Angels in the Bishop's Home

Had to run to Kroger for a couple of things yesterday and they had the DVD of The Bishop's Wife for a good price, so I grabbed it. I remembered this movie from when I was very small, not the story so much as the sermon of the empty stocking. It seemed to have disappeared for many years, then turned up again on cable.

I suppose I'd liked to have seen this made in color, especially for the beautiful woodwork of the bishop's home and the old-fashioned store windows, but it glows with color nevertheless, even in black and white, and the use of shadows (as in Dudley's first appearance) would have been lessened in a color film. It reminds me how different some things were years ago: trees (not shaped or shaved) decorated on Christmas Eve, the tabletop trees that were so popular, and downtown window shopping.

Some things never change, though, and that includes the glow and tears at the end when the Christmas sermon is read:

"Tonight, I want to tell you about the story of an empty stocking. Once upon a midnight clear there was a child's cry. A blazing star hung over a stable, and Wise Men came with birthday gifts. We haven't forgotten that night down through the ages. We celebrate it with a star hung on a Christmas tree and a cry of bells and gifts-- especially with gifts. We bind them and wrap them, and we put them under the tree. You give me a tie, I give you a book; Aunt Martha always wanted an orange squeezer, Uncle Harry could use a new pipe...oh, we haven't forgotten anyone, adult or child. All the stockings are filled -- all that is, except one, and we have even forgotten to hang it up: the stocking for the child born in a manger. It's His birthday we are celebrating, you know. Don't let us ever forget that. Let us ask ourselves what He would wish for most, and then let each of us put in his share -- loving kindness, warm hearts, and a stretched-out hand -- all the shining gifts that make peace on earth."