Warner's TCM GREATEST CLASSIC FILMS COLLECTION is a series of over two dozen twin packs. The four titles in each set are dubbed one per side on two flip discs. Only some movies include bonus features. Transfer quality of these well-preserved ever-popular films is top-notch. All titles in TCM's "Holiday" set are rated in the 7s and 8s at imdb.
Trivia on movies---
Each version of Dickens' famous yule story has its fans, and the '38 A CHRISTMAS CAROL is no exception. This 69 minute Loew's release features an interesting company behind Reginald Owen as Ebenezer Scrooge. Gene and Kathleen Lockhart are Bob and Mrs. Cratchit and their daughter June plays a Cratchit child. Leo G. Carroll is Marley's ghost and Ann Rutherford portrays "Christmas Past." Silent-era clown Billy Bevan, who also lent his raspy basso voice to early Looney Tunes shorts, appears as "Leader of Street Watch."
In the romantic comedy CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT (1945), Sydney Greenstreet is third billed behind Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan. Miss Stanwyck's character was based on Gladys Taber, a ladies magazine columnist who lived on a Connecticut farm. John Dehner cameos as a state trooper. Dehner began as a Disney animator, then appeared often on radio-- he was Paladin on HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL. Other cast members: Reginald Gardiner, Una O'Conner and Frank Jenks. Also here is "ditzy blonde" specialist Joyce Compton. (To see Miss Compton at her nuttiest, check out Eddie Cline's 1940 turn-of-the-century farce, THE VILLAIN STILL PURSUED HER, with Alan Mowbray as the baddie and Buster Keaton playing his opposite.)
IT HAPPENED ON FIFTH AVENUE (1947) was the very first ALLIED ARTISTS release. This company was formed when MONOGRAM Pictures and two smaller outfits merged. Frank Capra was slated to direct until producer-director Roy Del Ruth purchased screen rights to this story of a homeless man and his friends who take advantage of a manson left empty while the owners are away for the holidays. The fine cast includes Don DeFore, Ann Harding, Charles Ruggles, Victor Moore, Gale Storm, Grant Mitchell, Edward Brophy and Alan Hale Jr.
Ernst Lubitsch's holiday romance THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER (1940) was a first screen adaptation of Hungarian playwright Miklós László's "Perfumerie" (aka "Illatszertár"). This storyline was later used for the 1949 musical, IN THE GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME and in 1998 for YOU'VE GOT MAIL. Director Lubitsch, who also worked in a Budapest shop as a boy, called this his favorite movie. Unlike most productions, all scenes were filmed sequentially. Cast includes Margaret Sullavan, Jimmy Stewart, Frank Morgan, Joseph Schildkraut and in a walk-on, Sarah Edwards. TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Holiday (Christmas in Connecticut / A Christmas Carol 1938 / The Shop Around the Corner / It Happened on 5th Avenue)
Christmas in Connecticut is a great holiday romantic comedy about a young woman who writes for a magazine geared to homemakers. She claims to be married, have a child and live on a farm in Connecticut, but is actually a single, childless, apartment dweller. The problems start when her publisher wants her to give a recent war hero a home for the holidays on her Connecticut farm. She consents to marry a long-time boyfriend who actually has a farm in Connecticut to save her editor from losing his job. They arrange to be married on the farm, but the judge doesn't get the job done before the war hero arrives. That creates some awkward moments. The housekeeper tends babies for women who are working during the war, and they are supposed to be "the child" but with a different baby showing up each day confusion ensues. Stanwyck's character, of course, begins to fall for the hero, who is also falling for her but thinks she is a married woman and is trying to respect that. It is all good, clean fun and "What a Christmas!"
The Shop Around the Corner is a very clever comedy whose theme has been repeated in other movies, as mentioned in Annie's review. Clara is falling for the man with whom she corresponds on purely intellectual subjects. She has never met him. At the same time she gets a job in a leather goods shop and cannot get along with her boss (Jimmy Stewart). You can figure it out from there. Delightful fun. Either one of these two movies is worth the price of this package.
It Happened on 5th Avenue is a pleasant film. The owner of a 5th Avenue mansion is wintering elsewhere and a hobo helps himself to the house. He invites in others who need a place to stay in the housing crunch following WWII. Without their knowledge, one of their fellow tenants is actually the owner, who hides his identity to see what is going on in his home.
Everyone knows the story of A Christmas Carol, so I won't elaborate on this one. This is a wonderful set of holiday movies at a price that can't be beat. If you don't like black and white movies this may not satisfy you, but the stories are great and my family really enjoys them. The only complaint I have is that they are double-sided disks and I prefer single sided.
