Last night Annie asked me if we had any Christmas movies we could watch. I pulled out my old favorite, "White Christmas," which I've always loved but have probably have seen too many times -- just as with "A Christmas Story" and "It's a Wonderful Life." Still, no Christmas is complete without seeing the first half or third of it.
Impressions after the 53rd viewing: Bing kind of phones it in, and looks completely middle aged and flabby in his tee-shirt, but, oh, that voice! The lush Rosemary Clooney is spilling out of her dress, but, oh, that voice... Danny Kaye is trying a little too hard, but he is adorable nonetheless. Vera-Ellen, I'm sorry to say, is almost unbearable to watch -- painfully thin, indeed anorexic/bulimic -- and in her big, fabulously cheesy/tacky dance scene in Florida with Kaye, she mugs shamelessly for the camera.
But Dean Jagger beats them all, as the gruff-with-a-heart-of-gold major general. What a great, great actor. I should look up what else he's been in.
Two of magical movie moments: when the four leads sing Irving Berlin's "Snow" while choo-chooing on the train up to Vermont ("It-won't-be-long-before-we'll-all-be-there-with snoooooohhhhhwww"), and...." I'll soon be there with snow (Danny Kaye goes chsh chsh chsh chsh in the background) .... I'll wash my hair with snow....And with a spade of snow/I'll build a man that's made of snow...I'd love to stay up with you but I recommend a little shuteye/Go to sleep/And dream/Of snow, snow, snow, snow, snow!"
And then, the lovely, comforting song sung late at night over milk and sandwiches (sheesh, doesn't anyone drink in this picture?) by Bing and Rosemary: "When you're worried/and you can't sleep/Just count your blessings/instead of sheep/and you'll fall asleeeeeeep/counting your blesssssssinggssss."
Sigh.
Anyway, right around this time my 14-year old daughter got a little restless and informed me she was going to bail. This movie, in all its formulaic, schmatzy, late-period-Hollywood Technicolor glory, hadn't grabbed her, needless to say, "You can keep it playing in the background while I go on the computer," she told me.
Sigh.
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