Book Review: Christmas in the Movies

Anyone looking for a last-minute Christmas gift would make an excellent choice picking up a copy of the new book CHRISTMAS IN THE MOVIES: 30 CLASSICS TO CELEBRATE THE SEASON by Jeremy Arnold.

This is a beautiful, high-quality book sure to delight not only serious classic film lovers but more casual film fans who cherish the annual tradition of watching Christmas movies.

Film historian Arnold knows his stuff, and the book is a wonderfully balanced mixture of the familiar (including brief plot descriptions) and new information, thanks in part to his research at the Academy's Margaret Herrick Library.

I was fascinated, for example, to learn that Katharine Hepburn, who played Jo in the 1933 version of LITTLE WOMEN, was offered the role of Aunt March in the 1994 version of the film. When Hepburn declined, the part went to Mary Wickes, who also known for the Christmas films THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER (1942) and WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954).

I found the inclusion of lesser-known Christmas films such as I'LL BE SEEING YOU (1944), TRAIL OF ROBIN HOOD (1950), and THE HOLLY AND THE IVY (1952) particularly welcome and hope the book will help these movies find new audiences. Shirley Temple and Spring Byington are pictured at the right in I'LL BE SEEING YOU, a very special film which also stars Ginger Rogers and Joseph Cotten.

I particularly loved Arnold's description of a film I'd never heard of, MIRACLE ON MAIN STREET (1939), starring Margo and Walter Abel. It was filmed in two versions, with the English-language version released by Columbia Pictures and the Spanish-language version, which also starred Margo, released by 20th Century-Fox. I've been wanting to learn more about the '30s Spanish-language films released by Fox since seeing INSURE YOUR WIFE! (1935) at Cinecon last September, and I'm now anxious to see MIRACLE ON MAIN STREET -- in both editions!

The book discusses 30 films, with just over a third of the titles from 1960 or beyond. Since I happen to dislike THE APARTMENT (1960), I would have been happy to see that or a later movie like ELF (2003) ditched in favor of more classic-era films, starting with the wonderful IT HAPPENED ON FIFTH AVENUE (1947), but such discussions are also part of the fun of a book such as this.

CHRISTMAS IN THE MOVIES also brings up the eternal debate about whether DIE HARD (1988), seen at left, is a Christmas movie by including it in the book. (For the record, I first watched it on Christmas Day three years ago!) As a matter of fact, just a couple days ago at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, DIE HARD screenwriter Steven DeSouza came to a screening with a posterboard comparing DIE HARD and WHITE CHRISTMAS, making the case for DIE HARD being the more Christmas-y film!

Best of all, almost every page of CHRISTMAS IN THE MOVIES is filled with beautiful photographs, many of which were new to me. Although the book is compact in size, for this reason it makes a beautiful coffee table book to set out for guests to page through while waiting for Christmas dinner!

CHRISTMAS IN THE MOVIES was published by Running Press in partnership with Turner Classic Movies. It's 208 pages including the index and bibliography. This beautifully produced book is a relatively small square hardcover with glossy pages. The selection and quality of the photographs is top notch.

Thanks to Jeremy Arnold, TCM, and Running Press for providing a review copy of this book.

Update: Here's a review of Jeremy Arnold's CHRISTMAS IN THE MOVIES (REVISED AND EXPANDED EDITION).