CHRISTMAS SHORT TAKES

CHRISTMAS ABOVE THE CLOUDS (2025)

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens remains in print and popular after 180 years, and is adapted every year in books, on TV, and in movies. One reason for its popularity is that everyone knows the basic story and we find it fun to see how the adapters will adjust bits of the story and characters to bring it up to date. This is a solid comedy version with good performances and nice up-to-date changes, though the basics remain: a Scrooge figure, some ghosts, a beleaguered employee, a relative who still has faith in Scrooge, and the sickly Tiny Tim. Here, Scrooge is Ella Neezer, the high-powered head of a successful travel agency who treats her employees like crap, especially her chief assistant Bobbi Cratchit, expecting everyone to work on Christmas Day while she flies first class to Australia for a business meeting. Tiny Tim is single mom Bobbi's son who has life-threatening asthma; the good-natured relative is a sister; Marley is Marlene, Ella’s late mentor. On the flight to Australia, Ella winds up next to her ex-fiancé Jake whom she gave up years ago to focus on her career and discovers that he never quite got over her (as she never quite got over him). The mystical stuff starts when she sees Marlene on her laptop screen; instead of chains, her ghost is burdened by wearing polyester. The three ghosts (a flight attendant, a pilot, and a scary silent man in black) take her through her life to show her how awful she’s been and what she can do for redemption. Erin Krakow does a great job as Ella, both present and past. It took me a little while to warm up to Tyler Hynes (pictured with Krakow), who looks and acts more like a country singer than a typical Hallmark small-town guy, but he's fine and has a nice beefy sexy aura. Erik Gow is fun as Christmas Present, and the movie's director, Peter Benson, is one of the disgruntled employees. There's a fun little reference to It's a Wonderful Life when, in the future, Ella discovers that Jake has become "a lonely librarian!" A very good adaptation that I could see myself rewatching in Christmas Future.

THE SNOW MUST GO ON (2025)

This is the gayest non-gay Christmas movie ever. Its first scene is great fun. Corey Cott (at right) is a former Broadway star trying to make a comeback with a one-man musical called Frost/Blitzen in which he plays a version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. It's a flop and his divorced sister suggests he come and stay with her for the holidays. He winds up directing his niece's high school Christmas musical in which he takes the lead role hoping that a big Broadway producer, who is the mother of one of the students, will see him and hire him. His mercenary move is resented by some of the kids and the guidance counselor (Heather Hemmens) who is assisting him, but eventually the Christmas spirit wins out and Cott fixes everything in time to be a hero to everyone. Hallmark's theater plots never ring true but I like that they keep trying. Cott, a musical star in real life, is very good and looks quite adorable in Christmas pajamas which he wears in public insisting that it’s a "sweat set." However, he has zero chemistry with Hemmens—their romantic feelings barely register and they kiss as though it were 2020 and they were filming under Covid lockdown conditions. Kaelyn Yoon-MacRae as the niece is the standout supporting player. Some of the kids get a moment or two in the spotlight but not much more. I don't mean to imply that any romance connected to the Broadway scene should be gay, but Cott is so cutely whimsical that for a while, I assumed the character was gay as his connection with Hemmens has no heat whatsoever. I hope someone remakes this with Jonathan Bennett as the actor and maybe Luke Macfarlane as a hunky guidance counselor. 

MOONLIGHT AND MISTLETOE (2008)

