In Name Only joined our holiday watch list four years ago after watching it in early 2018 during one of our Cary Grant binges and realizing that it has a key scene on Christmas Eve. On several levels this is an unusual film. Two of the finest romantic comedy stars from the 1930s (Carole Lombard and Cary Grant) appear in a nearly tragic melodrama, and both show their acting range. Another fine group of character actors add to the interest.

PLOT SUMMARY

Cary Grant is stuck in a loveless marriage with Kay Francis when he meets a vibrant widow, Carole Lombard.  We learn that Francis married Grant only because of his wealth and position and has carefully manipulated everyone, even his father (Charles Coburn) and mother (Nella Walker), into believing that Grant is a cad.  Francis pretends to agree to give Grant a divorce after an extended trip to France (with his parents no less), but when Grant learns that she will never let go, he sinks into despair. In the last scene, despair turns to hope, when Francis’s malicious plans are overheard by Grant’s parents.

NEW YORK CONNECTION

The film’s second half is set in New York, with establishing shots of the skyline and Washington Square, as well as specific addresses (Lombard’s apartment at 5 W. 10th St.), a New York bar on Christmas Eve, and a dive hotel.

CHRISTMAS CONNECTION

The film’s denouement begins on Christmas Eve with a drooping tree and then one of the bitterest surprise parties you can imagine. The film continues through Christmas Day with Grant in a stupor in a seedy hotel.   But hope triumphs, at the last minute, after much travail.

CHARACTER ACTORS

Charles Coburn, who plays Cary Grant’s father, appeared in Bachelor Mother.  Coburn was a fine comic actor with a résumé of great films, such as The Lady Eve, The More the Merrier (for which he received an Oscar as best supporting actor) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.  My favorite role of his, in which he also plays a department store owner as he did in Bachelor Mother, is The Devil and Miss Jones (1941).  Coburn worked on Broadway from 1901 to 1937, acting, directing and producing plays with his wife, Ivah Wills, with whom he had a touring repertory company that performed Shakespeare, Greek tragedies, and French comedies.  After her death in 1937, Coburn moved to Hollywood.

Helen Vinson (who plays Kay Francis’s catty best friend, Suzanne, in In Name Only) is also seen in Beyond Tomorrow (1940).

Nella Walker (who plays Grant’s mother) had roles in such grand films as Stella Dallas (1937), Kitty Foyle (1940) and Sabrina (1954).

Grady Sutton, who appears briefly as Suzanne’s escort in a scene on the train, appeared in numerous films.  He played Carole Lombard’s brief fiancé in My Man Godfrey (1936). He also has a brief scene White Christmas, dancing with Rosemary Clooney at the engagement party at the general’s Pine Tree Inn.

Another brief but important role is played by Maurice Moscovich as Dr. Muller. He appeared one year later as Mr. Jaeckel in Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator.

ASTAIRE CONNECTION

Charles Coburn was a fellow member of The Lambs Club, and along with Fred (and dozens of other stars who moved from New York to Hollywood in the 1930s), he was known by those who stayed behind as the “Lost Sheep” or “Coast Cousins.”

George Rosener, who plays the seedy hotel doctor, appeared on a Shubert Sunday Concert bill with the Astaires on September 15, 1918, during the run of their second Broadway show, The Passing Show of 1918. Note: This was just around the time the Spanish Influenza starting to hit New York City, so there is an ironic link to his character diagnosing Grant as having the flu.

Frank Mills, who plays the bartender on Christmas Eve, appeared in several Astaire films.  He was a waiter in the opening scene of The Gay Divorcee (1934) and again was a waiter in the Lido in Top Hat (1935), as well as one of the gambler’s stooges in Swing Time (1936).  He’s also a soldier with Astaire in You’ll Never Get Rich (1941). He appeared as the park bum in Holiday Affair (1949).

Richard Sherman, who wrote the screenplay for In Name Only, wrote the screenplay for the last of the Astaire-Rogers RKO musicals: The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle.

WHY WE LOVE THIS MOVIE

Cary Grant and Carole Lombard are two of our favorite actors, and seeing them together is a joy, even if the story is terribly sad.  Ultimately it is a fine, well-acted film, so we will keep it in future Christmas cinema rotations, especially since it adds a contrasting touch of sadness to the mostly upbeat films on the list.

