When I recorded this off Starz in December 2008, I thought it was one of their new retrospective on film specials. But the 1.33:1 ratio and a younger looking Jane Seymour quickly clued me into the fact that I was watching something from years ago.
A fairly good retrospective on Christmas films and cartoons that has its upsides. And it covers a lot more films than is currently shown on the movie connections page.
Upsides:
1. If you are part of a younger generation or are not familiar with some of the classic Christmas films (e.g. "It's a Wonderful Life", "Miracle on 34th Street") for other reasons, this doc is a nice introduction to those. And this includes a number of very good films which have a Christmas theme, but you wouldn't know that from their title (e.g. "Meet John Doe", "The Bishop's Wife").
2. A few of the clips are from films that your are not likely to see anywhere else (e.g. the 1898 short film "Santa Claus"), unless you really go hunting for them.
3. Host/narrator Jane Seymour does a pretty good job of staying out of the way and letting the lengthy film clips do most of the talking. And some of the tidbits that she does offer are interesting (e.g. all-time classic "It's a Wonderful Life" was a huge box office disappointment at the time).
4. It does a nice job of pointing out which now classic Christmas songs debuted in film (e.g. the song "White Christmas" came from the film "Holiday Inn").
Downsides:
1. Some of the contemporary Christmas films discussed are (way) less than classic (e.g. "Santa Claus: The Movie", "Jingle All the Way").
2. Although it mentions that the success of TV Christmas specials has really curtailed the making of theatrically released Christmas films, it doesn't really cover those (as the title implies, I guess). That's too bad since many of the TV Christmas specials are as classic as some of the great films.
3. This information is this doc is rather wide, but not very deep. So, it's a good introduction to Christmas films for newcomers, but doesn't have much to offer to someone who's seen most or all of the classic Christmas films, unless they just want to enjoy the clips.
A fairly good retrospective on Christmas films and cartoons that has its upsides. And it covers a lot more films than is currently shown on the movie connections page.
Upsides:
1. If you are part of a younger generation or are not familiar with some of the classic Christmas films (e.g. "It's a Wonderful Life", "Miracle on 34th Street") for other reasons, this doc is a nice introduction to those. And this includes a number of very good films which have a Christmas theme, but you wouldn't know that from their title (e.g. "Meet John Doe", "The Bishop's Wife").
2. A few of the clips are from films that your are not likely to see anywhere else (e.g. the 1898 short film "Santa Claus"), unless you really go hunting for them.
3. Host/narrator Jane Seymour does a pretty good job of staying out of the way and letting the lengthy film clips do most of the talking. And some of the tidbits that she does offer are interesting (e.g. all-time classic "It's a Wonderful Life" was a huge box office disappointment at the time).
4. It does a nice job of pointing out which now classic Christmas songs debuted in film (e.g. the song "White Christmas" came from the film "Holiday Inn").
Downsides:
1. Some of the contemporary Christmas films discussed are (way) less than classic (e.g. "Santa Claus: The Movie", "Jingle All the Way").
2. Although it mentions that the success of TV Christmas specials has really curtailed the making of theatrically released Christmas films, it doesn't really cover those (as the title implies, I guess). That's too bad since many of the TV Christmas specials are as classic as some of the great films.
3. This information is this doc is rather wide, but not very deep. So, it's a good introduction to Christmas films for newcomers, but doesn't have much to offer to someone who's seen most or all of the classic Christmas films, unless they just want to enjoy the clips.
