35 Classics to Celebrate the Season
"When we view [Christmas movies], we journey back to our childhoods, laugh at our quirks, and lose ourselves in tales of love and compassion. There's nostalgia in many of these stories and even in the simple act of watching them: they stir our memories of having seen them in earlier times, with earlier loved ones." — Jeremy Arnold
This new edition has, of course, 5 additional Christmas movies. Each movie is presented with an essay that gives background, synopsis, a little analysis and an exploration of the Christmas elements as well as poster art and photographs from the movie. Some notable movies covered include Christmas in Connecticut, It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas, Holiday Inn, etc. I particularly enjoyed the pieces on Remember the Night, Beyond Tomorrow, Cheaters, Holiday Affair, and Elf.
This new edition also boasts 70 pages of additional content including several really great thematic essays. These include: Christmas movies of 1947, Christmas and Film Noir, Disney Christmas Cartoons, essays on different adaptations of Little Women, A Christmas Carol, Three Godfathers, etc.
I was particularly taken with the Christmas and Film Noir piece and how it explored the dichotomy of the two very different movie styles and how they come together.
“Film Noir is a visual style and storytelling attitude that stresses fatalism, cynicism, and sinister undercurrents of society that pull characters into a sordid world from which there is usually no escape. Christmas movies guide characters up, toward their better, positive natures; noir pulls them down, toward the depths of their own destructive impulses.” — Jeremy Arnold
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| interior spread courtesy of Running Press source: Edelweiss |
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| interior spread courtesy of Running Press source: Edelweiss |
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| interior spread courtesy of Running Press source: Edelweiss |
A worthy upgrade for those who already own the original book. It's a larger format with a new cover and so much more reading material that makes this book even more valuable for Christmas movie enthusiasts. Pick this one up for this season (or for the next!)
Thank you to Running Press for sending me a copy of Christmas in the Movies to review!
I share more thoughts about the book on episode #7 of The Classic Movie Roundup on YouTube. Watch here:
