General Discussion ***1st Annual(?) Very Merry HTF December Holiday Movie Challenge 2022*** (1 Viewer)

[Pete York]

9) Christmas in Connecticut (1945) D: Peter Godfrey
Cute if not riotous. Bunch of characters try maintaining an elaborate ruse always on the verge of collapsing. “Nice firm rump.” Haha that one landed I have to admit.

10) Star in the Night (1945) D: Don Siegel
Two-reeler transposing the nativity to a roadside auto court in Siegel’s first director credit. Very sweet and sincere tale of the season so cynics beware.

11) Christmas Holiday (1944) D: Robert Siodmak
Cast against type Gene Kelly and Deanna Durbin are both good. Kelly goes from usual charming rascal to scoundrel here with ease and Durbin is even better. In spite of Code allowances, the mother-son-wife triangle, among other things, remains weird and interesting. Remarkable Midnight Mass scene and Woody Bredell photography.

12) The Lemon Drop Kid (1951) D: Sidney Lanfield
Some fun, notable for ‘Silver Bells’ introduction. Best scene is Hope undressing the mannequin.

13) Meet John Doe (1941) D: Frank Capra
The Capra heroes usually have to go through the ringer but the riot here at the end might be the ugliest thing he ever filmed. Stanwyck is incredible. Cooper, Stanwyck, Brennan and Gleason all received Oscar nominations…for other films that year. This was their sidepiece! Great montages.

 

[Nelson Au]

Fun thread! I have not tried to watch that many holiday films and Tv shows as you guys have. What I do like to do is watch certain films each year. This year, I have been trying to include more classic TV shows, Amd I’ve had a late start.

So far, whar I’ve seen is:
1. The Bishop’s Wife- 1947 my only second viewing.
2. Die Hard- 1988
3. Die Hard 2-1990
4. The Time Machine-1960. I will watch this on or around New Years Eve, so still to be viewed this year.
TV shows:
5. Frasier - S1- Miracle on Third or Fourth Street
6. Frasier -S3- Frasier Grinch
7. Frasier - S5- Perspectives on Christmas.
8. The Bob Newhart Show - S1- His Busiest Season
9. The Bob Newhart Show - S2- I’m Dreaming of a Slight Christmas
10. The Bob Newhart Show - S3- Home is Where The Hurt Is.

I plan to continue to with more Frasier and Bob Newhart and perhaps I’ll try to see a few more films before the end of the week.

 

[AlexF]

Dec 24 - Jack Whitehall: Christmas With My Father (2019) - Netflix
Dec 25 - Violent Night (2022) - Crave
Dec 25 - Krampus (2015) - Blu-ray

Three more to round things out for me this year.

The Jack Whitehall special was a last minute thing before bed on Xmas Eve and was far more enjoyable than I expected. Very very British.

Violent Night was a lot of fun and a good mix of Die Hard, Die Hard 2, and Home Alone... plus The Day the Reindeer Died (with Lee Majors!). Very entertaining, very gory, and a good laugh.

Krampus -- how did I never manage to see this before? This movie was brilliant. So much fun, so much turning the classic Xmas tropes on their heads.

That brings me up to 30 (21 for the first time), 2 holiday specials, 27 episodes between November 13 and December 25th.

 

[Tony Bensley]

My two latest yuletide viewings from Christmas Day and today (December 26th) are listed at the bottom:

1. The Twilight Zone; The Night Of The Meek (1960) - This Season 2 Episode, a longtime yuletide favorite, this time around, I had the added pleasure of viewing this on the reissued 2021 Complete Series Blu-ray set my son ordered from Amazon on their Cyber Monday special. As one of the infamous 6 Twilight Zone Videotaped Episodes, the visuals are never going to be razor sharp, but Art Carney's performance (As Henry Corwin) is every bit as endearing and heartwarming as ever! Also, if Dundee (John Fiedler) and Flaherty's exchange at episode's end doesn't warm your cockles, there's simply no holly in your heart!

2.* The Goldbergs; Worst Grinch Ever (2022) - This Season 10 episode from this long running '80s period family sitcom main (Though by no means, only!) focus is on the battle between Erica, who wants to celebrate Christmas, and her mom Beverly, who wants to uphold Hanukkah traditions. As with every Goldberg's episode, in the end family togetherness triumphs over the episodic squabbles.

