Elf (2003)

Oh, Elf.

This film keeps bouncing between smart and clever, plain silly and really tiresome with its special effects. How many movies have laboured under too many special effects, explosions, etc. etc. to try and entertain an audience?

The last 15 minutes of Elf are not much of a gift for audiences. Too bad, because Elf presents some very funny scenes earlier on.

Great premise in this 2003 film from director Jon Favreau, before the Iron Man trilogy came his way.

Buddy (Will Ferrell) ends up at the North Pole after he slips into Santa's sleigh at an orphanage. He's raised as an elf, with Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) his caregiver.

Buddy doesn't clue in that he's not like the other pint-sized workers toiling away on presents for all the good boys and girls who've earned Santa's stamp of approval.

Santa gives him the OK to leave the North Pole to find his human father. That'd be Walter (James Caan), a publishing boss in New York City. Walter hasn't done much to endear himself to the Jolly Old Elf. He's self-centred, focusing on his career rather than his wife Emily (Mary Steenburgen) and son Michael (Daniel Tay). Walter knows nothing about Buddy.

Naive Buddy finds plenty of excitement in the Big Apple. He congratulates the staff of a coffee shop promoted as serving the world's best coffee. Revolving door? Great fun to go around and around and around ... There's cause for concern - he spots a faux Santa at shopping mecca Gimbel's. "You sit on a throne of lies," Buddy notes in one of the movie's best lines. Jovey (Zooey Deschanel), an elf who helps out with the Santa display, catches Buddy's eye. She's got a great voice that Buddy hears and likes too.

Walter's not keen on Buddy entering his life. "Lose the tights," is an early piece of advice he passes on to his child. "You may be a little bit chemically imbalanced," Walter suggests as he starts to warm up to him.

As mentioned earlier, divide this movie into three for audiences.

There's goofy humour directed at the younger set. Long belch? Yep. Sugar-laden meals gulped down with great abandon by Buddy. Check. Buddy walking into walls, falling off Christmas trees, chewing gum found on a railing. Here too.

Older audiences get rewarded for their time too. There's bizarre story pitches to Walter. "A tribe of asparagus children..." A bystander hits on a female television reporter during a live broadcast. "Your eyes tell the story," is one of his wooing efforts. Santa offers up "The paparazzi have been trying to nail me for years."

But, boy, the film's finale at Central Park with Santa and his struggling sleigh and an evil sounding Central Park Rangers in hot pursuit drags on. Santa's sleigh flies, it struggles to gain altitude, it's grounded, zzzzz.

Audiences won't likely want to return this Christmas film to point of sale, but Elf is not the best of the season either.

RATING: 7/10

FUN FACTS: That's Claire Lautier as the television reporter at Central Park.

That extended belch from Buddy comes courtesy of voice artist Maurice LaMarche. He's Canadian. Way to burp, Maurice! What's your secret? Is this your personal best?

Zooey voiced Mary Spuckler in television's The Simpsons.

Artie Lange, the Santa who tangles with Buddy at Gimbel's, was Big Red in Mystery Men.

Hey, Michael Lerner. I just saw you in Michael Ritchie's The Candidate. That's a better film than Elf.

That's Andy Richter, from Late Night with Conan O'Brien, as one of Walter's scribes.

Cool. Special effects guru Ray Harryhausen voices a polar bear cub. Wow. He also appeared in Spies Like Us and Beverly Hills Cop III. Could someone please explain the last two screen appearances?

Just like Clint Howard? Patrick Ferrell, Will's younger brother, appears as a security guard.

Director Jon Favreau appears as a doctor who confirms Buddy is really Walter's son.

Christmas Vacation (1989)

Here's a Christmas turkey.

This 1989 effort, from first-time director Jeremiah Chechik (The Avengers, Benny and Joon) offers humour best suited to audiences under 10.

Rocket charged toboggan rides, threatening squirrels, human feces, explosions, lots of breaking windows, old people who complain a lot and look goofy, a reference to a sex-crazed dog, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (Special Edition) packs all of these comedic bon bons under the tree.

