I think of You’ve Got Mail as a Christmas movie, but it isn’t really. It takes place over a period of six months or so, and Christmas is a particularly emphasised segment, but otherwise you can’t really argue it convincingly. It is, however, my Christmas tradition.
`The Thin Man mostly takes place on Christmas. There’s a scene where Nick and Nora are exchanging presents, and the final dinner party is a Christmas dinner.
The Ref takes place at Christmas, and it’s our Christmas tradition.
Has nobody mentioned Gremlins?
Also, the excellent Tokyo Godfathers.
Connie Willis had a list in one of her collections–here is one from her blog:
It’s a Wonderful Life.
Brazil
The Ice Harvest
Eyes Wide Shut
The Lion in Winter. Christmas is the pretext for calling the family together, but Goodwill to Men is not really on the agenda.
Yesterday I was browsing through movies to watch and just happened to pick The Proposition, which I had seen before but almost completely forgot. Turns out the whole thing revolves around a Christmas deadline.
While it’s more of a New Year’s movie, The Hudsucker Proxy takes place partly at Christmas.
Two war films.
‘Oh! What a Lovely War’, which features the 1914 Christmas truce between combatants.
‘The Victors’, in which a deserter is shot to the tune of Frank Sinatra singing, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”.
A great film, marred mostly by how badly they portray John.
I just watched the film I traditionally watch every Christmas: John Waters’ Female Trouble. The first act takes place on Christmas and it is the act of not getting Cha Cha heels for Christmas that sets the story into motion. Of course the rest of the film takes place over different periods of the character’s life, but Dawn Davenport (Divine) stomping on Christmas presents is enough for me.
I saw the end of “Rambo: First Blood” the other day. As he is shooting and blowing up the town many buildings have christmas lights and decorations. I don’t recall Christmas ever being mentioned.
Bette Davis, in The Man Who Came to Dinner, set at Christmastime.
(colorized)
Battleground, set during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944.
Much better than this movie:
Except for this scene:
How is The Ref not a Christmas movie? It’s as much a Christmas movie as Home Alone.
Christmas Holiday (1944) - On Christmas Eve, whore Deanna Durbin tells a total stranger she married irresponsible lout Gene Kelly and doesn’t regret it even though he’s now a convicted murderer. Not much holiday spirit in this gloomy flashback-dominated story based on a W. Somerset Maugham novel.
Lady on a Train (1945) - Christmas Eve and Deanna Durbin (again?!): she sees a murder on a train and senselessly investigates. Her rendition of “Silent Night” (into a phone) is conspicuously well-lit and as glamorously sanctimonious as it gets. Let’s see if you can take it:
Lady in the Lake (1946) - Christmas - and the mystery - gets overshadowed by the subjective camera gimmick.
I especially like this one:
Oh, I like Lady on a Train. Dan Duryea was great. Harmless piffle, but I hated that they styled Durbin’s hair in braids that flipped up when she was wearing a raincoat and rain hat. There’s no way her hair would have stayed that way without wires holding it up. No one IRL would do that. Bothered me even when I was a kid when I saw the movie for the first time.