A Christmas Almanac: Part 1
A brief history & analysis of holiday movies, the 1890s–1940s
Introduction
Christmas movies have existed since the birth of cinema itself. In 1897, audiences first experienced the magic of the medium merging with the mythology of Santa Claus: a dreamy, minute-long moment that sparked a phenomenon lasting over a century. That same year brought the first depiction of the Nativity on film, and by 1901, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol had made its celluloid debut. Since then, film history has blessed us with countless variations on the holiday theme, spanning Santa, Jesus, Scrooge, and numerous fictional winter tales.
The history of the Christmas movie coincides closely with the history of film itself. Through an ebb and flow of sentiment, resentment, trust, faith, and agnosticism, our societal values have been reflected in the stories we wrote and in what studios believed we wanted to see. In this examination, we will explore the evolution of the Christmas film, identifying which decades were slow, which were strange, and which stood strong.
Innovation, Adaptation, and the Birth of Wonder: 1890s-1930s
Our collective memory of the Christmas movie generally doesn’t begin until what I consider the “Golden Age” of the holiday film, the 1940s. However, pre-1940s films are worth exploring, and their importance cannot be denied. In fact, the oldest ones are some of the most accessible to dive into. The films of the late 19th and early 20th centuries are short enough to hold a child’s attention span, and they are easy to access via YouTube or the Internet Archive. Their special effects—rudimentary now, yet sophisticated for the time—combined with slower frame rates and damaged nitrate film stocks, lend the viewing experience an extra magical or holy quality (depending on the subject matter).
Where available, I will link to films in the public domain and available online. To find out where to stream the other movies in this list, I highly recommend a Letterboxd Pro account for just $19. Or, for no cost, check out the Reelgood app or Reelgood.com.
The First Flickers (1898–1919)
1898’s Santa Claus, directed in England by hypnotist and early film pioneer George Albert Smith, is the oldest surviving film depicting Saint Nick. Running just 76 seconds, the film is deceptively simple, yet it features groundbreaking special effects for its time, utilizing double exposure to bring the magic of Santa to the screen. Pioneers often experimented with effects like double exposure to distinguish film from theater, offering visual storytelling elements impossible on stage. This drive to innovate continues today, with studios and exhibitors creating spectacle-driven films and immersive venues like 4DX, The Sphere in Las Vegas, and Cosm in Los Angeles.
For many, any film about the birth of Jesus is categorized as a Christmas film by default, even if they weren’t produced with that specific intention (producers likely intended these stories for year-round viewing). One of the earliest works of cinema involving the original Christmas story, The Passion Play of Oberammergau (1898), is mostly lost, with only fragments surviving in the archives of the George Eastman Museum. The story of its past is fascinating but would require its own separate post.
The oldest existing film we have about the birth of Christ is Auguste & Louis Lumière’s La Vie et la Passion de Jésus-Christ (The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ), also from 1898, though the nativity scene is just one brief segment of the 10-minute runtime. My favorite early adaptation is the French 1907 film of the same name, produced by Charles Pathé. Several versions were made between 1898 and 1907, but Pathé expanded the story into a 44-minute color-tinted (stenciled) film that visually pops, lending the subject the weight it deserves.
In 1901, British magician Walter R. Booth directed the first film adaptation of A Christmas Carol, titled Scrooge; or Marley’s Ghost. Though seemingly crude and brief at three minutes, Booth’s film packed a punch for contemporary audiences and can be more fully appreciated today through a historical lens. Dickens’ narrative is summarized effectively in the short running time and Booth utilized superimposition techniques similar to Smith’s Santa Claus, but were applied here to depict the ghosts of Christmas.
As the years moved on, so did cinematographic techniques and storytelling. Edwin Porter’s 1905 film The Night Before Christmas, loosely based on Clement Clarke Moore’s poem, used miniatures to show Santa riding with his reindeer. In 1907, Thomas Edison’s company produced the shocking The Little Girl Who Did Not Believe in Santa Claus, a story about a child who kidnaps Santa at gunpoint to convince a less fortunate friend of his existence. In 1910, J. Searle Dawley built on Booth’s first adaptation of A Christmas Carol, directing a 10-minute film that included intertitle cards and similar superimposed effects to create the ghosts. 1912’s The Star of Bethlehem is the first film dedicated entirely to the Nativity, though it survives only in fragments.
The 1920s: A Quiet Interlude
The 1920s didn’t see a significant surge in the Christmas genre, but a few titles stand out. A Christmas Carol (1923) was adapted yet again, expanding the scope of the story to 25 minutes. German filmmaker Frank E. Kleinschmidt produced and directed the magical 1925 film Santa Claus, offering a naturalistic twist by filming on location in remote Alaska. Laurel and Hardy offered their take in 1929 with an 18-minute short featuring the duo as door-to-door Christmas tree salesmen in California, with hilarity ensuing. One final unlikely Western addition to the 20s Christmas canon is Hell’s Heroes (1929). An early effort by legendary director William Wyler (Ben Hur, Roman Holiday, Funny Girl), this Western take on the Nativity story had already been adapted from the original short story no less than two times (both now lost to history) and would be remade at least twice more.
The 1930s: A Holiday Lull
The 1930s proved another slow decade for holiday productions. Laurel and Hardy grabbed the attention of children with 1934’s Babes in Toyland, though it likely gave many of them nightmares. A fever dream involving toymakers in a fantasy world, it feels more like a bad trip than a holiday classic (yes, you should watch it at least once). A Christmas Carol finally received a sound adaptation in 1935 with the British production Scrooge. With a 78-minute runtime, a dark, gritty atmosphere, and high production values, it feels closer to the modern versions we know today.
