topics
tools
editor's choice

Learning with the International Primary Curriculum

Remote training for expatriates

Should our kids go native too?

Pre-school activities in Belgium

How expats are learning the local lingo

Expatica countries
Index Last Var.(%)
BEL 20 2286.26 -0.09
DAX 6754.2 -0.16
IBEX 30 8846.9 0.13
CAC 40 3411.54 0.18
FTSE 100 5890.26 -0.03
AEX 325.97 0.28
DJIA 12882.63 0.29
Nasdaq 2906.14 0.14
FTSE MIB 16491.71 0.62
TSX Composite 12521.41 -0.31
ASX 4344.9 -0.45
Hang seng 20699.19 -0.05
Straits Times 2957.78 0.60
ISEQ 20 504.97 -0.68
You are here: Home Leisure Arts & Culture Top ten Christmas crackers on TV

Arts & Culture

archive
Enlarge font Decrease font Text size


23/12/2009Top ten Christmas crackers on TV

Top ten Christmas crackers on TV Following on from his pick of the Christmas turkeys last week, Picturenose’s James Drew (who’s a happy survivor of the recent Eurostar horror, by the way) here presents his selection of ten movies without which Yuletide simply couldn’t exist.

Not all of them have a festive setting, but there are no apologies – in terms of mood, memories and magic, these are the films that this reviewer always seeks out in the festive schedules. I hope you don’t have a problem with that? Do let me know, won’t you…

It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
Let’s start with what is still possibly the best Christmas movie ever, shall we? Often misreported as being a director who heaped on the saccharine, Frank Capra’s vision of just how big a hole one of us, any of us might leave if we had never been born is in fact a truly dark descent (with a sterling turn from Lionel Barrymore as the truly evil Mr Potter) before we are allowed release into the feel-good luminescence of that ending. It’s quite simple – if the story of compassionate Bedford Falls Everyman George Bailey (the wonderful James Stewart) and the last-minute intervention of Angel Clarence (Henry Travers), who’s still without his wings, doesn’t make you cry, doesn’t make you love life, check to see if you’ve still got a heart beating, OK?

Scrooge (1951)
One of the earlier versions, but still the best – no-one has topped Alistair Sim as the bitter old miser turned born-again philanthropist, in Brian Desmond Hurst’s wonderful, warm and faithful adaptation of the Dickens classic. Best bit? Scrooge losing the plot with happiness near the film’s end, and the reaction of his maid Mrs. Dilber (Kathleen Harrison).



The Great Escape (1963)
Go on, watch it again, just one more time – you know you want to. Maybe this time, the Cooler King Hilts (Steve McQueen) will make that final motorcycle leap? Or maybe ‘Intelligence’ Macdonald (Gordon Jackson) won’t make the mistake he warned his junior officer about, namely responding in English to a German? Or perhaps ‘The Forger’ Blythe (Donald Pleasance) will manage to get away after all, in spite of his failing eyesight? So many moments, and that’s why so few war films compare with John Sturges’ masterpiece. ‘This film is for the fifty.’

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
Even in spite of Sean Connery’s absence, ‘The Big Fry Guy’ (George Lazenby) proved that the name was still Bond, James Bond. True, Lazenby was only a solid, dependable 007 in his first (and only) effort, but director Peter Hunt and screenwriter Richard Maibaum’s near-complete fidelity to Ian Fleming’s original novel, combined with a ‘Bond-girl’ performance from Diana Rigg that is the franchise’s best ever and a believable, physical villain in the form of Telly Savalas as Blofeld, makes OHMSS one of the series’ very best, certainly its most tragic, and this reviewer’s favourite. Plus, a good portion of the action takes place at Christmas. ‘This never happened to the other fella!’ Too true, too true…



The Selfish Giant (1971)
Anybody else remember this? Peter Sander’s animation is perhaps the most charming visualization of Oscar Wilde ever rendered, with its personifications of Snow, Hail, Sleet and Frost, who come to stay chez the Giant when he bans the children from his garden.

‘Nay, but these are the wounds of love.’
‘Who art thou?’

Tears of joy, guaranteed.
 