3. The Monkees; Christmas Episode (1967) - This Season 2 episode, which first aired on Christmas Day 1967 features Butch Patrick as a spoiled impossible to please pre-adolescent, Micky, Davy, Peter and Mike fall all over themselves trying to please him to no avail until they realize the one thing they didn't give him! Heartwarming episode!!

4.* Scrooge (1923) - Russell Thorndike stars as the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge in this 26 minute 1923 silent short version of Dickens' immortal classic.

5.* Saturday Night Live; Season 48, Episode 8 - This week's co-hosts Steve Martin Short (Get it?) made for some worthwhile viewing, despite not reprising any of their made famous on SNL characters or skits (IE. Ed Grimley; King Tut.). As I viewed every sketch (Which included several that were yuletide themed!) and even both musical performances, I'm counting this one on my holiday viewing list!

6. Saturday Night Live Christmas Special (2022) - Includes Christmas sketches from SNL Christmases past, and a little bit from the present, that one being the bloody Christmas Carol sketch from last week's SNL episode with guest hosts Steve Martin Short.

7. A Christmas Carol (1938) - This year, I decided it had been quite a long while since I've given the Reginald Owen Scrooge DVD a spin. A few takeaways; the 1951 Alastair Sim version will always remain my favorite, the Christmas past segment is way too short, the Blu-ray upgrade was definitely needed, Barry McKay is rather good as Scrooge's nephew Fred, and the ending is also quite good. Also worth noting is Terry Kilburn, who played Tiny Tim, is still with us, having recently celebrated his 96th birthday on November 25th! Gene Lockhart's (Bob Cratchit) daughter June Lockhart, who appeared uncredited as daughter Belinda Cratchit, is also still with us at 97 years young!

8. Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean (1992) - This now 30 year old UK Christmas TV comedy chestnut never gets old for me! Somehow, my latest viewing late this afternoon left me in a lovely light hearted mood that I haven't really felt in too long a time!!

9. Elf (2003) - I gave the DVD of this early double aughts gem a spin for the first time in many many years! Definitely one of Will Ferrell's more endearing cinematic outings, at least among those that I've seen! Also, Zooey Deschanel (New Girl) has a damn good voice!! Also noteworthy is that Bob Newhart is still with us at 93, while we've only lost James Caan and Ed Asner fairly recently. Peter Dinklage's (Game Of Thrones) appearance is quite memorable!

10. Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988) - This hilarious take of the old Christmas Carol tale with a reverse twist has been a long time favorite of mine! Stars Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson as Ebenezer Blackadder (Plus, other Blackadders!) and Baldrick(s), and also features the late Robbie Coltrane as the Spirit of Christmas.

11. The Colgate Comedy Hour (1952) - From Christmas 1952, this live (And lively!) yuletide airing features Bud Abbott & Lou Costello in one of their many Colgate Comedy Hour host outings. Viewers are treated to such hi-jinks as attempted insurance scams; a rare uproarious instance of Lou getting the upper hand in prepping Bud for Christmas Dinner; Bud & Lou attempting to deliver Christmas presents to a bickering couple; and Lou performing a rendition of White Christmas. Guest performers are also featured in this now 70 year old broadcast!

12. The Jack Benny Program (1960) - "The Jack Benny Program’s Christmas Shopping Show is cynical and downright vicious, Benny’s caricature of himself monstrous, and it is one the f#%^ing funniest things I’ve ever seen, and now I watch it every year." - Josh Steinberg

When I first viewed this yuletide comedy gem way back in the early '00s, I couldn't stop laughing! It is my loss that I never got around to seeing it again until I read your spot on post, which rekindled my desire to revisit! This episode is also chock full of top flight talent, and the writing is absolutely superb!! I mean, where else are you going to find the likes of Mel Blanc, Richard Deacon, Frank Nelson and Rolfe Sedan in the same episode?

13. Scrooge: Adapted From Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" (1951) - I never let a Christmas season pass without viewing this all time favorite with Alastair Sim!

14. * A Christmas Carol (1984) - Several years after buying this DVD, I finally managed to watch this one all the way through. While an interesting (If a bit overlong) adaptation with all the trappings, as Leonard Maltin aptly points out in his 60th Anniversary intro to the definitive 1951 classic, "But George C. Scott is no Alastair Sim!"

To be fair, no one is.

* means first time viewing.

CHEERS!