But with several bursts of profanity, and a hint of nudity from Nicolette Scorsese in a small supporting role, youngsters shouldn't be anywhere near this movie. Older viewers are advised to steer clear of this dreck with former Saturday Night Live member Chevy Chase in the starring role.

His character, Clark Griswold, dreams of the perfect Christmas - mostly focused on having a huge tree and thousands of lights on his home. He dreams of adding an in-ground pool to the backyard with his hotly anticipated Christmas bonus. Yep, life sure is a struggle in the Griswold home.

Apparently Clark doesn't spend much time appreciating he has more than most people on the Earth could ever dream about. He has a wonderful wife, Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo), and two great kids Audrey (Juliette Lewis) and Rusty (Johnny Galecki). Clark also lives in a huge home in the suburbs, which suggests his paycheque should also earn a secular version of Joy to the World once and a while.

All the in-laws are headed to the Griswold home in Illinois for Christmas. Clark, Sr. and Nora (John Randolph, Diane Ladd) and Art and Francis (E.G. Marshall, Doris Roberts) fight a lot. Why? The putrid script from the late John Hughes never gives us an explanation. The unexpected arrival of Clark's cousin, Eddie (Randy Quaid), and his family ratchets up the tension level.

There are some, and I stress some, very funny moments in Christmas Vacation. Most involve Chase enduring some sort of physical pain. He gets whacked by wood a lot in this film. Hughes manages the occasional zinger of dialogue, such as Ellen telling her daughter, "I don't know what to say except it's Christmas and we're all in misery."

Eddie's daughter, Ruby Sue, and her family live in a RV. She tells Clark his home comes with a distinct advantage. "Your house is always parked in the same place."

When family squabbling peaks, Clark tells his wife "We're at the threshold of hell."

These are all good lines. But too often Christmas Vacation opts for silly, exaggerated moments. That may be great for really young viewers, but not for older folks. It gets exasperating.

What's especially sad is the waste of talent among Clark and Ellen's parents. These folks are talented actors, but mostly they're left to making wisecracks about physical ailments and being grouchy. There's one quiet moment between Chase and Randolph that creates genuine human emotion. Then it's gone.

Avoid this film.

RATING: 3/10

FUN FACTS: Johnny Galecki is now a member of television comedy hit The Big Bang Theory.

Doris Roberts appeared in another hit sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond. She was Marie Barone.

Mae Questel has a small role as another senior without many brains, Bethany. Her resume is really neat. Questel was the voice of Betty Boop in more than 150 shorts. She also voiced the character in a much better film from the 1980s, Who Framed Roger Rabbit: 25th Anniversary Edition (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo in DVD Packaging).

It's a Wonderful Life (1947)

It's A Wonderful Life is a wonderful movie.

Reel Popcorn Junkie has reviewed several Christmas films in recent weeks. This is the best of the bunch.

It's hard not to cry watching Frank Capra's 1947 film. Fellas, that's OK.

There's tears of empathy for George Bailey (James Stewart), the dreamer from a small town who wants to see the world and be associated with big projects like building bridges and erecting skyscrapers. He dreams of "shaking the dust of this crummy little town off my feet."

But life keeps George from ever leaving his hometown. Emergencies at home, at work and in the world economy all force him to keep staying put while his family and friends move on to new adventures. They find success in the workplace and their investments, rubbing shoulders with dignitaries and enjoying life's luxuries.

George ends up heading Bailey Building and Loan, a business that helps the town's residents get decent housing. But it's a far than lucrative line of work for its overseers. The enterprise is the only business in Bedford Falls that operates outside the clutches of cold-hearted businessman Henry Potter (Lionel Barrymore). There's little money for George to make and he has to work hard to keep Potter's paws off the enterprise.

It's a Wonderful Life has many wonderful scenes. One has Potter trying to woo Bailey to come work for him. There's a promise of a huge pay increase and business trips to large cities. It's like Satan trying to woo Christ in the desert. Bailey tries to get comfortable in a seat that's too small for him as he considers this amazing offer.

