Lenny Rakes

Re: The House Without A Christmas Tree

Would she know if the whole series of holiday specials will be released on DVD?

Mike Frezon

Re: The House Without A Christmas Tree

I picked this up at a local FYE store. I paid more than I expected ($12.99) but had been unable to find it ANYWHERE! I was more than glad to be able to bring it home (at that price).

Watched it last night. Just wonderful. Wasn't sure what to expect. It had been years since I had last seen it. And I mean years. I probably watched it when it originally aired on CBS in 1972--I would have been 13. And I seem to remember having watched it air on our local PBS affiliate a few years later.

It is completely a barebones release. the menu allows you to push "Play" and "Scenes" and that is all. But it is enough!

The video looked in remarkable shape considering its age. I'll take a complete guess and say it was probably originally recorded onto 2" videotape by CBS. Who knows what the source for this DVD might have been? And there are no problems with the video or audio at all. There are times when the colors (especially the reds) may bleed a little and the titles at the opening and in the credits have some jaggies...but these are the to be expected for video this old. And, I'm nit-picking. The video is in glorious shape.

The only thing finer is the performances by Jason Robards, Mildred Natwick and Lisa Lucas. They take what has now become a fairly common & predictable story and gave it just the right amount of nuance and pathos and brought the characters (as seen in this 1946 slice of their lives) to life.

Much like A Christmas Story, the story of Addie and her dad and grandma...and especially the scenes with her friends in school really bring one back to their own childhood and the emotions of a child during the holidays.

It made me wonder about why this story had such a huge impact on me when I was 13 and it is rather easy to see. It would be hard for any child not to out themselves in Addy's shoes and feel the range of her emotions from disappointment to elation s the story plays out.

The drama plays like one of CBS' old Playhouse 90-type programs...as it seems much more like a stage play than a slickly-edited telecast of today. I think the charm of the production actually helps us relate to the fact that it is a period piece of small-town life in the mid-1940s.

Oh. And the music is credited to Emmy-winner Arthur Rubinstein.

The screenplay was written by Eleanor Perry (who also wrote the screenplay for the Oscar-nominated Diary of a Mad Housewife).

Anyone on the lookout for something new to watch this holiday season (and who might like a well-acted drama) should give this a try.

There's Jessie the yodeling cowgirl. Bullseye, he's Woody's horse. Pete the old prospector. And, Woody, the man himself. Of course, it's time for Woody's RoundUp. He's the very best! He's the rootinest, tootinest cowboy in the wild, wild west!

David Von Pein

Re: The House Without A Christmas Tree

Thanks, Mike F., for the DVD review.

I, too, have always liked "The House Without A Christmas Tree". I have it on VHS (1991 FOX/CBS edition, which I just noticed has an error on the tape label....it shows the title, incorrectly, as "A House Without A Christmas Tree"; think I oughta sue somebody for this outrageous mistake?).

I don't really feel the need to upgrade to the DVD. The VHS works just fine. And both versions would, of course, be in 1.33:1 Full-Frame.

Regarding the movie itself --- I've always liked the way the producers were able to provide a "1940s-ish" feel to the film, but using minimal props and physical scenery with which to accomplish that trick. (I suppose a few old 40s cars must have been inserted into the screenplay somewhere, right Mike? I can't recall.)

I feel pretty much the same way about another great CBS-TV holiday movie -- "The Homecoming--A Christmas Story" (The Waltons pilot film), which was made just one year before "THWACT".

A few old cars from circa 1933 and the clothes people wore were pretty much all the props provided to transport us back to the Depression days of 1933 in that excellent movie (and the old table-top radio the Walton clan would listen to every night).

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"Are you smoking cigarettes up here, John-Boy?" -- Olivia Walton

"Ohh, you're all a bunch of piss-ants!" -- Mary-Ellen Walton (I still can't believe that line made it past the CBS censors in 1971; and it's repeated--twice--by little Elizabeth too. But, then again, the rules were being relaxed a lot more by then, as evidenced by what Archibald Bunker got away with saying starting in January of 1971 on CBS.)

(Sorry, but I haven't memorized any lines from "THWACT". But maybe Mike F. can supply a couple.)

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HERE'S a link to Lisa Lucas' comments from the Amazon website (written by Lisa 8 years ago this very day).

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Radioman970

Re: The House Without A Christmas Tree

Thanks for bumping this. I vaguely remember this special. I'd love to see it again. Glad it's available.

Real Name: Arthur Belling of "St. Looney Up-The-Cream-Bun-and-Jam"

Smiiiile Goldie...

Good girl!

GOLDIE: 1997-2008. My heart is broken.

Mike Frezon

Re: The House Without A Christmas Tree

You're welcome, Dave. And, thank you.

Yup. There are a few vintage cars used in the production. The father, in fact, at one dramatic point, bolts from the house and jumps into his pickup truck which sputters away from the scene. We also hear it off-screen in an earlier scene. There are definite comparisons to be made to The Waltons. The narrator acts as a grown-up Addie/author-type figure. The whole feel of the piece--which I earlier compared to A Christmas Story--can also be likened to Walton's mountain. The scenes in the kitchen and in the school room really take you back to that earlier time...and everything is so drawn out that the pacing feels "just right." At school, we are treated to the full pre-Eisenhower "Pledge of Allegiance" by the students!

There is one scene in which Addy sneaks out of bed in the middle of the night, puts on slippers, goes to the armoire and puts on a sweater. She then cuts back across the room, opens the door, closes the door and goes to the living room where she tips the tree (her father doesn't want) drags it to the center of the room, turns it, goes to the kitchen (w/o the tree) puts on boots and coat. She gets a pad, writes a note, looks at the note, rips the paper off the pad and folds it. She goes back to the living room, and opens the outside door and pulls the tree through. Once the tree is outside she goes back and closes the door and drags the tree across the lawn and down the sidewalk. She drags it past a few homes until finally she comes to a neighbor's porch where she leaves the tree and the note.

This all takes a VERY long time and I couldn't help but think about how quickly and deftly an editor could have told that whole scene in a small fraction of the time it took. But, again, the pacing just seems "right"--for both the production and the time period.

There is also a neat exterior snowball fight at the school.

There's Jessie the yodeling cowgirl. Bullseye, he's Woody's horse. Pete the old prospector. And, Woody, the man himself. Of course, it's time for Woody's RoundUp. He's the very best! He's the rootinest, tootinest cowboy in the wild, wild west!