Movie Review: White Christmas

I've long been aware of the movie White Christmas, mainly because of the Bing Crosby single (which is the best-selling single of all time [1]). I'm sure my mom has a copy of this movie and frequently watched it. But I have no memories of it before I watched it this last Christmas. It's about an entertainment duo (played by Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye [2]). There's not anything particularly Christmasy about it. You could remove Christmas from it completely and have essentially the exact same movie (i.e. the Christmas traveling the characters do is merely a McGuffin).

My verdict: Since Crosby and Kaye are an entertainment duo (as are the two "gals" they pick up), there are several extended song and dance sequences. I've grown up in an era where those are considered filler material that don't contribute much to the plot. It's amazing to me that people used to pay good money to see live shows like this. (Perhaps they still do?) Even so, I have trouble believing that moving such a show to a hotel in Vermont (run by Brigham Young [3]) would save it. Some of the scenes are so obviously sets instead of on location that it's comical. While it's a fine movie by itself, I didn't really think it made a great Christmas movie.

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Notes:

[1] See http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/4387/guinness2009.pdf (p. 2).

[2] Danny Kaye is one odd duck. He seems to completely lack self-consciousness.

[3] See my review of the film Brigham Young (here), starring Dean Jagger.

Image attributions:

White Christmas Tree with Red Ornament is by Brian J. Matis, available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/76281306@N00/4157377568.