Bernard and the Genie
Alan Cumming plays a young art dealer whose best day turns into his worst possible day, right before Xmas. Rowan Atkinson has a cameo as his boss. Lenny Henry plays the Genie from the title. Great fun! A rarity in modern movies - it had so little bad language that I recommended it to my mother-in-law.
I bought Santa’s Slay two years ago when I saw it in the bargain bin at Walmart.
I haven’t watched it so I can’t really recommend it, but it looks like it could be a laugh.
I really detest the Alistair Sim portrayal of Scrooge. He seems to be playing it for laughs. Scott is all sneering meanness, his Christmas Day celebration exuberant, and Marley’s ghost is just terrific.
Heh! I almost forgot about that one…apparently Rankin-Bass realized they’d never be able to market a St. Patrick’s day special, so they tacked on some Christmas stuff.
Say—Anyone else remember Disney’s The Small One? Kinda like Nestor the [del]hapless pawn of a depraved god and a brutal, sadistic world[/del] Long-Eared Christmas Donkey, only more depressing. And with less incongruous southern accents.
A good one is The Great Rupert starring Jimmy Durante. I got a copy of it at a dollar store (and it also had both “Santa Clause Conquers the Martians” AND that Mexican “Santa Claus” movie, besides). Pretty funny, especially on a snowy Sunday afternoon while sipping a martini or three.
Olive
Reindeer Games
Holy Crap! I honestly never realized that all this time I had the title wrong, even when looking it up on IMDB that just blew right by me.
“Christmas in Connecticut” - Christmas in Connecticut (1945) - IMDb
Barbara Stanwyck writes a Martha Stewart-ish column. As a publicity stunt, a heroic soldier gets invited to her home for Christmas. Unfortunately, our “Martha” can’t even boil an egg…hilarity ensues.
VCNJ~
Much much better than the remake. (I see they have another remake scheduled for 2009)
I didn’t want to start a brand new thread.
Even though the Jim Carrey version of The Grinch isn’t an obscure movie, is it really as bad as the reviews made it out to be?
I was very excited about it when I heard it was coming, but I ended up hating it.
“Olive, The Other Reindeer” is a pretty good Christmas show, too 
VCNJ~
The Poseidon Adventure. (Actually, I think it was New Year, but it did have a great big Christmas Tree in it)
I have to second Bernard and the Genie, and to really get into Christmas you then follow it up with Rowan Atkinson in Blackadders Christmas Carol 
Blackadder - um I mean Rowan Atkinson - is why we watched Bernard and the Genie in the first place. Then I wanted to know what else this Lenny Henry guy has done (Non-holiday related answer: Chef! which ranks among the funniest Britcoms ever. Read the memorable quotes in IMDB if you don’t believe me.) Yup, Mama Zappa and her triple-husbandoid (well, triple-sized husbandoid) lurves us some Blackadder.
Same here for Bernard (although I knew who Lenny Henry was), I’m so glad I made that decision.
Chef is an excellent series, although the third season was a let down.
I really didn’t need the image of Baldrick in a posing pouch though, oh and I guess we should end the hijack before being asked to Bugger ye off [Bottle].
ps: I’ve just passed my secretary and she looks rather harrassed, sexually.
Most of mine have been mentioned so I again recomend
The man who came to dinner
The Ref
Desk Set
The Thin man
and I didn’t see
Period of adjustment
The Bishop’ Wife
or
While you were sleeping
mentioned
The Sound of Music, apparently.
Not an obscure movie, per se, but whatever relevance it has to Christmas is so obscure I’ve never been able to detect it. Still, if it wasn’t a Christmas movie, that damned song wouldn’t be on so many Christmas albums, so Q. E. D.
Joyeux Noel. Set in WW1, it tells the true story of Scottish, French and German soldiers who put their weapons aside on Christmas Eve and celebrated the holiday together in the trenches.
There are some battle scenes, so it’s not exactly family fare. Also, it’s in three different languages, so you will need to do some reading as you watch.
A great story, though.
“Auntie Mame” has a Christmas scene.
And the Chicago Tribune has some other suggestions (most from the 40s). http://www.chicagotribune.com/shopping/custom/holidaily/chi-1130_holidaynov30,0,1142048.story