The teenage Holly Crosby works at the family business, an all-year-round Christmas store and inn. A shaggy boy named Peter chats her up; she inspires him to get interested in The Nutcracker, and he leaves her a self-carved wooden necklace, but he's gone before she can thank him. Many years later, Holly (Candace Cameron Bure), who became disenchanted with the holidays, returns to her hometown to care for her father who was injured in a fall. She finds him on crutches and in good hands with his assistant Peter (Christopher Weihl), the same Peter from the first scene, though it takes Holly half the movie to realize that—and she still has that necklace. When Holly learns that her dad is in danger of losing the inn, she meets Ben (Matt Walton), a handsome financial advisor who offers to help her by finding silent partners who will pay off his debts. Too good to be true? Indeed—the fine print of the contract states that the debt must be paid by December 25th. Did I mention that Peter has a side business carving beautiful one-of-a-kind Nutcracker figures? Did I mention that the townsfolk still have warm nostalgic feelings for the place? So despite the title, it's Nutcrackers and nostalgia that might save the day. This is Candace Cameron Bure's first Hallmark Christmas movie; she went on to become the queen of the genre and a Hallmark Channel spokesperson for a time. Here, she’s the typical Hallmark heroine, a big-city gal drawn back to her roots who meets a handsome small-town guy who works with his hands. Weihl is a little quirky-looking and a bit more passive than later Hallmark men of the earth, but he's fine. Tom Arnold is compelling if not always likable, and the likability problem is more about the script than the actor. [All movie are from the Hallmark Channel]

GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS ALWAYS (2022)

Somewhere in a large, lovely and beautifully decorated afterlife realm, there are dozens of ghosts who are given assignments every Christmas to come to earth to "scrooge" people, that is, to instill the Christmas spirit into scroogey people. They make a point of calling it scrooging even though it's really anti-scrooging, and this is just the first of a number of plot points that don't make sense, though the movie is generally charming enough to survive them. We see Roy, Katherine and Arlene, ghosts of, respectively, Christmas past, present and future, complete the de-scrooging of a singer named Susan Kraine in the town of Hartford. As it happens, in her earthly life many years ago, Katherine lived in Hartford and she takes a detour to visit a pub called the Rooty Tooty which she used to frequent but which is now closed and dilapidated. As she walks around reminiscing, a handsome young man named Peter Baron walks in; we learn that he is a rich man's son who spends his off-time feeding the homeless across the street, and since his family owns the building, he stores his food and supplies there. Peter asks if he can help her, and Katherine is quite surprised because no one can see the ghosts except the people being de-scrooged. They clearly have chemistry, but she has to skedaddle off to the afterlife before their meet-cute can fully bloom. The ghosts get their assignments for next Christmas, and these three get, guess who, Peter Baron. 

A year later they appear to him in his apartment. Of course, he's freaked out, because: 1) three ghosts have materialized; 2) he recognizes Katherine from a year ago; 3) he is already an awfully nice guy. He's the opposite of his father Robert, the head of a grocery store chain, who is all business and no sentiment, and has very little regard for his son whom he loves but can't relate to. In the present day, Peter is still intimidated by Robert but has remained working for him because he still has hopes of getting Dad's respect. What he really wants to do is convert the Rooty Tooty into a place to feed and house homeless people. And yes, rest assured, the two will become close by the end of the movie. But that's only half the story. The rom-com half involves Peter and Katherine who are obviously falling in love. But she's dead, right? And, as we find out, despite looking young and beautiful, she's the same age as Peter's late grandparents and was best friends with Peter's grandmother. The ghosts learn that they were actually supposed to be de-scrooging Robert, not Peter. Have no fears, a happy ending is in store for all, even the living Peter and the dead Katherine.

This is a cute Christmas fantasy (though oddly it's not one of the more Christmassy feeling Hallmark movies, despite references to the movie Elf) with a nice set-up and great looking leads. Which is why it's frustrating that the script is fairly weak with lots of plotholes here and there. The rules that apply to the de-scrooging ghosts are vague and illogical. The three ghosts each get dossiers on the subject's past, present and future, but are not supposed to discuss their case with each other, despite the fact that they take an entire year to research their subject. The father-son conflict feels like something that could (and should) have been resolved years ago, and for all those years of bad feeling, the resolution happens quickly and to my mind, not terribly convincingly. The acting is so-so. Lori Tan Chin (Arlene) is irritatingly one-note and Christopher Innvar (Robert) has no charisma and is so low-key, he barely seems to be acting. Beth Leavel, the singer from the opening scene who returns near the end, won a Tony for The Drowsy Chaperone and she's wasted in an unimportant role. But Reginald VelJohnson is fun as Roy, and the leads, both of whom are new to me, are quite good. Kim Matula is wholesomely sexy and throws herself into her role. Even better is Ian Harding (pictured at right), sweet, charming, and vanilla handsome (that's a compliment in my book). The two work together so well that they single-handedly (quadruply-handedly?) make the movie worth watching. Pictured at top are Matula and Harding. [Hallmark Channel]

HOLIDAY INN (1942)

Film buffs like myself who love to think and talk about genre often get quite worked up when trying to define what makes a movie a Christmas movie, as opposed to just a movie that is set at Christmastime. I've touched on this in the past; for me, the mere presence of Christmas isn't enough to make a movie a Christmas movie. Movies about the nativity would fit, but there aren't really many that focus solely on the birth of Jesus—2006's The Nativity Story is the only theatrical film that comes to mind. Some fans want the presence of magic or heavenly intervention to be an element of the story, which covers lots of classics, from Miracle on 34th Street to It's a Wonderful Life to any version of A Christmas Carol. Lacking magic, the presence of the holiday as a major element of the story may suffice. This lets in movies like The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Shop Around the Corner, and White Christmas—I fought for a while against this movie's inclusion in the holiday canon, despite its title, as it seems to me that Christmas is actually a minor part of the narrative, but I've decided to give up the fight and allow it in. Actually, any movie that has the word "Christmas" in its title is probably a Christmas movie. I'll even carve out a space for religious movies like Going My Way or Come to the Stable which only have one or two scenes set at Christmas. But I draw the line at films like Die Hard; though set at Christmas, the holiday is a fairly minor part of the story. The Lion in Winter is on the edge—it takes place entirely at Christmas though there aren't many holiday references aside from the great line, "What shall we hang—the holly or each other?" And that leaves me with HOLIDAY INN, a movie which is shown every Christmas and is the source of the classic song, “White Christmas,” yet whose holiday content is relatively small.

The film came to be as a project for showcasing the songs of Irving Berlin. The setting is a roadside inn that's open holidays only, and in addition to Christmas, we get songs about Thanksgiving, Easter, Valentine's Day, and Independence Day (a song which includes the deathless line. "On this day of independence / On this Independence Day…"). The story is a traditional take on a love triangle between showbiz folks. Jim and Ted are a song and dance team. Jim is getting married to their girl singer Lila and retiring to a lazy life on a farm, but Lila decides at the last minute that she loves Ted and wants to stay in the business. Jim, feeling betrayed, goes ahead and retires and eventually comes up with the idea to open the farm as a sprawling nightclub open on holidays only. He cozies up to his singer Linda and they become unofficially engaged, but soon Ted shows up, Lila having left him for a millionaire oil man, and falls for Linda. Let the silly games and tricks begin. There are two scenes set at Christmas. The first, with Jim teaching Linda "White Christmas" on Christmas night in front of a roaring fire, is lovely and atmospheric. The climax, the reconciliation of Jim and Linda, is also set at Christmas and features an instrumental version of "White Christmas." The rest of the movie plays out over other holidays. And, oh yeah, Bing Crosby, later the king of Christmas TV specials, is Jim and Fred Astaire is Ted. 

I would argue that, if "White Christmas" had not become a pop culture phenomenon, the movie would probably have faded into relative insignificance like most of Bing's other movies. But having seen it quite possibly a hundred times or so, its place as a Christmas movie stalwart (and as a fun musical) is set solidly in my mind. Crosby, whatever else he may be, is generally not a great actor, and his casual performance here relies on his public persona for its effectiveness. Astaire is better, and his dancing scenes mostly outshine Bing's singing scenes. Marjorie Reynolds, as Linda, gives a B-movie performance which suffers from being in an A-movie. I enjoy Walter Abel as Ted's manager and Virginia Dale as Lila. Louise Beavers, as Jim's cook, has a couple of fun moments., especially when she scolds him for sitting around "like a jellyfish with the misery" when he thinks he's lost Linda to Ted. The set, the huge farmhouse set up as an inn, is spectacular—some might say it's practically a character itself, like Rick's Cafe in Casablanca. "White Christmas" is far and away the best song here, though the Valentine's song "Be Careful, It’s My Heart" is catchy. The rest of the songs aren't exactly classics, and the blackface number on Lincoln's birthday is painful to sit through; sometimes I skip it. But this movie always makes me feel warm and cuddly. It's a Christmas movie that can be watched any time of the year. Pictured at top are Crosby, Reynolds, Astaire and Dale. At right, Astaire, Crosby and Abel. [Blu-ray]

THE PLAY OF THE NATIVITY OF THE CHILD JESUS (1952 TV-movie)

The story of the Nativity is narrated in a series of episodes which each begin as stagy and shadowy tableaux that come to life when lit. The first features the Virgin Mary, in a spotlight, being visited by the angel Gabriel who tells her she will bear a holy child. Later, a confused Joseph is visited by Gabriel, and when he asks whose child it will be, Gabriel replies, "God’s and yours." Mary and Joseph head to Bethlehem where she gives birth in a lowly manger. The other major plotlines of the story are then introduced. In his throne room, King Herod receives word of the birth of a king whom he assumes will be a rival for his power, and he eventually orders the slaughter of all newborn Jewish boys. We also see the Three Kings who see the Star in the East and go to Bethlehem to worship the child and give their standard gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Meanwhile, a small group of shepherds, wrestling and carousing, are spooked by the bright Star in the sky and an angel sends them to Bethlehem where they give the child simple rough gifts; a young and handsome shepherd has nothing to give so he says he gives Jesus his heart and suggests they sing praises to the Lord as they leave. Finally, an angel warns Mary and Joseph about Herod's wrath and sends them to Egypt to escape the slaughter.

This hour-long TV program, originally broadcast live on Westinghouse Studio One in 1952, would normally be out of the realm of the sort of films I review here, but I found it interesting and unusual enough to report on. We are told at the opening that this was "fashioned from" a cycle of English mystery plays from the 14th and 15th centuries. It's mostly rendered in verse and we are warned about the archaic language (probably middle English though pronounced in modern fashion) that is used because it adds to "the sense men once had of the majesty […] of great events." Between the language, the live TV staging, and the murky look of the kinoscope recording, this will not be everyone's cup of tea, and indeed most IMDb viewers, who have little sense of history, report being disappointed that this 70+ year old program is so primitive looking. For me, the look and sound of the play gave it an ancient and slightly otherworldly feeling that did successfully convey the feeling of "majesty" promised in the prologue, an old-fashioned somewhat stiff reverence which is the polar opposite of the messier, earthier tone that modern restagings strive for. I agree with Matt Page of Bible Films Blog who notes that the stark look of the proceedings, scenes "largely in darkness punctuated only by the occasional shafts of light," adds a great deal of effective atmosphere. Carols such as "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," "Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming," "This Endris Night," and "Coventry Carol" are sung as background music by the Robert Shaw Chorale. The play is more staged than acted, and as is often the case with religious productions of this era, the actors seem too much in awe of the material to give actual performances, but the film was directed by Franklin Schaffner who went on to direct Patton and Planet of the Apes. Though the crediting is unclear, the show's creator Fletcher Markle, narrates, and Hurd Hatfield provides the voice of the unseen Gabriel. Sight and sound are affected by the poor quality of the version on YouTube, but actually that adds to the out-of-time feel of the play. [YouTube]

MERRY CHRISTMAS, TED COOPER (2025)

Ted Cooper is a TV weatherman in Corning, New York. He's handsome and sweet-natured and considers himself a people pleaser, which is why he's inclined to turn down an offer from a bigger station in Buffalo as he feels he owes fidelity to his boss. He is also known for his bad luck at Christmas, to the point that his co-workers have a pool going to predict his latest accident—will he, say, chip his tooth on a candy cane or get stabbed in the eye with a Christmas tree or choke on fruitcake? (As it happens, yes to two of them.) He heads to Lackawanna, his hometown, to help his sister, who is doing fundraising for a new hospital wing, by running promos and hosting a gingerbread baking contest. He gets knocked out by a box of Christmas lights and ends up at urgent care where he's attended to by Hope Miller, a girl he had a crush on in high school. They strike sparks and Ted's sister Kate pushes him to start officially dating Hope. Things go well, but this being a Hallmark movie, some complications rear their ugly heads in the last half-hour, one involving a lost cell phone and a more serious one involving Hope's concern that Ted won't stand up for himself when he needs to. All is resolved in the last five minutes when Ted and Hope kiss on live television—something that is, oddly enough, also in the Ted Cooper Christmas mishap pool.

Whenever I think I'm about to give up on Hallmark Christmas movies (repetition of plots and situations, padding in the last half-hour), I run across one like this that I enjoy enough to recommend. For at least the first two-thirds, this is fun and delightful with two charismatic lead actors and at least some originality in the writing. Robert Buckley (pictured) is perfect as the charming and handsome Ted and he never makes a false move. Kimberly Sustad provides a nice balance as the more serious and practical love interest. Though Ted is always optimistic and a bit of a pushover, I think Hope's concerns about him are overblown by the script and the genre's need to set up obstacles in the home stretch. This is why the first hour is so good and the last hour feels weaker. Still, the two leads make this worth staying to the end. Hallmark veteran Brendan Penny is quite fun as the newscaster who loves to poke fun at Ted—he verges on being mean spirited, but Penny's performance is light and fun. The other supporting players tend to fade into the background, with the best being Barbara Pollard as one of Ted's beloved teachers and Tal Shulman in a small bit as a hungover escape room employee who leaves Ted and Hope in the escape room overnight. (It stretched my suspension of disbelief to imagine that the two of them kept their hands off each other all night long in a typically Hallmarkian display of dragging out romantic tension.) There’s a fun bit of business in the beginning when Ted arrives in Lackawanna and has accidentally picked up the suitcase of a college girl, leaving him wearing a pink Christmas crop sweater for a while, and yes, Buckley even looks good in that. Buckley also co-wrote the teleplay, and I like to think that he's responsible for the originality and the most of the fun business. A definite bright spot on the 2025 Hallmark schedule. [Hallmark Channel]

THE MISTLETOE PROMISE (2016)

It's December and Elise is tired of eating her lunch alone in a mall and being serenaded by pesky carolers. The handsome Nick, also eating alone, sees her predicament and pretends to be her boyfriend to get rid of the carolers. Elise is founder and co-owner, with her ex-husband Dan, of a travel agency. Dan wants to cut back on the company's charitable activities as a money saving measure but also because he knows that the charity work is her thing. Nick is a divorce lawyer who is in line to be made partner, but the company custom is to only promote married people (or maybe people in relationships, it's not terribly clear). The two decide for their mutual benefit to set up a contract they call the Mistletoe Promise: they'll pose as a couple so Elise can make Dan jealous and Nick can be more confident of getting promoted. They'll accompany each other on social occasions through Christmas but they agree to not actually get involved. Can you guess what happens? Yes, you can. Storywise, this is both unoriginal and sloppily plotted, especially as concerns the relationship between Elise and her ex. They’ve been apart for four years and are still acting like children? Nick has some sad back stories, including getting left at the altar by his fiancée and having some career problems, but why is he faking a relationship to get a partnership for a firm whose policies he opposes? Basically, Elise and Nick are using each other to get back at or curry favor with total douchebags. I found it hard to get past this premise—surprisingly, this is based on a book by bestselling author Richard Paul Evans and I would have expected a tighter narrative. But, sigh, Hallmark dreamboat Luke Macfarlane plays Nick so I stuck with it, even though there are virtually no surprises in the story, Jaime King (Elise) is attractive but makes too many pouty faces. However, the two of them (pictured) work OK together. I enjoyed some of the supporting performances, especially Christie Laing and Erin Boyes as employees of Elise’s and Lochlyn Munro as the slimy (Dan). But this is the kind of movie in which you notice errors. For example, every shot from inside Elise’s office building shows it snowing outside rather heavily, but the outdoor scenes show almost no snow except when it's needed for a snowman building contest. I know that predictability is a hallmark (get it?) of these movies, so you can shut off your brain and feel all gooey inside, but too often this felt a little insulting. But, Luke Macfarlane, sigh… [Hallmark Channel]

DECK THE HALLS ON CHERRY LANE (2024)

I'm starting off my week or so of Christmas movie reviews with this gimmicky one from Hallmark. Their series of Cherry Lane movies each feature three Christmas romance stories set in different years in one house on Cherry Lane. The film cuts back and forth between the stories, and by the end, we have seen some direct but hidden connections emerge between the families. The stories: 1) In 1966, single homeowner Stephanie entered a TV station contest and won. The prize is that local variety show host Tommy Saunders will broadcast his show from her home on Christmas Eve. But Stephanie decides her house is too small to fit a TV show crew so she asks neighbor David, a research scientist lacking in social skills, who lives with his fellow scientist Curtis, if she can use his house. He reluctantly agrees but is not happy to be told that he and Stephanie have to pose as husband and wife. 2) In 1981, John invites a business associate and his wife who are house hunting to spend Christmas Eve with him, his wife Lizzie, and their young daughter Ivy. We find out that John has a firm offer to move to Michigan for a better job. We also find out that Lizzie has just found out she's pregnant. They have both kept these secrets from each other, but the potentially clashing secrets eventually come out. 3) In 2000, recently divorced workaholic Rebecca is spending Christmas Eve working from home, but her lifelong best friend Matt has come over and tries to talk her into solving a neighborhood secret: who is it who is anonymously doing nice things for people (shoveling snow, baking cookies, etc.), leaving only an unsigned Christmas card behind? 

Cute idea, though I had a little problem in the beginning keeping track of the time periods as there is not a lot of era differentiation in the sets and costumes. By the 30 minute mark, I had them set in my head. One thing I liked about this format is that we're essentially getting three different stories that don’t really need ninety minutes of time to play out. Each winds up being about thirty minutes and takes place on just one day, Christmas Eve. Some characterization is sacrificed but some padding is also dispensed with. The John and Lizzie story (John Brotherton and Erin Cahill) is the best as it feels fairly real and has the best closure. David (Benjamin Hollingsworth) and Stephanie (Chelsea Hobbs) lack chemistry, and David isn’t nearly as nerdy as he should be. Alex Rose contributes some nice comic relief as Curtis. I love Brooke D’Orsay (Rebecca) and her slightly quirky looks have matured nicely. She clicks well with Sam Page (Matt) as old friends, and the predictable turn to romance at the end feels right. Singer Matt Dusk (who was briefly a kind of rival to Michael Bublé back in the 90s) is fine as TV host Tommy who we're prepped to think will be a jerk but isn't. I also like Jaime M. Callica as Kyle, the business friend of John's. I’m shallow enough to want handsome leading men, and all three here fit the bill, with Brotherton (pictured) winning honors as the sauciest, though he also occasionally gets a weirdly intense look in his eyes that made me wonder if he was going to lose his shit in his next scene. He never does. The connections between the three stories, laid out in the last ten minutes, are clever. There are apparently links to the earlier three films, which I might or might not watch in the future. [Hallmark Channel]

MONTE CARLO (1930)

The Countess Helene is about to marry Duke Otto after two false starts. Despite signs and banners about the sun always shining on them, it pours down rain and she leaves him at the altar for the third time. (Otto sings, "I really am a simple-minded soul" and the guests sing, "He’s a simp, he’s a simp." And he is a bit of a simp.) Helene and her maid Bertha get on a train to Monte Carlo, planning to win a lot of money at the gambling tables. She wins big at first but then loses everything, to the interest of Count Rudolph who watches from afar but can't get her to pay attention to her. He meets her hairdresser Paul who tells Rudolph how much she depends on him, so Rudolph pays Paul to vacate his position and let Rudolph take his place. She whimsically declares she doesn't like the name Rudolph so she calls him Paul, but soon he has become her servant and chauffeur. When she tells him she has to let him go because she's out of money, he pretends to gamble with her last bit of cash, then gives her money of his own to tide her over. Her affections for Rudolph fluctuate wildly—she is attracted to him, but he's just one of the help—until Duke Otto arrives to try and get Helene back. The finale includes Helene attending the opera of Monsieur Beaucaire, the plot of which involves a nobleman pretending to be a hairdresser for romantic purposes. When she sees Rudolph at the opera, she figures out what's going on, and unlike in the opera, a happy ending is in store for her.