This is one of our favorite Christmas movies, for a whole string of reasons. First, it stars Barbara Stanwyck in the first of her three appearances on our Christmas cinema watchlist: the others are Meet John Doe and Christmas in Connecticut. Remember the Night was also the first of several films in which she co-starred with Fred MacMurray: Double Indemnity (1944), The Moonlighter (1953), and There’s Always Tomorrow (1956). Remember the Night is the film that brought Barbara Stanwyck to the attention of Preston Sturges. During the filming he promised her that he would write a screwball comedy script for her, which turned out to be The Lady Eve. Remember the Night is also the film that persuaded Sturges he needed to start directing his own screenplays. He was dissatisfied with changes that Mitchell Leisen had made to his script and resolved to insist that Paramount allow him to direct. The result was The Great McGinty, the first of a string of the best comedies in Hollywood history.pl

PLOT SUMMARY

Lee Leander (Barbara Stanwyck) is arrested for shoplifting and goes to trial a few days before Christmas. Assistant district attorney John Sargent (Fred MacMurray) is preparing to drive home for the holidays, when he is assigned to prosecute the case. He maneuvers to have the trial postponed until after the holidays, but then feels remorseful when he realizes Stanwyck will be stuck in jail for Christmas. He arranges to bail her out, but when she shows up at his apartment and he realizes her hometown is near his in Wabash, Indiana, he agrees to drop her off on his way home. Leander’s mother refuses to let her stay and when MacMurray learn how sad her upbringing was he invites her home with him. Stanwyck’s hard edges soften when she sees the warm family in which MacMurray was raised, so different from her own. Romance blossoms, but how can a strait-laced attorney be involved with a repeat offender?

NEW YORK CONNECTION

The film opens and closes in New York, with street scenes on Fifth Avenue, several establishing shots of the Manhattan skyline.

CHRISTMAS CONNECTION

The film begins a few days before Christmas, includes an old-fashioned Christmas Eve tree decorating party, and a New Year’s Eve barn dance.

CHARACTER ACTORS

Among the several reliable character actors are Beulah Bondi (James Stewart’s mother in It’s a Wonderful Life), Sterling Holloway (the diner clerk in Meet John Doe), and Georgia Caine, who frequently appeared in Preston Sturges’s films, but usually in more sympathetic roles.

ASTAIRE CONNECTION

Georgia Caine appeared on Broadway with Fred and Adele Astaire in Smiles, which was produced by Florenz Ziegfeld. She had attended the same New York dancing school as the Astaires.

WHY WE LOVE THIS MOVIE

Barbara Stanwyck is gorgeous and engaging, and we see her hard edge melting away when she meets someone who is genuine and honest. The scene where Beulah Bondi begs her not to become involved with Fred MacMurrary is heart-breaking but so wonderfully done.

While not the best of movies, this is an endearing film with warm characters and an interesting theme of welcoming unexpected surprises rather than settling for the safe. Isobel Lennart, who wrote the screenplay, also wrote the script for Fitzwilly, another warm-hearted Christmas movie on our watchlist.

PLOT SUMMARY

Connie Ennis (Janet Leigh), a comparison shopper, buys a toy train from Steve Mason (Robert Mitchum), who suspects that she is a shopper who should be reported to management. A single mother whose husband died in World War II, Connie takes the train home to her son, Timmy, who sneaks a peak in the package and assumes the train is for him. A suitor, Carl Davis (Wendell Corey), arrives after dinner to help with the dishes and repeat the marriage proposal that Connie has been deferring for two years. When Connie returns the train to the department store, Steve is fired by failing to report her as a comparison shopper. Obviously attracted to each other, they spend two hours at the Central Park zoo with Steve describing his life and his ambition to move to California and design sailboats. A romantic rivalry with Carl arises, and Connie suddenly accepts Carl’s proposal, but finds herself repeatedly thrown back together with Steve. Carl realizes that Connie loves Steve and breaks off the engagement, but Steve instead of proposing to Connie tells her that he wants someone who will drop everything and come to him. She demurs, but in a sudden reversal on New Year’s Eve rushes with Timmy to join Steve on a New Year’s train ride to California to follow their dreams.

NEW YORK CONNECTION

The story is set thoroughly in New York City, with two key scenes in Central Park, including the seals at the zoo. (It also includes a squirrel, but not Rupert.) There are also several generic street and bus scenes capturing the hustle and bustle of Manhattan during the holidays.

CHRISTMAS CONNECTION

The film begins at the height of the holiday shopping season in the toy department of a big store. There are scenes with decorating a Christmas tree, a Christmas dinner (interrupted by news that Steve has been arrested), and finally a New Year’s Eve party aboard a train.

CHARACTER ACTORS

Compared to some films, this has a small cast of character actors. Esther Dale, Connie’s mother-in-law, appears in two screwball classics: Easy Living and The Awful Truth. Harry Morgan, best known for television roles on Dragnet and M*A*S*H, has a delightful role as a police lieutenant.

ASTAIRE CONNECTION

I haven’t been able to identify any specific Astaire connections for this film.

