We watched this movie on Christmas Eve, appropriately enough. I hadn’t seen it in at least five or six years, maybe longer. Didn’t really matter, though. I’ve seen it enough times so that I know everything that’s going to happen and could even quote a lot of the dialogue along with the actors if I wanted to.
Nearly everybody has seen this movie, and so much has been written about it that I’m going to comment only briefly on things that I hadn’t really noticed in previous viewings. Most notably, there’s quite a bit of padding. Several of the musical numbers, like “Minstrel Show” and “Choreography”, do nothing to advance the plot or tell us anything about the characters. The movie could have easily been fifteen or twenty minutes shorter. Not that I don’t enjoy the production numbers; they’re well-staged and quite entertaining. But if they hadn’t been there, I don’t think we would have ever missed them.
Something I didn’t know until recently is that Rosemary Clooney sings both parts in “Sisters”. I figured Vera-Ellen’s singing was dubbed, but didn’t know that Clooney was really singing to herself in that song.
I really like the opening scene set during World War II, and I still find the last twenty minutes or so of the film very moving. As for the middle, it’s still entertaining, but except for the occasional funny line it doesn’t grab me like it once did. That’s because I’ve seen the movie so many times, I guess.
Overall, though, I still like WHITE CHRISTMAS a lot. The photography is beautiful, the songs are great, and the movie has its heart in the right place. I wouldn’t watch it every Christmas, but every few years is just about right, I think.
By the way, we never got around to watching IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Maybe next year.
Nearly everybody has seen this movie, and so much has been written about it that I’m going to comment only briefly on things that I hadn’t really noticed in previous viewings. Most notably, there’s quite a bit of padding. Several of the musical numbers, like “Minstrel Show” and “Choreography”, do nothing to advance the plot or tell us anything about the characters. The movie could have easily been fifteen or twenty minutes shorter. Not that I don’t enjoy the production numbers; they’re well-staged and quite entertaining. But if they hadn’t been there, I don’t think we would have ever missed them.
Something I didn’t know until recently is that Rosemary Clooney sings both parts in “Sisters”. I figured Vera-Ellen’s singing was dubbed, but didn’t know that Clooney was really singing to herself in that song.
I really like the opening scene set during World War II, and I still find the last twenty minutes or so of the film very moving. As for the middle, it’s still entertaining, but except for the occasional funny line it doesn’t grab me like it once did. That’s because I’ve seen the movie so many times, I guess.
Overall, though, I still like WHITE CHRISTMAS a lot. The photography is beautiful, the songs are great, and the movie has its heart in the right place. I wouldn’t watch it every Christmas, but every few years is just about right, I think.
By the way, we never got around to watching IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Maybe next year.
2 comments:
We never got around to Its a Wonderful Life either. Did catch White Christmas on Christmas night. Love that movie. Many of these old musicals had padding songs in them in the middle. Must have been a fad of the time. I love the musical numbers, however, so I don't mind at all. Oddly enough I too noticed something this time viewing it that I hadn't noticed before: When Bing is in the nightclub waiting for Rosemary Clooney to sing, just before he goes on the talk show, the band plays "Snow" and then later "Count your Blessings" in very orchestral fashion in the background. I thought that was kind of fun.
I did see It's A Wonderful Life, on Christmas Eve. When Harry Bailey raises a glass and says, "To my big brother George - the richest man in town!" it always leaves me choked up.
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