Back to Golden Days

Since the Christmas weekend begins tomorrow, this week's «Film Friday» is going to be a little bit different than usual. Instead of telling you about only one Christmas film, which was my original plan, I thought I would compile all the Christmas-y films I have written about since starting this blog. Most of them are part of a « 12 Days of Christmas Films » feature I did last December. If you are looking for a film to watch over the holidays, I think these are some good choices. Let's begin with The Thin Man (1934), an excellent comedy-mystery starring the delightful duo William Powell and Myrna Loy. They play Nick and Nora Charles, a debonair detective and his sophisticated wife, who find themselves embroiled in a murder case during the holidays. While Christmas is not crucial to the central plot of the film, there is still a lovely scene between the Charleses on the morning of December 25. W. S. Van Dyke directed from a script by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, based on...

Theatrical release poster Directed by Mark Sandrich, Holiday Inn (1942) b egins as crooner Jim Hardy (Bing Crosby) prepares to leave show business to marry his partner, Lila Dixon (Virginia Dale), and retire with her to a farm in Connecticut. At the last minute, however, Lila confesses that she has fallen in love with the third member of their act, dancer Ted Hanover (Fred Astaire), and wants to continue performing with him. Alt hough heartbroken, Jim goes through with his plan and bids the act goodbye. After a year of struggling with farm work and several months of recuperation in a sanitarium, Jim decides on a less exhausting occupation and turns his old barn into a country-style entertainment venue called "Holiday Inn," wh ich will only be open on public holidays . On Christmas Day, Jim hires Linda Mason (Marjorie Reynolds) to star in his shows beginning with the upcoming New Year's Eve performance. On December 31, Holiday Inn opens to a packed house and...