by Ray Keating
The Keating Files – December 23, 2020
(The following column is included in Behind Enemy Lines: Conservative Communiques from Left-Wing New York. It originally was published in Newsday in December 2005.)
What’s a classic film? My personal definition is that it had to be made before I was born. Of course, this is based on nothing more than growing older, but I’m sticking to it.
So, why do many of us love Christmas films produced before we were born? The Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor provides a welcome reminder this week.
Starting tonight and running through Friday, Bay Street will show five great seasonal movies. Scheduled are It’s a Wonderful Life tonight, Babes in Toyland: March of the Wooden Soldiers tomorrow, Miracle on 34th Street on Wednesday, White Christmas on Thursday, and Scrooge on Friday evening.
Michael DiSanti, Bay Street’s associate producer, said the theater started showing classic films in October 2004, but this is the first holiday movie series. As DiSanti spoke, it became clear that this is an undertaking by and for film lovers. The movie package each night will include old Mitch Miller sing-a-long, bouncing-ball Christmas carols, movie trailers, and music from the era playing in the lobby.
Best of all is how the movies will be presented. Most of us have only seen the Christmas classics at home on small television screens. DiSanti pointed out that with a few exceptions, “Nobody ever does the American classics on the big screen anymore.” He added: “This is the way they were meant to be seen, these movies, on a big screen.”
The wall-mounted, flat screen television might be nice, but it’s still not good enough. There’s something about watching movies in a public theater (as long as people are quiet and polite, which unfortunately is becoming an increasingly elusive expectation), and on a large screen.
But why is the idea of seeing Christmas films on the big screen particularly appealing? It goes back to the fact that the best holiday movies provide special links to the season. And this can be accomplished in various ways. Three of my favorites will be shown at Bay Street, but they couldn’t be more different in style, content and impact.
For example, it’s hard to imagine lighter fare than White Christmas. But who cares? This movie serves up high-energy dance numbers, corny jokes, romance, lots of singing, including Bing Crosby leading the way on “White Christmas,” and a Vermont inn with the perfect fireplace that I still long to find. It’s wonderful escapism, and thereby ranks among the simple joys and delights this time of year.
Meanwhile, Miracle on 34th Street recaptures a bit of the magic and mystery that arrived with each Christmas as a child. I almost always begin the film recognizing, with some regret, the cold logic of Doris and her young daughter Susan regarding Kris Kringle, but then unfailingly get swept away. Even the rather materialistic and calculating Doris eventually acknowledges: “Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to.”
Faith carries over to my top-rated It’s a Wonderful Life. If one hasn’t watched the film for some time, it could be forgotten that this isn’t exactly warm and fuzzy fare. Most of the movie focuses on the frustrations of George Bailey – broken dreams, feeling trapped, staring into the abyss of financial ruin and possible prison, and contemplating suicide. But all of these woes give way to how each life touches others; the virtues of sacrifice and compassion; the incalculable value of life, marriage and family; and the importance of faith. After all, It’s a Wonderful Life opens with family and friends around Bedford Falls earnestly in prayer.
So, what makes a Christmas classic is not its age, but how it fits with the spirit of the holiday. I expect that seeing these films as meant to be on the big screen will only enhance their value.
Merry Christmas, and pass the popcorn.
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Ray Keating is a columnist, novelist, economist, podcaster and entrepreneur. His new book Vatican Shadows: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel is the 13th thriller/mystery in the Pastor Stephen Grant series. Get the paperback or Kindle edition at Amazon, or signed books at www.raykeatingonline.com.
The views expressed here are his own – after all, no one else should be held responsible for this stuff, right?
You also can order his book Behind Enemy Lines: Conservative Communiques from Left-Wing New York from Amazon or signed books at RayKeatingOnline.com. His other recent nonfiction book is Free Trade Rocks! 10 Points on International Trade Everyone Should Know.
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