1914 A Christmas Carol (British Silent Film)

Vintage Christmas Videos

These are Christmas stories from the 1950s done either as shorts for a Christian film company, Cathedral Films, or were shorts done on anthology television series. They are all heartwarming if a bit old-fashioned.

"Star of Bethlehem" (the story of the Nativity told with narration and silhouettes)

"Three Young Kings" (three young Hispanic boys re-enact the story of the journey of the Magi)

"Christmas is Magic" (a war widow and her son take in an amnesiac veteran at Christmas)

"Holy Night" (the first part of "The Living Christ" series, about the Nativity)

"God's Christmas Gift" (a little girl learns that Christmas is more than about gifts)

"Child of Bethlehem" (a live-action black-and-white Nativity story)

"The Christmas Spirit" Part 1 and Part 2 (the story of a boy who wants a pony for Christmas)

"The Guiding Star" Part 1 and Part 2 (Uncle Henry solves the family's Christmas problems in his own way)

One of My Favorite Christmas Films Ever: The Bishop's Wife

Back when I was the distaff side of "a little shaver," as the old writers would say, this film about a bishop who is losing his faith in a race to erect a magnificent cathedral, his loving wife who sees, like Scrooge's fiancee, "his noble aspirations falling away" day after day, and the unconventional angel who comes to help them ran every Christmas on one channel or the other, usually one of the hard-to-see UHF channels with all the static that did not dim the movie's quirky humor or message one bit. I remembered the sermon of the empty stocking long after the old UHF channels disposed of black-and-white films.

Thankfully cable, and then DVD, brought this marvelous film back to us. Here are some links about The Bishop's Wife.

Ten Things You Did Not Know About The Bishop's Wife - My Merry Christmas

TCM's Summary of The Bishop's Wife

Classic Movies Review of The Bishop's Wife

25 Days of Christmas: The Bishop's Wife

The Case for Global Film: The Bishop's Wife

Fuse Film Commentary: The Bishop's Wife

Tropes in The Bishop's Wife

Discussion about The Bishop's Wife

"Family Values": 1940s Propaganda in The Bishop's Wife

"Conversation Over Chai": The Bishop's Wife Review

"Once Upon a Screen": The Bishop's Wife Review

Something for Christmas in July

Why A Christmas Story is the Greatest Holiday Movie Ever Made.

(Not my choice, but fun reading!)