85 thoughts on “John Charet’s 25 Christmas Film Recommendations (Alternative or Otherwise)”

1. Impressive post, John. Some wonderful films that I wouldn’t have thought of. I watched All that Heaven Allows not too long ago (I enjoyed your link) but it slipped my mind.

   The first film I thought of outside the box of normal Christmas films was Blast of Silence (1961). Not a Christmas film–in fact, it’s quite dark, but Christmas is essential to the psychology of the plot in such a way that’s on my list. Black Christmas came to mind, but it’s too much of an exercise in slasher horror, so I didn’t include it.

   Here’s my list, in no particular order:

   • Carol
   • Die Hard
   • Silver Lining Playbook
   • Kiss, Kiss Bang, Bang
   • The Nice Guys
   • Miracle on 34 Street
   • Blast of Silence
   • Gremlins
   • The Gift
   • Planes, Trains and Automobiles
   • A Christmas Story

   If I don’t talk with you before the 25th…Merry Christmas, John and Happy Birthday!😊

2. what a fantastic collection of films, few of which i think of as christmas films, but that is what make it such a compelling list. as a bonus, there are a few here i havent seen, so thank you for bringing them into the ight. merry christmas and a happy birthday to you. a girl i used to ing with was also born on December 25th. Arent you jealous of all those other kids also getting presents on your birthday? I would be.

3. Thank you for the kind words Pam 🙂 Blast of Silence is a great one too 🙂 I do have a film noir on there directed by Robert Siodmak entitled Christmas Holiday from 1944 🙂 Glad to see that you have three of my titles on yours too 🙂 Two of your chosen titles I noticed were directed by Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang, Bang and The Nice Guys) 🙂 A Merry Christmas to you too Pam and thanks for wishing me a Happy Birthday 🙂

4. Thank you for the kind words Bill – it is always great to hear from you 🙂 One title I think you will really love is Terence Davies The Long Day Closes 🙂 Sad that he passed away last year 😦 If only we could have gotten one or two more films from him. As you probably guessed, I went crazy on the links for that one because he is a perfect example of a Brit (and there are many like there are Americans and other nations around the world) who I could listen to talking about films all day 🙂

   I am personally not jealous of everybody else getting presents too on that day 🙂 In some ways, I love seeing others happy as much as I do myself 🙂

   What else would you like to talk about? 🙂

5. Yes, I love those two Shane Black films. I am hoping to see more from him–haven’t seen Iron Man 3 (or any of the Iran Man film series).
   I haven’t seen Christmas Holiday, or even heard of it. But I know Siodmak made some impressive films. I’ve seen Spiral Staircase and The Killers–two of my favorite films in the respective genre’s–and Criss Cross is a very good noir as well. But that’s all the Siodmak films I’m familiar with. I’ll try to track down Christmas Holiday.

6. Shane Black also penned the script to Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout and The Long Kiss Goodnight as well Pam 🙂 Regarding Siodmak’s Christmas Holiday, I actually provided a link to where you could watch the film under my summary of it 🙂 Also, I just added Blast of Silence because it just would not be complete without it and given that I own it (I love the film), I could easily watch it sometime between now and Christmas day making it newly required Christmas viewing. I hope that makes sense 🙂 Thoughts? 🙂 Also, check out what I wrote and what I linked to under my entry for Blast of Silence 🙂

7. Oh wow! I missed that link to watch Christmas Holiday. Thanks! That noir/musical juxtaposition…it’s interesting. So I’m intrigued. Like a much darker Baby Driver, which I finally got around to watching. I loved it.

   Yes, that’s interesting what some afficionados have said concerning Blast of Silence, that it bridges the gap between noir and neo-noir because, when you are talking about 50s noir and early 60s noir there is no gap to bridge, IMO.

