The 12 Movies of Christmas, or Celebrating the Holidays Despite Lacking the Spirit.

The following is a list of Christmas movies recommended for holiday viewing by former Townbroadcast columnist “The Subterranean.”

Christmas is a time for joy. Finding joy in the now.  

A time with hope. Hope for the future.

A time to capture the spirit of the stories that give us those things.

For we mortals need, live by, our stories.

These stories, these characters, give our lives ways to understand what we can’t ever know.

So our inner child survives the harsh truths of our lives through believing when there’s no reason to believe.

Thus, for those skeptics, those cynics, among us, I offer a short list of lesser known films that tell the stories of the season, perhaps from a more mature, reasoned, and less fanciful, perspective 

The 12 Days of Christmas begin on Christmas Day so here’s a list of 12 (plus one) to watch now or, as Scrooge came to keep Christmas in his heart the whole year long, or like Hallmark Christmas movies, you can watch any of them any time.

• A Christmas Carol with Guy Pearce (available on Hulu) – A fresh, albeit relentlessly grim, take on the original. I’ve always doubted that Scrooge would change his ways so completely like giddy Alistair Sim does, and this version removes all of my doubt.

• Carol for Another Christmas (Turner Classic Movies/YouTube) – Rod Serling’s anti-war version with Sterling Hayden and Peter Sellers of Dr. Strangelove fame. 

• Blackadder Christmas (Hulu) – Mr. Bean goes nasty…kinda.

• The Man Who Invented Christmas (Starz/Kanopy) – the story behind the scenes of Dickens’ creation. Christopher Plummer is a right fine Scrooge.

• Bad Santa (Paramount+/Showtime) – Nothing like Billy Bob Thornton’s drunken mall Santa.

• Rare Exports (Hulu/Peacock) – from Finland, the truth about Santa. Ask yourself, can you handle the truth?

• Krampus (Peacock) – A modern horror story of the naughty Santa.

•The House Without a Christmas Tree (YouTube) – Jason Robards as father to Addie Mills, who wants not just a Christmas tree but his love. One of our all-time favorites.

• A Child’s Christmas in Wales (Peacock/Tubi and other ad supported streamers) – Dylan Thomas’ tale. A literary masterpiece and another one of our standards 

• Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas (YouTube) – the other side of Briggs’ “The Snowman.” From the guy who brought you the nuclear holocaust classic “When the Wind Blows.”

• A Wish for Wings That Work (YouTube-Arthur Gill version) – Cartoonist Berkeley Breathed’s beloved Opus the Penguin pleading his case to the fat man in the red suit, featuring Bill the Cat 

• Scrooge with Albert Finney (Paramount+) – a very tuneful version from Leslie Bricusse. I dare you not to love the song “Thank You Very Much!” No, I double dog dare you!

• Plus the animated Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (Netflix) – an expanded version of Finney’s version with new songs from Bricusse completed just before his death 

And always check your local library. Merry Christmas and God bless us, everyone!