A Christmas Carol (Scrooge) (1951)
The Alistair Sim / Brian Desmond Hurst version.Perhaps technically the best adaptation, though not my favorite (the second act drags a tad), this is, obviously, an annual tradition, sometimes two or three times a season. The cast is fairly extraordinary and Alistair Sim, whose performances I’m, controversialy, not always a fan of, became the de facto conception of Scrooge for more than one generation.
Merry Christmas, Fred, from the Crosbys (1975)
The Fred in question is the legendary Astaire and this amiable special brings them together for a number of duets, including a festive medley in the finale. As usual Bing’s family is on hand and the guest list is limited to The Young Americans and jazz man Joe Bushkin.
Not intensely Christmassy but there’s enough to keep things seasonal. Its a casual affair and I’m guessing rehearsal time was minimal for the lads but I’m not complaining about any time spent of two of our all time great performers doing their thing, though sadly at this point Fred’s dancing shoes were retired.
Christmas On the Coast (2017)
Better than average but another case of my not being the intended audience so I was bored to tears. YMMV.
Bonnie Bedelia guest stars, so that was nice.
Tjuvemas Jul (Theives Christmas) (2011)
Wonderful Swedish julkalender. (an annual Swedish tradition of family friendly holiday serial broadcast on a near daily basis during the holiday season) A Dickensian tale of a young girl who falls in with a den of thieves at Christmastime.
Tomten pa Luppioberget
A different sort Swedish jul offering is the eco-aware Tomten pa Luppioberget. Each installment shows a pair of Tomten, sort of Swedish Christmas elves who live in the forest, being encroached upon by garbage and the disposable nature of modern society and crafting creative gifts from items found in a nearby thrift shop. Rather charming in its way.
The most interesting thing about this series is the fact that the Tomten speak Meankieli, a Finnish based minority language spoken mostly in the north.
JulExpressen (1989)
Well this turned out to be a julkalandar binge. JulExpressen is a late 80’s offering with a twist, it’s a tale told in sign language. All the actors speak in sign language, though there is narration and duel speaking\signing.
The story follows young Maja on a train journey to find Santa’s porridge recipe to save Christmas. I think. My Swedish isn’t always that great and I, obviously, don’t speak Swedish sign language.
The story doesn’t flow very naturally and the theme sounds lifted from Seinfeld but it’s lovely that programming like this is a thing.
Deadly Games (3615 code Père Noël) (1989)
French thriller, sort off pretentious Richie Rich meets Home Alone via Rambo and Halloween. Better than it sounds, better than it has any right to be. But not great, it’s still just a psycho Santa stalking a kid flick with some interesting production design and a few clever bits of business.
I’m glad I watched it but I don’t think I’ll be coming back to it next Christmas.