   Now having said that, I should specify that I’m referring to American early 60s neo-noir, because to me, there is no easily discernable shift until ’66-’67, especially when John Boorman shook things up with Point Blank…thinking about it, though, I can see where Blast of Silence is a precursor to Point Blank with it’s stark nihilistic existentialism.

   So yeah, I can see that with Blast of Silence specifically…I don’t necessarily disagree, it’s just that generally speaking the dividing line of noir and neo-noir at 1960 just irritates me because it’s so arbitrary. These tremors had been going on before 1960…i.e. Kiss Me Deadly. That’s as seismic as Point Blank, IMO.

   When I think of late 50s early 60s neo-noir, I always think French cinema. There I see a stylistic shift. But since I’m so much more versed in American cinema…and since I think of Noir as an American literary invention (I know this is controversial) I think of it nationalistically.

8. Well, that intro and outro to Noir Alley was fascinating. I knew Baron made Blast of Silence on a shoestring and that he used a lot of friends and family as extras. And I knew about Lionel Stander (I love him) but the rest…I had no idea. Thanks for the links! Loved it!

9. i have to admit i am a traditionalist when it comes to christmas films, which is why i liked your list so much. mine would include pasolinis gospel of saint matthew, demilles king of kings, the greatest story ever told, its a wonderful life, miracle on 24th street, black christmas, pocketful of miracles, santa claus conquers the martians, meet me in saint louis, and the seattle production of the nutcracker.

   when i was a kid, i would go to the movies by myself to see a movie released on that day, first show of the day, on christmas day. some of those i remember are royal hunt of the sun, americanization of emily, and putney swope.

10. You are quite welcome Pam 🙂

11. You are quite welcome Pam 🙂 Another thing that Christmas Holiday is noted for is for featuring Gene Kelly cast against type as an unlikeable character – how shocking is that? 🙂

    I too agree with you on that Pam regarding the neo noir of the early 1960’s and that of the mid-to-late 1960’s. I see what you are saying about Blast of Silence and Point Blank 🙂 I remember saying in my summary that an ideal double bill of a film noir with a neo noir would be Irving Lerner’s Murder by Contract with Allen Baron’s Blast of Silence (the film we are talking about). If you have not seen Murder by Contract, it is available to watch on youtube and I think you will love it 🙂 It is reportedly the film that influenced esteemed director Martin Scorsese in thematic terms (i.e. Taxi Driver).

    Neo noir would come at the dawn of the 1960’s. Everything in relation to it that came before was labeled (or at least in retrospect) film noir (the traditional term). Nonetheless, the transition to neo noir was for a legitimate reason. I do not know If it was the coinciding with the French New Wave at the time, but I would not be surprised If that was the reason.

    This has been a great conversation, we should continue this tomorrow and yes, feel free to leave more comments because I love talking to you back and forth Pam 🙂

12. Yes…that would be nice. I will watch Christmas Holiday and we can talk about that.

13. Once again, thank you for the kind words Bill 🙂 The Seattle production of The Nutcracker must have been so extraordinary for you to include it on your list 🙂 The first two titles I mentioned, I would actually include on my Easter viewing list (or Lent viewing) 🙂

    Wow Bill 🙂 You went to the movies by yourself on Christmas day to watch a film 🙂 While I would spend that day to open presents and stuff, that is an awesome way to spend Christmas 🙂 I also try to watch some Blu-Ray’s and DVD’s that I would receive as gifts on that day as well 🙂

    Though, these are not Christmas films, If one were to ask me what two films I would want to watch between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, they would be Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Red Shoes and Max Ophuls The Earrings of Madame de… 🙂 These are ones I usually watch in between the two aforementioned days 🙂

    With all of that being said, I know Ingmar Bergman is a director you could talk about endlessly and I could too 🙂 One thing I find interesting is that Bergman is actually a very jovial man at heart, in contrast to the view that he is like the people in his films, which is a completely ridiculous lie for the most part 🙂

14. Interesting list with a nice mix. Personally, I’m not as keen on more recent Christmas movies can happily avoid them for the most part. I’ve never tried making out a list of my own but it would have to feature IAWL, Christmas in Connecticut, The Bishop’s Wife (that skating sequence with James Gleason is a gold mine of charm and worth the price of admission all by itself), The Man Who Came to Dinner, and maybe Holiday Affair, which I’m quite fond of.

    By the way, why would anyone have anything bad to say about Bell, Book and Candle? It’s a lovely little fantasy with lots of heart.

15. Great list and a great selection of films. Well written and interesting too. Of these films I’ve only seen The Magnificent Ambersons and Die Hard.

    My favourite Christmas movie is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989). Great film and hilarious and it’s great to watch during the Christmas season. It isn’t on this list though I see.

16. How could I have forgotten Bergman? Fanny and Alexander is one of the best Christmas movies. As for Easter, I think Dawn of the Dead is appropriate. As for Blast of Silence, it surely has a place in film history, but I wouldnt recommend it for Christmas viewing. For me, the essential factor in christmas movies, is not that the story takes place either partially or in whole on the holiday. but that it either has a family theme, like Meet me in Saint Louis, or is exceptional family viewing, like its a wonderful life. Although borth of these films have secenes taking place on Christmas, I dont believe these scenes are what make them such beloved Christmas viewing. the exude the Christmas spirit, and the existential loneliness of blast of silence is as far away from that as you can get.

    On another subject entirely, I was rewatching Prince’s Sign o the Times last times, and noted a remarkable similarity to Zappa’s 200 Motels. The only difference was that Sign was a movie pretending to be a concert film while Motels was a concert film pretending to be a movie.

17. Regarding going to the movies alone on Chrisdtmas day. This was, of course, after opening the presents. I had been taking the 12 mile bus trip to downtown Seattle every saturday moring alone since I was eight years old. One of the best thing about the grindhouses where I saw triple features for a quarter was that they showed whatever they could get their hands on, so I was able to see classics from earlier times such as North By Northwest and Home from the Hill for the first time on the big screen, as well as dubbed foreign films that were only shown in drive ins such as Bava’s The Evil Eye and Vadim’s Blood and Roses.

18. Thank you for the kind words Colin 🙂 Your list is pretty interesting too 🙂 All of your titles are worthy holiday viewing as well 🙂 In fact, I watched Christmas in Connecticut yesterday and The Bishop’s Wife a week or two back 🙂 My family watches those two during this time of year and once they are on, I can’t help but join in 🙂

    As for Bell, Book and Candle, I do not think anybody has a negative thing to say about it and that is why I stated upfront that I do not want anybody saying anything negative about it because it would break my heart. I know it sounds silly 🙂 And yes, you are right, it is indeed a lovely little fantasy with lots of heart as you so eloquently state 🙂

19. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is entertaining Steve 🙂 I am bound to watch that one during this Christmas season sometime 🙂

20. I knew you would suddenly talk about Fanny and Alexander Bill 🙂 What some (not all) cynics seem to forget about Fanny and Alexander is that If it seems (not is) more lighthearted than is then recent films, it is because this is about life seen through a child’s view. But once again, there is nothing lighthearted about some of his experiences. Take for example, that authoritarian preacher stepfather, who is actually based (loosely or otherwise) on his own stepfather. Make no mistake, Fanny and Alexander is mostly celebrated, but whenever some of the cynics start behaving like trolls and call it lighthearted, I have to step in and say NO (emphasis mine) 🙂

    Everybody has their own meaning of what makes a Christmas film 🙂 When I made mine, I tried to combine the traditional with the more idiosyncratic. Also, let’s face it, for a cinephile like myself (do you sincerely see yourself as one?), compiling a list of what constitutes a Christmas film is as fun as it is daunting. Your take on the subject Bill may be the more correct one on a traditional level.

    As for Prince’s Sign O the Times, I still love that film. As for 200 Motels, (though to be fair, a rewatch is indeed in order), the best thing about the film for me was the soundtrack.

    BTW, what is your opinion of the Ealing comedies of the late 1940’s and the first half of the 1950’s? 🙂

21. Wow, you got to go alone on a bus every Saturday morning Bill? 🙂 That is awesome because considering that I grew up in a different era, one always expected a child to be with a parent or guardian. But then again, the world was a vastly different place when you were a child. Seeing a Hitchcock and Minnelli film in one day is a real treat. Interestingly enough, North by Northwest and Home from the Hill were both distributed by MGM (Metro Goldwyn Mayer), though you probably knew this already 🙂 I know that seeing Mario Bava’s Black Sunday at a drive-in reportedly had an impact on you. When it comes to foreign genre films, watching something like that would have me totally convinced as well that there was a world for those type of films beyond the American and British cinema. I am really loving this conversation Bill 🙂

22. Sure thing Pam 🙂

23. I tell ya Pam 🙂 Even though Allen Baron never made another great film, he can at least be proud that he has Blast of Silence on his resume 🙂

24. I have seen most of those on your list, and agree with your choices. I do not have a personal list of Christmas films, though I always enjoy the 1951 version of ‘A Christmas Carol’ (Also called ‘Scrooge’ in some countries) starring Alastair Sim as Scrooge. That might be my number one if I had a list. Good to see ‘Carol’ mentioned, I love that film.

    Best wishes, Pete.

25. Why thank you for the kind words Pete 🙂 Tell me something, you must have jumped for joy when you first discovered that Terence Davies The Long Day Closes on there? 🙂 Also, you must have loved it that I included tons of links of Davies talking about film? 🙂 Let me tell you, I can listen to him talk about anything all day 🙂 A shame that he passed away last year 😦

26. I’m bored of Home Alone. It gets shown every Christmas and I’m just bored of seeing it.

    There’s the British short animated film The Snowman. You might like that:
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Snowman

    Blackadder’s Christmas Carol is excellent.

27. Yes, I love his films. Nuanced, quiet, and very profound. Very much a genuine English experience in cinema.

28. OMG Steve, I first watched The Snowman when I was a child and it as magical as it was touching 🙂

    I gotta check out Blackadder’s Christmas Carol because that is one of many kinds of humor that I am a big fan of 🙂

29. I remember the first time I saw it, John. I didn’t know anything about it. I just happened to catch it…I was struck by it.
    I knew it was guerilla filmmaking. And I knew it was art. I read an article about it. It made such an impression that I wrote about it in the early days of my blog. https://allthingsthriller.com/2018/06/11/ten-underseen-or-forgotten-films-that-every-movie-buff-should-watch-at-least-once/

30. …that is why I stated upfront that I do not want anybody saying anything negative about it because it would break my heart. I know it sounds silly…

    No, I don’t think that sounds silly at all, John. Those of us who love movies invest in them to varying degrees and some are more precious to us than others. Nobody wants to hear unjustified criticism of what he or she holds dear.

31. Colin, you nailed it perfectly 🙂 There are certain films people love that it would tear them to pieces to hear criticism of it. Bell, Book and Candle serves as just one of many examples for me 🙂

32. I do remember that Pam 🙂 That blog entry was from 2018 and it feels like it was just yesterday that I left a reply under it as opposed to six years ago – where has the time gone? 🙂

33. here is something you may or may not know. the screenplays for Home from the Hill and Hud were written by the same husband and wife writing team. If you watch Hud and them Home from the Hill, the robert Mitchum character could well be Hud as a middle aged man. If you read Horseman Pass By, you will know that grandpa was the central character, but when Newman was cast, the story became Huds story, and the plot, which centered on the slaughter of the diseased cattle that broke grandpas spirit, centralized Hud as the old mans nemesis who drove him to his grave

34. I actually knew that Bill 🙂 Home from the Hill was adapted from William Humphrey’s 1958 novel of the same name. The screenwriters of the adaptation were Harriet Frank Jr. and Irving Ravetch. I have read Horseman Pass By and I agree with your theory. Coincidentally, on Colin McGuigan’s website (he visits my site as well), he just posted a blog entry on Nicholas Ray’s The Lusty Men and Martin Ritt’s Hud 🙂 Worth a read and I left a reply on there too 🙂

    How the West Might Have Been Won

35. So I watched Christmas Holiday, John. I liked it. I would probably like it more if I knew the films of Deanna Durbin. I’ve heard of her, but that’s it.
    I think she did good job…I could tell she was stretching as an actor…that the role was important to her…things I’m not supposed to notice. She was trying very hard. That said, she was very natural with Gene Kelley and I believe that Abigale is very much in love with Robert…that she is very physically attracted to him, as I suspect was attracted to Gene Kelly.
    Gene Kelly is a musical actor that I’ve always enjoyed–even though I rarely like classic film musicals. He’s such a physical dancer and there’s a transference of that trait evident in his acting. I thought he was a convincing villain.

36. Hey Pam, glad you liked Christmas Holiday 🙂 I read somewhere that Deanna Durbin citied this film as her personal favorite and I think it is because she was allowed to stretch herself as an actress as you so eloquently state 🙂 I love Gene Kelly and here, he was effectively cast against type as a villain and everybody who loved him in Singin in the Rain will be shocked at what they see in this film. As for musicals, I do recall that you loved La La Land 🙂

37. Yeah. I do love La La Land. Very much.
    Yes, I was surprised to see Gene Kelly as the heavy, but I’m not surprised that he did a good job portraying one.😊
    I loved the musicality in the film. The two numbers Durbin sings are hauntingly beautiful. I love her voice,
    My favorite directing flourish is the seamless transition from the orchestra scene, to the supper club scene. Very elegant…and cool.
    The film sequence of the Christmas Mass is interesting and a bit clunky, I think. I’m tempted to say that it is film from a documentary or something and Siodmak edited it in?…

38. That’s right…you did leave a comment. I read it just today. Time flies.

39. The mass sequence in Christmas Holiday was reportedly footage from an actual Tridentine Mass at Los Angeles Cathedral of Saint Vibiana 🙂

40. this is an excellent article and i agree completely. i think ride the high country was the last western of the classical era, although things were already moving into a more modern psychological landscape with anthony mann’s man of the west, delmer daves’ the hanging tree and aldrich’s the last sunset. from the early 60s until the wild bunch, westerns were pretty bad, witht he slack taken up by some of the better euro westerns. but the modern westerns, ones you mentioned, signalled a pathway to survival for the genre that never coalesced into what they could have been. junior bonner was one of the last attempts in that direction. in the seventies, western themes were infused into crimr pictures like death wish and dirty harry, and as a result, those kind of movies had a heyday in that decade. some think it odd that my favorite western is rio bravo, yet my favorite movie is pat garrett and billy the kid and my favorite director is john ford. my answer to that is garrett and the kid is much more than a western. it is the tragedy of the american boy in the post hippie era. i think ford is an artist of a higher calibre than hawks, but he has never made such a perfect western as rio bravo, although he has made dozens of movies that are better than rio bravo. i think more than anyone , you will understand what i mean by this.

41. I thought it must be something like that. Overall, I think Christmas Holiday is a quality film–and it’s use of musical stars and musicality–I wouldn’t call it a musical–make different…not in the vein of Baby Driver, but more like Rififi and D.O.A.

42. That sounds about right Pam 🙂

43. Thanks Bill, but you might want to also leave this comment on Colin’s site because he wrote the article 🙂 I gave you the link in my reply to you before this one 🙂 I am going to read your comment and then reply to it because once again, you are always great to talk to about films Bill 🙂

44. in answer to you question, do i consider myself a cineaste? no, i dont. i look at movies the way an art historian looks at art. of course, when i was a kid, i read all the books about movies in the public library and never dreamt i would eventually have seen them all. but the deeper one goes into the art of film, the less one becomes a fan of them. i spent many years writing about them, ten of them as a professional critic, and my world view was definitely formed by them, that is what drew me to them in the first place. at the movies, i was eavesdropping on the adult world, on my parents. but once i started thinking about them critically, the less they had to teach me. i still watch a heavy load of films at home, but i rarely go to the movies. that magic wore off when the cinemas went digital. i think of a cineaste as one who attends the repertory theatres and soaks it all up. today, those theatres no longer exist in a societal sense, and most of the fodder that is digitally projected for public viewings is so hopelessly generic that every action, every line, is born from a movie-by-the- numbers template. but with the advent of numerous streaming services, titles that i never heard of are instantly accessible. so the study of them , like the study of art history, seems inexhaustible. i encourage you to watch 200 Motels again, if only to see how much prince has taken from it to make Sign of the times.

45. Very interesting Bill 🙂 I see you do not fancy yourself a cineaste. Well, I do 🙂 Anyway, If I understand you correctly, all of those years watching tons of films, you have become more cynical due to digital and the whole streaming revolution and you feel that nobody wants to understand it as an art form anymore? 🙂

46. Do you think that 1962 was the last great year of the tradition American western Bill? 🙂 The Anthony Mann, Delmer Daves and Robert Aldrich titles are masterpieces in my opinion too. I think the Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci spaghetti westerns helped revive the genre, but those were Italian westerns as opposed to American ones. Once The Wild Bunch came out, it helped revive the genre for a while and these were often summed up as revisionist westerns. I find it intriguing that Howard Hawks Rio Bravo is your favorite western and Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid is your favorite film of all-time. I do not know If you have a Multi-Region Blu-Ray/DVD player (I think you live overseas), but If you do, I bet you would love to order that film for Christmas? 🙂 I think you told me once that John Ford’s The Searchers is your favorite of his westerns? Anyway, I am glad that you loved Colin’s website Bill 🙂 If you ever visit there again, you could find me in the reply section 🙂 Nevertheless, let us continue talking on here because it brightens my day 🙂

47. Every year I watch one of the greatest movies ever made: A Christmas Carol starring Alastair Sim.
    And a wonderful Christmas to you Dear John.

48. Another great list, John. But no Bad Santa or Elf 🤣🤣🤣
    Have a great Christmas and no doubt speak over the holidays via our respective blogs 🎥🙏🏻😀

49. So, Elf isn’t that alternative but maybe Krampus (2015) could qualify. That was a dark and funny Xmas tale 😊🎥

50. i wouldnt describe my self as cynical as much as disinterested. I see film as the 20th century artform that commerically became competitive with television and television eventually was the victor. i see 21st century moving pictures as television, in which i have little interest, rather than cinema..both in its manufacture and the manner in which it is consumed. i feel much the same way about american popular music, although i am personally involved in woking toward it as fulfilling its possibilities as a significant art form, much as the europeans and some americans were doing in the 20th century for film, i think there is a language of popular music through which it is possible to make significant artistic statements. some, such as bob dylan, van morricon, and leonard cohen, have succeeded, and others, such as nicjk cave and lana del rey, continue to forge ahead. but i dont see this in modt of todays film makers, who i see as people with career ambitions to become film makers despite having nothing unique to express through the medium. so in a summation to my answer to your question, i dont feel it is the audience that doesnt want to understand it as an art form anymore. it is the film makers themselves who lake the artistic commitment to move it forward as an art form. this lack of artistic ambition is also responsible for the decline in popular music and other forms of popular culture. i recently had a discussion with my former boss, film critic william arnold, during which we both agreed we were lucky not to have to review films as a profession in this climate, because if we were still practicing critics, we would become hopelessly cynical. in taking a more academic approach to the history of cinema, my love for the medium has only become stronger,