25 Days of Christmas | A Christmas Soundtrack...

It's astonishing to realize that most of the best Christmas songs around are still the ones recorded by Frank, Dean and Bing back in the 1940s and 1950s... But every now and again I stumble upon some really good - and slightly more recent songs - that make a nice addition to an already splendidly repertoire of Christmas songs... This is a short list of the songs upon which I stumbled this year...

 1) These Bells Will Ring 

Stumbled upon this one in a collection of Indie Christmas songs of the year... It was the very first song and it just struck me as beautiful...

 

2) Christmas in 1915 

 Christmas in 1915 is about that Christmas, during the First World War, in which both sides agreed to a truce and soldiers from both sides spent Christmas together, exchanged gifts and sang Carols as brothers. The song is beautiful, and the boys dressed in World War I uniforms might as well be soldiers at the front...

 

3) Hallelujah 

 This is an old song that was brought to my attention when it appeared on the Christmas Special of Sense 8 yesterday... The lyrics are very powerful, out of this world... These two versions are the best I could find:

 

4) Thank God It's Christmas 

I knew a year ago that this would be the soundtrack of this Christmas... What can I say? It's been a long hard year... Thank God it's Christmas :)

 

25 Days of Christmas | Meet John Doe, 1941

Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck) is a journalist, one who’s just being laid off her newspaper job and told to write one final column before she pack up her things and leave. Infuriated, Ann prints a letter from a fictional unemployed “John Doe”, a “disgusted citizen” who’s lost all hope in the world and threatens to commit suicide by jumping off the roof of city hall on Christmas Eve.

The letter causes a sensation among readers and the paper is flooded with letters and calls from people requested that “John Doe” be offered a job. The mayor and governor are also flooded with calls. Readership multiplies over a few days… Other newspapers suspect a fraudstart investigating the matter and the whole thing is blown out of proportion:

“Don't you know there are nine jobs waiting for this guy? Twenty-two families want to board him free? Five women want to marry him, and the Mayor's practically ready to adopt him?”

The editor of the paper, Henry Connel is determined to find John Doe, and he calls Mitchell back so she can help them find this John Doe and end the commotion. It is only then that Mitchell admits to have invented the John Doe in the letter.

But Mitchell has a clever idea about how to use this story to boost the paper’s sales by exploiting the fictional John Doe, and because of that idea, the editor is persuaded to hire her back. She wants to write a daily yarn between then and Christmas when he’s supposed to jump, exploring his boyhood, his schooling, his first job, his persona as a wide-eyed youngster facing a chaotic world. The problems of the average man, of all the John Does in the world, passing by this particular John Doe’s meeting with discouragement, his desired to be heard and finally, his ideals crumbling and his decision to commit suicide. People will start talking about it, they’ll buy the paper and follow the case!

All they have to do is hire someone to play John Doe…

They don’t even have to look very hard for their guy. Dozens of men have come to the newspaper, looking for a job after one had been advertised for John Doe. And among these men is John Willoughby (Gary Cooper), a starving former baseball player from the lower leagues who needs money to repairs injured arm. John takes the deal. He is hired to play John Doe…

Ann runs the show. She understands her character, John Doe, and it’s she who keeps the photographers from taking pictures of John when he first arrives. John is starving, he faints in the news office, he is unshaven and dishevelled. This is not the John Doe she’s writing about. The man she created is killing himself on purpose! And when he is properly dressed for the pictures it’s Ann who manages to get him in a proper stance for the photo.

It doesn’t take long before the people want to hear John Doe and arrangements are made for him to speak in the radio. Ann writes the speech of course, and it’s brilliant. She realizes that people are tired of complaining political speeches and the text takes another direction entirely. She writes about the importance of the John Doe’s of the world, and all of the ways in which the common man can make a difference. She writes about how neighbor can help neighbor in tough times, and there’s a clear message of fraternity and hope in the speech. It’s a very powerful moment.

