Silver Bells” (composed by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston), which was written especially for this picture. The outstanding supporting cast playing Runyon’s colorful “guys and dolls” include Marilyn Maxwell, Jane Darwell, William Frawley, Sid Melton and Tor Johnson.

   Kim Novak in "Bell Book and Candle" 

5. “Bell Book and Candle” (1958) Kim Novak was never sexier than she was playing modern-day witch Gillian Holroyd in this charming film version of John Van Druten’s hit Broadway comedy/fantasy. And Manhattan at Christmastime never looked more gorgeous than it did in this movie thanks to James Wong Howe’s stunning Technicolor cinematography. The plot gets underway when Gillian sets her sights on Shepherd Henderson (James Stewart), the bachelor publisher who just moved into her apartment building. When she learns that he is engaged to socialite Merle Kittridge (Janice Rule at her most neurotic), a bitchy nemesis from her college days, Gillian decides that she would be doing Shep a favor by snagging him for herself via a love spell. Directed by the underrated Richard Quine, “Bell Book and Candle” features a superlative supporting cast that includes Else Lanchester as Gillian’s eccentric Aunt Queenie, Jack Lemmon as Gillian’s mischievous warlock brother Nicky and Ernie Kovaks as alcoholic best-selling writer Sidney Redlitch. (Before Lemmon met Walter Matthau, he and Kovaks were a frequent screen team.) Despite the crushingly pro-conformity ending (Shep can only return Gillian’s love when she becomes a “normal” woman), “Bell Book and Candle” still remains one of the best Hollywood romantic comedies of the 1950s.

6. “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” (1969) This is the only James Bond movie set during the Christmas Holidays (although the plot has nothing to do with Christmas). For the occasion, John Barry composed an original song called “Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?” The jury is still out on this particular Bond adventure. Some feel it has the best story as it was unusually faithful to the novel. Others, myself included, feel it is one of the weakest of the series, mainly because of George Lazenby’s woefully inadequate performance in the lead. (The first film in which Bond was played someone other than Sean Connery, this was also Lazenby’s only appearance in the role.) The main plot has master villain Blofeld (Telly Savalas) plotting to wreck the global economy by spreading a virus among the world’s food supplies. The more interesting sub-plot involves Bond’s romancing of Tracy Di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg), the suicidal daughter of the head of a international crime syndicate. Rigg (now Dame Rigg and best remembered as Emma Peel from “The Avengers”) was easily the most talented actress ever to play the female lead in a Bond film. Unfortunately, she was working in a vacuum opposite Lazenby. (Imagine the sparks she and Connery might have ignited.) Still, “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” is a James Bond movie and, as such, manages to be highly entertaining with the requisite amount of action and thrills, most notably the two ski chases and climatic bobsled chase.

7. “Gremlins” (1984) “Gremlins” isn’t the first horror film set during the Christmas holidays (Tod Browning’s 1936 “The Devil Doll” takes that honor), but it certainly uses the setting in a particularly subversive way. Set in fictional small town Kingston Falls (which is virtually a dead ringer for Bedford Falls in “It’s a Wonderful Life”), “Gremlins” gets started when would-be inventor Randall Peltzer (Hoyt Axton) gives his teenage son Billy (Zach Galligan) a small mythical creature called a Mogwai as a, what else, Christmas present. Mogwais come with 3 very important rules: Don’t expose them to bright light. Don’t let them come in contact with water. And most importantly, don’t ever feed them after midnight. Of course, the last two rules are violated and the result is a horde of rampaging little demons terrorizing the town. Directed by Joe Dante and written by Chris Columbus, “Gremlins” is a perverse little fantasy that manages to be both funny and scary (often at the same time). The supporting cast includes Phoebe Cates, Frances Lee McCain, Keye Luke, Polly Holliday, Scott Brady and Dante regular Dick Miller.

8. “Lethal Weapon” (1987) How about a little murder and mayhem for Christmas? You’ll never be able to listen to “Jingle Bell Rock” the same way again after you see the opening sequence of “Lethal Weapon” in which, after the song finishes playing, a young woman falls to a spectacular death from the top of a L.A. high rise. Investigating the murder are unstable, suicidal Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and mature, family man Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover), two homicide cops teamed up for their first case together. Both men are Vietnam vets which comes in handy when they discover that the trail leads to an international heroin smuggling ring with ties back to the war. Initially, Riggs and Murtaugh couldn’t be more mismatched, but eventually they bond together in time for Christmas dinner with Murtaugh’s family. The memorably evil main heavies are mastermind Gen. Peter McAllister (Mitch Ryan) and his psychotic right-hand man Mr. Joshua (Gary Busey). And since this is a Joel Silver production, there are explosions, shootouts, car chases and lots of dead bodies (26 in all) galore. Expertly directed by Richard Donner and scripted by Shane Black, the success of “Lethal Weapon” led to three sequels. (Donner directed all of them, but Black only returned for the fourth one.)

                      Bruce Willis in "Die Hard" 

9. “Die Hard” (1988) Some more murder and mayhem for Christmas, courtesy of producer Joel Silver. As with “Lethal Weapon,” “Die Hard” was the beginning of what would prove to be another hugely popular movie franchise. In his first and best adventure, New York homicide cop John McClane (Bruce Willis), is in Los Angeles hoping to reconcile with his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia). Arriving at her place of business, Nakatomi Plaza, a 40-story high rise, during their Christmas party, McClane finds himself playing reluctant hero when the partygoers are taken hostage by a group of Eurotrash thugs posing as terrorists under the command of master thief Han Gruber (Alan Rickman). Directed by John McTiernan, “Die Hard” succeeds as a larger-than-life action spectacle in the tradition of the James Bond and Indiana Jones films. The first “Die Hard” film also has the best supporting cast of the series: Robert Davi, Paul Gleason, Reginald VelJohnson, William Atherton, Hart Bochner and James Shigeta. Trivia note: The novel “Die Hard” is based on, Roderick Thorp’s “Nothing Lasts Forever” (which he wrote after seeing “The Towering Inferno”), was a sequel to his earlier novel “The Detective” which was filmed in 1968 starring Frank Sinatra. (In “Nothing Lasts Forever,” the leading character is visiting his daughter, not his wife.)

10. “Batman Returns” (1992) When this entry in the Batman franchise (the second and last directed by Tim Burton) was first released, it was universally condemned as being too dark, which is amusing now since, compared to this year’s “The Dark Knight,” “Batman Returns” almost seems like a Disney film. It’s Christmas time in Gotham City and all is not well. Indeed, Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton) a.k.a. Batman has his hands full. The diabolically twisted Penguin (Danny DeVito) is in cahoots with corrupt department store baron Max Shreck (Christopher Walken) as they plot to steal the upcoming mayoral election. When Shreck’s milquetoast secretary Salina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer) accidentally discovers his additional scheme to steal Gotham’s electricity supply, he murders her, but she is resurrected as vengeful super-villainess Catwoman. As usual with Burton’s work, “Batman Returns” has style to spare, thanks largely to Bo Welch’s production design, Stefan Czapsky’s cinematography and Danny Elfman’s music score. The supporting actors include Michael Gough as Bruce’s faithful butler Alfred, Michael Murphy as the Mayor and Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon.