Wednesday, December 24, 2008

White Christmas (1954)






Last night, as part of their '25 Days of Christmas' film festival, the ABC Family Channel ran "White Christmas" from 1954, featuring the Oscar-nominated songs of Irving Berlin and loads of terrific dance numbers. The perennial favorite stars Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Vera Ellen, Dean Jagger and Mary Wickes in the story of a top song-and-dance act (Crosby & Kaye), who after leaving the Army, meet a pair of beautiful sisters (Clooney & Ellen) who also have a song-and-dance act. When the boys follow the girls to a Vermont lodge to perform a Christmas show, they discover their former commander, General Waverly, is the lodge owner and he is having it rough keeping the inn going. A series of romantic mix-ups ensue as the performers try to help their old General.

"White Christmas" (yes, Crosby does perform his signature song) is one of the many holiday-themed films that I like to catch each year, and no matter how many times I've seen it, I always crack up during the big moment at the films climax, when Gen. Waverly (Jagger; pictured above left) is greeted by hundreds of soldiers from his old division, who've traveled from across the country on Christmas Eve to surprise him. Now, that's a real tear-jerker.


Seasons Greetings!

1 comment:

Chris said...

I also posted on this great film last night after watching. Enjoy your posts. Happy Holidays!