"I'm gonna talk about us, the average guys, the John Does. If anybody should ask you what the average John Doe is like, you couldn't tell him because he's a million and one things. He's Mr. Big and Mr. Small. He's simple and he's wise. He's inherently honest, but he's got a streak of larceny in his heart. He seldom walks up to a public telephone without shoving his finger into the slot to see if somebody left a nickel there. He's the man the ads are written for. He's the fella everybody sells things to. He's Joe Doakes,[8] the world's greatest stooge and the world's greatest strength. Yes, sir. Yessir, we're a great family, the John Does. We're the meek who are, er, supposed to inherit the earth. You'll find us everywhere. We raise the crops, we dig the mines, work the factories,keep the books, fly the planes and drive the busses! And when a cop yells: "Stand back there, you!" He means us, the John Does!

We've existed since time began. We built the pyramids, we saw Christ crucified, pulled the oars for Roman emperors, sailed the boats for Columbus, retreated from Moscow with Napoleon and froze with Washington at Valley Forge!

(…)

I know a lot of you are saying "What can I do? I'm just a little punk. I don't count." Well, you're dead wrong! The little punks have always counted because in the long run the character of a country is the sum total of the character of its little punks.

(…)

Your neighbor! He's a terribly important guy, that guy next door! You're gonna need him and he's gonna need you . . . so look him up! If he's sick, call on him! If he's hungry, feed him! If he's out of a job, find him one! To most of you, your neighbor is a stranger, a guy with a barking dog, and a high fence around him.

Yes, sir, my friends, the meek can only inherit the earth when the John Does start loving their neighbors. You'd better start right now. Don't wait till the game is called on account of darkness! Wake up, John Doe! You're the hope of the world!”

That speech generates a wave of change as ordinary people start forming John Doe clubs all over the country. Neighbors extend the hand of friendship to neighbor, helping each other to find jobs, gathering to chat or simply to say ‘hello’ to one another, carrying out the principles John talked about in his radio speech. The message grows and reaches millions of people…

The conflict in the movie starts when the owner of the newspaper wants to use John Doe’s popularity to support a grassroots political campain. It shouldn’t be a problem except that John, John Willoughby, although he accepted the deal to pretend to have written the letter, is not a dishonest man. He has principles.

This movie is remarkable. The moment of John’s speech in the radio is really wonderful, makes a chill go down your spine as you hear it. And although the movie is not overflowing with Christmas trees, reindeers and carols, the message of fraternity and hope of the John Doe movement is very much in accordance with the Christmas spirit, with what actually makes Christmas what it is.

It’s predictable that a romance should bloom between Ann and John, but the way in which it happens is never silly or obvious. It progresses slowly and there is a fair share of insecurity and mistakes on both sides.

Barbara Stanwyck is wonderful as she always is and Gary Cooper is… wow. This is the first gary Cooper film I ever saw, and the way he plays John is just great. He is not a perfect hero, an artificial character without faults, quite the contrary. He does take the deal after all, he wants to bail some times, he even tries to run away. But when it counts he takes a stand. And that is another theme of the movie, this need to stand by your believe, to have something to fight for. John stands for his principles. And ultimately he is willing to do whatever it takes for them, which creates one of the most breathtaking endings in all of the films of this year’s Christmas marathon.

Meet John Doe | 1941 | Directed by Frank Capra | Written by Robert Riskin | Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck

25 Days of Christmas | All that Heaven Allows, 1955

All that Heaven Allows | 1955

The drawing's got her head in an odd
position, but her gaze, his kiss and his
red flannel shirt are in perfect synch
with what the movie is all about

“Most man live lives of quiet desperation” said Henry David Thoreau, and he was eloquently quoted in The Dead Poet Society. But that wasn’t the first film to quote Thoreau’s lines. Decades before, in 1955, the same words appeared in “All that heaven allows”, when Jame Wyman’s character holds up the book and reads a few lines aloud.

