The Enid Blyton Society

Often on Christmas you end up sleeping in a bit, then opening presents and so on, have Christmas dinner . . .

and then eventually you turn on the TV to see what's on, and you catch a film that has already started.

So I have this theory. There are Christmas movies that were not very successful in cinemas, but are perfect for watching when you join in the middle, so they became popular as Christmas movies on television. These are movies that start out kind of slow, which may be why they didn't succeed in cinemas.

One is "It's a Wonderful Life". Another is "A Christmas Story".

The Snowman, I've watched it every year for as long as I can remember. In recent years the sequel to it as well, which rare for a sequel, is every bit as good as the original. I also like the 70's musical version of Scrooge and the Disney Silly Symphonies short 'Night Before Christmas' which is just charmingly delightful in the way old classic Disney was. For me though, nothing beats settling down with a tin of Quality Streets in front of Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, which I've also done each year for longer than I could remember until last year when the BBC decided not to put it on . Thankfully they've had a re-think for this year.

Courtenay wrote:Gosh, I don't think I know any Christmas movies either! I have seen a few, but none so memorable that I wanted to watch them every December. But I used to have (probably still do have somewhere) an excellent dramatised audio recording of A Christmas Carol (on cassette!) — somewhat abridged from the book, but definitely with all the important parts and really beautifully done. I used to listen to that every Christmas eve, and re-read Dickens' original story as well. Haven't read it for some years, but I can still quote whole chunks of it by heart.

And I thought you'd like the "Home alone" films, Courtenay... I guess I was wrong .

It's not a cinema film, but a television adaptation. The Signalman, by Charles Dickens, is a must for us at Christmas. We all watch it every year. It is being shown this year on BBC4.

Great film, Nigel.

Oh yes, that's right — this is also not a "movie" as such, but I must put in a word for the sweet little animation of one of my favourite children's books, The Mousehole Cat. The story is actually set on the 23rd of December — Tom Bawcock's Eve in Mousehole — so I'll be watching it tonight.

Francis wrote:I would have to warm myself up with three Alastair Sim films!
Scrooge
The Belles of St Trinian's
The Happiest Days of Your Lives

Francis, is "The Happiest Days of your Life" the one with Margaret Rutherford, filmed years before she became Miss Marple?
I loved that film when I was a child, it was once or twice on German TV. Then I couldn't watch it for decades. In the late 1990's, once I had access to the Internet, I ordered it on VHS from amazon.co.uk and was happy to watch it again.

My favorite Christmas movies are "While you were sleeping" (Sandra Bullock), "The Miracle on 34th Street" (John Payne, Maureen O'Hara), "White Christmas", "Holiday Inn" and both "Home Alone" movies. They still crack me up each time.

Gremlins

Nigel D wrote:Gremlins