Power Ranking the Songs and Performances from "White Christmas"

by Ben Miller

WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954) Michael Curtiz | © Paramount Pictures

In my house, few Christmas traditions persevere more than my wife's annual viewings of 1954's White Christmas. From a few days after Thanksgiving, up until Christmas day, three yearly screenings are par for the course. With such an ingrained viewing experience, I feel uniquely qualified to power rank the songs and performances from Irving Berlin's holiday classic...

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How had I never seen... "White Christmas"?

by Cláudio Alves

As someone who loves Christmas and the musical genre, I'm ashamed to say I'd never seen 1954's White Christmas until this year. Irving Berlin's classic is beloved by many, and it has become one of those immortal holiday movies that seem to have everlasting popularity. Starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen, the picture's a jolly affair full of merry dance breaks and one of those ridiculous "let's put on a show" stories that were so common in musicals of this particular era. 

It's with great sadness that I admit I wasn't won over by White Christmas, not completely. That being said, there's plenty to love about this Yuletide affair. Because now's a time for merriment and celebration, let's sprint through the negatives to get to the positives…

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Hungary and Oscar and "Preparations to be together..."

by Nathaniel R

Preparations to be together for an unknown period of time (2020)

Hungary has announced its submission to the Oscar race. They have chosen the sophomore feature from new director Lili Horvát called Preparations to be Together For An Unknown Period Of Time. We love a memorable distinct title so this is up there with Lesotho's submission as the best-titled contender for Best International Feature this year. It's a romantic drama / mystery about a female surgeon that won prizes at several festivals including Philadelphia, Chicago, and Warsaw. Horvát began making short films in the Aughts and earlier this decade worked as a casting director, including on the acclaimed Hungarian Oscar submission White God (2014). This is the 29th announced submission that's from a female filmmaker so we're going to hit an all-time high percentage that's nearing gender parity. At this writing 42% of the entries come from female directors.

Let's look at Hungary's Oscar history after the jump. It might surprise you how many Hungarians Oscar voters have honored over the years, especially during the Golden Age of Hollywood... 

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Horror Actressing: Glenda Farrell in "Mystery of the Wax Museum" (1933)

by Jason Adams

Once upon a time in a galaxy far far away we once went to The Movies. Otherwise known as The Picture Show, it turned out in 2020 there was indeed, as the prophet Peter Bogdanovich foretold, a Last one for us all. The subject of what was everyone's Last Big Picture before the COVID quarantine shut movie-going down has been a popular one -- personally I've kept that information close to the vest because mine (sigh) was the godawful horror twist on Fantasy Island, and let us never speak of that again. 

Let's instead focus on one of my best big-screen cinematic experiences of the so-far short-lived year in such things, which was MoMA's January screening of the drop-dead-stunning restoration of the Pre-Code two-color Technicolor fright-flick Mystery of the Wax Museum. Michael Curtiz's 1933 film, was lost for decades until a pair of prints miraculously appeared and got cobbled together beautifully. Mystery stars Fay Wray (just a few weeks before her romantic wrangle with that big monkey) playing the love-struck, shriek-prone Charlotte Duncan. But even better as far as I'm concerned there's Glenda Farrell, the subject of this here week's episode in our "Great Moments in Horror Actressing" series...

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Shakespeare in Love > Saving Private Ryan (your periodic reminder)

On this day in movie history...

1617 Though the exact date of her death is unknown, Pocahontas's funeral was held on this day. She died on a ship with husband John Rolfe (played by Christian Bale in The New World but he wasn't a character in Disney's Pocahontas because that woulda been hella depressing). She was only 21 or 22
1880 "Bronco Billy" Anderson, the original movie cowboy star (he made hundreds of silent shorts) is born
1941 The Sea Wolf starring Edward G Robinson and Ida Lupino is released. Director Michael Curtiz is warming up for his rather incredible peak decade (Captain of the Clouds, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Casablanca, Mildred Pierce and more are next)
1949 Slavoj Zizek of The Perverts Guide to Cinema (2006) is born
1956 The 1955 Oscars. Marty becomes both the shortest film to ever win Best Picture and the first indie to do so.
1958 Gary Oldman is born...

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