All That Heaven Allows is a romantic tale about Cary Scott, an affluent widow in suburban New England, whose social life involves her country club peers, college age children and a few men vying for her affection. Amidst all this she meets Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson), her gardener, an intelligent and passionate landscape designer who’s much younger than her. In spite of the age difference, they fall in love for each other.

It is in the house of one of Ron’s friends that she picked up the book by Thoreau. His circle of friends involves that sort of people, who care little about wealth and status, much like himself, content with his simple life. Cary enjoys that change of pace, but even she is surprised to find out just how deeply Ron’s feelings run…

The movie is very short and fast paced, and it isn’t long before their feelings for each other become clear. Ron’s love for her certainly cannot be denied. Part of the charm of the movie is in that. In spite of being a lot younger, Ron never behaves as a naive little boy. He is a man who knows exactly what he wants. He’s had a lot of girl’s in his life, but the one he wants is Cary. Before they even make their affections for one another clear he stops by her house unexpectedly and tells her that he’s going to a friend’s house and thought she might like to go along. He includes her in his life and he never, never hesitates. When he invites her to his home he says that he’s been fixing the place up so it can become a home for them.

Ron talks to her about his plans to start a business with trees. He wants to live his life simply, put more silver tip spruce around the place...

His certainty about what he wants, about his love, and the ease with which he brings the topic of them spending their lives together catches her entirely by surprise and she panics. In her haste, Cary breaks a small vase he’d been mending for hours, but he says it doesn’t matter. Can’t we just care for each other, she asks, and he says no. It’s not enough, for either of them. She insists on leaving and he insists on helping her to put on her boots so she won’t catch a cold. Cary breaks down crying and it becomes clear than she can not leave. She loves him too…

The conflict of the story starts when the two of them have to face society’s reaction to their engagement. A widow of Cary’s position with the son of her former gardener… It’s scandalous. Affairs like these tend to get people talking, to bring up the worst of human nature. And Cary doesn’t just have to deal with her country-club friends. There’s also her children, who aren’t that much younger than Ron…

“You know, Cary, as well as I do|that situations like this bring out the hateful side|of human nature. Remember you have|Ned and Kay to think about. At their age,|what people say matters terribly. Have you stopped to think|what all these rumors will do to them?”

Her children, Ned and Kay, are the first to lose it when she introduces them to her husband to be… Her son is outraged at his mother’s audacity and can’t bear the thought of her leaving the house they were born in to live in some “hut in the woods”. Her daughter’s “detached” psychology-student stance, insisting that her mother is “much more conventional” than Ron thinks and desirous of the “approval of the group”. Doesn’t help much. But Ron’s incredibly mature about the whole thing, and Ron is a rock by her side the whole time.

“It's natural, Cary. I'm not like their father. It would be different if you were marrying the same kind of man. Successful businessman, pillar of the community. I can understand it.”

Things go downhill from there. Cary is accused of having no sense of propriety, her own son acuses her of going after “a pair of muscles” and insists that he would forever be ashamed to bring his friends home if his mother should insist on such madness. Her friends frown upon the situation, and some of them, watching to Ron’s arrival in a much inferior car than hers openly accuse him of being in this for her money. Her daughter comes home crying when other young people in town come up with a crack about her mother fooling with the gardener’s son even before her husband was dead…

CARY: Two people who are in love|with each other, want to be married. Why is it so difficult all of a sudden? 

RON: It isn't,if you're not afraid.

This is the first film with Rock Hudson I have ever seen…. What a performance… He’s a perfect leading man. His portrayal of Ron depicts a man whose strength of character is only matched by his devotion to the woman he loves. He is a free spirit, whose way of life was inspired by Thoreau’s Walden: “Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” This way of life is the one thing about himself he won’t change and he is scared at how close he comes to it because of how much he loves her.

To Cary, marrying Ron means an entirely different way of life. Perhaps she’s not ready for it. She’s certainly ready for a love affair, but that’s not what Ron’s offering. Is she ready for love?

