First in a series of personal essays about holiday films.
Sometime during the frantic weeks leading to Christmas, between the church activities, the shopping, the wrapping, the decorating at various houses and the partying, I’ll sneak off for a mostly solitary tradition that that has been mine for maybe 20, 25 years.
I’ll insert a DVD into the living room television, shut out the lights and curl up under a warm beige throw to watch two movies I adore: “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “White Christmas.”
It’s hard to find the time when blessed to share many traditions and celebrations with people I love, but those two movies are necessary for me, too, and they bring my soul joy and encourage me to think about what’s important during Advent.
Mind you, they are not overtly religious movies, though one of the main characters in “It’s a Wonderful Life” is a slightly goofy Angel Second Class, and “White Christmas” is set in part on Christmas Eve.
But still, they both focus on the greatest gift anyone can ever ask for: love, love of family, love of friends, romantic love. Both shows brim with love.
For those who don’t know, “It’s a Wonderful Life” chronicles the youth through adulthood of George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart. George is a boy and man of big dreams and great character. When his world seems to be crumbling around him, George contemplates throwing away the precious gift of his life. God (or maybe it’s St. Peter) sends loveable, goofy Clarence the angel to rescue George, showing him how different life would be for so many others if George had never been born.
The Frank Capra-directed movie is a classic, full of great relationships, memorable lines and human angst. My favorite moments, though, come at the end, when person after person comes to the aid of George, gathering the money he needs to avoid going to jail for something he did not do. George’s kid brother Harry, a war hero, sums up the older Bailey’s life: “A toast to my big brother George: The richest man in town.” Shortly after that, George opens a book inscribed by Clarence, “Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends.”
“White Christmas,” starring Bing Crosby (Bob Wallace), Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye (Phil Davis), Vera-Ellen and others, is packed with music and dancing, following the men from World War II to the entertainment world and introducing the women in their lives early in the show.
While I am a pushover for a nice romance story, my favorite part of this movie centers around Wallace and Davis’ and other former soldiers’ efforts to help their one-time major general, Thomas Waverly. An innkeeper who sunk his money into a lodge in Vermont and who is facing dire times and a lack of snow in a winter resort, Waverly can have no doubt about the affection of his former underlings. Those men do indeed “follow the old man wherever he wants to go” as they promise in song and show up enforce at the inn for a Christmas Eve extravaganza.
The sentiments of both movies are lovely: As long as we have friends we are wealthy beyond measure. As long as we love and are loved, we not only survive, we thrive. Good Christmas messages all, and a grand tradition during a busy season during which we sometimes forget what really matters.
Patricia Quigley is a freelance writer from Incarnation Parish, Mantua.
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