Old Christmas movies recommendation list

I started this blog post for last Christmas but I didn't finish it at that time. I managed to make Zoo Tycoon work on my pc after a long time and I really wanted to play it, so I was playing it instead of finishing the post (lol).

This is a list of old Christmas movies (I mean movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood), that are actually Christmas movies. Because I've been watching these old Christmas movies on Christmas for about 5 years and most of them are listed online as Christmas movies just because they have a 5 min random Christmas scene at the beginning of the movie or something, instead of having the whole plot (or at least most of the plot) revolving around Christmas. They even cite Sunset Boulevard as a Christmas movie (?), anyway, so I just got tired of other people's lists and decided to create my own personal list of films that I've watched and liked (some are my favourites) and that actually fit in the season. Enjoy 🎄

1# Meet me in St. Louis (1944)

My favourite Christmas movie ♥ It stars Judy Garland as one of the protagonists and has the iconic song Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, which is one of my favourite Christmas songs.

The plot is about the life of a family in the year of 1903 and shows each season of their lives, beginning in Summer and ending in Spring with the opening of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Since the movie is about all the seasons, Christmas isn't the only focus of it (it also has Halloween), but the holiday is a big aspect of the story so it's fair to call it a Christmas movie.

2# The Bishop's Wife (1947)

I've watched this movie two Christmas ago and it's one of my favourites ♥

The movie is about an angel who descends to the Earth to answer a prayer of a bishop that wanted help to gather money to build a new cathedral. But instead of helping him fund the building, the angel helps improve the bishop's relationship with his family and also helps him understand that he is focusing too much on money, which isn't the important part. The holiday plays a big role in this movie, and the part where the angel helps other people is fitting with the season.

3# The Miracle on the 34th Street (1947)

This film has a 90's remake that I hated as a kid, I've no idea why since I never actually watched the movie lol.

The plot is about a man who is hired to be the Santa Claus of a department store in New York and he claims to be the real Santa, at the point that people question his sanity and he goes to court to prove that he is saying the truth. He also tries to revive the Christmas' spirit of the protagonist's daughter (a little girl that doesn't believe in Santa Claus). The movie features a real Santa so it can't get more fitting with the season than this (unless it had Bing Crosby singing Christmas songs, but the movie isn't a musical, which is the only con of the movie in my opinion).

4# White Christmas (1954)

One of the first Christmas movies that I've watched so I don't remember much about it (maybe I should rewatch), but the Imdb synopsis is: "A successful song-and-dance team become romantically involved with a sister act and teams up to save the failing Vermont inn of their former commanding general.".

So why should this movie be on this list? It has Bing Crosby as a protagonist and the cast sings White Christmas while wearing Santa Claus clothing (it is even more Christmassy than the other one). I honestly don't remember much of the plot lol, but it's in my top top 5 xmas movies so you can trust me that it's great.

5# It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

This is the famous film about a guy who whishes that he was never born and then he sees how he actually affects people's lives, that it's always referenced in TV shows. The plot actually is about a guy who never got what he actually wanted in life because he would always make concessions for the interests of family, friends and people of this city until he got frustrated in life and tried to commit suicide on Christmas Eve, so an angel appears and shows him how much difference he makes in people's lives.

The Christmas part in the movie only happens at the end, because the whole movie is a flashback of the protagonist's life that God shows to the angel. But I think that the most Christmassy part of it is the message that it passes about how you could make a difference in the lives of people that are around you.

6# The Thin Man (1934)

This movie is the first one of a series of 6 movies featuring the retired detective Nick, his rich/socialite/curious wife Nora and their dog Asta.

In this movie, they travel to New York to spend the holidays when Nick is contacted by a woman whose father disappeared right before her wedding. Nick and Nora are portrayed by William Powell and Myrna Loy (actors I didn't know before watching this movie, but now I'm already a fan and they were so successful in the Thin Man series that they costarred in 13 movies together).