Cary’s dilemma, between her happiness and her love for Ron on one side and her children’s wishes and social status in the other, is perhaps, not new… The tears and spoiled children reactions are there, as is the realization that the children themselves won’t be around much longer as they get married/travel to study abroad. Cary’s loneliness, pointed out in scenes in which he watches other people in the streets is beautifully and powerfully depicted in a scene in which she receives a TV for Christmas from her children. As she gazes at her own reflection on the screen the man talks about how she will never be lonely again. All the company she wants. Drama. Comedy. Life’s parade at her fingertips all in the simple gaze of a woman into an empty screen.

The movie opened on Christmas Day, 1955 and the final scenes along with the resolution of the story revolve entirely around the Christmas Holidays. Christmas is central for how the story develops, from an unexpected meeting while shopping for Christmas trees, to an important incident caused by snow, down to the hopeful feeling of the story, all of it resonates with this time of year…

There have been many stories about relationships challenged by an age gap since then, but few so masterfully explored the subject with so many details. The performances are incredible, up until the very end and their feelings for one another can never be put in dispute. But there’s more… In the beginning both of them are wearing dull collors, grayish tones for her, simple working clothes for him, but when they enter each other’s lives, they also bring colour to it (an important thing in a technicolour movie, still a novelty at the time). Red in her elegant party dress and his flannel shirt, colours that fit together but make both of them stand out amidst others.

The differences between them are also clearly marked, both in their environment and the people they surround themselves with. Cary’s place is comfortable but confined. His place is much more open, with a beautiful window that serves as the background for some of the most beautiful shots in the movie…

I barely noticed time passing when I watched this picture. So close to Christmas it almost didn’t make it to this year’s blogathon, and I am so glad it made it in the end… It’s got something of anti-consumerism in it’s message but All that Heaven Allows goes beyond that. It targets society’s reaction against what’s different and unexpected, and the matter of having courage to stand up for what you believe and knowing your own heart. It trully is a really good film and I am eager to catch other Rock Hudson pictures now...

All That Heaven Allows | 1955 | Directed by Douglas Sirk | Written by Peg Fenwick | Rock Hudson, Jane Wyman

25 days of Christmas | Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, 1983

Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence | 1983

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence is one of the strangest Christmas films I have ever seen… Be aware. Beyond this point there be spoilers.

Okay, so, perhaps it’s not exactly a Christmas film. This Japanese movie of 1983 tells the story of a Japanese prisioner of war camp during the Second World War (early 1942, soon after the Japanese invasion of South East Asia). It was based on Sir Laurens van der Post’s experiences as a Japanese prisioner of war during the Second World War, as depicted in the books The Seed and the Sower (1963) and The Night of The New Moon (1970).

The story focuses on four men and the unusual relations shaped between them by the war: Major jack Celliers (David Bowie), Captain Yonoi (Sakamoto), Lieutenant Colonel John Lawrence (Tom Conti) and Sargeant Hara (Takeshi).

Nagisa Oshima, the director hired David Bowie for the part of Jack Celliars after he saw him In a production of The Elephant Man in Brodway, and Bowie himself said in an interview he thought that was the most credible performance he had given up to that point. Major Jack Celliers is known among his fellow British soldiers as Strafer Jack, on account of his reputation as a soldier’s soldier. Sent as the lead of an advanced party to the invasion of Java, Jack surrendered when the Japanese military threatened to kill an entire villlage unless he did so. He was then imprisoned and mistreated by the Japanese guards, subjected to trial with no defence counsellor and sentenced to execution.

Jack during his trial, removing his shirt to prove he'd been mistreated by his Japanese captors

Luckily for Jack, one of the judges was Captain Yonoi, a young Japanese officer who became fascinated by that fearless British man who looked his executioners in the eye as they pointed their rifles to his chest. The Japanese Captain recommends that Jack be send to a prisioner of war camp instead of being sentenced to death by firing squad.

