THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER - SCROOGE

 

No Christmas would be complete without the Dickens classic tale of redemption and a list of Christmas films without Scrooge in it would be unthinkable.

There have been many film adaptations over the years since the first made in the silent era

1910 (Marc McDermott) Silent

1913 (Seymour Hicks) Silent

1935 (Seymour Hicks)

1938 (Reginald Owen)

1951 Scrooge (Alistair Sim)

1970 Scrooge (Albert Finney) Musical

1971 (Alistair Sim) Animated

1984 (George C. Scott)

1988 Scrooged (Bill Murray) Comedy

1997 (Tim Curry) Animated

1999 (Patrick Stewart)

2004 (Kelsey Grammer) Musical

2006 Disney Animated

2009 (Jim Carey) Animated

And even more TV adaptation, variations and spoofs and I would defy anyone to say that at least one of them didn’t strike a chord on some level.

Even though my own personal favourite is the 1984 version with George C. Scott

I find the most uplifting film to be the 1970 musical version with Albert Finney playing Scrooge and supported ably by among others Alec Guinness, Edith Evans and Kenneth More with Laurence Naismith playing an energetic Fezziwig while singing “December the 25^th” and Anton Rodgers as Tom Jenkins who sings the one song everyone remembers the academy award nominated “Thank You Very Much”.

There are a host of other good songs “A Christmas Carol” “Christmas Children” “I Hate People” “Father Christmas”“ See the Phantoms” “Happiness” “You...You”  “I Like Life” “The Beautiful Day” and “I'll Begin Again” which all combined to make this a Christmas treat.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – MRS. MIRACLE

 

Seth Webster (James Van Der Beek) is a widowed single father who can’t find a housekeeper, or rather can’t keep a housekeeper, to manage his unruly and boisterous twin sons.

When Mrs. Merkle (Doris Roberts) a seemingly magical housekeeper arrives, whom the boys call “Mrs. Miracle” She helps Seth move on after his wife’s death and to find him a new love Reba Maxwell’s (Erin Karpluk) who also has wounds to heal.

But with her unquenchable and infectious spirit she strives to bring the family together.

IT’S THE OFFICE CHRISTMAS DO

 

It’s the office Christmas do

So, let’s have a tipple or two

We can drink the Spanish sherry

We can drink until we’re merry

Then into an office we’ll stumble

And we’ll have a Christmas fumble

RED SOCKS

 

Long red socks

And Christmas frocks

A sprig of mistletoe

That’s Christmas ho ho ho

FAVOURITE CHRISTMAS CAROL # 30 SUSSEX MUMMERS CAROL

 

Sussex Mummers Carol

Traditional English Carol Writer unknown

 

God bless the master of this house
With happiness beside;
Where e'er his body rides or walks
His God be his guide.
His God be his guide.

God bless the mistress of this house
With gold chain round her breast;
Where e'er her body sleeps or wakes,
Lord, send her soul to rest.
Lord, send her soul to rest.

God bless your house, your children too,
Your cattle and your store;
The Lord increase you day by day,
And send you more and more.
And send you more and more.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – FRED CLAUS

 

Fred Claus (Vince Vaughn) is the older sibling who grows up to resent his brother and grows a chip on his shoulder as big as Christmas itself.

The film begins with the birth of Nicolas in the Middle Ages when within a few minutes of his birth, the baby starts saying “Ho, ho, ho!”

Older brother Fred pledges to be the best big brother ever, a promise that turns out to be easier said than done.

By the present-day Nick has become the modern-day Santa Claus, giving gifts to people and Fred runs a repo company taking them away.

Rachel Weisz plays Fred’s long-suffering girlfriend, Wanda Blinkowski who gets mad at Fred for forgetting her birthday and standing her up all in the same week.

Fred’s dream is to own his own gambling establishment but in order to raise the deposit he poses as a Salvation Army Santa and his antics result in him being arrested and Nicholas has to bail him out.

Nicholas insists as a condition of his bailing him out that Fred visits him at the North Pole where he can earn the money he needs for the deposit.

Unfortunately coinciding with Fred’s visit is the imminent arrival of an efficiency expert Clyde Northcutt (Kevin Spacey) whose only intention is to shut the operation down.

On Fred’s arrival he attempts to play cupid between an elf named Willy (John Michael Higgins) and Santa's Little Helper Charlene (Elizabeth Banks) but his efforts appear to make things worse.

In addition, he manages to get into endless arguments with his mother (Kathy Bates) rubs Mrs. Claus (Miranda Richardson) up the wrong way and brings the whole Christmas operation to its knees after incapacitating Santa.

Ultimately after attending a Siblings Anonymous meeting, where he is joined by the brothers of Alec Baldwin, Sylvester Stallone, and Bill Clinton, Fred comes good and saves the day, his relationship and Christmas into the bargain.

I found it to be a hugely enjoyable film but my favourite scene would have to be the snow globe scene.

Where after Christmas has been saved all the Elves run to the snow globe room where on the giant snow globe, they can see the children of the world opening there presents accompanied by Hazel O’Connor’s rendition of Silent Night, just lovely.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – THE CHRISTMAS CARD

 

The Christmas Card begins with Cody Cullen (John Newton) in the midst of war in Afghanistan.
He is touched by a Christmas card sent to him by Faith Spelman (Alice Evans) from the small, picturesque town of Nevada City, California. As the months pass, the card never leaves his side, giving him the strength to survive.
Then on his return stateside he sets off on a mission to find her.
He travels to Nevada City and meets the Spelman family and after saving her fathers life (played by Edward Asner) he is invited to stay with the family for the holiday.
And so the tale begins a lovely uncomplicated holiday treat of a film with a seasonal happy ending.