Favourite Christmas Movies

We’re about a week away from Christmas and since we didn’t have the opportunity this year to cram into the malls and hear the same rendition of 'Have yourself a merry little Christmas' for the bazillionth time, it will do us some good to cozy up by the fireplace with hot cocoa and a good movie.

So, without further ado, here are some of my favourite Christmas movies.

Hook (1991)

Hook is a beautiful version of the Peter Pan tale. It asks us to think about who a grown Peter Pan would be and what his life would look like. Although set in London, none of the movie was filmed in London. Most of it was filmed in L.A. and Hawaii.

Its a favourite Christmas movie even though Christmas is in the background of the story. John Williams’ score makes it feel extra festive.

Trivia:

-The kissing couple who begin to float when some fairy dust lands on them were George Lucas and Carrie Fisher in a cameo.

-When the Bannings fly to England, the pilot's voice is that of Dustin Hoffman (Captain Hook) - "This is your captain speaking..."

-The character of Captain Hook was inspired by Reverend John Maher, a preacher at St. George's parish in Brede, East Sussex. He told everyone he lost his left hand in a coach accident. No one had any reason to doubt his story until a man named Smith came to town and revealed that Maher lost his left hand in his previous career as a pirate. Apparently, Maher had a successful career until he decided to strand his partner, Smith, in the Caribbean, return to England, and become a man of the cloth. Smith tracked down his old friend and set out to blackmail him. The pressure was too much for Maher, and paranoia drove him mad. Sir J.M. Barrie visited Brede a few decades later and the rest is history.

-The shots of Kensington Gardens and the Peter Pan Statue were actually filmed in Los Angeles.

Favourite Quote:

(In London) Old Toodles: [Searching for something on the floor] Lost, lost, lost.

Peter Banning: Lost what?

Old Toodles: I've lost my marbles.

(Later in the movie, in Neverland)

Thud Butt: Peter, can I talk to you?

Peter Pan: Sure, Thud.

Thud Butt: I remember Tootles.

Peter Pan: You do?

Thud Butt: He was lost too.

Peter Pan: How could you know Tootles?

Thud Butt: He was a Lost Boy.

[Thud Butt takes out a small pouch]

Thud Butt: These are his marbles. These are his happy thoughts.

[Peter empties out the pouch of marbles into his hand and laughs]

Peter Pan: He really did lose his marbles, didn't he?

Thud Butt: [laughs] Yeah, he lost them good.

[they both laugh]

Thud Butt: Peter, you know what?

Peter Pan: What?

Thud Butt: My happy thought will help you.

Peter Pan: What's your happy thought, Thud?

Thud Butt: Mine's my mother. Do you remember your mother, Peter?

Peter Pan: Wish I could.

The Holiday (2006)

“It just comes from a totally different place. Just promise me you'll rent it,” is what Miles says to Iris as he picks up The Mission. That is about the same level of passion I have for this favourite Christmas movie.

I could obsess about this one forever, and I’m probably watching it as you are reading this.

Trivia:

-At one point, Arthur (Eli Wallach) claims that Cary Grant is from Surrey, and Iris (Kate Winslet) agrees. This is in fact a mistake, as Grant was from Bristol.

-The example Arthur (Eli Wallach) uses to explain a "Meet Cute" was used in Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938). Strangers Claudette Colbert and Gary Cooper meet while shopping. She buys the bottoms and he buys the top of the same pair of pajamas.

-During the shooting for this movie, at the end of a large number of re-takes for one particular segment of the newspaper Christmas party scene, Kate Winslet aroused a good-natured laugh from everyone on-set when, after the end of what she felt was a particularly good take following another long series of takes, she dropped to her knees in front of a table, clasped her hands together on the tabletop, and began to pantomime a prayer for that to be the last take of the segment.

Favourite Quote:

[Iris and Arthur are out for dinner in a restaurant, after he asks why she’s hanging out with him]

Arthur Abbott: He let you go. This is not a hard one to figure out. Iris, in the movies we have leading ladies and we have the best friend. You, I can tell, are a leading lady, but for some reason you are behaving like the best friend.

Iris: You're so right. You're supposed to be the leading lady of your own life, for god's sake! Arthur, I've been going to a therapist for three years, and she's never explained anything to me that well. That was brilliant. Brutal, but brilliant.

Love Actually (2003)

It’s beautiful, funny, sad and absurd all at the same time, similar to when the whole family gets together.

It’s Love, Actually.

Trivia:

-The airport greeting footage at the beginning and end of this movie is real. Writer and director Richard Curtis had a team of cameramen film at Heathrow airport for a week, and whenever they saw something that would fit in they asked the people involved for permission to use the footage.

-A speech given by Hugh Grant in this movie (where he extols the virtues of Great Britain and refuses to cave to the pressure of its longstanding ally, the United States) was etched in the transatlantic memory as a satirical, wishful statement on the concurrent relationship with George W. Bush. Tony Blair responded by saying in 2005, "I know there's a bit of us that would like me to do a Hugh Grant in Love Actually (2003) and tell America where to get off. But the difference between a good film and real life is that in real life there's the next day, the next year, the next lifetime to contemplate the ruinous consequences of easy applause."

