Five Lesser Known Christmas Films and Shows

In this blog post I will introduce you to five of my favourite Christmas films that perhaps have slipped under your radar for one reason or another. All five of them have given me a full measure of Christmas enjoyment in their various ways and have stood up well to repeated viewing.

So, when does Christmas film season start? Well, that is a matter of personal choice, and I know people who will happily watch them all year round. For me, Christmas film season is any time from the beginning of November until the end of December. Whenever your Christmas viewing starts and finishes I hope you find something here to whet your appetite.

Rare Exports 2010

I will start off with the film that will split people right down the middle between those who love it and those who hate it. Rare Exports is a Finnish film that deals with a very different Santa Claus myth. A horror comedy that is pitch black and cynical; it really makes a change from the romantic comedies beloved of film makers at this time of the year. The film starts with an American corporation excavating part of the Finnish wilderness, although it is unclear at first what they are there for. However, whatever it is they are looking for is clearly dangerous, and the young hero at the centre of the film, a gun toting 10-year-old, has a shrewd idea what it is. The ‘home’ of Santa Claus himself definitely go in a very different direction from other origin stories and it is a very engaging and original film if you get on the wavelength of the writer. A couple of warnings. In the UK it has a 15 certificate for violence and nudity, so it definitely isn’t a film to share with your kids, but when you have been force-fed sweetness for 12 days, it is a nice palate cleanser.

Black Mirror: White Christmas 2014

If you have ever seen Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror series, you will have a shrewd idea of what to expect. It stars Mad Men’s Jon Hamm and the excellent Rafe Spall, who have been together in an Arctic cabin without really talking to each other. Matt Trent (Hamm) decides to get Joe Potter (Spall) to open up to him as it is Christmas.  This is a story with three distinct parts, the first two of which feature Trent’s stories of the outside world and the third told by Potter who has finally opened up to the friendly American. The level of imagination on display, and the way that the ideas teeter on the edge of reality – more so as technology catches up with Black Mirror – is both amusing and unsettling. The payoff is a marvellous piece of storytelling and you may never look at a favourite Christmas song the same way after this! Arguably, this is the finest instalment of the series because you get the sense that Brooker may have a sneaking regard for the Christmas season.

The Bishop’s Wife 1947

Released the year after It’s a Wonderful Life, The Bishop’s Wife was more critically acclaimed but less successful at the box office on its original release and, in my opinion, is the better film. I know that’s controversial, but the central trio of David Niven, Cary Grant and Loretta Young are simply marvellous in their roles and in their interplay with each other. Niven is the Bishop, Henry Brougham, Grant is an angel called Dudley and Young is Julia Brougham, the Bishop’s wife of the title. The bishop prays for divine guidance and that prayer is answered by Dudley. However, the intention behind the prayer and the guidance that Dudley wishes to give the bishop may be two very different things! The prickly Henry is always second best to the urbane angel with a twinkle in his eye and a quip at the ready. Interestingly, the two parts were cast the other way round at first until the director was changed and Henry Koster decided that the opposite parts played to each actor’s strengths. For the time, the special effects are very good, and every part is cast perfectly. The daughter in the film is played by Karolyn Grimes who also played Zuzu in It’s a Wonderful Life, and the lead chorister of an inner city church is Bobby Anderson, the young George Bailey. It really is the most open-hearted of films and if you see it on a TV channel somewhere pop it on record, you won’t regret it.

A Christmas Carol 1971

This 25-minute cartoon, almost impossible to track down until YouTube came along is quite simply the model for presenting the story to a younger audience. I first saw it on television as a child and just adored it. This is no cute version of the story though. Richard Williams, who went on to direct Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, understood Dickens’ original novel and knew that it was the horror and the despair that made the story’s happy ending powerful, so you get a gothic version of the novel that does not downplay the darkness, both figurative and literal. Some of the work is amongst the most striking ever seen in an animation, with the scenes of Scrooge visiting a coalmining community, a lighthouse and a ship at sea staying in my head for over 30 years before I had the chance to see it again. The voice cast is stellar, with Alastair Sim reprising his role from the classic 1951 version as Scrooge with Michael Hordern playing Marley as he did in that film, 6 years before appearing as Scrooge in a BBC production (the only actor to play both roles on camera) and Michael Redgrave as the Narrator. The animation won Best Animated Short at the 1973 Oscars after being briefly released in the cinema to make it eligible. Head over to YouTube to see this amazing piece of work and hope that someone will eventually give it the proper DVD release it so richly deserves.

A Christmas Carol 2000

Anyone from the UK reading this will know Ross Kemp as Grant Mitchell in Eastenders or as the presenter of documentaries from the most dangerous parts of the world. Ross Kemp as Scrooge may be very hard to believe and some people may indeed wonder whether I have taken leave of my senses! However, he is excellent in the role of loan shark Eddie Scrooge in modern London, dialling down the violence and dialling up the menace and coldness very effectively. With excellent supporting turns from comedy legends Warren Mitchell as Eddie’s Dad and Liz Smith as Joyce, the mixture of understated humour and effective chills really brings this close to the feel of the original novel. Most of the updates of the story do not work, but this does, so keep an eye out for it.

I hope you’ve enjoyed delving into the more unfamiliar areas of Christmas viewing and that at least one of my suggestions hits the spot. In my next blog I will look at some Christmas music that won’t drive you crazy before November 30!