Bing Crosby, Vera-Ellen, Rosemary Clooney and Danny Kaye in "White Christmas."
Posted on 12/24/2009 1:56:25 AM PST by iowamark
If you've never seen the 1954 holiday classic "White Christmas," you really won't have an excuse any longer: AMC will be airing the movie seven times in a row, starting at 7 a.m. on Christmas Eve.
In case you've been buried under a snowdrift, for, oh, half a century or so, the movie features Irving Berlin's music and concerns two former Army buddies (Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye) who put on a show with a sister act (Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen) to save their general's Vermont hotel.
Here are five things you may not have known about "White Christmas."
The studio's original plan was to reunite Fred Astaire and Crosby, who co-starred in "Holiday Inn" (1942), the movie in which Der Bingle sang "White Christmas" for the first time. But Astaire refused, so the part was redone for Donald O'Connor, who later pulled out, with Danny Kaye finally stepping in.
The photo that Vera-Ellen shows to Crosby and Kaye of her brother, Bennie, is actually a photo of Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer of "Our Gang" fame...
"White Christmas" was the highest-grossing movie of 1954.
(Excerpt) Read more at deseretnews.com ...
A great Christmas movie featuring Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney at the height of their careers.
Rosemary Clooney sings “Love, You Didn’t Do Right By Me” to Bing Crosby in “White Christmas”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKGrp8qlTGs
“I Wish I Was Back in the Army”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNZqpt_Tm8I
So strange that neither one could read music.
In the movie, when they sing a duet,they look at each other to stay in time.
Every year I watch this movie, “White Christmas” is my favorite at this time of the year. In its own way, it is a “feel good” movie.
The person who wrote the song “White Christmas”, Irving Berlin, was a Russian Jew. Some of his songs have been my favorites through the years, “God Bless America,” etc. Genesis 12:2 has been proven true over the thousand years...that the descendents of Abraham have blessed us!
I thought Crosby was a priest in that movie.
Bing played Father Chuck O’Malley in “Going My Way”(1944), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and “The Bells of St. Mary’s”(1945).
I like the mistral number because it is so Un-PC. Some stations cut that part out. The set was almost the same as the one used in Holiday Inn. You can’t beat Irving Berlin for music.
.
Along with White Christmas,
the best Christmas movies:
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
1946 movie starring James Stewart and Donna Reed.
Can you believe America’s favorite Christmas movie was actually a box-office flop at the time of its release? (It was James Stewart’s favorite, too)
It only became the Christmas movie classic in the 1970s due to repeated television showings at Christmas-time when its copyright protection slipped and it fell into the public domain in 1974 and TV stations could air it for free.
This film has become a Christmas tradition in my family. We watch it every year and never tire of it. Frank Capra is a master of creating films with a message that reinforce strong values. This is probably his greatest film in that regard. Both he and Stewart have publicly stated that this is their favorite film.
The message in this film is one of courage and sacrifice for the greater good as George Bailey, a man with big ideas about seeing the world, continually forsakes his own desires to do what is right for the town. The second message is that each life important. No matter how insignificant we feel we are, we are all inextricably linked to each other and play an important part in the fabric of one another’s lives.
Capra’s direction is brilliant. His genius is bringing human stories to life in a ways that not only make a point, but that totally involve the audience in the lives of the characters. He is always extremely optimistic about the human condition. He is known for testing his characters with overwhelming adversity to make them struggle to triumph in a way that causes the world to change and the character to grow. For this reason his films were always crowd pleasers and this film was the best of all in that regard.
Led by Capra’s understanding hand, the actors all did a magnificent job. Stewart’s wide-eyed enthusiasm and boyish charm, coupled with an unbending strength of character made him the perfect folk hero. Donna Reed was lovely and charming and attained the right balance between being supportive and inspirational. The romantic chemistry between her and Stewart was subtle and charming. Lionel Barrymore was towering as the greedy old skinflint who was trying to take over the town. Thomas Mitchell plays one of my favorite characters, as the bumbling Uncle Billy in probably his most memorable role.
It’s a Wonderful Life was nominated for five academy awards and won none.