An early sound musical from Ernst Lubitsch, this is operetta-like material that is played in a frothy manner in which nothing important ever feels at stake. Claud Allister, the pre-Code go-to guy for playing effeminate twits, is Duke Otto, so we know from the first moments that he won't wind up with Helene, played by Jeanette MacDonald, the queen of high-class 1930's romantic musicals. Jack Buchanan, a British musical comedy star who was little known here (his biggest Hollywood role was as the egotistical director in THE BAND WAGON) comes off a bit fey and maybe a little too old for MacDonald—he was around 40, she was not yet 30—but we know he'll win the damsel with his riches and his charms. I loved the first twenty minutes or so with its mobile camerawork and frivolous tone. The opening song, "She’ll Love Me and Like It," sung by Otto and the wedding guests, reminded me of the opening minutes of the Marx Brothers' classic ANIMAL CRACKERS. There’s another fun song, "Trimmin' the Women," an ode to hairdressing sung by the hairdressing men, and MacDonald sings "Beyond the Blue Horizon," which became a standard. But after a few minutes in Monte Carlo, things bog down a bit, partly due to Helene becoming less and less sympathetic. But on balance, this mostly remains bubbly fun. ZaSu Pitts has little to do as Bertha, the maid, and Tyler Brooke (Rudolph's buddy) and John Roche (the real hairdresser) are fine. Pictured are MacDonald and Buchanan. [Criterion Channel]

YOUNG DILLINGER (1965)

We first see young John Dillinger (Nick Adams) and his young girlfriend Elaine (Mary Ann Mobley)---it's implied that they are 21 years old, give or take a year—rolling around, making out in the grass. Worked up into a lather, she decides they should get married right away but he worries about money, so she suggests they break into her father's company's safe that night. They do but are caught and recognized by the night watchman. The two get away and head to a justice of the peace for a quick wedding, but he won't perform the ceremony without proper ID. Living together in the big city, they go out to see James Cagney in The Public Enemy after Dillinger does a passable imitation of him, but are soon caught. Elaine's father asks Dillinger to take the fall and leave his daughter out of it, promising a lenient jail sentence, but instead he's given five to twenty years. His cellmate is Pretty Boy Floyd (the fairly pretty Robert Conrad) and after an initial scuffle in which they beat each other up, they become buddies. Along with Baby Face Nelson and Homer Van Meter, the four plot an escape. They fake an uprising and Dillinger helps the guards, setting himself up for an early release, after which he will contact a gangster named Rocco in Chicago to come and break them out. But the plans don't quite work. Instead of being released, Dillinger is sent to an honor farm. During the transfer, Elaine shows up to help him escape. Rocco rejects his plea for help, after which Dillinger spits in his face, then guns him down. Still, somehow, Dillinger and Elaine help his three prisoner buddies escape during a work detail, and, along with some feminine company, they form a gang pulling off small-scale robberies. Floyd gets in touch with a former mentor named Hoffman (the running joke is that they treat him like a college professor) who sets up a couple of jobs for them, but during an armored car robbery, things go sideways and Dillinger is wounded. When Dillinger's face appears in the newspapers, he has a shady doctor perform plastic surgery to change his looks. While Dillinger is recovering (in lots of pain and waiting for a shot of morphine), the doc tries to rape Elaine, on top of which, the surgery doesn't take. Dillinger ties the doc up in a wheelchair and rolls him into a river. After a big bank robbery, the gang is cornered by cops in a cabin when Elaine announces she is pregnant and wants to give up the life of crime. Because this is called "Young" Dillinger, he ends the movie still on the run, though an ending crawl tells us most assuredly that crime never pays!