Yonoi admires Jack’s willingness to stay in Java to organise the campaign after the rest of the army had left, relating to it because of a secret he reveals to none of his countrymen: He was a member of the “Shining Young Officers” who staged the coup d’etat of February 1936, aiming to purge the Japanese army and government of their ideological opponents. The coup failed, and the officers were sentenced to Death, but Yonoi was abroad at the time and couldn’t share the honourable and brave end of his comrades. The tortured Yonoi admires Jack’s fearlessness and sees in the British man an example of military virtue and a model of the kind of perfection he aspires to achieve.

Yonoi practicing with his sword... His kiai startled the prisoners. All but Lawrence

Jack on the other hand also hides his own demons. His reputation as a soldier’s soldier and his willingness to take the more dangerous assignements (the fearlesness so admired by Yonoi), arises from a detachment from life that is only present in a man that doesn’t fear, and even wishes for death to find him, and the guilt that tortures him is explained when the movie dissolves into scenes from his past.

Jack has a younger brother, a little boy who was bullied for his beautiful soprano singing voice and a deformity in his upper back. During their childhood Jack was committed to defending his little brother from the older boys who bullied him, which meant he often ended up on the ground bleeding as five or six of them attacked him, to give his brother time to run away. Eventually Jack is sent to a boarding school, and when he reaches six form his brother joins him. By them however, Jack is no longer the little one’s protector, and he is terrified of what will happen when the other boys set eyes on his brother’s back, afraid to be associated with anything abnormal in a place where he’s blended in for the first time, top of his class and head of his house. So, during the initiation ritual, when dozens of other boys humiliated his little brother, mocking his voice and stripping him of his clothes, exposing his deformed back and throwing him in a pit, Jack stood by and did nothing. It’s a powerful scene, the younger of the Celliar brothers alone amidst dozens of older boys stripping him of his clothes and exposing his deformed back while Jack is standing by himself on the other side of a wall, a beam of light shining upon him as he listens to his brother’s calls for him. “Help me Jack! Help me, Jack!”

One of the most powerful scenes in the film. Jack's little brother asking for help and Jack standing on the other side of the wall, invisible, determined not to interfere. The moment that would shape the rest of his life. 

Beautiful cinematography... Jack listening to what's happening on the other side, a beam of light flashing over him

He didn’t help. And his brother never sang another note.

The memories have colours and contours of a dreamlike quality. During the flashbacks at the school, It’s David Bowie himself who plays his younger self, while his younger brother stays the same age as in the first scenes of their childhood, which adds to the notion that for Jack Celliars, from that moment on, life was not linear. He lives in that moment… He defines himself by it. His expertise, as he tells his cell mate when he’s waiting for execution “lies in the field of betrayal”.

On the left, Jack played by a younger actor. On the righ, at the school it's Bowie himself who plays his younger self, in a surrealistic move of the director, while his brother is still the same tiny boy who played Jack's brother before. 

I wanted to watch this film as soon as I heard David Bowie was in it, but now that I have watched to it, I have to say my favourite character was Tom Conti’s Mr. Lawrence, the alter ego of van der Post, a Japanese-speaking British officer who’s lived in japan before the war, understands and admires their culture. When Jack arrives in the camp Lawrence finds himself in the unconfortable position of liason between the violent guards and the thick commander of the British POWs. It is in the exercise of this position that an unusual friendiship starts to bloom between himself and sargeant Gengo Hara, one of the leading Japanese in the camp, who alternates between reasonable or even amiable and extremely violent.

It is this friendship that embodies the most fundamental aspect of Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence: the cultural disconnect that exists between the two man (and their respective colleagues). It a film about how neither side fully understands the other and how that disconnect triggers violence and bloodshed in the context of a war. Lawrence is an exception to this in that he respects and understands the Japanese culture, to a certain extent, and because of this, he is lonely… The British commander of the POWs often expresses his despise for Lawrence spending so much time with “the japs”, and displays little respect for the many times Lawrence softens the blow of his own thick-headed attitudes. Among the Japanese Lawrence isn’t more than an enemy either.

