On this past Thanksgiving Day, I remembered that on Thanksgiving weekend 1994 I went to the cinema twice to see the new but old-fashioned romantic comedy called Sleepless in Seattle. At the first viewing, I remember my sister whispering during the Christmas dinner scene near the start of the film, "Oh, it's Niles!" Not having yet seen Frasier, I had no idea who Niles was. Nowadays, of course, one of the reasons I watch Sleepless is to see David Hyde Pierce in his two brief scenes.
Another main reason I watch Sleepless, at least during Advent and the Christmas season, is for its Christmas scenes at the beginning—even though it's all very secular, it's still jolly, and I always love Meg Ryan singing "horses, horses, horses" with the radio.
Besides Sleepless in Seattle, there are numerous other movies I love to watch specifically at this time. It might surprise you that It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street (any version) are not among them. I think there are two reasons for their omission: 1) they're both on TV ad nauseum around Christmas time, and 2) I've always disliked following the crowd. "What's your favorite Christmas movie?" Seven times out of ten, the answer is It's a Wonderful Life. The other three times, it's Miracle on 34th Street. (Those are my own arbitrary statistics; don't go quoting them.) While I concede they are both wonderful films, I'm just ornery and choose to march to my own drummer boy. Pah-rrum-pum-pum-pum.
So here, in random order after the first four, is my Christmas viewing list—most of these films are not specifically about Christmas, and some are emphatically non-religious (yes, I still retain some of my pagan past when it comes to movies), but all have Christmas scenes in them.
The Bishop's Wife - probably my favorite Christmas film
(Cary Grant, Loretta Young)
The Shop around the Corner - probably my second favorite Christmas film
(James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan)
White Christmas - probably my 3rd favorite Christmas film
Come to the Stable (Loretta Young, Celeste Holm) - probably my fourth favorite Christmas film
Little Women
1933 (Katharine Hepburn)
1994 (Winona Ryder)
1978 (TV mini-series w/ Susan Dey)
[Don't like the 1949 version with June Allyson and Elizabeth Taylor!]
Meet Me in St. Louis (Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien)
The Trouble with Angels (Hayley Mills, Rosalind Russell)
Holiday Inn (Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby)
Sleepless in Seattle
Desk Set (Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy)
When Harry Met Sally ...
84, Charing Cross Road (Anne Bancroft, Anthony Hopkins)
Love Affair (1939, Irene Dunne, Charles Boyer)
and its 1957 remake An Affair to Remember (Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr)
Falling in Love (Meryl Streep, Robert de Niro)
The Holiday (Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz)
Love Story (Ryan O'Neal, Ali MacGraw)
You've Got Mail
Love, Actually
Christmas in Connecticut (Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan)
Holiday Affair (Janet Leigh, Robert Mitchum)
Never Say Goodbye (Errol Flynn, Eleanor Parker)
A Christmas Carol (just about any version)
The Tangerine Bear (animated - David Hyde Pierce voices the Cuckoo)
For something emphatically religious, and therefore most truly about Christmas:
The Nativity Story
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