This black & white B-film was considered quite violent in its day, and the violence is still impressive, though it's not gory or graphic, two things that 1967's Bonnie and Clyde would be a couple of years later. The Warren Beatty movie might have taken at least some inspiration from this movie in terms of the way the narrative is laid out (two attractive messed-up rural-type kids who form a crime gang, rob banks, kill people, and make headlines). That's not to say this film is anywhere near the quality of Bonnie and Clyde, but it's better than its reputation might lead you to believe. Nick Adams, sometimes referred to as the poor man's James Dean—they were in Rebel Without a Cause together and became friends (and maybe more if you believe the gossip)---is fine as Dillinger, brash and perhaps too confident in his criminal talents. Unlike Warren Beatty in Bonnie and Clyde, Adams never really comes off as sexy here, though Mary Ann Mobley, a former Miss America from Mississippi, certainly does. Robert Conrad (Floyd) and John Ashley (Baby Face Nelson) are plenty sexy, even if nothing is done with that energy—a three-way with Dillinger, Floyd, and Nelson would have spiced up the movie. Victor Buono has fun with his two short scenes as Hoffman and John Hoyt is a nicely slimy doctor. The low budget leaves us with drab sets, and is probably the reason that the movie does not have a 1920s feel at all; no period costumes or set decorations except for the cars. But cinematographer Stanley Cortez (Night of the Hunter, The Magnificent Ambersons) delivers some nice camera moves and angles in black & white widescreen. The script is also weak, giving us no background into anyone's character; we learn little more about Dillinger and Elaine than we knew while they were making out in the grass in the first scene. Certainly watchable, and possibly Nick Adams' best movie role; he’s better known for a 50s TV western series called The Rebel which was airing in reruns into the mid-60s. Pictured at left are Conrad and Adams. [TCM]

THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1929)

In the kingdom of Hetvia, oppression has roused discord among the citizens, and a revolution might put Baron Falon on the throne. His friend Count Dakkar has retreated to his private island where residents live in peace and equality without political strife while working for him on his scientific research. Falon wants Dakkar to join him but Dakkar is not interested; he has built two submarines which he hopes can make it to the bottom of the ocean to test his theory, based on bone fragment discoveries, that humanoid beings might live down there—people of the abyss, as he calls them later. Dakkar's sister Sonia has the hots for chief engineer Nikolai, who is mostly too busy to reciprocate, though the increasingly sinister seeming Falon wants Sonia for himself. The first ship is launched, to the accompaniment of the workmen praying and singing, with Nikolai at the helm and Dakkar on land in communication with the ship. Falon and his men attack the island, wanting Dakkar's plans for the ships so he can use them for purposes of world conquest. There is torture, rescue, wicked trickery, and eventually the appearance of the underwater people (who, though they look like little cartoonish ducks, are dangerous) and a couple of mutant monsters, a lizard and an octopus. Ultimately the good guys win, though Dakkar, mortally wounded and disillusioned, has his shipyard destroyed and sets himself out in his ship to die alone.

Though supposedly based on the novel by Jules Verne (which introduced the character of Captain Nemo), this has almost nothing to do with the original story; the 1961 film is much more faithful. This has sci-fi elements but it's mostly an adventure melodrama. You can read about the production's complicated history online, but even knowing nothing about that, a viewer can tell there were problems. It went through three directors and a change from silent to semi-sound, which resulted in reshooting all the scenes involving Falon when the accented Warner Oland was replaced by Montagu Love. As it is, only the opening segment is in full sound. There are sound effects; some work but some are weirdly intrusive. A few scenes feature a clang or a footstep, but no dialogue when people open their mouths, and that just doesn't feel right. The sets (both on the island and in the ship) and the underwater action are effective, the acting a little less so. A relatively young looking Lionel Barrymore seems a bit (pardon the pun) at sea, especially in the sound section where he constantly fidgets and wipes at his face and hair as he delivers exposition. Montagu Love is appropriately villainous as Falon and Lloyd Hughes is handsomely heroic as Nikolai. In her early scenes, Jacqueline Gadsdon seems like a passive and flighty Sonia, but she soon becomes fully engaged in the action. The merpeople come off like Munchkins in Donald Duck outfits and never quite seem scary but their numbers are impressive. More an interesting novelty than a fully engrossing movie, but fun to watch. Pictured are Barrymore and Hughes. [YouTube]