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Christmas Inspired Films and TV
Traditional Festive films and other suitably dark tales for Wintery DAYS & nights at home
A Christmas Carol - 1971+1977
Quality: 7-8.5/10 (variable/very good)
1971: Alastair Sim, Michael Redgrave, Michael Hordern, Diana Quick, Joan Sims
1977: Michael Hordern, John Le Mesurier, Bernard Lee, Patricia Quinn
A Christmas Carol - 2000
An unscrupulous loan shark who makes excuses for his uncaring nature learns real compassion when three ghosts visit him on Christmas Eve
Quality: 8.5/10
Stars: Ross Kemp, Warren Mitchell, Liz Smith, Ray Fearon, Michael Maloney
A Guest Is Coming - 1947
The owner of an old mansion has decided to sell it. The next morning he is found murdered. Writer George Essman must try to figure out who the killer is, in this superb Winter mystery
Quality: 9/10, Sweden, Subs, (UK/Euro disc) Highly recommended
Stars: Sture Lagerwall, Karl-Arne Holmsten, Erik Berglund, Gerd Hagman, Elsie Albiin
Alias Nick Beal - 1949
A district attorney rises to political success but loses his sense of morality once he starts associating with the shadowy and perhaps diabolical Nick Beal. Always reminds me of Christmas for some reason...
Quality: 8.5/10 (region free dvd-r disc only) good quality upgrade, best available print
Stars: Ray Milland, Audrey Totter, Thomas Mitchell, George Macready, Geraldine Wall
The Ash Tree - 2000 + The Tractate Middoth - 2013
The unreleased episode of Christopher Lee reading M.R.James's The Ash Tree from the Ghost Stories For Christmas series, plus the superb interpretation of an MR short from 1911 by Mark Gatiss
Quality: 7/10 and 9/10 (variable/very good - excellent. Circa 30 minutes each)
Bernard And The Genie - 1991
Bernard Bottle, a mild mannered art buyer, is fired by his greedy boss, abandoned by his girlfriend and discovers a genie in an old bottle!
Quality: 7.5/10 (UK/Euro R2 and R4 format disc only)
Stars: Lenny Henry, John Gabriel, Alan Cumming, Rowan Atkinson
Beyond Tomorrow - 1940
The ghosts of three elderly businessmen killed in an air crash return to Earth to help reunite a young couple
Quality: 8.5/10
Stars: Charles Winninger, Richard Carlson, Maria Ouspenskaya, Jean Parker
Britain's Most Terrifying Ghost Stories - 2001
Ian McShane narrates some entertainingly re-enacted spooky ghost stories that are fun on a cold Winter's night by the fire
Quality 8/10, 50 minutes (Euro/PAL disc)
The Cheaters - 1945
An eccentric wealthy family facing bankruptcy schemes to steal an inheritance, but an alcoholic ex-actor they take in for Christmas charity complicates their plan
Quality: 8/10
Stars: Joseph Schildkraut, Billie Burke, Eugene Pallette, Ona Munson
Christmas Eve - 1947
To save her fortune from a scheming nephew, Matilda Reed must locate her three long-lost adopted sons in time for a Christmas Eve reunion
Quality: 8/10
Stars: George Raft, George Brent, Joan Blondell, Randolph Scott, Virginia Field
Christmas Holiday - 1944
What we here is a terrific outing from Noir director Robert Siodmak. Durbin plays the ultimate jilted dame, sitting alone in a nightclub on Christmas Eve, recalling her sordid breakup, via flashback, to an army officer. Both Kelly and Durbin do surprisingly well out of their normal character parts
Quality: 9/10
Stars: Deanna Durbin, Gene Kelly, Richard Whorf, Gale Sondergaard
Christmas In Connecticut - 1945
A food writer who has lied about being the perfect housewife must try to cover her deception when she has to produce a traditional family Christmas
Quality: 9/10
Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, Sydney Greenstreet
The Dean Martin Christmas Show - 1967
The many members of the Sinatra and Martin families perform song and dance routines, and classic skits
Quality:a 6-7/10, vhs video
Earthbound - 1940
A murdered man's spirit helps his widow bring his killer to justice, in this excellent sci-fi fantasy. Not a Christmas film but does have some snowy Alpine settings. A good film for the festive period
Quality: 9/10
Stars: Warren Baxter, Andrea Leeds, Lynn Bari
Ending Up - 1989
A traditional Christmas with a load of particularly eccentric old folk takes a turn for the worse when a practical joke goes horribly wrong!
