Back to Golden Days

Christmas has always been a source of inspiration to many artists and writers. Over the years, filmmakers have adapted various Christmas stories into both movies and television specials, which have become staples during the holiday season all around the world. Even though Christmas is my favourite holiday, I haven't watched a lot of Christmas films. Still, I thought it would be fun to rank my top 10 favourites, based on the ones that I have indeed seen. Here they are.    10. Holiday Affair (1949) Directed by Don Hartman, Holiday Affair tells the story of a young widow (Janet Leigh) torn between a boring attorney (Wendell Corey) and a romantic drifter (Robert Mitchum). She's engaged to be married to the boring attorney, but her son (Gordon Gebert) likes the romantic drifter better. Who will she choose? Well, I think we all know who she will choose. Holiday Affair is not by any means the greatest Christmas film of all time, but it's still a very enjoyable Yule-tide comed...

Directed by Michael Curtiz, We're No Angels (1955) tells the story of three convicts — Joseph (Humphrey Bogart), Albert (Aldo Ray), and Jules (Peter Ustinov) — who escape from prison on Devil's Island in French Guiana, just before Christmas 1895, and arrive at a nearby French colonial town. They stumble upon a store managed by Felix Ducotel (Leo G. Carroll) and his wife, Amelie (Joan Bennett), and offer to fix their leaky roof as a way to hide from the police until a boat comes to take them to Paris. As they work, they plan to rob and kill the family, but eavesdropping reveals that the Ducotels are experiencing financial setbacks. Moreover, their charming daughter, Isabelle (Gloria Talbot), is having trouble with her faithless fiancé, Paul (John Baer), and his ruthless uncle, Andre Trochard (Basil Rathbone). Reasoning that «cutting their throats might spoil their Christmas,» the three felons decide to help the Ducotels get their store back on track. Touched by their apparen...