These four films would cost you you about 4 times the price if you were to hunt for them individually.The only fly in the ointment is that the movies are on two double sided discs.This can send some screaming into the night,but if it doesn't bother you then you're laughing.
A Christmas Carol(1938)is a Christmas Carol light;for those who want their taste but not all the "calories"!.Clicking in at a speedy 69 min.it is no wonder this film was a TV staple for years until they began pushing the Alistair Sims version back in the 70s.The film is non stop and is over far too soon.By now we all know the plot of a miserly businessman who abhores Christmas and who gets his wake up call courtesy of three spirits;becoming a new man.The film doesn't linger on little plot nuances(that would have improved it immensely)like the door knob coming to life,or his old love,or his reunion with his nephew,etc.When Owen(Scrooge)argues with Fred watch the spittle literally coming out of his mouth and don't mind the wires when he "floats" out the window with the ghost of Christmas present.Also Scrooges'young sister talks very much like Stan Laurel while Feziwig,not to be outdone,does his best Stan Laurel smiling;it's uncanny! 2 1/2 stars.
It Happened on Fifth Avenue(1947)stars Gale Storm(well known later for her own show on TV),Don Defore(to become well known on TV as Ozzie and Harriets'next door neighbour and later Hazel's boss),veteran character actors Victor Moore and Charles Ruggles.Moore is the central character,a street bum,who inhabits a mansion that gets deserted so many months a year by its millionaire owner played by Ruggles.The games begin when the house becomes inhabited by more and more people and who are eventually caught by the owners' daughter.But she plays along as a fellow down-and-outer and falls in love with an ex-GI(Defore),even getting her father and mother in on the act.The film has its' charm but is not engaging enough to maintain interest on a consistent basis.Moore's den-motherish tongue waggings can get a little old quite fast and he seems a little out of place in such a lead role.Funny enough the gags in this film are the best things about it.Good and funny lines are given just throw away status and have little of the punch they otherwise would have had in a better film.Further,later in the film there is a beautiful sequence with Defoe and Storm sitting at a wobbly legged table and a waiter who tries to fix it.He comes to one side,goes under and reappears at the other side,and is repeated much to the couples amazement.It is so good it is out of place.Overall there just isn't enough spark in this film to give it any more than a 3 star rating.
Christmas in Connecticut(1945)stars Barbara Stanwyck(of TVs Big Valley fame;and yes she was a substantial star way back when!)who is a columnist who writes about her daily life and her cooking in a beautiful home in the country,with her hubby and child.Trouble is it is all made up;even her boss(Sydney Greenstreet)doesn't know it.But the jig is up when the boss invites himself to her "place" for Christmas.Stanwyck enlists the help of her Uncle Felix(SZ Sakall)for cooking and general back-up chores and a hubby-wanna be played by Reginald Gardiner.Throw in a hero GI(Dennis Morgan)who falls in love with this "married" writer and bedlam reigns supreme.This is a film that tries hard to be better than it is.Stanwyck and Sakall really do dominate this picture but their efforts aren't enough to save it from its' 3 star status.
The Little Shop Around the Corner(1940)stars Jimmy Stewart as a head clerk who toils in a general store in Budapest,run by Frank Morgan(stage and screen vet and the wizard in the Wizard of Oz).At first all is seemingly ok but Morgan has private troubles with his wife and he thinks Stewart is behind it.As tensions build a new clerk starts at the store played by Sullivan and Sullivan and Stewart start rubbing each other the wrong way.Morgan fires Stewart because of his suspicions and is suicidal.He ends up in the hospital,apologizes to Stewart when the truth comes out and makes him acting manager.All along both Sullivan and Stewart have had pen pals and Stewart is amazed to learn his pal is none other than Sullivan,but she remains oblivious to the end.This is a very smart and engaging film.Lubitsch reigns the actors in and all really under-play their parts to get a more immediate and "real" effect for their characters and it works wonderfully.In typical Lubitsch style it is a film that wants to tell its' story in its own way and if you keep with it you will be rewarded hansomely.Many films would have had Sullivan and Stewart in the dark for much of the film(with a double late-film revelation)but here he lets one of the two in on the "secret" and we watch how Stewart tries to deal with it,adding an extra dynamic to the plot which otherwise wouldn't have been there.This film deserves its' 4 1/2 stars;the best film in this collection.
All films have been transferred pretty well and all have the same features present on the discs than if you were to buy them seperately.An FYI,It Happened on Fifth Avenue has no features or even scene selections on it at all(!),just a play option.
Overall,for the price,this is a nice collection of mostly average Christmas films with Christmas Carol the poorest,The Little Shop Around the Corner the best and the other two falling into the middle.If you can stand the two double sided discs then this is certainly worth getting.'
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