A Festive Showcase: Exploring Overlooked Holiday Movies

A factor that irks me about many contemporary holiday films is their excessive self-consciousness – the gaudy decorations, the checklist score tunes, and the canned speeches about the real spirit of the season. Maybe because the category was not hardened into formula, movies from the 1940s often tackle Yuletide from increasingly creative and less anxious viewpoints.

It Happened on Fifth Avenue

One favorite gem from sifting through 1940s Christmas comedies is It Happened on Fifth Avenue, a 1947 romantic tale with a clever premise: a cheerful drifter spends the winter in a empty Fifth Avenue mansion each year. That season, he invites fellow down-on-their-luck individuals to reside with him, among them a former GI and a runaway who turns out to be the daughter of the home's wealthy owner. Director Roy Del Ruth imbues the film with a surrogate family warmth that many newer Christmas films struggle to achieve. The film expertly occupies the space between a class-conscious story on affordable living and a whimsical urban fantasy.

The Tokyo Godfathers

Satoshi Kon's 2003 tragicomedy Tokyo Godfathers is a engaging, heartbreaking, and profound interpretation on the holiday story. Drawing from a John Wayne movie, it centers on a trio of down-and-out people – an alcoholic, a trans character, and a teenage throwaway – who come across an left-behind newborn on Christmas Eve. Their quest to reunite the baby's mother triggers a series of misadventures involving crime lords, newcomers, and ostensibly fateful connections. The animation doubles down on the enchantment of fate often found in holiday stories, delivering it with a stylish visual style that avoids saccharine emotion.

Meet John Doe

While Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life justifiably gets plenty of attention, his earlier film Meet John Doe is a powerful seasonal tale in its own right. Featuring Gary Cooper as a down-on-his-luck "forgotten man" and Barbara Stanwyck as a plucky journalist, the movie begins with a fake letter from a man promising to fall from a ledge on the holiday in frustration. The people's reaction forces the journalist to find a man to play the fictional "John Doe," who subsequently becomes a national icon for neighborliness. The film acts as both an heartwarming story and a brutal critique of wealthy publishers seeking to use popular feeling for personal ends.

The Silent Partner

Whereas seasonal horror movies are now commonplace, the holiday crime caper remains a relatively underpopulated style. This makes the 1978 gem The Silent Partner a fresh discovery. With a delightfully menacing Christopher Plummer as a thieving Santa Claus and Elliott Gould as a clever bank clerk, the film sets two types of opportunistic characters against each other in a sleek and unpredictable yarn. Mainly overlooked upon its initial release, it is worthy of a fresh look for those who like their Christmas stories with a cold edge.

The Almost Christmas

For those who enjoy their Christmas get-togethers chaotic, Almost Christmas is a hoot. Boasting a stellar ensemble that has Danny Glover, Mo'Nique, and JB Smoove, the story examines the dynamics of a family gathered to share five days under one house during the festive period. Secret issues bubble to the forefront, culminating in situations of extreme farce, such as a confrontation where a shotgun is produced. Of course, the story finds a satisfying conclusion, giving all the enjoyment of a holiday catastrophe without any of the real-life aftermath.

Go

Doug Liman's 1999 movie Go is a holiday-adjacent tale that is a teen-oriented riff on woven plots. Although some of its edginess may feel of its time upon rewatch, the picture nonetheless contains many things to savor. These include a cool role from Sarah Polley to a captivating appearance by Timothy Olyphant as a laid-back pusher who amusingly wears a Santa hat. It captures a specific style of fin-de-siècle movie attitude set against a festive scene.

Morgan's Creek Miracle

The satirist's wartime comedy The Miracle of Morgan's Creek skips typical seasonal cheer in favor for bawdy fun. The story follows Betty Hutton's Trudy Kockenlocker, who finds herself with child after a drunken night but cannot remember the soldier responsible. Much of the comedy arises from her situation and the efforts of Eddie Bracken's hapless Norval Jones to help her. While not immediately a Christmas movie at the beginning, the plot culminates on the Christmas, revealing that Sturges has crafted a satirical version of the nativity, loaded with his trademark satirical style.

Better Off Dead Movie

This 1985 youth comedy featuring John Cusack, Better Off Dead, is a prime example of its era. Cusack's