Lawrence, the most inspiring character in the film

There is a conversation somewhere in the middle, with Lawrence patiently explaining something of the Western mentality to Gengo Hara, and in that moment lies the heart of the movie, the differences between both sides spelled out to ears which however not fully understanding, are willing to listen. Ultimately this unexpected bond formed between Hara and Lawrence leads to a moment in which one culture infiltrates the other, effectively saving his life, and the element of Western culture to accomplish that is precisely one of its most powerful: Christmas.

HARA: Why are you still alive? I'd admire you more if you killed yourself. Agood officer like you! How can you stand the shame? LAWRENCE: We don't call it shame. Being a prisioner is one of the fortunes of war. We surely aren't happy being prisoners. We want to escape. We want to fight you. HARA: That's just quibbling. LAWRENCE: No! We want to win. This camp isn't the end. We won't kill ourselves. It's the coward's way out.

Hara and Lawrence, in one of their many conversations

The movie starts with the discovery in the camp of a homossexual encounter between a Japanese guard who forced himself over a Dutch prisoner and therefore must comit ritual suicide in front of the others, to pay for his indiscretion. Captain Yonoi insists upon the ceremony, and when the British fail to watch impassibly, he declares that they should spend 48 hours without food or water, as a cure for spiritual laziness, a ritual that only Lawrence understands (even if he doesn’t agree with it). To the Japanese it is a sign of greak weakness and a flaud character that the British are clearly uncomfortable in the violent rituals that to them are meant to be honourable. And when Jack Celliars, the most recent arrival at the camp leads a disrespectful rebellion, catching flowers for the men to eat in spite of the wishes of their captors, Yonoi is deeply disappointed. His model of fearlessness and military virtue has a different moral code than him entirely, and his internal conflic for having chosen such a model in the first place is greater than can be explained.

It adds to his confusion that it is not simple admiration that he feels towards Jack. His obsession with the British Major borders on homo-erotic attraction, and in fact there is an exchange between violence and sexuality in the film in that one is presented as a metaphor of the other. Yonoi behavior is violent and even cruel towards the prisoners, but he seems incapable of hurting Jack, and even overly concerned with his well being and quick recovery. It soon becomes clear that it was more than simply decorum that made Yonoi shout at Jack to put his shirt back on in court, where he had reomoved his uniform to prove he’d been mistreated. The sexual conflict in the film is not so subtle as to be considered subtext, but it’s not too explicit either, and the movie takes a couple of viewings to understand fully… The fascination Jack exerts on the Japanese captain is such that his men believe the Brit to be an evil spirit, and Lawrence, who doesn’t fail to notice the unusual dedication of the Captain to the POW realizes that Yonoi intended to make Jack the commander of the POWs, a change he fails to communicate to the current commander, which adds to the tensions between both men.

Lawrence, the lonely man who at times relates more to the Japanese culture than to his own, is the only one who’s able to see the war for what is it, and his rational vision is a breath of fresh air, even if he knows that his knowing it won’t make a big difference, things will still follow their course and powerful men will behave as they do. But it gives the character a certain calm and peace brilliantily achieved by Tom Conti.

LAWRENCE: You are the victim of men who think that they are right. Just as one day you and Captain Yonoi thought you were right. And the truth is, of course, that nobody is right.

A two-to-three acre camp was built for this film in the island of Rarotonga and although only a small portion of it was used for filming, it did create a powerful visual. It was the first and only part of Sakamoto, who was never too comfortable in front of the cameras or with the things he did for this particular character…

David Bowie talked in an interview about how the director gave very detailed instructions to the Japanese actors on set, but when it came to the Westerners he just said: ‘Just do whatever it is that your people do”. So, even the mood in the set was demonstrative of the cultural disconect of which the movie speaks, which probably contributed to make it so powerful.

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence | 1983 | Directed by Nagisa Oshima | Written by Nagisa Oshima and Paul Mayersberg | Tom Conti, David Bowie, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Takeshi,

25 Days of Christmas | Sunvalley Serenade, 1941

Sunvalley Serenade | 1941

I liked this poster the best with the drawing
of the skyiers in the top and Glen Miller's
trombone squeezed in... 

