Holiday Movies
Modern Traditional (2000-Present)
What makes a film a traditional holiday movie? Some coat themselves with the trappings of the season, while others are better at exploring the meaning, rather than exploiting the sentiment, of the holidays. The Ithaca College Library has quite a few of both.
- Almost Christmas (2016)A dysfunctional family gathers together for their first Christmas since their mom died.
- Black Nativity (2013)Based on a Langston Hughes play - with music.
- New Year's Eve (2011)A "Love Actually" wannabe.
- A Christmas Tale (2008)A film by a post-New Wave director can't really be traditional, but this stylized holiday fable about alienation and reunion runs the gamut from bittersweet hilarity to heartbreaking affectation.
- The Holiday (2007)House swapping and romance during the holidays, and even one Hanukkah scene.
- About a Boy (2006)Hugh Grant's cynical character lives off the royalties of a Christmas song his father wrote, but he has a Scrooge-like change of heart by the end of the movie.
- Joyeux Noel (2006)Tells the true story of the WWI Christmas truce, where German, French, and Scottish soldiers briefly stopped fighting to celebrate the holiday together.
- The Family Stone (2005)A young man brings his fiancee home to his family for Christmas but she receives a less-than-warm reception.
- Just Friends (2005)Will an unplanned hometown Christmas visit convert an old platonic love into something else?
- Millions (2004)When British brothers (aged 14 and 8) find a bag of money, how they react helps us explore the meaning of Christmas. Comes with a school nativity play with a minor miracle.
- Elf (2003)A love it or hate it comedy about an elf who leaves the North Pole to find his grumpy human father. This librarian happens to love it.
- Love Actually (2003)A somewhat sappy (but new classic) movie about love lost and found around Christmas.
- The Santa Clause 1, 2, & 3 (2002, 2003, 2007)A regular dad accidentally kills Santa, and thus has to become him. Don't watch the sequels.
- Serendipity (2001)This feel-good romantic comedy begins and ends with Christmas shopping in a New York City department store.
- How the Grinch Stole ChristmasThe live-action movie, not the old TV special. At the risk of being a Grinch, this librarian suggests you skip it in favor of the original.
Traditional (1990s)
- You've Got Mail (1998)An update of "The Shop Around the Corner" with tree decorating and everything.
- HavPlenty (1996)What is supposed to be a quiet New Year's Eve gathering becomes a weekend filled with plenty.
- Mrs Santa Claus (1996)A TV movie with Angela Lansbury in the title role.
- Babe (1995)Our hero almost becomes Christmas dinner and proves his worth on Christmas day.
- Toy Story (1995)A movie all about toys ends appropriately on Christmas morning.
- The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)Set in the month of December in 1958, this screwball comedy mocking corporate intrigue oozes holiday sentiment.
- Sleepless in Seattle (1993)Centered around two holidays: Christmas at the beginning and Valentine's Day at the end.
- Home Alone 1, 2, 3, & 4 (1990, 1992, 1997, 2003)The first is a classic, the second is ok, but skip the rest.
Traditional (1980s)
- When Harry Met Sally (1989)Wherein 12 years of non-courtship [spoiler alert] end happily at the last of several New Year's Eve parties.
- Moonstruck (1987)Set in December and filled with tacit holiday spirit with scenes sprinkled with Christmas decorations.
- Trading Places (1983)A comic morality play set in wintry Philadelphia, with lots of holiday imagery and spirit.
- Jean Shepherd's A Christmas Story (1983)By this decade we've graduated from sappy to droll, but we haven't lost charming and heart-warming.
The Lost Decades (1960s & 1970s)
The Sixties and Seventies were the decades that produced dozens of TV holiday specials, but they were pretty much devoid of feature-length holiday films. Not including the films listed on the non-traditional side, this is all the IC Library has:
- Scrooge (1970)A musical adaptation of "A Christmas Carol".
Classics (1940-1960)
Some film buffs insist that the best holiday movies were produced before 1960. Who are we to argue?
- Remember the Night (1940)A shoplifter, a D.A, and Christmas good will.
- Shop Around the Corner; Christmas in Connecticut; It Happened on 5th Avenue (1940, 1945, 1947)As sappy, sentimental, and charming as only 1940s movies can be.
- Going My Way (1944)Perhaps the sappiest, most sentimental, and charming of them all. The final scene is set on Christmas Eve.
- It's a Wonderful Life (1946)While it wasn't a huge success at its time, it's now the #1 favorite Christmas film.
- The Bishop's Wife (1947)Another 40s Christmas film with an interfering angel, but this one is as suave and charming as Cary Grant.
- Miracle on 34th Street (1947)I do believe in Santa!
- O. Henry's Full House (1952)Three of the five stories are based on Christmas classics: "The Cop and the Anthem", "The Last Leaf", and "The Gift of the Magi". This film is found on volume 2 of the Marilyn Monroe Premiere Collection. Also in the collection is "We're Not Married!", a 1952 film about what five couples do when they learn they weren't really married in a Christmas Eve opening scene.
- White Christmas (1954)As sappy and sentimental as any of the films of the 40s, but in color!
- An Affair to Remember (1957)It takes until the Christmas season for the star-crossed lovers to be reunited. On a disc with a few other tear-jerkers.
- Desk Set (1957)A Spencer Tracy/Katherine Hepburn romantic comedy that ends with an iconic Christmas office party. Be careful or Katherine Hepburn's character will make you want to grow up to become a librarian. (Volume 8 of the Tracy & Hepburn collection)
A Christmas Carol
There have been enough variations of "A Christmas Carol" that they get their own box.
- Shop Around the Corner; Christmas in Connecticut; It Happened on 5th Avenue (1940, 1945, 1947)As sappy, sentimental, and charming as only 1940s movies can be.
- A Christmas Carol (1951)With Alistair Sim as Scrooge, in the movie some say set the standard for film adaptations of this classic.
- Scrooge (1970)A musical adaptation of "A Christmas Carol".
- Scrooged (1988)With Bill Murray as Frank Cross, a modernized Scrooge.
- Black Adder's Christmas Carol (1988)This episode is buried on disc 5 of a Black Adder compilation.
- The Muppet Christmas Carol (2005)Michael Caine as Scrooge. In the humble opinion of this librarian, the best adaptation.