Bailey considers killing himself when his forgetful Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell) loses a hefty bank deposit on Christmas Eve. Bank examiners are in town and those missing dollars mean scandal, and likely jail, for George.

Heaven sends Bailey's guardian angel, Clarence (Henry Travers), to stop Bailey from taking his own life. His attempts to reason with George go nowhere, until he suggests he wishes he'd never been born. Clarence makes George's wish a reality. He has never existed.

Here's where more tears come easily. Clarence finally gets a chance to show George how his absence affects Bedford Falls. Timely interactions with others through his life have never happened. That impacts others outside Bedford Falls that George never knew existed. No George means the lives of many, many others have been impacted - for the worse.

Appreciating life. Appreciating what you have. Understanding how someone can make a big difference even in a small town. It's these themes that make It's A Wonderful Life a Christmas classic.

Plus, there's a great romance between George and Mary Hatch (Donna Reed), the girl who has loved him since she was a youngster. There's laughs with George and Mary dancing the Charleston at a high school graduation bash and George's pondering what to do when Mary ends up with no clothes and hides in a bush.

George Bailey offers James Stewart one of the finest roles in his career. There's flashes of anger and despair as his character deals with what life has handed him. Lionel Barrymore is fantastic as one of Hollywood's great villains. This man has no soul. "I am an old man and most people hate me, but I don't like them either so that makes it all even," he tells George at one point. That's a wonderful life?

See this film, again and again, and appreciate all of your life's gifts.

Merry Christmas.

RATING: 10/10

FUN FACTS: Why didn't this happen to Titanic? It's A Wonderful Life was nominated for five Oscars, including best movie, actor and director, but didn't win a single Academy Award.

It's A Wonderful Life was James Stewart's first film after serving in the Second World War.

Ward Bond is in the supporting cast as Bert, a police officer. He was Major Seth Adams in television's Wagon Train.

Gloria Grahame is Violet Bick, the other woman who's interested in George Bailey. She won a best supporting Oscar for her work in The Bad and the Beautiful .

Look closely. That's Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer from The Little Rascals who tries to get Mary Ward on the dance floor during the graduation scene.

Holiday (1938)

Great cast. Fine romance. Good laughs.

This is a Holiday worth taking.

Johnny Case (Cary Grant) is convinced he's finally in love. His romance with Julia Seaton (Doris Nolan) is definitely a whirlwhind. The happy couple has just met and is already planning to walk down the aisle - pronto. "It's love fellas," Case tells friends Nick and Susan Porter (Edward Everett Horton, Jean Dixon). "I met the girl."

Case is a little surprised when he visits his future better half's home for the first time. The address she told him to attend is a huge home. Case figures Julia is employed at the property. Nope. It's her family's home. They're rich. Very, very rich. Father Edward Seton (Henry Kolker) is quite serious about the business of making money. Nothing else seems to matter much.

Case has his share of business savvy too, but he also wants to step away from the rat race, at least for a short while, and just enjoy life. Such a carefree approach to the bottom-line doesn't impress Seton and Julia appears to have her concerns too. She's confident Johnny has the talent to earn millions of his own. Her siblings aren't quite in love with the almighty dollar.

Brother Ned (Lew Ayres) has the talent to be a professional musician, but a career in the arts is something Edward doesn't want for his son, So, Ned drinks. A lot. "It's my protection against your tiresome friends," he suggests of alcohol's allure.

Sister Linda Seaton (Katharine Hepburn) is a free spirit just like Hepburn. She's happy her sibling has found love, but can't deny there's something about Johnny that she finds attractive too. "You haven't been bitten by the reverence for riches," Linda tells Johnny in one of the best lines from director George Cukor's 1938 romance. "Money is our god here."

Pops and Julia put the screws to Johnny - work for the family firm for a while before taking his much hoped for break. Linda urges him to stand firm to his dream. Johnny, distressed by how cash is putting a strain on his romance with Julia, finds himself drawn to Linda.