The Darthmouth Trobadours are a band (played by Glenn Miller’s orchestra). Phill Corey conducts, Ted Scott plays the piano, and the boys have just scored a Christmas gig at sunvalley, alongside Miss Vivian Dawn (Lynn Bari), who already enjoys a reputation as a famous singer.

Things couldn’t be better, especially for Ted, who caught Vivian’s eye and started going out with the singer. Untill his ‘uncle Sam’ comes for him, that is, a representatuve of the government! Months earlier, the band’s manager decided that for better press, the band should help a foreign refugee, and it was Ted who signed the papers. Well, their refugee has arrived and he’s expect to show up at Ellis Island to receive the child.

Except that when they get there it isn’t a child at all, it’s a young woman, Karen Benson (Sonja Henie), from Norway. And Ted’s gotta figure out how to handle the situation, looking after the new girl and making sure everything is okay with his girlfriend at the same time.

I wish I could say more about the story, but the thing about Sunvalley Serenade is that there isn’t much of a story at all. Pretty soon it becomes clear that Karen’s plan is to find an American guy she can marry so she can secure her position in the US and she’s determined that Ted is going to be the guy. When Vivian notices that she decides to mark her territory,and the film is about this competition of sorts between the two women, with Ted more or less clueless in the middle. Eventually Karen follows them to Sunvalley for the Christmas gig, and the film becomes a sequence of skiing scenes and music numbers.

That’s a problem, because Karen’s character is not likable at all and I couldn’t find it in me to root for her to be with Ted at all. She’s an empty minded girl, with an obvious agenda and even her tragic past (the fact that she is a refugee) is not enough to make the character less dislikable. Vivian, on the other hand, is spoiled and annoying, and it’s not easy to root for her either. So in the end there’s no going around the fact that Ted is surrounded by horrible women, and it would be best if he found a way to get rid of them both…

But Ted is not a strong character at all. He is an okay guy, and John Payne’s acting makes him the only guy in the whole film that I actually cared about. But he’s pushed around by the two girls most of the time, which makes him come off as quite week.

There are a lot of skiing scenes in the film, some of them quite cool, in fact, the movie got me thinking about taking skiing lessons some time, trying that out. In addition to that, the snowy landscapes are the most Christmassy thing in the movie…

And there’s a reason for that setting: Sonja Heine was not only one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood at the time she was also a three times Olympic champion in Ladie’s single figure skating (10 times World champion, 6 times European and 6 times Norwegian champion). In the movie, her character tries to replace Vivian’s singing with an elaborate ice skating act.

Be that as it may, her important sporting career is not the most interesting aspect of Sonja’s private history. As a wealthy celebrity she moved in the same social circles as royalty and heads of state. She had several connections with high-ranking Nazi officials, and she was a personal friend of Hitler himself, as well as his favourite figure skater. She was seen doing the Nazi salute once in the Olympics, and during the Nazi ocupation of Norway, her wealth and properties were spared because of an autographed picture of Hitler prominently displayed at the piano. Learning all this has made it even harder for me to enjoy the film – as if disliking her character wasn’t enough.

Love the way Ted Looks to Karen in this picture, sporting his cute Christmas jumper... On the rigth, Glenn Miller and his trombone...

The music of course is fantastic. This is one of only two films to include Glenn Miller’s orchestra, and there are some favourites in it, like Moonlight Serenade, Chattanooga Choo Choo (in an elaborate dance number), In the mood and I know why (and so do you).

Overall, however the film is not very good, not one I recommend or intend to see again…

Sunvalley Serenade | 1941 | Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone | Written by Robert Ellis and Helen Logan | John Payne, Glenn Miller, Sonja Henie,

25 Days of Christmas | A Christmas Carol, 1910

A Christmas Carol | 1910

This cool looking poster looks a but like
the cover of a book...

