Product Details

• Actors: Richard Thomas, Maureen O'Hara, Annette O'Toole, Kelsey Mulrooney, Robert Curtis Brown
• Directors: Marcus Cole
• Writers: Greg Taylor, Richard Paul Evans
• Producers: Allan Henderson, Beth Polson, Chris Harding, Erica Fox, Michael Green
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Cabin Fever
• VHS Release Date: September 16, 1997
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 1562020021
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #155,714 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless and haunting -- my favorite, July 21, 2001

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Christmas Box [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I am a big fan of Richard Paul Evans, and the news that his classic "Christmas Box" had been made into a movie was enough to send me scurrying. As they do with his books, video snobs will dismiss this movie for its spiritual and emotional message, but I say pooey to them. This is one of the best movies I've ever seen.

The ever-loved Richard Thomas ("Good night, John boy!") plays Richard Evans, a young man with a wife and preschool daughter who is overworking himself, because "I want you [wife Keri] and Jenna to have EVERYTHING!" As a result, he is always late and always preoccupied with his ski-supply store and impending expansion.

Tired of being the apartment manager, Keri convinces him to answer an ad, placed by an old woman with an enormous house. The old lady, Mary Anne Parkin, gives them a trial period in her home (Keri does some cooking and cleaning, and Richard does a bit of yardwork) and soon befriends Jenna and Keri. Richard, however, finds her weird, cryptic, and rigid. He's also having strange dreams abou an angel beckoning to him. But as Christmas approaches, changes for the family and for Mary will alter their lives forever, with the secrets of Mary's past and the underlying question, "What was the first gift of Christmas?"

Every scene of this movie is excellent scripted and filmed; scenes ring extremely true, such as the scene where Mary finds Richard drinking straight from a pitcher of orange juice--their expressions are priceless. Richard Thomas perfectly fits the overachiever yuppie who shies away from certain questions and concepts--perhaps because he's afraid of them. Annette O'Toole is equally great as his wife, who is sick of their personal lives playing second-fiddle to business; Kelsey Mulrooney is remarkably good as Jenna, occasionally experiencing flat moments (such as times when Jenna's ashamed) but overall above-average for child actors. Maureen O'Hara is pure gold, playing Mary to perfection; you can see the shell melt away during crucial moments, her eyes shining with warmth.

The camerawork is excellent: the apartment looks cramped and overcrowded, compared to the airy spaciousness of Mary's house. Which, BTW, is gorgeous--I'd love to know where they shot it, because the house is truly beautiful, old and ornate, but with just the right amount of lived-in atmosphere.

I don't watch this movie just at Christmastime--it's far too good to be restricted. If you're in the mood for a beautiful movie, this is truly for you.

(My only questions: When will they put this out on DVD, and when will they also put out the sequel?! I'm waiting for a copy of "Timepiece" people!)

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite Christmas Movie!, December 14, 2000

By 

Alan R. Holyoak - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Christmas Box [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Though this was, I believe, a made-for-TV event, it is probably my favorite Christmas movie.

In the movie we meet a young entrepeneur (Richard Thomas) who is striving to become a success -- and his business is doing great! At the same time, his wife (Annette O'Toole) and daughter struggle to cope with his long hours and obsession with work. He cannot seem to understand their dissatisfaction with what he is doing for their family...

With the urging of the wife, the family accepts an offer to move into the elegant home of a stately, elderly women (Maureen O'Hara -- perfect casting for this role) where they take on light housekeeping and maintenance duties. This puts additional stress on the business-minded husband.

Soon after they move into the house, Thomas starts having a strange, disturbing, recurring dream about an angel. At the same time O'Hara begins a quest of sorts to help Thomas realize the need for perspective and balance in his life. That quest focuses on a single question posed by O'Hara to Thomas, "What was the first gift of Christmas?" It isn't until the discovery of "The Christmas Box," and meaningful relection by Thomas that things fall into place.

The story tugs at the heartstrings...strings that need tugging now and again. The story is engaging, and the sentiments ring true to today's over-commercialization of Christmas.

The story, the sentiments, and the main message strike home for me when I think about Christmas and its place in today's world.

I recommend this movie highly. You'll be glad if you give it a look.

You'll be interested to know that there is a prequel to this story as well, it is called "TimePiece." I don't know if it is available yet though.

Well, Merry Christmas!

Alan Holyoak

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful movie!, August 13, 2000

By 

Barbara Farr Kelley - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Christmas Box [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is a wonderful and beautiful movie about a young family who moves into the large house of a widow who needs help taking care of her home.

Maureen O'Hara plays the widow who is a no-nonsense woman. Richard Thomas plays a young father who owns a sporting shop. He moves himself and his family into the widow's home and when he is asleep at night he has dreams of a little girl angel calling to him. He wakes up all in a sweat and feels like this house is haunted. He hears music coming from the attic and finds an old music box with a Christmas scene on the outside of it. It is the same music he heard in his dream. Inside this lovely old Christmas Box he finds a lot of love letters. It is not until near the end of the movie that he finds out that the love letters are from the widow to her little girl who died when she was five or six years old.

This was a very good movie and it brought tears to my eyes. There is a sequel to this movie called The Timepiece, which takes us back in time to when the widow was married and had the little girl. These two movies are based on books and are great viewing. I would totally recommend the Christmas Box to everyone.