An American feature-length sound version of Dickens’ novel followed in 1938, featuring a strong performance by Reginald Owen (the crazy Admiral Boom in Mary Poppins who shoots off his cannon to keep time) as Scrooge. Disney also released a few classic, Christmas-themed Silly Symphonies—Santa’s Workshop (1932) and The Night Before Christmas (1933)—that are both well worth watching. Finally, 1936 also saw the fourth adaptation of Three Godfathers, co-starring the great Walter Brennan.
While these first 30 years of holiday cinema saw significant growth, from minute-long silent films to feature-length talkies, the movies we now regard as classics of the genre were just around the corner.
The Golden Years: The 1940s
The Christmas movie hit its stride in the 1940s—so much so that labeling it the genre’s “Golden Age” is hardly hyperbole. The holiday film moved in a more secular, creative direction, veering away from the three staples—Scrooge, Jesus, and Santa—while sticking firmly to comedy, fantasy, and romance. All of this occurred despite the 40s simultaneously earning the distinction as the “Golden Age” of film noir. World War II seemed to demand art that provided both dark distraction and uplifting comfort.
A Solid Start (1940–1942)
The genre came out of the gate strong with two superb films in January 1940. The Shop Around the Corner, a romantic comedy directed by the great Ernst Lubitsch (To Be or Not to Be), stars Jimmy Stewart well before he became a household name for Christmas cheer. It is often cited as one of the best films ever made and was memorably remade by Nora Ephron in 1998 as You’ve Got Mail. Remember the Night is another instant classic from ‘40. A sort of travel comedy of errors, it was written by the hilarious Preston Sturges (The Lady Eve) and starring the wonderful Barbara Stanwyck and lovable Fred MacMurray.
Frank Capra, already cemented as a master of socially inspirational comedy, entered the Christmas fray with Meet John Doe in 1941. Many are surprised to hear that five years before It’s a Wonderful Life, Capra made another holiday film centering on suicide. This one, again starring Barbara Stanwyck alongside the impeccable Gary Cooper, leans more political than personal. That focus may explain why it is less remembered during the holidays, despite being a masterpiece.
Irving Berlin concocted 1942’s Holiday Inn primarily as a vehicle for his music. We’re all the better for it; the film blessed us with Bing Crosby premiering “White Christmas” and several Fred Astaire dance routines, all bookended by Christmas scenes.
1942 also offered a noir-adjacent holiday take with Larceny, Inc.—a comic-crime-heist film, starring Edward G. Robinson in a surprisingly lovable role, about a gang of criminals who buy a luggage shop next door to a bank in order to tunnel into the vault, only to accidentally become successful at selling luggage. Larceny was a criminal taste of things to come to the holidays, foreshadowing the genre-blending we would later see in Cover Up, The Silent Partner, and Die Hard.
The Mid-Decade Boom (1944–1946)
The hits didn’t let up. Vincente Minnelli directed the visually breathtaking Meet Me in St. Louis, one of 1944’s biggest hits, second only to Leo McCarey’s Going My Way—also arguably a holiday movie with its sentimental Christmas Eve finale. St. Louis pops off the screen in gorgeous Technicolor, treating us to Judy Garland introducing the world to “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” The following year, Barbara Stanwyck solidified herself as the Queen of Christmas with 1945’s Christmas in Connecticut, playing a single writer in New York pretending to be a farm wife.
Then, the granddaddy of them all dropped in 1946: It’s a Wonderful Life. Frank Capra reunited with Jimmy Stewart, along with Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore, for a timeless classic about economic hardship. Based on a short story titled “The Greatest Gift” (itself loosely based on Dickens’ A Christmas Carol), the film was initially a flop. Nearly 30 years later, a miracle occurred: Due to a clerical error in 1974, the film fell into the public domain. TV stations, delighted by the cheap royalty-free content, aired it relentlessly. By the 1980s, the film was resurrected, becoming the annual sensation we know today.
The Grand Finale (1947–1949)
1947 was a powerhouse year, producing three staples of the season.
It Happened on 5th Avenue: An oddity originally slated for Capra (who made Wonderful Life instead) and intended for a 1946 release, it was pushed to Easter of ‘47. Despite the delays and a lack of A-list stars, it became a classic.
Miracle on 34th Street: This memorable film starring Maureen O’Hara, noir regular John Payne, and a young Natalie Wood competed against 5th Avenue for “Best Story” at the Oscars (and won).
The Bishop’s Wife: Henry Koster’s film starring Cary Grant, David Niven, and Loretta Young didn’t crush the box office (perhaps due to the religious angle) but became a perennial favorite, eventually remade in 1996 as The Preacher’s Wife.
John Ford took his second turn directing 3 Godfathers in 1948 (a remake of his 1919 silent film) with John Wayne in the lead. It was the first version in color and remains my favorite iteration of the story.
The decade closed out with two unique entries. Cover Up (1949) is a criminally unwatched Christmas noir starring the underappreciated William Bendix—a fun balance of grit and a holiday angle that anticipates 1961’s Blast of Silence. Finally, Holiday Affair offered an enjoyable romcom starring Robert Mitchum and Janet Leigh, notable for being written by a woman, Isobel Lennart.
Looking Ahead
It is surprising that such a strong decade of holiday films was followed by a relatively dim one. Though the 1950s certainly has a few classics, the next three decades represent a significant lull in the Christmas movie tradition. Next week, I’ll explore why that happened, before diving into its return to greatness in the 80s and 90s.