Customer Reviews

Christmas Eve

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Aunt Matilda Reed (Ann Harding) is a strange, rich old lady living in a New York mansion; her nephew Phillip (Reginald Denny) want to get hold of her dough, but is she strange enough that he can get a court order giving him power over the estate? Not if she can get her 3 adopted sons back by Christmas time to stop him....

This basic idea was probably old even by 1947 and there have certainly been many variations on the theme done since, but probably few of them are made up of more disparate elements. George Brent is the first of the sons we meet, a ne'er-do-well playboy intent on dumping vivacious but poor Joan Blondell for a dull but wealthy new playmate -- his segment is essentially screwball comedy; next up is George Raft in a really intense, noir-spy story involving ex-Nazis in South America and quite a bit of gun violence and fisticuffs -- not what you'd expect in a typical Christmas story! Finally Randolph Scott comes along with his cowboy swagger to New York to get involved in a baby adoption ring and pick up a fair maiden (Virginia Field) who's trying to bust it, and they all meet up (with 3 new adoptees-to-be) at Aunt Mathilda's, apparently just in time.

There's nothing exciting about the plodding direction here by Edwin L. Marin, except perhaps for a few minutes in the Raft segment, and the stories are fairly preposterous and seem lifted right out of other movies, but the cast is charming enough and I had fun wasting an hour and a half -- I guess that's enough for a Hollywood Christmas movie sometimes. Certainly this is more memorable than plenty of more recent efforts in the holiday genre, and it well deserves an official DVD release. Between fans of Scott, Raft and Blondell there ought to be enough people out there to make such a thing doable - c'mon UA or whoever owns the rights!

What's a mother to do? If she's the seriously rich, eccentric but still shrewd Mathilda Reed, now in her late seventies or early eighties and living alone with servants in a huge mid-town Manhattan mansion, and her untrustworthy nephew attempts to gain control of her fortune by having her declared incompetent, the answer is simple. She'll call upon her three sons. The trouble is, she hasn't heard from the grown men in years. The three came to her as wards. She adopted them and raised them. But when they were grown, each decided to leave and make his own way. They didn't want to be a burden or to live off their mother's fortune. Mathilda Reed (Ann Harding) may be a wonderful old woman, but her sons are something else.

There's Michael (George Brent), a high-living ne'er-do-well who finances his expensive tastes by kiting checks and who hopes to marry a rich woman. His girlfriend, Ann (Joan Blondell), is starting to get impatient.

There's Jonathan (Randolph Scott), who went west and now is a broken down but charming rodeo rider who sometimes has to pawn his saddle.

And there's Mario (George Raft), a fugitive from the law who went to South America and prospered as a shady nightclub owner. He can't return to the States without the FBI picking him up.

Mathilda Reed is a fighter. She goes public with a press conference, hoping her sons, wherever they are, will hear about her need for them. She hires a private detective to try and locate them. They have to return by Christmas Eve to block Phillip's plans.

Will the three men make it? Will they even try? Well, of course they will. So we spend most of our time in three short stories. We watch how Michael, amusing and unreliable, gets himself under Phillip's thumb with those bad checks and then starts to get himself out. We watch how Jonathan, back in New York, finds himself involved in a phony adoption scam and winds up with three baby girls and a great-looking girlfriend. We also hear a lot of Hollywood home-on-the-range dialogue...all those "heifers." We see Mario take on a Nazi fugitive, with fistfights and gunfights, before he leaves for New York with the FBI right behind him. And on Christmas Eve, with snow drifting down, with the mansion alight, with the tree gorgeously decorated and the Christmas punch made, Mathilda Reed, her nephew and the judge sit waiting. Sure enough, first Michael and Ann arrive. Then Jonathan and his three babies. And last comes Mario, with an FBI man right behind. We learn everything is going to turn out all right, even for Mario. The "crime" he left the States over was really committed by another. Phillip's scheme is dealt with and so is Phillip. Most importantly, we learn that the idea of family, played up with a little sentimentality and a sometimes serious but often amusing screenplay, can get the job done.

The movie is a little corny at times, especially with Ann Harding, younger than each of the actors playing her sons, doing the trembling and wise old lady bit. Her makeup would convince only the oldest residents of an assisted living center. Raft, Scott and Brent each do fine jobs. Raft, of course, is Raft, and his story is the most serious. Scott does a charming turn as the rodeo cowboy who winds up with an instant family. And George Brent, who was even better as a skilled farceur and light comedian than he was as an all-purpose leading man (watch him in 1947's Out of the Blue), is a joy to watch. All three were at turning points in their careers. This was Scott's last non-Western movie. Brent was fading fast as a star. Raft was starting to make a series of poor movies. Still, for me the movie works emotionally as the story of how three very different men drop whatever they're doing, for some at great risk, to return to help the woman who raised them and gave them the values that they have. When the three start to greet each other with pleasure in their mother's mansion on Christmas Eve, maybe it's just good acting but they look like they mean it.

This is a public domain movie that can be ordered from companies that specialize in nostalgia. I suspect the VHS tape is copied on demand from an old print. To my knowledge there is no DVD. The video image is what you might expect: not very good but watchable.

It was alright to watch once and very different, but also was one I enjoyed. I wouldn't say it is a very Christmas movie though, although it is leading up to Christmas eve. Not like Bishops wife, Its a wonderful life, the Bells of St Marys, Holiday Inn (of which are all on my favorites list for Christmas movies). The old lady is very unusual and her character unique - the one thing I did enjoy about the movie was her character.

I have waited many years to see Christmas Eve. The wait was well worth it.
What a brilliant cast. How could any movie with such great actors fail.
It has always been rated a B grade movie and a suppoting double bill one too.
If Warner Brothers logo had of been on it. Christmas Eve would have been a box office hit. This I am sure of.
My only complaint, what an awful copy to watch.So grainly and murky.The price was far too expensive.

I like the older Christmas movies because it seems that they understood the true meaning of Christmas and were able to portray it. This is one of a few Christmas movies that shows how important family is, in its odd way. It's fun yet sends a message. It shows us all where we should be on Christmas eve. Watch with the family and enjoy.

amazon is great.... all purchases and returns have gone smoothly.
I purchased most of my christmas gifts from amamzon this year because I had surgery early December. I am planning on continuing this in years to come.