A Warning to the Curious (1972) and The Signalman (1976)
Two annual reminders (which can normally still be found somewhere on one of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s digital channels) that (i) the BBC used to be a damn fine public service broadcaster (ii) that faithful literature adaptations should never have gone out of style and (iii) ghost stories don’t come much scarier than Lawrence Gordon Clark’s take on, respectively, the terrifying tales of MR James and Charles Dickens. The first sees Peter Vaughan digging for treasure where he shouldn’t, the second Denholm Elliot, as the solitary signalman of the title, cursed by a nameless horror that is beyond my capacity to describe here – refined refrigeration.

Murder By Decree (1979)
Director Bob Clark (who sadly died in a car accident in 2007) takes the rare honour of two nods, with this and (see below) A Christmas Story (1983). Forget, if you can, Robert Downey Jr. and Guy Ritchie’s simply appalling Sherlock Holmes (2009), and enjoy Christopher Plummer as perhaps the most compassionate screen interpretation of the great detective, with an excellent, non-bumbling performance from James Mason as Watson. Cleverly combining Holmes mythos with a meticulously researched background concerning the 1888 ‘Jack the Ripper’ killings, this was the first film to present what has now become a favourite ‘Whitechapel Murders’ conspiracy theory, namely that it was a Masonic plot with royal connections. No matter whether you buy the plot or not – this is a wonderfully atmospheric trip into the dark heart of Victoriana. An elementary choice.

A Christmas Story (1983)
There had to be a comedy somewhere on the list – as its tagline put it, ‘A Tribute to the Original, Traditional, One-Hundred-Percent, Red-Blooded, Two-Fisted, All-American Christmas...’, but Clark’s A Christmas Story is so much more besides, with its marvellously witty and affectionate account of the efforts of young Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley) to convince his parents, teachers, and even Santa Claus that a Red Ryder BB airgun really would be the perfect gift. ‘You’ll have your eye out!’ A gem.

Die Hard (1988)
And to finish, the Christmas ‘machine’ – the fact that, even some 20 years on, action flicks are still trying (and mostly failing) to duplicate the excitement, style and appeal of Bruce Willis as John McClane, and his efforts to gatecrash the terrorists’ party, still shows how and why director John McTiernan changed action cinema forever. Throw a deliciously erudite, evil (and Brit playing a German) Alan Rickman into the mix, and you have a festive firework that simply soars.

 

James Drew

This article is one of Picturenose's regular film reviews
Please check local listings before travelling. For more reviews, check out  www.picturenose.com
'Expatica's weekly cinema-review section is brought to you in
collaboration with Picturenose.com' 
About our reviewers: Putting you in the picture

 

 


2 reactions to this article

Irma Claeys posted: 2009-12-23 21:44:19

Great choice of movies James!
Wishing you and Expatica Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!! all the best;

James Drew posted: 2009-12-23 23:36:22

Many thanks, Irma - and the same to you! :-) JD

Add a comment

General rating: Not rated yet

Rate article:    Add my rating


2 reactions to this article

Irma Claeys posted: 2009-12-23 21:44:19

Great choice of movies James!
Wishing you and Expatica Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!! all the best;

James Drew posted: 2009-12-23 23:36:22

Many thanks, Irma - and the same to you! :-) JD

Add a comment
Discussion Forums

Healthcare in Belgium

How to find a good Physio and optometrist?

English in Belgium

ascent of language in belgium

Family in Belgium

Question about summer program/camp in Belgium

Housing in Belgium

Flatmate Wanted as from mid February – SPACIOUS DUPLEX/PENTHOUSE

Jobs in Belgium

Looking for native Dutch speakers and other languages

participate in the forums

Leisure essentials
Leisure expert Q&A
ask your question
Leisure A-Z listings
find the business you need
Inside Expatica
Looking for work in Belgium

Looking for work in Belgium

This handy guide from Expertise in Labour Mobility includes how to write a CV, application procedure, interview dos and don'ts, Belgian management culture.

Practical, easy-to-use, free and... in English

Practical, easy-to-use, free and... in English

Belgium’s first alternative directory assistance services - available through the shortcode 14-14 - can now be accessed on the internet.

Finding a rental home in Belgium

Finding a rental home in Belgium

Moving to Belgium presents a host of challenges to expats, not least of all finding the right home.

Learning to cope with life abroad

Learning to cope with life abroad

The psychological effects of global mobility can be physically painful.