Nothing beats a crowd-pleasing holiday DVD for entertaining a room full of guests -- or just for putting in cozy time with that nuclear family. Everyone has holiday favorites; here are mine, from the Grinch to the Griswolds.
Update: Read about the Christmas Blu-rays for 2009.
These classic DVD titles are repackaged every year or so, with the studios merrily gifting themselves with double dips. Some are great Christmas DVD updates; others are lumps of binary coal. Read on the for the latest release info:
A Christmas Carol
: There are several fine versions of Charles Dickens' immortal tale out there, but none captures the dread and the joy better than the 1951 version with Alastair Sim as Scrooge. On a Christmas Eve, here's something magical and palate cleansing about those woeful visits from the three ghosts. VCI rereleased the Sims "Christmas Carol" last year, with a proper sprucing up of the old images and plenty of DVD extras. A close second is the Reginald Owen film from 1939, a bit spookier take.
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
: The best animated holiday entertainment of all time. Warner updated the title in late 2006, for a 50th anniversary edition (of the book), fixing various video nasties that lurked in previous editions. Some DVD extras are MIA, however, so here's a Christmas wish for a final, definitive version of the Dr.'s TV classic. No Blu-ray to stocking-stuff, but there was an "Grinch" HD DVD. If the kids can't get enough holiday video, consider getting "Grinch" via Warner's new "Classic Christmas Favorites"
or the 2007 "Christmas Television Favorites."
A Charlie Brown Christmas
: No one who shivered through the winter of 1965 will forget the first airing, welcomed into something like half of the nation's TV homes. What makes this simple old animated show so timeless? Start with the nippy jazz-inspired soundtrack, Charles M. Schulz's demand that be no laugh track and, of course, Charlie Brown's always contemporary fight against the over-commercialization of Christmas. Warner just rereleased this marvelous serving of holiday spirit as part of the remastered "Peanuts Holiday Collection."
(The box set includes the Thanksgiving and Halloween specials.)
A Christmas Story
: Jean Shepherd's tale of Christmastime in the 1940s became an instant classic upon release in 1983. The live-action film about a four-eyed kid and his dream BB gun had the perfect mix of traditional cheer and modern cynicism, topped off by the author's droll narration. The home video history is a bit of a mess. Fans hoping for a shiny new restored version in 2008 say they've gotten a lump of coal. Warner's DVD and Blu-ray "ultimate" editions, unfortunately, contain the same video and audio as previous discs. If you own the 2006 Blu-ray or or the 2003 DVD, stay put.
Most holiday family gatherings have a strange character or two wandering about -- the boozy uncle or crazy grandma who show up every year. Here, at the end of this list of classy Christmas titles, we have our black sheep. The New York Times hated this sequel; Roger Ebert didn't get the jokes. But over the years "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation"
has emerged the people's choice for holiday hoots. Chevy Chase does his bumbler bit and Randy Quaid is brilliant as the redneck relative. The further adventures of the Griswold family came out on Blu-ray two years ago; the DVD dates back to 2003. Ho.
That's a really nice compilation you did here. As odd as it sounds I never watched the Grinch in its entirety. I'm from Germany and it's not that popular here. But it's definitely on my wishlist for this year's season.
Posted by: Christmas DVDs | March 18, 2009 at 03:59 AM