Christmas today and Christmas back then...(at the movies)
Saturday, December 25, 2021 at 9:00AM MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.
This picture has nothing to do with the post but it's Nicole Kidman three Christmases ago. Cheers!
Years ago it was decided that we couldn't be celebrating movie anniversaries with utter randomness at the Film Experience so we committed to 10th, 25th, 50th, and 75th, and 100th parties. We stray often, especially if we're busy on "projects" like a Smackdown or what not, so this decision was useless and we'll probably drop it next year. Broader movie culture wouldn't play along anyway, celebrating all sorts of odd anniveraries (17th! 36th!) in order to just keep celebrating the same things over and over again. This is all a long way of getting around to the conceit of this post (GET ON WITH IT) which is
On this Christmas day in showbiz history, what was going on...
100 YEARS AGO
In truth we have no idea what was happening in showbiz on exactly Christmas day in 1921. We do know that the serial The Adventures of Tarzan (1921) starring Elmo Lincoln (the last Tarzan to not have a gym-ready bod) was a big deal that month in movie theaters. And you know about our weird fascination with Tarzan pictures. It was probably on about its fourth chapter during the holiday. Movie serials were hot in the silent era and would advance to the next episode on a weekly basis back then, usually ending on a cliffhanger each time. They remained a popular form for Hollywood for another 30 years but began dying in the 1950s as televisions became more common place in homes. In something of a strange reversal, the most popular movies of the 21st century (superhero franchises) are far more closely related to this dead form of filmmaking than they were to other Hollywood movie forms.
75 YEARS AGO
On Christmas day 1946, the event drama The Razor's Edge hit movie theaters. The film became one of the ten highest grossing films of its year, and was nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture. It won Best Supporting Actress (Anne Baxter) which we discussed at length on a recent episode of the Supporting Actress Smackdown. Two other Best Picture nominees, the Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life and the childhood drama The Yearling were also newish in movie theaters right then. The Joan Crawford melodrama Humoresque also premiered on this holiday. A good month for Hollywood.
50 YEARS AGO
The big movie in theaters on this holiday in 1971 was not an event picture, but a relatively inexpensive cop drama, Dirty Harry starring Clint Eastwood. It proved so popular that it grossed nearly as much as that year's Bond outing Diamonds are Forever, which was also newish in theaters then. Dirty Harry's popularity was obviously a zeitgeist thing. Violent misanthropic and racist cops were all the rage in 1971. Consider that The French Connection, which had opened two months prior, was an even bigger smash hit. Though it's impossible to imagine a gritty prestige-free procedural as an Oscar champ now, The French Connection would prove to be the year's big Oscar behemoth with five wins including Best Picture.
25 YEARS AGO
On this Christmas day in 1996, The People vs Larry Flynt and Evita (just discussed) both opened in theaters hoping for gold of both varieties: box office and Oscars! They were only modest successes in both departments. This was not the last time that Courtney Love and Madonna would be pitted against each other, either, in the public eye.
10 YEARS AGO
Christmas 2011 brought two Best Picture nominees to movie theaters: the immediately maligned Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (one in a long line of movies that people only loved for a split second and that split second occurred during last minute releasing and awards season balloting) and Steven Spielberg's epic boy and steed adventure War Horse.
TODAY
Which of these movies will you see this weekend?
Moviegoing isn't what it used to be (*cries*) so the only options near you are probably the franchise trio: The King's Man, Spider-Man No Way Home, and The Matrix Resurrection. But if you're really lucky you might still be able to catch West Side Story or Nightmare Alley. Opening in limited release today in some cities is Parallel Mothers starring Penélope Cruz (in another gorgeous performance!) which we first reviewed at Venice, and The Tragedy of Macbeth starring Oscar obsessions Denzel and Frances (reviewed at NYFF).