-One of the working titles was "Love Actually is All Around" taken from The Troggs' song "Love is All Around", written by Troggs lead singer Reg Presley. An alternate version by Wet Wet Wet, featured in Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), was at number one on the U.K. charts for fifteen weeks in 1994, and Richard Curtis thought it would be amusing to start this movie with the same song that had driven everyone to distraction nine years earlier. For this movie, it was re-worked by Billy Mack (Bill Nighy), who turns it into a Christmas song. "Christmas is All Around", the resulting tacky joke theme song, was released in Britain in hopes that it would be "Number 1 for Christmas 2003".

Favourite Quote:

[Natalie, a secretary, is greeting the Prime Minister]

Natalie: Hello, David. I mean "sir". Sh*t, I can't believe I've just said that. And now I've gone and said "sh*t" - twice. I'm so sorry, sir.

Prime Minister: It's fine, it's fine. You could've said "f**k," and then we'd have been in real trouble.

Natalie: Thank you, sir. I did have an awful premonition that I was gonna f**k up on the first day. Oh, piss it!

Last Christmas (2019)

I’ll be honest, I just love the beautiful parts of London in this film. It encouraged me to research the Phoenix Garden, an urban retreat hidden away between Soho and Covent Garden, where Tom’s bench is. This movie also encouraged me to “look up” when watching YouTube videos of London.

Last Christmas does a great job highlighting the human aspects of London, such as Church programs and volunteerism to help the homeless, the struggles immigrants face, and health care.

By the way, you can learn about and donate to the Phoenix Garden, here.

Trivia:

-This movie used sustainability strategies to reduce its carbon emissions and environmental impact.

-Filmed on-location in London. In order to avoid crowds interrupting filming, many scenes started filming around 2 a.m.

-Emilia Clarke did her own singing.

Favourite Quote:

Petra: I blame the Poles.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone(2001)

Who wouldn’t want to spend Christmas in a gigantic castle with a medieval hall filled with Christmas decorations and endless amounts of food and desserts? It can’t just be me.

We may have to fight a troll and play wizard’s chess, but I am sure it is worth it all in the end.

Trivia:

- All of the food that you see in the Great Hall feasts is real. Chris Columbus wanted a very elaborate welcome feast to match the description in the book, with roast beef, ham, turkey, and all the trimmings. Unfortunately, filming under the hot stage lighting for hours at a time quickly caused the food to develop an unpleasant odor, despite the meat being changed every two days and the vegetables twice a day. For the following films, samples of real food were frozen, so that molds could be made of them, and copies cast in resin.

- Professor Quirrell's (Ian Hart's) classroom was filmed on-location at Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire, in a room known as the Warming room. The cauldron seen in the room is not a prop, but in fact came with the location. It is believed that the cauldron is over 500 years old, and was used by cooks who worked for Queen Elizabeth I.

- The floor in the great hall is made of York stone. Production designer Stuart Craig had the foresight to invest a significant amount of his design budget on the stone. While this decision was questioned at the time, it proved to be a wise one, as the stone was durable enough to withstand the footsteps of hundreds of actors and actresses, as well as several camera crews, over the next decade to film the entire series.

Favourite Quote:

Neville Longbottom: [about his new Remembrall] Only problem is, I can't remember what I've forgotten.

Muppets Christmas Carol (1992)

Dickens is the epitome of a cozy Christmas. This is my favourite Christmas movie of all time, mainly because the memory of seeing it for the first time is ingrained in my mind. I remember a class of 30 students huddled on the library floor, looking up at the TV, VHS playing. The music is catchy and festive, and the muppets are a timeless favourite.

Trivia:

-The song "When Love Is Gone", sung by Belle, was dropped from the theatrical release (over the objections of producer and director Brian Henson) at the request of Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, who considered it too sad for young children. The last-minute decision resulted in a jarring edit in the scene from which it was removed, and caused some confusion about Scrooge, Gonzo, and Rizzo's reactions. The scene was restored in the VHS, LaserDisc, and first DVD (full screen) releases, but it isn't used in television airings, Blu-ray releases, or the Netflix or Disney+ version. However, it is available as an "EXTRAS" option on Disney+. In mid-december 2020, Brian Henson announced that the original negatives for the removed scene had been found and would be re-instated (back) into the film.

-Look very closely in one of the crowd sequences. One of the background Muppets is a lobster hanging out of a basement window. This is a reference to the line, "like bad lobster in a dark cellar", one of Charles Dickens' weirder turns of phrase.

-VHS release was November 1993, almost one year after the theatrical release. By this time Walt Disney Home Video had long abandoned the video rental market model and released it straight to sell through so the public could buy and own their own copies. The film also had a laserdisc release in 1993.

Favourite Quote:

Gonzo: He was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scr...

[noticing the smudged window of Scrooge's office]

Gonzo: Boy, this really *is* a dirty city!

Rizzo the Rat: Heh, you're tellin' me!

Gonzo: Come here.

Rizzo the Rat: Hmm?

[Gonzo grabs Rizzo and uses him to wipe off the window pane]

Rizzo the Rat: [sarcastic] Thank you for makin' me a part of this!

Merry Christmas!