Stars: John Mills, Wendy Hiller, Michael Hordern, Lionel Jeffries, Googie Withers
Quality: 6/10 tvm, poor video transfer
The Enchanted Cottage - 1945
A homely maid and a scarred ex-GI meet at the cottage where she works and where he was to spend his honeymoon prior to his accident. Gradually they find happiness together
Quality: 9/10
Stars: Dorothy McGuire, Robert Young, Herbert Marshall, Mildred Natwick
The Enchanted Forest - 1945
A lost child is found in the woods and raised by an old Hermit who raises him to appreciate the joys nature
Quality: 8.5/10, US
Stars: Edmund Lowe, Brenda Joyce, William Severn, Harry Davenport
Haunting Harmony - 1993
A young member of a choir becomes friends with a ghost in an English Church school
Quality: 8/10 (UK/Euro disc)
Stars: Nathaniel Moreau, Jean-Marc Perret, Frank Middlemass, Francesca Annis
Home For The Holidays - 1972 US tvm
An ailing man summons his four daughters home for Christmas and asks them to kill his new wife, who he suspects is poisoning him
Quality: 8.5/10
Stars: Jessica Walter, Sally Field, Jill Haworth, Julie Harris, Eleanor Parker
I'll Be Seeing You - 1944
A soldier suffering from combat fatigue meets a young woman on Christmas furlough from prison and their mutual loneliness blossoms into romance
Quality: 9/10
Stars: Ginger Rogers, Joseph Cotton
It Happened On 5th Avenue - 1947
A homeless New Yorker moves into a closed-up mansion and along the way gathers various aquaintances who move in with him
Quality: 9/10
Stars: Don DeFore, Ann Harding, Charles Ruggles, Gale Storm
I Wouldn't Be In Your Shoes - 1948
A dancer is framed for murder after his shoe prints are found at a crime scene, in this Christmas Noir and his wife Ann, takes to the streets to try and clear his name
Quality: 7.5/10
Stars: Don Castle, Elyse Knox, Regis Toomey
Leopard In The Snow - 1978
A beautiful young woman wrecks her car in a snowstorm and is found by a tormented, reclusive ex racing driver. It's a love story and there's snow in it, there is in Canada - and even a leopard at one point!
Quality: 7.5/10
Stars: Keir Dllea, Susan Penhaligon, Kenneth Moore, Billie Whitelaw
Lady In The Lake - 1946
The female editor of a crime magazine hires Philip Marlowe to find the wife of her boss. The private detective soon finds himself involved in murder, in this festive Film Noir
Quality: 8.5/10, occasional logo
Stars: Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan
Mr Soft Touch - 1949
When he learns that a gangster has taken over his nightclub and murdered his partner, a War hero steals the money from the club's safe and hides out, while the mob is on his tail
Quality: 9/10 (region free EURO PAL format dvd-r disc only)
Stars: Glenn Ford, Evelyn Keyes, John Ireland
Silent Night Bloody Night - 1972
A man inherits a mansion, which once was a mental home. He visits the place and begins to investigate some crimes that happened in old times, scaring the people living in the region
Quality: 9/10 aka Deathouse
Stars: Patrick O'Neal, James Patterson, Mary Woronov, Astrid Heeren, John Carradine
Quincy's Quest - 1979
Old-fashioned Christmas TV musical fantasy, part animated and part live action
Quality: 7.5/10 (region free Euro PAL format dvd-r disc only)
Stars: Tommy Steele, Mel Martin, Charles Morgan, Tony Aitken, Roy Kinnear, Gretchen Franklin
Something To Live For - 1952
Set at Christmas time, an actress takes to drinkc after being jilted and is helped by an AA member who, although married, falls in love with her
Quality: 9/10
Stars: Ray Milland, Joan Fontaine, Teresa Wright
Season's Greetings - 1980
A party of eight meet to share Christmas together but when things become awkward oneof the guests leaves sooner than expected
Quality: 9/10 onscreen logo, tvm
Stars: Peter Vaughan, Geoffrey Palmer, Barbara Flynn, Lesley Dunlop
Snow Treasure - 1968
It is 1940 in neutral Norway and Nazi Germany has invaded. A gang of Norwegian children do what Norwegian kids like to do, ski! best - ski. But they are actually rescuing Norwegian gold from the Nazi invaders, in this family adventure
Quality: 8/10, US
Stars: Paul Austad, Tina Austad, Wilfred Breistrand,James Franciscus
The Turn Of The Screw - 1999
A Governess takes on a teaching position at a country estate and begins to see the ghost of her dead predecessor, in this tv film version of the classic Henry James ghost story
Quality: 8.5/10, logo onscreen
Stars: Jodhi May, Colin Firth, Pam Ferris, Caroline Pegg
Winter Kill - 1974 US tvm
A sniper is killing residents at a winter resort. Who is going to die next?
Quality: 9/10
Stars: Andy Griffith, John Larch, Tim O'Connor
The Woman In White - 1948
A young painter stumbles upon an assortment of odd characters at an English estate where he has been hired to give art lessons, in this classic Gothic mystery
Quality: 9/10 (occasional logo)
Stars: Eleanor Parker, Sydney Greenstreet, Alexis Smith, Gig Young
Wintertime - 1943
Nora and her uncle get railroaded into spending the night at a broken-down hotel in Canada. After Nora falls for the handsome owner, she convinces her uncle to invest in the inn
Quality: 7/10
Stars: Sonja Henie, Jack Oakie, Cesar Romero, Carole Landis, Cornel Wilde, Woody Herman and Orchestra
When Darkness Falls - 1960
A young girl visits relatives, the Vicar and and his young daughter, for Christmas in rural Sweden. The peaceful Christmas Eve celebrations are shattered when the local Grocer is brutally murdered with an axe. A Police Inspector is called in to investigate and he soon discovers that there are many suspects. Highly recommended
Quality: 9/10, Sweden, Subs
Stars: Nils Asther, Karl-Arne Holmsten, Birgitta Pettersson