Here's a love story with some real chemistry between the leads. Love sure looks better than money here, which may have thrown audiences as the Great Depression was ending. The Seatons have the cash. Johnny has the life. Holiday is a fine film.


RATING: 9/10

FUN FACTS: Holiday is a rare chance to see Doris Nolan and Jean Dixon. Their film and television credits are limited - 25 and 16 respectively. Holiday is Dixon's last big screen appearance before some roles on television.

Hurray for Binne Barnes and her wonderful snooty work as the Seaton cousin Laura.

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Thanks, Santa, for this wonderful Christmas treat.

Reel Popcorn Junkie has endured some less-than-stellar Christmas films in recent weeks. But Miracle on 34th Street is a pleasant cinematic present for viewers. Here's a movie that definitely deserves a viewing during the Christmas holidays.

Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) lashes out at a Santa who's had too much to drink before the start of Macy's annual Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City. "You're a disgrace," he admonishes the higher-than-a-kite Claus. Event organizer Doris Walker (Maureen O'Hara) recruits Kringle to fill in for his drunken predecessor. Hey, this guy looks like Santa Claus without the accessories. He's portly and sports a fine, long grey beard. Kringle's personality is warm and jovial. Talk about a people person.

Kringle is a hit with the kids along the parade route. The department store hires him to chat one-on-one with youngsters to learn their hopes for Christmas.

Kringle turns a few heads in management when he starts recommending competing merchants who have better products mothers and fathers should buy.

Macy's brass turns this into a marketing opportunity with vows to send shoppers to other retailers if they have the better buy. The plan is to develop a warm rapport with customers and make even more money because they'll be impressed with how they're treated.

Kringle doesn't find many doubters among his young fans at Macy's. But Walker's daughter, Susan (Natalie Wood), isn't a believer. Mom has taught her daughter not to believe in fantasy figures like Santa. Poor Susan has to even be coaxed by Kringle into imagining she's a monkey. She demands a gift far bigger, and difficult to obtain, than all others to see if Kringle is the real deal.

If that's not challenge enough, Macy's shrink Granville Sawyer (Peter Hall) suggests Kringle is prone to violent outbursts. This snowballs into Kringle being considered mentally unwell and committed to an institution. Yikes. It's up to Walker's neighbour, lawyer Fred Gailey (John Payne) to prove conclusively that Kris Kringle is Santa Claus.

Some of the film's best fun comes from the politics associated with Kringle's appearance. Judge Henry Harper (Gene Lockhart) is warned by his rainmaker Charlie Halloran (William Frawley), that he'll lose votes come re-election if he rules Kringle is not Santa Claus. It's not often trade unions and Santa get mentioned in the same breath, but Frowley does it here with great effect. Merchants trying to market their businesses based on Kringle's generous attitude is also a hoot - especially when two retail titans bicker over buying an X-ray machine for a doctor Kringle knows.

Younger viewers will cheer on Kringle as he tries to clear his name. Adults can enjoy the behind-the-scenes scheming Kringle's presence helps create.

Finally, a Christmas film worth putting under the tree.

RATING: 8/10

FUN FACTS: Edmund Gwenn (The Trouble with Harry , Foreign Correspondent ) won an Oscar for best supporting actor for his work in Miracle on 34th Street.

William Frawley was Fred Mertz in I Love Lucy.

Alvin Greenman appears as Macy's custodian in Miracle on 34th Street. He's the only actor from the first film version to return, as a doorman, in the 1994 remake, IMDB reports.

Director George Seaton won Oscars for his screenplays for Miracle on 34th Street and The Country Girl. He was also a contributing writer to The Wizard of Oz.

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

James Stewart a retail worker in Budapest?

Co-workers with European accents alongside staff seemingly plucked from the streets of Anywhere, USA?

Prepare to accept these strange situations in Shop Around the Corner and settle down with another fine romantic comedy from director Ernst Lubitsch (Trouble in Paradise and Heaven Can Wait are also reviewed on this site).

Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) is the longest-serving employee at Matuschek and Company, a gift shop. He's the only employee in the small store who'll speak candidly to the boss, Hugo Matuschek (Frank Morgan). Pirovitch (Felix Bressart) avoids any type of confrontation with his boss. With a wife and two children at home, he wants to keep collecting his paycheque. Florenz Vadas (Joseph Schildkraut) is an annoying kisser of posterior who's always keeping his ears tuned to any signs of dissent from the employee ranks.

Klara Novak (Margaret Sullivan) wants work, but Kralik acts as gatekeeper and tells her no jobs are to be had. She steps up and makes a pitch to a customer for a product Kralik doesn't want stocked. She's on the payroll.

Kralik and Novak continually clash. That's a little odd considering they're enthusiastically exchanging letters anonymously. Kralik saw her classified ad in the newspaper. It was posted by a "modern woman." Each confides with co-workers of the wonderful person they've found via the post and their anticipation to finally meet.

It's Pirovitch who helps Kralik learn the identity of his dear pen pal. But he opts not to reveal his identity to his co-worker. There's another rendezvous planned for Christmas Eve.

Shop offers more laughs from the clashes between Kralik and Novak than sparks created from their relationship. Novak delivers an especially punishing blow when she chides him for being "an insignificant little clerk." That verbal volley rocks Kralik. The expression on Stewart's face when he hears those words is powerful.

What message do we take from this 1940 MGM film? You never know where you'll find love? We hurt the people we love ("You're cold and snippy like and old maid," Kralik tells Novak)? Suspicion or lack of knowledge about others caries a heavy price? Matuschek sacks Kralik when he thinks his longest-serving employee is fooling around with his wife. "She just didn't want to grow old with me," the boss tells a detective (Charles Halton).

The Shop Around the Corner offers several different takes on love - love gone sour, contented family bliss and the search for love. Check it out.

RATING: 7.5/10

FUN FACTS: Frank Morgan look familiar? He's the title character in The Wizard of Oz.

Joseph Schidkraut was Otto Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank.

William Tracy appeared in Angels with Dirty Faces . His debut was in The Phantom of the Opera.

Holiday Inn (1942)

Now this is more like it.

Christmas in Connecticut and It Happened on Fifth Avenue were OK Christmas films, but definitely don't deserve to be called classics.

Holiday Inn doesn't rank alongside It's a Wonderful World either, but it's definitely closer in quality to Frank Capra's fine 1946 effort than those other two films recently reviewed on this site.

Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire only made two films together - Holiday Inn and Blue Skies four years later. There's one good reason right off the bat to give this film a look. Bing sings plenty and Astaire is a treat to watch on the dance floor - especially on an Independence Day routine with firecrackers as props. Wow, this guy is smooth.

Here, Astaire playing dancer (what else?) Ted Hanover, is a cad. He wants to share the stage with top-notch female talent. If that hurts Jim Hardy (Bing Crosby), too bad.

Hardy and Hanover are a team when the film opens on Christmas Eve.

"This is our last night in show business," Hardy suggests. He wants out of the constant grind of performing. His plan - buy an inn in Connecticut and only perform on holidays. "I want to be lazy," he declares. Maybe no one has told him how much work the average entrepreneur faces. Hardy plans to settle down with Lila Dixon (Virginia Dale), who's also part of the act. It's too bad it's Hanover she wants to find under the misiletoe for the rest of her life.

Hardy's heart bounces back soon enough when he meets Linda Mason (Marjorie Reynolds), a young lady with a fine voice and dancing talent. She's keen to work at Holiday Inn to start her career. When Lila ditches Ted for a better half with lots of cash, the smooth as silk hoofer goes on a major bender and makes his way to Holiday Inn. He and Linda are a hit on the dance floor, but he's so smashed he remembers little of the great talent he cut a rug with. "I've got to have a partner," he vows. His agent, Danny Reed (Walter Abel), joins in the search for the mystery woman.

Hardy, who has already been burned by Hanover once in matters of the heart, does his darndest to keep Linda away from Ted. His ploy works - for a while.

