Holiday Affair and One Magic Christmas
If Christmas movies were fast food, there'd be a lot of Taco Bell-style burritos - easy to swallow, but unsatisfying. Bite into a more-substantive meal this week with two unorthodox holiday classics.
By Alan Herrmann
MOVIE CRITIC
It seems like Christmas movies have followed familiar and predictable patterns over the years. Loss of faith, financial hardship, family feuds, romantic misunderstandings, and curmudgeons who see little point in celebrating the season are standard fare in Christmas tales.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing when handled by good writers and skilled filmmakers. But in the last few decades there has been a glut of formulaic and uninspired Christmas movies. Most are produced by Hallmark – they even have their own channel – and are the equivalent of a Taco Bell burrito: they’re easy going down but leave much to be desired. There are no surprises, interesting plot twists or quirky characters. We’re talking downright bland. Sometimes, however, we find lesser-known real movies that, despite following traditional plot lines, throw us some delightful curve balls.
Let’s take a look at two of my favorite underappreciated and slightly off-beat Christmas films: Holiday Affair and One Magic Christmas.
Holiday Affair
Holiday Affair was produced by RKO studio and didn’t get the recognition it deserved when it was released in 1949. Over the years, it developed a small cult following and has now become a December staple on TCM.
What makes this film so great is that its familiar Christmas story themes have some interesting twists, a very funny script, and some great acting – especially from the male lead, Robert Mitchum. At the time this was a very different type of role for Mitchum, who audiences were used to seeing as a tough guy in Westerns, crime pictures, and war dramas. He wasn’t known for lighter roles, so audiences were puzzled to see him in a holiday romantic comedy.
Even the backstory of the film is quirky. Mitchum got busted for marijuana possession and served some time in jail. When he got out, RKO wanted to soften his image and they insisted he do a romantic comedy, so he was given Holiday Affair almost as a punishment. To everyone’s surprise, especially the big boys at RKO, he delivered a near perfect performance.
Mitchum plays Steve Mason, a bit of a free spirit – he hangs out in Central Park and feeds an orphaned squirrel - who’s trying to earn some cash by working in Crowley’s toy department. He hopes to invest his savings in a boat building operation in California.
While demonstrating a toy train at Crowley’s, he encounters a comparison shopper named Connie Ennis – a young Janet Leigh in her first starring role – who unknowingly gets him fired.
Connie, like Doris from Miracle on 34th Street, is a single mother who isn’t feeling the Christmas spirit. She is courted by a well-respected and conventional lawyer named Carl (Wendell Corey) who wants to marry her. If she chooses Carl, her life will be predictable and safe.
But she finds herself being drawn to Steve, who offers her a life of uncertainty but also excitement. This plot line is reminiscent of the relationship between Meg Ryan and Bill Pullman in Sleepless in Seattle. Perhaps Nora Ephron, who wrote that film, was a fan of Holiday Affair. Even Connie’s son, Timmy, favors Steve over Carl, making Connie’s decision even more difficult.
Holiday Affair is chock full of Christmas traditions: shopping in overcrowded department stores, tree decorating, opening presents on Christmas morning, and a heartfelt yet unconventional Christmas dinner conversation. One of the best scenes features Harry Morgan – famous for portraying Joe Friday’s partner on Dragnet and Colonel Potter on M*A*S*H – as a cynical and smartass police lieutenant who Carl tries to impress with his legalese, but the cop spars with him brilliantly. This whimsical scene, and many others like it, make Holiday Affair a must-see movie for the holidays.
One Magic Christmas
One Magic Christmas is a holiday film that starts off with some traditional Christmas movie traits, but then the story goes completely off the rails. Filmed in various places in Ontario, Canada, with an entirely Canadian cast – except for Mary Steenburgen and Harry Dean Stanton – One Magic Christmas was released by Disney in 1985.
The story concerns the Grainger family including Ginny (Steenburgen), her husband Jack, and their two kids, Cal and Abbie, as they prepare for Christmas. Times are tough and Jack is out of work, while Ginny is a cashier at their small-town grocery store.
Although Jack is unemployed, he is an optimist and hopes to open a bike shop as he looks forward to the holiday. Even his red and white 1958 Dodge Regent shouts “Merry Christmas!” Ginny, on the other hand, is more practical and cynical, and her view of Christmas is very dim, not unlike the women in Miracle on 34th Street and Holiday Affair.
A former cowhand who drowned while rescuing someone is now an angel named Gideon, played brilliantly by Stanton. He is sent from heaven to help Ginny find the Christmas spirit. This story line, of course, was used in both It’s a Wonderful Life and The Bishop’s Wife with Clarence and Dudley, respectively.
The film gets dark as we witness a bank robbery, a shooting, a kidnapping, and a drowning in the space of a few minutes. The bank robber is named Harry Dickens, a curious nod to Charles. Because of these scenes, some may find the movie way too bleak and disheartening. But c’mon folks! Look how dismal and depressing A Christmas Carol is before the end. Tiny Tim leaving an empty void in the Cratchit household and old Ebenezeer himself looking at his own gravestone are extreme downers. But when we brave through it, we see a very joyous ending. One Magic Christmas is no different.
The last twenty minutes are delightful as a twinkly-eyed, European-accented Santa – referred to as Nicholas by his wife – reveals that his busy and timeless workshop is actually being run by departed mortals wearing various styles of clothing from the periods in which they walked the earth.
The implication is that they are angels, not elves! It’s interesting to note that Ginny only says “Merry Christmas” once in the movie. She does not utter wishful greetings to her family, friends, or co-workers, but says it clearly and without reservation to Santa Claus himself.
This holiday season, leave the Hallmark burrito behind and feast upon these two unorthodox and delicious films.
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