SVS: “White Christmas”

PHIL DAVIS: I don’t know what he’s up to, but he’s got that Rodgers and Hammerstein look again.

BETTY HAYNES: Is that bad?

PHIL DAVIS: Not bad, but always expensive.

So, I realize that recommending the following film is sort of like taking candy from a baby…

…but I’ve never had a problem with taking candy from a baby. It’s super-easy. Seriously. They’re really little. (Besides, have you tried taking candy from an adult? Yikes!)

So, in deference to the impending onslaught of Yuletide Cheer, today’s Streaming Video Suggestion (SVS), White Christmas, is streaming on NETFLIX INSTANT. And AMAZON($) and YOUTUBE($) and SOME OTHERS($).

After leaving the Army after W.W.II, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis team up to become a top song-and-dance act. Davis plays matchmaker and introduces Wallace to a pair of beautiful sisters (Betty and Judy) who also have a song-and-dance act. When Betty and Judy travel to a Vermont lodge to perform a Christmas show, Wallace and Davis follow, only to find their former commander, General Waverly, is the lodge owner. A series of romantic mix-ups ensue as the performers try to help the General.

I’ll be honest: I like this film a lot more now than I did before I got married. Because my wife loves it. And while I’d been a luke-warm fan in the past, I’ve warmed to it in recent years. Viewing it through her Christmas Red-tinged eyes, so to speak. So now I love it, too. (Am I loving the quality of the film itself? Or am I loving the fact that my wife loves it? That’s for you to guess, and me to know.)

I’ve always loved Danny Kaye, though.

Actually, to be perfectly honest, it’s not the music or the song-and-dance stuff that makes this film enjoyable to me. In fact, some of those sequences are down-right weird. It’s the (surprisingly?) excellent comedic timing between Crosby and Kaye that really keeps me coming back for me. And the four-sided, rapid-fire, screw-bally repartee between the two sets of leads. (Well, that and the final scene. Which, yup. I’ve got something stuck in my throat. Again.)

Quick! A diversion!

POSTSCRIPT: I decided upon today’s recommendation hours before reading Steven Greydanus’ latest Crux piece, “The Trouble with Christmas Movies.” But I’m posting WC anyway. I appreciate his sentiment (and emotional response). I even sympathize. But I don’t — I was somewhat surprised to discover — share either, to be honest. Or at least not strongly.

He’s right about the facts of the case, seems to me. No legitimate Birth of Christ films to be had, right? Not really. Certainly not in the public consciousness. But for me, those more meaningful (more historically accurate) Christmas-time desires are largely met by the liturgical trappings of the season. And when it comes to the cinematic realm, I’m far more interested in the laughing boys and the warm milk and the plate of cookies. Metaphorically speaking.

And also, probably, literally.

Attribution(s): Theatrical poster, publicity images, and film stills are the property of Paramount Pictures and other respective production studios and distributors, and are intended for editorial use only.