A Christmas Carol is a very popular story. It has never been out of print, and it has been adaptated many times to film, stage, opera, ballet and other media. In fact, in the earliest years of the 20th century there were silent adaptations of that story. One of them made in 1910, which I had the pleasure of watching to this December…

Edison’s A Christmas Carol was released on December, 23, 1910. It’s only 11 minutes long and it’s remarkable in the way it manages to fit the whole story of Dicken’s Book in such a short time. The visions from the past present and future are there (although the ghosts are reduced to a Christmas Spirit), Marley is there, as are Fred, Bob Cratchit and the people asking for money for charity.

The special effects are impressive. I would have expected the spirits to be just regular actors, but they were transparent and ghost-like, something I wouldn’t think it was possible to do with 1910 equipment.




The film felt very long, in spite of its 11 minutes, probably because I watched it online, and missed the joyful piano music they used to have along those early silent films. But it was very nice to watch such an early example of what cinema could do, and Scrooge’s little dance in the end was just amazing, definitely something to be repeated in future adaptations.

The entire film can be seen here:

25 Days of Christmas | A Christmas Carol, 1938

On Christmas Eve in early Victorian London a young man named Fred is on his way to visit his uncle Ebenezer Scrooge, the famous literary miser who doesn’t believe Christmas is anything more than Humbug. There are some boys sliding on ice on his way, and Fred slides with them, to the amusement of tiny Tim Cratchit who’s watching his brother Peter and the others as they slide. Fred, overwhelmed with Christmas joy encourages Tim to try sliding as well, but the boy apologizes saying he is not so good with running. It is only them that Fred notices the boy’s crooked legs, and hiding how sorry he feels, he picks the boy up in his back and slides once more, this time taking tiny Tim along…

This was a beautiful scene to open the 1938 adaptation of A Christmas Carol, and one that perfectly exemplifies the joyful and lighthearted mood of this version. It’s one of the best renditions of Fred I have ever seen and the same goes for Bob Cratchit and a lot of other characters.

Scrooge of 1951 is generally considered the best version of Dickens’ classic, and I agree that Alistair Sim’s performance made for a more definitive Scrooge than Reginald Owen. Mr. Owen’s Scrooge is not quite so three-dimensional and Sim’s and he often comes across as a buffon, something of a comic relief, which is light years away from mr. Sim’s human depiction of Scrooge.

Be that as it may, I really like the 1938 version, simply because it’s much more joyful and it feels a lot more like Christmas most of the time (white the 1951 version can be too dark at times). It had to be, I suppose, as a film that came out in the middle of the Depression. Some of the grimmer aspects of the original story were dropped to achieve this lightness and to make the film fit in short 69 minutes…

Scrooge’s transformation is certainly very fast, and before the Ghost of Christmas Yet to come has shown him anything he is already a reformed man, who loves Christmas and wants to change, which I guess is in accordance with the general mood of the film, dropping the darkest aspects of the book.

The film could have been completely different. Another actor was supposed to play Scrooge, mtr. Lionel Barrymore, whose voice is heard narrating the trailler, and played Scrooge yearly on the radio at the time. But he was prevented from joining the film on account of his arthritis, and Reginald Owen was called. In fact, in a demonstration of class, Lionel refused even to play Ebenezer on the radio that year, so as not to take away from Owen’s performance, only to return to the role a year later.

Considering the time in which this version was made and the fact that it was by MGM, it is unfair to compare it to the 1951 version, really. I wish the film included more of the original material but that it is a lighter version doesn’t diminish the story, and it’s worth remembering that for a long time it was the most widely available version and only picture-length adaptation, after a number of silent versions and a British one in 1935. It’s definitely very enjoyable, and watching it makes it feel like Christmas… What more can one ask of a movie?

A Cristmas Carol | 1938 | Directed by Edwin L. Marin | Written by Hugo Butler | Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart, Kathleen Lockhart, Terry Kilburn, Barry MacKay