This plot is different from the other movies on the list and from the average Christmas movie, because it's a crime movie but I can assure you that Christmas has a very special part in the story (that I can't tell you is because it would be a spoiler). Also the direct sequel, After the Thin Man (1936) has a similar concept and is set in the New Year.

7# Bachelor Mother (1934)

I've watched this movie yesteryear out of season in March-April, because I was annoyed after watching a ton of Christmas movies that weren't really Christmas movies, on the last 2-3 Christmas. Then I just watched movies that I had reserved for the Christmas season only and watched this movie, but I was wrong because this movie is fitting with the season.

The plot is about a girl who was hired to be a temporary worker at a department store for the Christmas season who receives a notice that she wouldn't be hired as a full-time employee. When she was going back home she saw a woman leaving her baby on the door of an orphanage, and after she took the baby in her arms so they wouldn't catch a cold, people around her started to think that she was the mom. She complied with the lie because she was offered an offer on the shop that she was fired from so she could take care of her baby as a single mom.

I think just the plot resume is enough for doing justice for this movie being a Christmas movie, and it also features a New Year's Eve party (pictured).

8# We're no Angels (1955)

The movie is about three convicts that escape from prison on Devil's Island in French Guiana, and arrive in the town of Cayenne on Christmas Eve of 1895. There they find a shop owner who is struggling financially and help him and his family, even though they were in jail for robbery and murder (even the name of the movie is a play on this, the daughter of the shop's owner says that they are her angels, but they say that they aren't any angels because they are convicts).

Besides the movie being set on the 24th/25th of December, it features a Summer Christmas (since the movie is set in South America) which I can actually relate to, but it is the only movie like this in this list, unfortunately.

9# Holiday Affair (1949)

A Christmas romcom movie. The story is about an affair between a war veteran and a war widow single mom, both work for rival department stores. They meet when she goes comparative shopping in his place of work, and he is unfortunately fired when she seeks a refund for the toy she bought there.

While Holiday Affair isn't the best Christmas movie out there, and not my favourite one, it's a light comedy and the plot fits the holiday season (and the era in which it was produced).

10# Meet John Doe (1941)

Unlike the other movies in this list that are either comedy or romcom, this movie is full of drama and it has a moral lesson and a little social criticism to it.

I liked the plot but I'll just post a small synopsis because I don't want to spoil it. The story starts with a writer of a newspaper, who after being told that she was going to be fired and needed to write one last article, writes a fictional letter about a John Doe that is unemployed and is going to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. Since the letter causes a stir between the public, the newspaper decides to rehire her and exploit the story, hiring a fake John Doe (who is a former baseball player turned tramp because of an arm injury).

Besides the plot revolving around Christmas Eve, it's my top recommendation of a drama-filled Christmas movie.

11# It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947)

This is another movie with a social criticism in its story, it has a little bit of drama but it's more a comedy. The story is about a hobo that every year moves into Fifth Avenue's mansion of the 2nd richest man in the world, while its owner spends his winter in another of his mansions in another state. While he is staying there, the hobo agrees to let a homeless ex-G.I. live there and a young girl who is actually the runaway daughter of the millionaire (she actually went to her house like normal but the hobo mistook her as another homeless girl and let her stay).

A bit of spoiler but, the ex-G.I. and the girl fall in love and she even asks her father to pretend to be homeless and stay there together with them, so he can meet him.

This movie has both Christmas and New Year's but is its theme about treating people equally and not valuing money too much that fits the season.

12# The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944)

A screwball comedy and the funniest movie in this list. The story is about a young girl, that after attending a farewell party of soldiers going to serve in WWII wakes up married, and pregnant and with only a vague memory of her husband having the letter "z" in his name. So she asks the help of a guy that had an unrequited love with her for years (I think that he is either her neighbor or childhood friend) to get married so they can avoid the scandal.

The whole plot of the movie isn't about Christmas but, it ends in the Christmas season and I recommend it because the ending is hilarious lol