In wide release the new options are Michael B Jordan in the lost soldier drama A Journal for Jordan, the sports drama American Underdog with Zachary Levi, and, expanding into wide release, Paul Thomas Anderson's meandering 70s comedy Licorice Pizza about the odd relationship between a directionless twenty-something (Alana Haim) and a 15 year old child star who wants to be her boyfriend (Cooper Hoffman). I'm not besotted (sorry film critic community!) but Bradley Cooper and Harriet Samson Harris are both pure dynamite, as comic treasures go, in their brief performances.
Or, if you're just staying at home this Christmas there's also the divisive political satire Don't Look Up just dropped on Netflix.
Which movie are you catching this weekend?
Which of these Christmases past would you jump in a time machine for?
10|25|50|75|100, 1946, 1971, Dirty Harry, Tarzan, The Razor's Edge, The Yearling, War Horse, christmas, moviegoing
Reader Comments (11)
Merry Christmas, Nathaniel!
TFE continues to be a gift I enjoy all year long. Much love to you and what you do here.
Thanks to this post, I just realized that I'm watching IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE for the very first tie (I know!) on its 75th Anniversary! Merry Christmas Nathaniel!
Seeing Licorice Pizza today and hoping the 1st matinee performance will be sparsely attended (might be our last cinema visit until this goddamned new Covid variant has finished wreaking its havoc). Watched Being The Ricardos Thu night and didn't like it, thought it was klutzily constructed and found Nicole Kidman's heavily botoxed face an unwelcome distraction. Of the Oscar-y movies seen thus far have found Power Of The Dog to the most genuinely impressive. Recently saw Nightmare Alley and found it to be all style over substance that couldn't hold a candle to the original with Tyrone "swoon" Power. Still have to see Spencer, Belfast, and C'mon C'mon—and esp Red Rocket, although from what I understand it doesn't have much Oscar hopes.
Anyway, thanks to you, Nathaniel and co, for making this difficult year for cinema much more fun and interesting! You are all very appreciated!
Merry Christmas, Nathaniel! I watched Being the Ricardos (at home) last night… hoping to find some time this weekend to see West Side Story on the big screen too!
Just watched Don't Look Up. Kind of a mess overall but the parts that worked really worked. Blanchett was MVP for me.
Did BEING THE RICARDOS last night, and then this weekend will be getting some potential Animated Feature second-tier contenders out of the way - SING 2 and THE BOSS BABY 2.
It's a Wonderful Life is overrated. Awful ending considering that Mr. Potter never got his comeuppance though SNL in the late 80s managed to rectify that.
It’s a Wonderful Life features one of the most moving performances. Frank Capra returned from making WWII and making the seven film series Why We Fight, a purposeful response to Leni Riefenstahl‘s Triumph of the Will.
Jimmy Stewart returned to Hollywood from active duty in the war as a flight squadron leader engaged in battle 20 times. In one air battle Stewart lost several men under his command. His own plane was hit, blasting out the floorboards beneath his feet. On the difficult flight back to England, the cabin’s temperature dropped to 20 below zero.
While not diagnosed, experts now recognize that Stewart suffered post traumatic stress disorder. Numerous accounts exist of friends and family shocked by the actor’s aged physical appearance.
Capra sought Stewart to play George Bailey. This is seen in one of the film's most iconic, unscripted scenes, when George Bailey hoarsely whispers, "I'm not a praying man but if you're up there and you can hear me, show me the way.” George Bailey wasn't scripted to cry, but Jimmy Stewart did.
"As I said those words, I felt the loneliness, the hopelessness of people who had nowhere to turn, and my eyes filled with tears. I broke down sobbing," Stewart said in a 1987 interview.
Merry Xmas
I'll raise your kids in a cult if you let me
Cheers!
We saw Being the Ricardos... a mess clipped together. Bardem was the MVP for me. I cannot see the Fred and Ethel talk for supporting noms.
Saw Don't Look up and surprisingly I liked it. I feel some that have seen it do not get the satire. I laughed out loud a couple of times ( I never do that ) ... The ending had me out of my seat laughing..... di Caprio was excellent.. as it is not his usual role.
a. All of them
b. All of them