"its-a-wonderful-life"

For a host of reasons, some movies grow stronger with time, while others fade into relics, capturing a moment in history that seems irrelevant, even quaint today. The sheer impact and staying power of Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946) reflects both a gifted director at the peak of his talents, and a script dealing in universal truths that always resonate with thinking, feeling audiences.

Simply put, it is the season of sentiment. Sentiment drives every hour of the month of December, whether through nostalgia or wishes for the future. Perhaps not surprisingly, many of the most romantic Christmas movies were made in the 1940s, a time when lovers were often parted by war and optimism was badly needed.

Top-ten lists of holiday films abound right about now, but what about picking the top three Christmas movies ever made? Certainly there's plenty to choose from. Christmas movies are almost a genre unto themselves: between live-action and animated features, there are literally hundreds of titles out there. Inevitably, some are pretty bad, others amusingly cheesy.

I am a professional plot hole detective. It can be a tedious job, but I guess I was born for it. Movies, after all, are all about suspension of disbelief. The stories they tell in sight, sound, and motion are like delicate threads that can be cut anytime something happens that’s not credible or even explainable. Then the spell is broken, and you’re no longer transported by the narrative. Instead, you’re looking at a movie with a stupid plot and wondering what the offending studio was thinking when they released it.    Sometimes, plot holes even happen in top-notch movies, but they are usually minor and easily overlooked or forgiven. They never break the spell, and most can be explained with a close re-watching of the film. So don’t let a supposed gap in logic taint your enjoyment of an otherwise classic movie. Below, I take some of the most well-known plot holes and lovingly fill them in for you.

They say the customer is always right — but not always right away. For instance, sometimes it takes a while for movie audiences to recognize just how special a film really is. When it premieres, there’s a barely audible thud, and very little box office.  The culprit could be poor distribution, half-hearted promotion, a storyline slightly ahead of its time, the ire of some influential critic with digestive trouble, or any combination of the above. A surprising number of now-classic films either just broke even, or actually lost money on initial release. Here are 10 classics from my list that fall into this category. 

After World War 2, as the world faced the sobering reality of the Atomic Age, Hollywood films would go darker to reflect this mood, shifting from wartime propaganda and lighter fare to the more unsettling terrain of film noir and doomsday science fiction. But just before that happened, the industry managed to produce three enduring Christmas classics in the space of one year: “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “The Bishop’s Wife,” and “Miracle on 34th Street.” Notably, all were nominated for best picture at the Oscars, though none won.  

Hard to believe, but it’s been five years since Netflix first aired “Five Came Back”, the Emmy-winning documentary that recounts how five top Hollywood directors used their cameras to help us achieve victory in World War 2. The names of these men should be familiar, as they made some of the best movies of their time: Frank Capra, John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, and George Stevens.

It was LA cartoonist Bob Thaves who wrote the following caption: “Sure he (Fred Astaire) was great, but don’t forget Ginger Rogers did everything he did…backwards and in high heels.”

Thomas Mitchell was one of the most admired and successful character actors of Hollywood’s Golden Age, but to most viewers today, his face is more familiar than his name. When you hear more about Mitchell’s amazing career, you’ll agree we should all know his name — and revere his memory.