 

[Dave Moritz]

01) 11/19/2022 Polar Express (1992) 4K Bluray
02) 11/20/2022 The Santa Clauses E1 (2022) Disney +
03) 11/20/2022 The Santa Clause (1994) Disney +
04) 12/01/2022 The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022) Disney +
05) 12/04/2022 Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (1992) Bluray
06) 12/09/2022 The Grinch That Stole Christmas (2000) HBO Max
07) 12/11/2022 It's A Wonderful Life (1946) 4K Bluray
08) 12/17/2022 Scrooge (1935) Amazon Video
09) 12/18/2022 White Christmas (1954) Bluray
10) 12/23/2022 Four Christmases (2008) HBO Max
11) 12/24/2022 A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) 4K Bluray
12) 12/24/2022 It's Christmas Time Again, Charlie Brown (1992) 4K Bluray

 

[Robert Crawford]

For many years, I've meant to watch this Brit film, but never got around to it until today. What a fine film that occurs around Christmas time and involves a widowed parson and his relationship to his three grown up children. My only complaints about the film is that I think it was too short in length because the family conflicts that were resolved in the movie, happened too quickly for my taste. More time was needed for each sibling with their father. Another minor complaint is the actresses playing the parson's daughters were a little too old for the roles they played, particularly, Johnson. Still, Celia Johnson and Margaret Leighton were fine actresses. Anyhow, I really enjoyed this movie.

 

[Pete York]

14) I, the Jury (1953) D: Harry Essex
I like this, it seems, more than most around here. Is Elliott great as Hammer? He's playing him as a meathead bulldozing through the case in a straight line which is basically how Hammer is read, so, he's fine. Anyway, there's also John Alton and

Spoiler

Peggie Castle

stripping at the end to buy more time is peak noir. Not sure where in New York the Bradbury Building is but hey, dramatic license.

15) Donovan's Reef (1963) D: John Ford
So this is supposed to be everyone screwing around to get an all expenses paid vacation in Hawaii, but when you're John Ford even your screwing around can be entertaining. 'Breezy fun' I guess is where you file this.

16) L.A. Confidential (1997) D: Curtin Hanson
Bloody Christmas.

17) Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) D: Tomas Alfredson
Okay, starting to run a little afield of the intent of all this, but the Christmas party scene that runs throughout is thematically important so there.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Here are the totals, based on the summaries participants posted. Please post corrections, updates, etc. and I'll update accordingly.

Santa's Nice List (At least 12 titles, regardless of point value):

Participant​	Titles​	Points​	Discoveries​
AlexF	64​	45.500​	34​
Josh Steinberg	63​	28.167​	7​
John Stell	25​	25.000​	8​
Pete York	17​	17.000​	13​
Chip_HT	16​	13.000​	6​
Robert Crawford	12​	12.000​	4​
Dave Moritz	12​	11.333​	4​
Tony Bensley	14​	10.333​	4​

Santa's Naughty List (Less than 12 titles, regardless of point value):

Participant​	Titles​	Points​	Discoveries​
Adam Lenhardt	7​	7.000​	5​
Wayne_j	7​	7.000​	3​
Nelson Au	10​	6.000​	0​
EricSchulz	​ 1​	0.500​	0​

Let me know too if you'd like to make this an annual thing, or just go back to posting in the Christmas Specials thread that Josh linked to.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Here are the totals, based on the summaries participants posted. Please post corrections, updates, etc. and I'll update accordingly.

Santa's Nice List (At least 12 titles, regardless of point value):

Participant​	Titles​	Points​	Discoveries​
AlexF	64​	45.500​	34​
Josh Steinberg	63​	28.167​	7​
John Stell	25​	25.000​	8​
Pete York	17​	17.000​	13​
Chip_HT	16​	13.000​	6​
Robert Crawford	12​	12.000​	4​
Dave Moritz	12​	11.333​	4​
Tony Bensley	14​	10.333​	4​

Santa's Naughty List (Less than 12 titles, regardless of point value):

Participant​	Titles​	Points​	Discoveries​
Adam Lenhardt	7​	7.000​	5​
Wayne_j	7​	7.000​	3​
Nelson Au	10​	6.000​	0​
EricSchulz	​ 1​	0.500​	0​

Let me know too if you'd like to make this an annual thing, or just go back to posting in the Christmas Specials thread that Josh linked to.

I didn't do as well as I wanted to because I think I was burnt out by Challenges as it was three months in a row that I did one. Anyhow, I'm glad I at least met the quota of titles including more than two first time viewings.

 

[Nelson Au]

Wow, I didn’t know someone was keeping score! I’ll try to do better next time.