WHY WE LOVE THIS MOVIE

Every character in the film (except the toy department floor walker) is sympathetic. And we don’t get overly annoyed by the child actor.

This film directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan may well be the best film in our Christmas cinema watchlist and frankly one of the best ensemble films ever made in Hollywood. The script by Samson Raphaelson is magnificent. I challenge you to name any film with a better exposition: establishing in the first five minutes the essential character of each employee in the shop and its owner Mr. Hugo Matuschek. The script is also the tightest in the catalog: there is not a wasted scene or gesture. Raphaelson objected to one addition to the shooting script: the three times we see Pirovitch (Felix Bressart) quickly retreat when he hears Mr. Matuschek say “All I want is your honest opinion.” The acting is consistently superb, every intontation, every gesture and every eye movement embellishes the character and the story.

PLOT SUMMARY

The tight little family of Matuschek & Co. is disrupted by a new employee, Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan), who antagonizes the chief clerk, Alfred Kravik (James Stewart). Kravik has begun an anonymous pen-pal correspondence with an unknown young woman and begun to fall in love with her even though he has never seen her. The shop’s owner (Frank Morgan) has also become increasingly antagonistic to Stewart, firing him for an unstated reason three weeks before Christmas and on the night he plans finally to meet the secret pen pal. We learn that Morgan’s hatred of Stewart is because Morgan has suspected Stewart of having an affair with Mrs. Matuschek, but a detective tells Morgan that the offender is actually another employee, the swarmy Mr. Vadas (Joseph Schildkraut). Fired and depressed, Stewart goes to a cafe to meet the woman, only to see that it is Klara. After attempting suicide, Morgan re-hires Stewart, who fires Vadas and the family of Matuschek & Co. is restored to balance, culminating on Christmas Eve, when Stewart reveals to Sullavan, after some humorous teasing, that he has been writing the letters and they fall into each other’s arms.

NEW YORK CONNECTION

There is no New York connection in this film, but it is an absolute Christmas essential.

CHRISTMAS CONNECTION

Why is it such a Christmas essential? The joyous conclusion of the film takes place on Christmas Eve, with the final act of the film showing bustling business in the shop, each employee receiving a generous bonus, Mr. Matuschek being transformed from a suspicious boss with Scroogish elements to a generous father figure, every employee heading home for a lovely celebration, and Sullavan and Stewart discovering their love.

CHARACTER ACTORS

Joseph Schildkraut has the lead role in The Cheaters. Frank Morgan is best known as The Wizard of Oz. Sara Hadden appears in The Bishop’s Wife and The Great Rupert. William Edmunds, the waiter at the cafe, appears in It’s a Wonderful Life. Charles Halton (the detective) appears as the bank examiner in It’s a Wonderful LifeI.

ASTAIRE CONNECTION

Frank Morgan appeared in two Astaire films: The Broadway Melody of 1940 and Yolanda and the Thief. Before heading to Hollywood, Morgan appeared in The Band Wagon with Fred and Adele.

WHY WE LOVE THIS MOVIE

Two small things always stand out in this film. First, the excellent camera work. Look at the extended uncut scene when Frank Morgan yells about his disloyal employees. His raving is interrupted by a customer and a phone call but without skipping a beat he returns to his rage. The camera follows him with no cuts through the whole scene, moving to close ups and then back to a widened angle to show Stewart’s reaction. (Lubitsch uses a similar technique in several scenes throughout the film, limiting the cuts, moving the camera, tightening to an intimate shot of two people, then widening the angle to include a larger group and showing the reaction of the other employees.

The second is the quietness of this film. Unlike other films in our Christmas catalog where sweeping thematic music plays an important role (such as The Bishop’s Wife and It Happened on Fifth Avenue), there is no backing music in any scene of this film, except during the scene at the Cafe Nizza, where the music would have been played by cafe’s orchestra. With no backing music, you can instead hear quiet natural sounds, such as the wrinkling paper as Stewart unfolds the recommendation letter, puts down the pencils on his sales book, and thumps down the key to his personal locker, signifying how hard he is taking being fired. Other than the crinkling telegrams in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, is there any more dramatic use of paper sounds in cinema?

This perennial Christmas favorite lands on our Christmas watch list every year, because of the Irving Berlin music (not just the one that yields the movie’s title), the dancing (choreographed by Robert Alton), and the excellent singing by both Der Bingle and Rosemary Clooney. I usually just barely tolerate Danny Kaye, but I actually like him in this movie and am surprised by his dancing ability in several numbers, especially “The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing.”

