Best/Favorite Christmas Specials and Movies?

[+ quoththeraven]

As I watched Mr. Magoo's A Christmas Carol and A Charlie Brown Christmas while dinner was cooking, it occurred to me to ask Forum members to list their favorite Christmas specials or movies.

 

I guess that makes two of my picks pretty obvious. The third, which we didn't have on hand or we would have watched it too, is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

 

Mr. Magoo's A Christmas Carol is my favorite adaptation of the Dickens novella, but I've been told I need to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol.

[namchebaz]

Easily the gayest christmas special ever created -- that is likely the reason I watch it every. single. year.

 

The Judy Garland Christmas Show!

 

It's Christmas in 1963, and the show opens when Judy and 2 of her kids, Joey and Lorna, open the front door to their perfectly normal suburban home. Dance numbers, singing about rainbows, and subtle mother-daughter competitive tensions ensue for the next hour, with the added bonus of 1963 vintage commercials, which are as much fun as the rest of the extravaganza.

 

If you don't watch the whole hour, (and you won't) check out 5:30 when Liza rushes in and acts surprised that they're all on tv. Hard to believe she was ever that young.

 

After Joey struggles mightily to sing Where is Love? (I think from Oliver), at 9:42, Liza's "beau" arrives (easily the gayest beau on television, maybe ever But that's not apparent to Liza), and they do a dance number as a christmas gift for Momma (choreographed by "beau"!)

 

At 18:24, after the Wizard of Ox themed commercial for Contac, Jack Jones arrives and walks through the door singing Wouldn't it be Loverly. It's really good.

 

32:13, Judy sings what seems like a kind've melancholy version of Winter Wonderland.

 

If you watch the whole production you'll see the big dance number where it looks like Judy might fall over a time or two, the visit from Mel Torme, and of course, Over the Rainbow at the end, snuggled on the sofa with Joey and Lorna.

 

I was born 5 years after this special aired but to me 1963 seems like it would've been a fun time to be a grownup. And if your life isn't as perfect as everyone else's appears to be at the holidays, or your early holiday memories include a touch of crazy, this show is kind've heartwarming and will make you feel right at home.

 

Proud to have submitted what is easily the gayest holiday special review ever,

Cheers.

[gallahadesquire]

... I was born 5 years after this special aired but to me 1963 seems like it would've been a fun time to be a grownup. And if your life isn't as perfect as everyone else's appears to be at the holidays, or your early holiday memories include a touch of crazy, this show is kind of heartwarming and will make you feel right at home.

 

Proud to have submitted what is easily the gayest holiday special review ever,

Cheers.

 

Let's see ... cold war ... Cuban missile crisis ...nuclear proliferation ... yes, a fun time.

[Guest AnthonyDriller]

Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas is my favorite Christmas movie. It's the movie where Jim Carey plays The Grinch. I'll never forget when my grandparents took me to see the movie in theaters a few days after my birthday when it first released in theaters in November of year 2000.

[rvwnsd]

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" is my all-time favorite and not just because I am a huge Peanuts fan. I forgot about the Mr Magoo special. Thank you for refreshing my memory about that one. I always enjoyed it, too.

[Guest Starbuck]

Easily the gayest Christmas special ever created [is] The Judy Garland Christmas Show! It's Christmas 1963, and the show opens with Judy and [her two younger] kids. [Later,] Liza rushes in and acts surprised that they're all on TV. Hard to believe she was ever that young. Then her "beau" arrives and he is easily the gayest beau on television, maybe ever, but that's not apparent to Liza ...

 

Poor Liza ... didn't she later have the same problem recognizing the obvious with a couple of her husbands?

 

But back to Judy ... Meet Me in St. Louis is a great movie to watch at Christmas (or any other time).

[jackboy48]

Thank you "namchebaz" for the link to Judy's show. I had forgotten. It was a great post Christmas treat!

[namchebaz]

Poor Liza ... didn't she later have the same problem recognizing the obvious with a couple of her husbands?.

 

Haha, Starbuck, yes it seems to have become a pattern for poor Liza. Perhaps she actually prefers us?

[Guest ChrisW]

The Futurama episode where the crew delivers letters to santa at his fortress of death

[maninsoma]

Rudolph.

