 |
Year
: 1983
Director:
Bob Clark
Starring:
Darren McGavin, Melinda Dillon,
Peter Billingsley. |
A Christmas Story
Here's
a film guaranteed to may you
feel Christmassy (especially if you are American)
- A
Christmas Story.
A
little explanation about this film first as I'm
sure not that many people outside of America have
heard of the film. This film is a
staple of Christmas TV in the US, and is held in
tremendous affection by our American friends -
it is to American christmas TV
what The Snowman, The Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins
and The Great Escape all rolled into one is for
us in Britain. Over here the film is little known,
its few TV airings have always been tucked away
in the schedules. It is also yet to receive
a DVD release outside America.
The
film itself is a charming and sentimental tale
centring around a young boy agonising about whether
he will get a BB Gun (a Junior Air Rifle?) for
Christmas. It reminds me very much of the American
TV series The Wonder Years, as we get the action
narrated by the young boy once he is grown up and
looking back on this part of his younger life.
Where the film really excels is it's skill in managing
to encompass the magic of a child's Christmas and
then mixing this with a bittersweet look at a child's
take on his family and his surroundings.
As
a film it was never going to win awards for being
the best film ever made, or for the best writing
or acting, but the film does capture the Christmas
magic particularly well, which when you consider
the difficulty films having in doing so is an achievement
in itself.
It is an undeniably absolutely charming film, and
at this time of year, we can all appreciate the
sentimentality in this universal story. Aaah.
So
if you want a bit of Christmas magic, and also
to watch something new check out
go A Christmas Story -
if you can. With very few TV showings and its "only
available on import" status of the DVD here
is hoping that whilst our American friends get
this film shown on TV, VHS versions, DVD versions
and even recent HD and Bluray versions, that we
in Britain get at least a standard DVD release
soon (I had to buy mine on import).
A
Christmas Story is
a good little film and quite easily accessible
despite its very american centred story. It is
placed at December 3rd in our Films
guaranteed to make you feel Christmassy (UK edition) .
Latest News: The house featured in A Christmas Story has now opened its doors to the public, so that all year round you can visit the house (and museum) and take a look around where these many famous scenes were shot. Go to the A Christmas Story House website for further details and also to check out the wealth of information contained there.
Buy
this film and more from our Christmas
DVD Store in association
with Amazon.co.uk