History has corrected that minor injustice by rendering `It’s a Wonderful Life’ an enduring classic that is viewed and loved by generation after generation.
.
.
.
THE BISHOP’S WIFE
1948 Starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young and David Niven.
This little known Christmas film is a gem that I discovered quite by accident some years ago.
Here is the magnificent Cary Grant in all of his charm, wit, and charisma. Endowed by heavenly powers, he bestows his angelic persona upon a small town bishop who is overwhelmed by his mis-guided quest to build a magnificent “earthly” cathedral to glorify God. (Dudley is an angel sent to the bishop in answer to his prayers)
In frustration at the difficulty in building this false edification to God, he prays to God for guidance. The bishop’s prayers are answered in the form of “Dudley”, as Cary’s angelic character in called. Things began to heat up as the Bishop is jealous of Dudley as he thinks his wife is falling in love with him.
Dudley proceeds to weave a spell over a whole cast of wonderful characters to remind them of the true meaning of Christmas. This charming Christmas fantasy truly warms the heart and kindles the soul.
David Niven plays the perfect foil for Cary’s assignment of “answering the bishop’s prayers”. Loretta Young’s charming demeanor as the bishops devoted, but neglected wife, distracts Cary (”Dudley”)from his primary mission, and leads the audience on a heart warming journey through small town America at mid 20th century, during a memorable Christmas season.
It’s a charming movie that has lots of holiday atmosphere. Boys choirs singing, park skaters skating, city shoppers shopping... Only a scrooge wouldn’t like this movie!
.
.
.
CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT
1945 Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan
and a wonderful cast of characters
Barbara Stanwyck is a sheer delight in this wartime comedy, about a sailor invited to spend Christmas with a popular magazine writer’s family, at her farm in Connecticut.
The problem is she has no husband, baby, or farm, as she writes about in her column, and she can’t even cook. Her wonderful recipes being provided for her by her good friend “ Uncle” Felix, owner of a Hungarian restaurant in New York City.
Things get even more complicated when her strict publisher boss invites himself along for Christmas. A scheme is hastily planned, with her stuffy fiancé providing an actual Connecticut farm, neighbors providing a borrowed baby, and a quick wedding planned when the publisher isn’t looking. But when the handsome young sailor arrives on Christmas Eve, romantic complications ensue, as the supposedly married author falls like a ton of bricks for the nice guy Navy man and vice versa.
This is a charming, warm film that deftly balances humor with sentiment and is a wonderful showcase for Barbara Stanwyck to display her considerable comedic talent, aided by such marvelous character actors as Sydney Greenstreet, Una O’Connor, S.Z.Sakall, and many others.
This is all set in a snow covered farm in Conneticut with sleigh rides, Christmas dances and the whole bit.
Wonderful film!!
.
.
.
LITTLE WOMEN
1949 Technicolor Starring June Allyson, Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh, Margaret O’Brien, Peter Lawford, Rossano Brazzi, Mary Astor and a cast of wonderful characters.
The opening scenes of Little Women are so beautifully captured on film that it looks almost like a Currier and Ives post card. It is so magically evocative of a New England in the early 1860’s that the viewer is transported to that time visually and emotionally.
The characters are so well crafted, warm and human that you truly wish you knew them. The way the movie glides through the season’s, from the deep snows of winter, to the bright flowers of spring, through the summer into the golden hues of autumn each season is so wonderfully captured that viewers one hundred years from now will feel that they time tripped to that age so long ago.
With the brutal civil war as the backdrop to the play, the movie tells the sensitive and gentle story of four young sister’s on the homefront. Each sister is defined and likeable. Brought to life brilliently by June Allyson, Janet Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor and Margaret O’Brien. Each actress captured fully the innocents, decency and depth of their roles, imprinting forever the definitive characterizations that would have made Louisa May Alcott proud.
I love this most beautiful work of cinematic art so much that I never tire of watching it. It is a treat for the eyes, the heart and the soul and at the end when the camera pans back to view the sky festooned with a glorious rainbow your emotions leap for joy that a movie can so utterly express the simple elegance of human decency and goodness.
.
.
(Sigh) They just don’t make movies like those any more.
.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