Seeing Crosby sing and Astaire dance is reason enough to watch this film. Plus, Bing sings White Christmas. White Christmas! That would be the biggest selling single for decades until Elton John's retake on Candle in the Wind paying tribute to Princess Diana in the late 1990s.

It's unsettling to see Crosby and Dale put on blackface for a song and dance number saluting Abraham Lincoln. Blame that on the times of racial inequality in the United States. Blackface would be gone by the 1960s.

The film's finale is a treat - an acknowledgement of Hollywood's world of make believe. Is actual director Mark Sandrich seen among the crew preparing for a movie's climatic scene? Another nice touch - Bing and Fred reprise the film's first song, updated to reflect how their ways with the ladies have gone.

Holiday Inn. Great cast. Fine music and dance. Now this is how the holidays should be spent.

RATING: 8/10

FUN FACTS: Character actor Irving Bacon has some fun as Gus, a taxi driver who ferries Linda Mason to Holiday Inn. He appeared in more than 500 films and television shows including Gone With the Wind and Shadow of a Doubt .

It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947)

Christmas classic?

Nope.

The DVD package for It Happened on 5th Avenue suggested a Christmas film for the ages from director Roy Del Ruth (Why Must I Die?).

This family-friendly film is entertaining, but is nowhere near efforts such as It's a Wonderful Life that truly deserve the stamp of must-see viewing come the holidays.

The story is intriguing - old man Aloysius T. McKeever (Victor More) doesn't care much for work, so he squats in the homes of successful businessmen when they're living outside New York City. Me, even if I was incredibly wealthy, I think I'd wonder why my electricity bill was so high when I haven't lived at one of my estates for months. I'd also wonder why none of my neighbours didn't notice smoke from my fireplace when my place is boarded up for the winter.

McKeever, with only his pooch for regular company, begins to welcome others into the home of industrialist Michael O'Connor (Charles Ruggles).

Jim Bullock (Don DeFore) is a Second World War veteran who needs a place to live. He was tossed from his apartment because the building is being knocked down by O'Connor for another one of his mega-projects. O'Connor's daughter, Trudy (Gale Storm), shows up one day to grab some clothes from her room. McKeever and Bullock don't know she's the unhappy offspring of said businessman. She wants to stay there too. Next up are some army buddies of Bullock's, and their families, who also can't find a place to live in New York City's tight housing market.

Bullock has a plan to help servicemen who need a place of their own. He wants to buy an army base just outside the Big Apple and convert barracks into apartments for other veterans. Pops O'Connor has his own designs on the surplus government property. He gets wind of the idea when he agrees to live with McKeever and the rest of the trespassers in his own place. His former wife, Mary (Ann Harding), also enters the fray when Trudy's dad threatens to have the vagrants arrested.

Trudy, for reasons that eluded this viewer, falls heads over heels for Bullock. There's no chemistry between these characters. Future Gilligan's Island Skipper (Alan Hale, Jr.) and the other vets and their wives have little to do but fold laundry, care for the kids and make themselves at home in O'Connor's spacious digs.

There's some interesting use of physical comedy here and nice riffs on O'Connor being put to work as a labourer in his mansion. Trudy kept her true identity hidden from Bullock, but when was this matter dealt with? I don't know because there wasn't such a scene in this film. There's passing reference to tough times for veterans after the Second World War ended - including the lack of good paying jobs and places to live. But, unlike the tough times highlighted in It's a Wonderful World, there's nothing of real substance here. Everyone sure is happy though.

It Happened on Fifth Avenue is pleasant, but not essential viewing.

RATING: 6/10

FUN FACTS: Charles Lane (It's a Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) and Vera Lewis (The Roaring Twenties) have brief scenes.

Don DeFore was Thorny in television's The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.

Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

Christmas in Connecticut isn't much of a present for movie fans.

That's too bad because look at this cast - Barbara Stanwyck (Double Indemnity), Sydney Greenstreet (Casablanca) and Reginald Gardiner (The Man Who Came to Dinner).

Real laughs are too hard to come by in this 1945 comedy from director Peter Godfrey (The Two Mrs. Carrolls, That Hagen Girl). Instead, too many scenes are just cute or mildly amusing. That's just not enough to make this movie a Christmas chestnut.

