The Top Ten Best Classic Christmas Movies List from the Washington Times has a few of the great all time holiday films to offer, but it might have left a few off. This is the best time of year to curl up on the couch and watch a great old Classic Christmas movie, the ones your grandparents enjoyed. Hollywood knew how to glamourize everything and the old black and white Christmas movies, along with the ones in Technicolor, were movies they did over the top.
While most of the classic movies on this list offer films released with Christmas titles, there are many good Christmas movies out there that don't reflect the holiday in their title. Many of these films have Christmas scenes that offer the true spirit of this holiday feeling all year round. Remember to soak up the era of these movies through the background and clothes from that day and age. Pay special attention to the scenes that offer the luxuries of Hollywood like the silk bed spreads, the modern furniture of the day and many of the little knick-knacks that you would see in an antique shop today. It's all a part of the classic film experience.
1. White Christmas (1954)- This Bing Crosby movie is done in Technicolor, which brings you the most vivid of color for that day and age in Hollywood. While many think that "White Christmas" the song became famous from this movie, it was actually the next Bing Crosby on the list that offered "White Christmas" first to the masses.
2. Holiday Inn (1942) - This Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire classic first offered the song "White Christmas." This film is set in New England and the scenery is typical of New England done up Hollywood Style.
3. Christmas in Connecticut (1945) This light hearted Christmas movie has it all, a career woman, turned fake homemaker for a publicity stunt and she doesn't wear her new role well. This homemaker, who also has a fake husband and borrowed baby to go along with this false portrayal, falls in love with a soldier. This is the soldier she's supposed to impress with her homemaking skills, during a Christmas in Connecticut. This is one of Barbara Stanwyck's best comedy roles.
4. Miracle on 34th Street (1947) This movie has the Christmas spirit from beginning to end. This might even make you wonder once again if there really is a Santa Claus? The child in this movie is the late Natalie Wood, with the great Maureen O'Hara playing her widowed mother.
5. It's A Wonderful Life (1946) This is a movie most everyone has seen, but is still a favorite every year for Christmas. With Donna Reed and Jimmy Stewart, it has to be a wonderful life.
6. The Fighting Sullivans (1944) This isn't a Christmas movie, but it has the Christmas spirit and a Christmas scene. This is a true story about five brothers that went to war together and all died when the ship they were on was sunk during the war. This is a very small part of the movie as most of it follows them as a family growing up. There's nothing like family for Christmas and this will undoubtably get you in the mood to spend time with your loved ones.
7. Babes in Toyland (March of the Wooden Soldiers) (1934) This Laural and Hardy film was amazing for its day and age as far as the visuals it provides. It is a true Christmas classic.
8. A Christmas Carol (Scrooge) (1950) This Dickens classic was never done better than this rendition. It has it all with some of the best special effects offered during this era. This is the time of year to check in with these characters like Jacob Marley and Tiny Tim, they're all here to ring in the holidays!
9. A Penny Serenade (1941) This Cary Grant and Irene Dunne movie is one of the saddest to ever come along, but like all Hollywood movies from this age, the ending turns happy! The trials and tribulations of a childless couple trying to adopt a baby and the way life turns out for this couple once their dream is realized is not the typical happy story line. It is a movie filled with love, human spirit and maybe even some divine intervention.
10. I'll Be Seeing You (1945) - This movie stars Ginger Rogers and Joseph Cotten as two people scarred from life who meet over the Christmas Holidays. Shirley Temple also appears in this movie. The soldier is suffering from battle fatique and the woman is on a furlough from prison, as these two very dark characters find each other for a heart warming story.
Reference: Washington Post, IMBd Movies
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