FredCDobbs Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 This has been a very good year for great Christmas movies like REMEMBER THE NIGHT, STAR IN THE NIGHT, I'LL BE SEEING YOU, SUN VALLEY SERENADE, CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT, a large Scrooge festival of different CHRISTMAS CAROL versions, IT HAPPENED ON 5TH AVENUE, SHOP AROUND THE CORNER, HOLIDAY AFFAIR, 2 versions of LITTLE WOMEN, THE BELLS OF ST. MARYS, ONE FOOT IN HEAVEN, and several others! Thanks TCM! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryLyn2 Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 Thanks for writing this - I couldn't agree more. And then to top it off with Fred Astaire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredCDobbs Posted December 25, 2013 Author Share Posted December 25, 2013 Thanks Mary, Great Christmas Movies this year and a great Fred Astaire festival. No one could ask for anything more than that! It's my best Christmas present. Fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddo Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 Agreed as well. Sun Valley Serenade was the perfect ending to our Christmas day. My wife and I enjoyed it very much. We also watched Remember the Night and Christmas in Connecticut (again). Thanks also to TCM (you know who you are, you programming gurus) for getting this movie this Christmas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willbefree25 Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 Weren't they well chosen? A real classically classic day. Too bad people were either too busy or traveling to watch them. Caught a bit of Reginald Owen as Scrooge again, and he really was very, very good. Too bad his facial prosthetic and Terry Kilburn were from hunger. Sim is still my favorite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StBartsActor Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 I saw a little of Shop Around The Corner (such a great classic) but caught up with the entire Bells of St Mary's (which I have not seen in years and really enjoyed the film and the actors). I also saw Meet Me In St Louis, I think one of the all time great movie musicals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 Y'know, as much as I b!tch about the Owen version being too sickly sweet and sentimental, it still goes down easier than that gosh-awful musical version with Albert Finney. I had Sims' version on an old VHS tape and watched it every year. This year, I noticed the tape was getting deteriorated, and ordered a DVD copy from Amazon. They informed me to expect delivery by the 27th. I got it on Christmas Eve. Looks and sounds great! And only 10 bucks! It came with some special featres, one of them going into the filming and distribution problems, mentioning that British audiences were heartily dissapointed in the Owens version. There was also mention that at the time, England was experiencing a major government transformation, and the election broght up issues covered in the Dickens classic, like "Is it the resposibility of the government, or private benefaction to care for the poor and hungry?" And the still nagging economic post-war problems the country was dealing with. But all in all, any person they talked to kept using the word "difinitive" when ranking this movie. The distribution problems came when United Artist felt the film was "too dark" for the kiddies,and they had to scramble for venues to show the film in. Radio City turned it down. Most other "big name" theaters passed. Smaller theaters and "art houses" wound up showig it first. It probably was the reason MGM produced a "sweetened up" version of the story. In one feature, it mentioned that several other movies came out over the years that used the Dickens story as subtext, particularily IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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