This is the last one: a real Christmas miracle occured--the folks at IBM decided after one call came in all morning that they didn't need a whole crew there and sent James home early.
The last film in the queue is one of my all-time favorites, The House Without a Christmas Tree. This is another non-DVD affair highly sought on e-Bay since CBS quit producing the videos several years back. I've seen some comment on Amazon.com that it "looks funny." That's because CBS produced it on the cheap in the 70s on the same videotape they recorded their soap operas on. I've always thought it would come out lovely run through one of those Avid editing machines, the same type they used to give Remember WENN such a nice forties Technicolor look.
The performances are so spot-on in this show I can believe I'm looking through a time-machine's window at something that actually happened in December of 1946. I love Addie--she's smart and resourceful with all the chuzpah I always wished I had. But Jason Robards is superb--his embittered James Mills is on the surface hateful, but the hurt and suppressed love evident in his manner and his eyes saves the character and makes him more than a cardboard villain.
The 1940s atmosphere is a big plus and this has yet another memorable score by Arthur Rubenstein.
And now we're off to dinner! Merry Christmas!!!!!
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