I actually never attended one of those campus showings, but I heard about them and read interviews with the professor about the movie. I finally saw it on television several years after I left school and got married, and in the years since then, it's become known as, if not the greatest movie ever made, then certainly a holiday classic -- and one of my own personal favourites. It's a long movie, but I love how it builds and builds to an emotional crescendo -- so that by the time George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) starts his joyful run through the snowy streets of Bedford Falls, shouting "Merry Christmas!" to everyone he meets, I am a weeping mess. I start crying the moment he begs Clarence, his guardian angel, to help him get back to his wife and kids, right on through to the final chorus of "Auld Lang Syne." I haven't actually sat through the entire movie in several years now, but I almost always manage to catch those last few minutes on TV, and that's enough to send me searching for the Kleenex box.
I enjoy some of the more modern Christmas movies, like "A Christmas Story" and "Elf" and "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" (one year, my team at work booked the conference room, ordered in Thai food and spent an extended lunch hour watching that one -- and howling with laughter -- together). But for me, there's nothing quite like the classics. Beyond "It's a Wonderful Life," my favourites also include the Alastair Sim version of "A Christmas Carol" (although I love just about any version of "A Christmas Carol")(the half-hour Disney version with Mickey Mouse as Bob Cratchit & Scrooge McDuck as Scrooge (of course) probably ranks a close second in my books, lol), the original "Miracle on 34th Street" with Maureen O'Hara & Natalie Wood, and the original version of "The Bishop's Wife" with Loretta Young, David Niven & Cary Grant.Do you have a favourite Christmas/holiday movie?
You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.
Christmas movies have never really been a "thing" here. I guess they are now a bit more - Love Actually will probably be replayed in the next few weeks - and with Netflix it might become more normal to watch the movies. I suspect the fact that Christmas is in the middle (or beginning) of a glorious summer means that NZers don't tend to sit around watching cosy, heartwarming movies because we're at the beach or having a barbecue.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if we get a rainy day, I'll have to see if Wonderful Life is on netflix and maybe curl up on the couch with a mini mince pie and some bubbles! Because I'm not sure I've ever watched it.
I LOVE It's a Wonderful Life! I always think of it when I sing "Buffalo Gals," and the whole "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings." I use the run on the bank in my social studies class. It's just a great, great movie. Jimmy Stuart is the best. I love the classic movies, Miracle on 34th Street is another favorite. And I love "Love, Actually," "Bridget Jones' Diary"(totally a Christmas movie!) and "Die Hard." that last one's a stretch, but I love it! "The Holiday" is good too, with the house swap between Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet, but it makes me weep. And "A Christmas Story" totally gutted me last time I watched it, which surprised me a bit. The whole opening of the presents and magic of the kids coming down to what Santa's left and the parents watching all gooey sent me down a dark spiral. Because I watched it from the parent's point of view more than Ralph's, which was WEIRD. Oh man, now I need to go watch a holiday movie!
ReplyDeleteMy mother adores "A Christmas Story" -- it reminds her of her own 1940s childhood & Christmases. She introduced me/us to that one!
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