 

The original, animated Grinch.

 

Pee Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special.

 

Nightmare Before Christmas.

[Boink]

I had vague but fond recollections of Magoo's Christmas Carol from when I was a child. It seemed to have disappeared for many many years before it resurfaced a few years ago and now it seems to be accepted into the canon of classic Christmas TV specials. Fun fact: the score was written by Jules Stein and included the song 'People', which was cut from the show for length. The following year they inserted that song into their new Broadway production of 'Funny Girl'.

[actor61]

My favorite Christmas movie is "The Preacher's Wife", the original with Loretta Young, David Niven, Cary Grant, Elsa Lanchester and Gladys Cooper. What a superb actor Cary Grant was; this is one of his most charming and deeply felt performances. And I was always a Loretta Young fan, even in "Come to the Stable" where she plays a nun in full make-up and eyelashes. She plays the title role in "The Preacher's Wife" with a very simple style, and a wonderful, throaty voice that hints at a passionate woman under all the decorum. The restaurant scene with Cary Grant and the gossipy old biddies is so beautifully and simply played that you forget Young or Grant is acting. My favorite scene in the film is when Grant and Young visit Monty Wooley, an impoverished citizen of their little town. Three pros doing what they do best. That scene makes me weep every time I see it. It's a delightful but somewhat underrated film.

 

Then, of course, there is the Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyk film "Remember the Night." It could have been sentimental trash but the 2 of them, along with Beaulah Bondi, imbue it with an edge and an honesty that are really touching. They tend to play it quite a bit over the holidays on TCM and I always end up sitting down to watch it; I can't even count how many times I've seen it. It's a lovely, moving and superbly acted movie. Don't miss it.

[hornytwells]

My favorite Christmas movie is "The Preacher's Wife", the original with Loretta Young, David Niven, Cary Grant, Elsa Lanchester and Gladys Cooper. What a superb actor Cary Grant was; this is one of his most charming and deeply felt performances. And I was always a Loretta Young fan, even in "Come to the Stable" where she plays a nun in full make-up and eyelashes. She plays the title role in "The Preacher's Wife" with a very simple style, and a wonderful, throaty voice that hints at a passionate woman under all the decorum. The restaurant scene with Cary Grant and the gossipy old biddies is so beautifully and simply played that you forget Young or Grant is acting. My favorite scene in the film is when Grant and Young visit Monty Wooley, an impoverished citizen of their little town. Three pros doing what they do best. That scene makes me weep every time I see it. It's a delightful but somewhat underrated film.

 

Then, of course, there is the Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyk film "Remember the Night." It could have been sentimental trash but the 2 of them, along with Beaulah Bondi, imbue it with an edge and an honesty that are really touching. They tend to play it quite a bit over the holidays on TCM and I always end up sitting down to watch it; I can't even count how many times I've seen it. It's a lovely, moving and superbly acted movie. Don't miss it.

 

It's my favourite Christmas movie, but for those searching for it, it is actually called "The Bishop's Wife"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039190/

The preachers wife is the name of the remake with Whitney Houston.

[+ WilliamM]

Easily the gayest christmas special ever created -- that is likely the reason I watch it every. single. year.

 

The Judy Garland Christmas Show!

 

It's Christmas in 1963, and the show opens when Judy and 2 of her kids, Joey and Lorna, open the front door to their perfectly normal suburban home. Dance numbers, singing about rainbows, and subtle mother-daughter competitive tensions ensue for the next hour, with the added bonus of 1963 vintage commercials, which are as much fun as the rest of the extravaganza.

 

If you don't watch the whole hour, (and you won't) check out 5:30 when Liza rushes in and acts surprised that they're all on tv. Hard to believe she was ever that young.

 

After Joey struggles mightily to sing Where is Love? (I think from Oliver), at 9:42, Liza's "beau" arrives (easily the gayest beau on television, maybe ever But that's not apparent to Liza), and they do a dance number as a christmas gift for Momma (choreographed by "beau"!)

 

At 18:24, after the Wizard of Ox themed commercial for Contac, Jack Jones arrives and walks through the door singing Wouldn't it be Loverly. It's really good.

 

32:13, Judy sings what seems like a kind've melancholy version of Winter Wonderland.

