TCM Schedule for Friday, December 24, 2021 -- What's on: Classic Christmas Marathon

Throughout the day and night, there's more of TCM's Classic Christmas Marathon. Enjoy!


6:15 AM -- The Great Rupert (1950)
1h 26m | Comedy | TV-G
A squirrel becomes the guardian angel for an impoverished family.
Director: Irving Pichel
Cast: Jimmy Durante, Terry Moore, Tom Drake

The stop-motion animation used in creating the illusion of a dancing squirrel (Rupert) was so realistic that director George Pal received many inquiries as to where he got a squirrel that was trained to dance.


7:45 AM -- 3 Godfathers (1949)
1h 45m | Western | TV-G
Three outlaws on the run risk their freedom and their lives to return a newborn to civilization.
Director: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, Pedro Armendariz, Harry Carey Jr.

The film is set at Christmastime and has many references to the Biblical story of Christ's birth, but it was not in general release during the Christmas season of 1948. It's premiere was in November 1948 but it was not released generally until January 1949.


9:45 AM -- Pocketful of Miracles (1961)
2h 16m | Comedy | TV-G
A good-hearted gangster turns an old apple seller into a society matron so she can impress her daughter.
Director: Frank Capra
Cast: Glenn Ford, Bette Davis, Hope Lange

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Peter Falk, Best Costume Design, Color -- Edith Head and Walter Plunkett, and Best Music, Original Song -- Jimmy Van Heusen (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "Pocketful of Miracles"

Final film of Thomas Mitchell.


12:15 PM -- Holiday Affair (1949)
1h 27m | Romance | TV-G
A young widow is torn between a boring businessman and a romantic ne'er-do-well.
Director: Don Hartman
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Janet Leigh, Wendell Corey

In the kitchen scene, Mitchum gives Leigh a Merry Christmas kiss. Janet Leigh was to later say "The expression that is on my face of being overwhelmed was for real". Mitchum revealed, "I wanted to make the kiss memorable, as though the characters were never going to see each other again. The perks of being an actor are at times not bad".


2:00 PM -- The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
1h 37m | Romance | TV-G
Feuding co-workers do not realize they are secret romantic pen pals.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Cast: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan

The film takes place over a six-month period (Alfred complains late in the film how Klara has antagonized him for "the last six months" ) from summer (Klara remarks about the store's "summer sale" ) to Christmas Eve (the film's concluding scenes). When Alfred first enters Mr. Matuschek's office (after Klara asked for a job), the calendar on the wall next to the door (later replaced by a waterfall painting) displays the year 1939, when filming at MGM Studios occurred. At the end of that summer, Nazi Germany invaded Poland. While Hungary was neutral, it bordered both belligerents, refused Germany's demand to use Hungarian territory for the invasion and admitted Polish refugees, all of which would hardly have gone unnoticed in the last half of 1939 Budapest. There is no mention of the war in the film, which would likely have been a needless distraction. The film is based on the 1937 Hungarian play Parfumerie, when events took place in a more tranquil period.


4:00 PM -- Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
1h 41m | Comedy | TV-G
When a magazine writer invites a rescued sailor to spend Christmas with her, he ends up falling in lover with her.
Director: Peter Godfrey
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, Sydney Greenstreet

Sydney Greenstreet, usually cast as a "heavy" in Warner Brothers movies, has one of his few comedic roles in this film, with much of the humor arising from the fact that his character of publisher Alexander Yardley terrorizes and intimidates almost everyone around him.


6:00 PM -- Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
1h 53m | Musical | TV-G
Young love and childish fears highlight a year in the life of a turn-of-the-century family in St. Louis.
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor

Winner of a Juvenile Oscar Award for Margaret O'Brien for outstanding child actress of 1944

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay -- Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe, Best Cinematography, Color -- George J. Folsey, Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- George Stoll, and Best Music, Original Song -- Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin for the song "The Trolley Song"

While most audiences remember Judy Garland singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" to Margaret O'Brien, there are, in effect, three characters in the scene. Director Vincente Minnelli subtly casts a shadow of John's outer window grill across Esther, and, indeed, as she approaches the song's bridge, Esther begins to sing upward toward John's window, intimating that she would not likely leave her family to remain in St. Louis with him.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: DAYTIME & PRIMETIME THEME -- CLASSIC CHRISTMAS MARATHON



8:00 PM -- The Bishop's Wife (1947)
1h 49m | Comedy | TV-G
An angel helps set an ambitious bishop on the right track.
Director: Henry Koster
Cast: Cary Grant, Loretta Young, David Niven

Winner of an Oscar for Best Sound, Recording -- Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD)

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Henry Koster, Best Film Editing -- Monica Collingwood, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Hugo Friedhofer, and Best Picture

Originally Cary Grant played the bishop and David Niven the angel. When original director William A. Seiter left the film, Henry Koster replaced him and viewed what had been shot so far. He realized that the two were in the wrong roles. It took some convincing because Grant wanted the title role of the Bishop. He eventually accepted the change and his role as the angel was one of the most widely praised of his career.


10:00 PM -- A Christmas Carol (1938)
1h 9m | Drama | TV-G
In this adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic tale, an elderly miser learns the error of his ways.
Director: Edwin L. Marin
Cast: Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart, Kathleen Lockhart

June Lockhart's film debut. This was the only film in which Gene Lockhart appeared with his wife Kathleen Lockhart and their daughter June Lockhart.


11:30 PM -- Remember the Night (1940)
1h 26m | Comedy | TV-G
An assistant D.A. takes a shoplifter home with him for Christmas.
Director: Mitchell Leisen
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Beulah Bondi

This film was completed eight days ahead of schedule and $50,000 under budget. Director Mitchell Leisen attributed this to the professionalism of Barbara Stanwyck.


1:30 AM -- Meet John Doe (1941)
2h 3m | Drama | TV-G
A reporter's fraudulent story turns a tramp into a national hero and makes him a pawn of big business.
Director: Frank Capra
Cast: Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Richard Connell and Robert Presnell Sr.

The rooftop set for the final scene was built in an ice house to capture the sense that it was taking place on Christmas Eve. Barbara Stanwyck later said after shooting the scene she had to go to "the hospital for a defrost."


3:45 AM -- Christmas Eve (1947)
1h 30m | Comedy | TV-PG
To save her fortune, an aging woman must reunite her three adopted sons.
Director: Edwin L. Marin
Cast: George Raft, George Brent, Randolph Scott

This was the final non-western role for Randolph Scott (Jonathan 'Johnny' in this film). From 1948 until he retired in 1962 he played only roles in Westerns.


5:30 AM -- Compliments of the Season (1930)
13m | Drama | TV-G
In this short film, a criminal attempting to go straight stops a young lady on Christmas eve from committing suicide.
Director: Arthur Hurley
Cast: Eric Dressler, Lenita Lane, Pat O'Brien