The set-up is inspired. American seaman Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan) is adrift in a dinghy for more than two weeks after the Germans torpedo his ship during the Second World War. With little to eat, he fantasizes about fantastic meals. There's no hearty chow when he's in hospital. His gut can't take the solids. A buddy suggests he feigns romance with nurse Mary Lee (Joyce Compton) to score a tasty steak. His faux falling in love with Mary Lee leads her to contacting publisher Alexander Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet).

Would the magazine titan let Jones, whose never had a real home, spend Christmas with one of his prized talents, Elizabeth Lane (Stanwyck? She writes about her idyllic life with her husband and baby in the country in Connecticut. Lane is billed as "America's best cook." Yardley's game, little knowing Lane actually lives in an apartment with not much of a view in the city, is single and can't cook. She relies on neighbourhood restaurant owner Felix Bassenak (S.Z. Sakall) for her culinary inspirations. Lane can't afford for Yardley to know her real work situation. His motto is "Print the truth and obey my orders."

She appeals to stuffy architect John Sloan (Reginald Gardiner), the bore who wants to marry her ("Saying no to your proposals has become a habit," she tells him), to pose as her better half and use his cottage in, yep, Connecticut.

Jones appears and falls for Lane. She's crazy for him too, but she's supposedly married to Sloan. He keeps trying to get a neighbour, Judge Crothers (Dick Elliott), to wed him and Lane. But their nuptials keep getting pushed back.

The scenario gets more complicated as Yardley suspects Lane is fooling around on her hubby and that a woman has kidnapped her prized writer's child.

Give this film credit for twists and turns to keep the story going. But come on folks, where are the laughs?

RATING: 6/10

Joyeux Noel (2005)

Joyeux Noel is a moving film about a true First World War incident that still surprises nearly a century later.



German, French and Scottish troops agree to a truce on Christmas Eve in 1914. They share rations, drinks and attend mass all in No Man's Land.



On Christmas Day, the ceasefire continues with the dead given proper burials and trenches shared depending on what side is doing the shelling. Soldiers from the three countries play soccer.



There's humour too, with both French and German soldiers claiming ownership of a cat that moves between the opposing trenches. Not everyone shares in the festive spirit. Jonathan (Steven Robertson) is a Scottish solider who seethes hatred towards the Germans for their killing his younger brother. There's a tense scene when he encounters a friendly German. Will he accept his enemy's friendly greeting or will Jonathan act out and end the truce?



Director Christian Carion focuses much of his story on Nikolaus Sprink (Benno Furmann), a famous German tenor who is conscripted into the army and serves as a private. His lover, Anna Sorensen (Diane Kruger), joins him for a Christmas Eve performance for high-ranking German officers. She knows Sprink is doomed to die and wants him to desert. Sprink feels obligated to keep serving alongside his comrades. His superior officer Horstmayer (Daniel Bruhl) is suspicious of Sprink's loyalty to the German army.



Audebert (Guillaume Canet) leads the French troops. His wife is behind enemy lines. She's given birth, but he has no idea about his wife's health or the child's sex. He clashes with his father, who is a superior officer, about the war.



There's a great scene when military censors open soldiers' letters and read about the Christmas truce. Snippets of letters are shared by voiceover. Military brass are aghast at such open fraternization with the enemy. French and German troops are shipped to other parts of the Western front.



There's a real sense of sadness in Joyeux Noel. What should be one of the happiest days of the year is surrounded by dread knowing many of the men who took part in the truce will not survive another four years of fighting in the trenches.



This film has encouraged this movie fan to read more about this topic. Malcolm Brown's Christmas Truce: The Western Front December 1914 and O Holy Night: The Peace of 1914 by Michael Snow and Annie Berzoven, have the strongest reviews on Amazon. I hope to read at least one of these titles and share my thoughts on that work in 2013.



Joyeux Noel earned an Academy Award nomination for best foreign film. It's definitely worth a look. Merry Christmas.



RATING: 8/10