 

If you watch the whole production you'll see the big dance number where it looks like Judy might fall over a time or two, the visit from Mel Torme, and of course, Over the Rainbow at the end, snuggled on the sofa with Joey and Lorna.

 

I was born 5 years after this special aired but to me 1963 seems like it would've been a fun time to be a grownup. And if your life isn't as perfect as everyone else's appears to be at the holidays, or your early holiday memories include a touch of crazy, this show is kind've heartwarming and will make you feel right at home.

 

Proud to have submitted what is easily the gayest holiday special review ever,

Cheers.

 

Too bad they did not cut all the jolly Christmas chat, and just sing. Yes, Liza and her "beau" are high camp, so I wish they had ever more moments together. Thanks for posting the link. Great fun. Note: Pres. Kennedy was assassinated a month before.

[maninsoma]

Easily the gayest christmas special ever created -- that is likely the reason I watch it every. single. year.

 

The Judy Garland Christmas Show!

 

It's Christmas in 1963, and the show opens when Judy and 2 of her kids, Joey and Lorna, open the front door to their perfectly normal suburban home. Dance numbers, singing about rainbows, and subtle mother-daughter competitive tensions ensue for the next hour, with the added bonus of 1963 vintage commercials, which are as much fun as the rest of the extravaganza.

 

If you don't watch the whole hour, (and you won't) check out 5:30 when Liza rushes in and acts surprised that they're all on tv. Hard to believe she was ever that young.

 

After Joey struggles mightily to sing Where is Love? (I think from Oliver), at 9:42, Liza's "beau" arrives (easily the gayest beau on television, maybe ever But that's not apparent to Liza), and they do a dance number as a christmas gift for Momma (choreographed by "beau"!)

 

At 18:24, after the Wizard of Ox themed commercial for Contac, Jack Jones arrives and walks through the door singing Wouldn't it be Loverly. It's really good.

 

32:13, Judy sings what seems like a kind've melancholy version of Winter Wonderland.

 

If you watch the whole production you'll see the big dance number where it looks like Judy might fall over a time or two, the visit from Mel Torme, and of course, Over the Rainbow at the end, snuggled on the sofa with Joey and Lorna.

 

I was born 5 years after this special aired but to me 1963 seems like it would've been a fun time to be a grownup. And if your life isn't as perfect as everyone else's appears to be at the holidays, or your early holiday memories include a touch of crazy, this show is kind've heartwarming and will make you feel right at home.

 

Proud to have submitted what is easily the gayest holiday special review ever,

Cheers.

 

Thanks for posting this. I have seen some of Judy's TV show episodes before, but never this Christmas special. It was quite a treat. And I hadn't remembered how handsome Jack Jones was.

[+ poolboy48220]

I'm waiting for someone to actually make "The Night The Reindeer Died", the show they had a preview clip for at the beginning of "Scrooged".

 

BBC America had a marathon of the Doctor Who Christmas specials a day or two before Christmas. I haven't had a chance to watch this year's yet, with Nick Frost playing Santa.

[tyro]

I STILL love A Christmas Story. As an Ohioan, how could I not?

T

[gallahadesquire]

How COULD we have passed up the STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL?

Chewbacca home with his family ... Bea Arthur and Art Carney as guest stars ... Jefferson Starship as the music group...

 

[video=youtube;6c3B18gAJyc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c3B18gAJyc

[actor61]

It's my favourite Christmas movie, but for those searching for it, it is actually called "The Bishop's Wife"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039190/

The preachers wife is the name of the remake with Whitney Houston.

 

Of course! Thank you so much for the correction. I was so busy rhapsodizing about it that I screwed up the name! "The Preacher's Wife" was dreadful!

[+ poolboy48220]

It USED TO be A Christmas Story. Until my mother started tuning in to the Christmas Day marathon on TBS about three years ago... I think she actually watches all twelve of the back-to-back airings... Ain't the holidays great?!?

On Christmas Days where I have a ton of cooking to do, I usually have the marathon playing in the background, so I'll get about six or eight solid hours of it.

[hornytwells]

Of course! Thank you so much for the correction. I was so busy rhapsodizing about it that I screwed up the name! "The Preacher's Wife" was dreadful!

 

You are most welcome, I only did it as I would hate anyone to miss the original!