PLOT SUMMARY

A pair of army buddies who have become successful Broadway performers and producers head to Vermont just before Christmas to accompany a sister song-and-dance act who are slated to perform at a ski lodge. The lodge is owned by their former general, who is now about to lose everything because Vermont hasn’t seen snow in nearly a month. To help the general, they move rehearsals for their upcoming show from New York to the ski lodge and then try to make the general understand how well loved he is by staging a reunion of his army company. Misunderstandings ensue, but all is straightened out on Christmas Eve, and of course it starts snowing and all are able to celebrate a white Christmas.

NEW YORK CONNECTION
New York is mentioned several times, and there is a number shot in a supposed Manhattan nightclub.

CHRISTMAS CONNECTION

Christmas trees, a grand Christmas Eve dinner, gifts galore, and that song.

CHARACTER ACTORS

Mary Wickes, the housekeeper, played the nurse in The Man Who Came to Dinner. Percy Helton, the train conductor, played the drunk Santa at the beginning of Miracle on 34th Street.

ASTAIRE CONNECTION

There are probably more Astaire connections with this movie than any other on our watch list. Astaire was originally slated to play the role eventually taken by Danny Kaye. There are numerous stories about why Astaire didn’t take the role, most likely because he didn’t want to do a movie that would seem so similar to Holiday Inn from more than a decade before. Astaire had already done another film with Crosby, Blue Skies, and although he enjoyed working with the singer, Astaire may have also known that the movie would center more on singing than on dancing. Astaire starred in two films with Vera-Ellen: The Belle of New York and Three Little Words. Astaire knew Percy Helton, the conductor, from his Broadway days. In fact, it was Helton who nominated Fred to be a member of the Lamb’s Club in 1923. A future friend and dance partner of Fred’s has a small but distinctive part in White Christmas. Barrie Chase, who plays Doris Lenz (the chorus girl with the thick Brooklyn accent) would become Astaire’s dance partner in his Emmy award-winning TV shows starting in 1959 through the mid-1960s.

WHY WE LOVE THIS MOVIE

When composer Jerome Kern was asked what place Irving Berlin had in American music, Kern replied “He has no place in American music: he is American music.” Much the same could be said about Christmas music: Irving Berlin, the Jewish kid from New York, is Christmas music.

We seldom watch this made-for-TV movie, even though it does star Fred Astaire, because it’s a bit of a sappy movie, but since the theme for 2022 is Christmas in New York, we had to add this because it was shot in New York and covers so much of the city, from Central Park South to Greenwich Village.

PLOT SUMMARY

A mysterious costume shop proprietor rents a Santa Claus suit to three different people (a frazzled political consultant, a homeless alcoholic, and a math teacher in love with a beautiful model but who doesn’t have the nerve to propose. The Santa Claus suit ends up changing the lives of each of them on Christmas Eve.

NEW YORK CONNECTION

Most of the film was shot in New York, so you will see plenty of Midtown landmarks in the background.

CHRISTMAS CONNECTION

It all takes place on Christmas Eve, and Santa suits are everywhere.

CHARACTER ACTORS

Gary Burghoff from M*A*S*H (both TV series and movie) is one of the featured actors. John Byner was better known for his comic impersonations on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show.

ASTAIRE CONNECTION

Nanette Fabrey appeared in the movie version of The Band Wagon with Fred Astaire.

WHY WE LOVE THIS MOVIE

Fred Astaire, New York, and Santa suits. We watched this film the evening after we rode the Santa Train in Dillwyn.

This is another of those quirky independent films set at Christmas that we have grown to love, similar to Beyond Tomorrow, because of the silly but endearing story and the many interesting character actors.

PLOT SUMMARY

The down-on-their-luck Amendola Trio (Jimmy Durante, Queenie Smith and Terry Moore), a family of vaudeville acrobats, have arrived in New York desperate to find somewhere to live. They run into animal trainer Joe Mahoney (Jimmy Conlin), who has been forced to abandon his trained squirrel, Rupert, and look for another place to live. The Amendolas move into the squalid little apartment that Mahoney vacated, not realizing that Rupert has returned to live in the rafters. The misery landlord, Frank Dingle (Frank Orth), has been hiding his money in the rafters, not realizing that Rupert lives there. Rupert throws the money out, and when it falls down from the ceiling into the lap of the Amendolas, they think it is a miracle from heaven. Louie Amendola lends the money to struggling merchants in the area, and within months, their businesses are thriving. When a fire occurs, burning not only the apartment but the landlord’s house, Rupert almost dies, but he is saved and found again by his trainer, who now has found a booking for the dancing squirrel, who eventually becomes a show biz star.

NEW YORK CONNECTION

This is the only one of our films set in Brooklyn rather than Manhattan, but you can see the Manhattan skyline in the background during several scenes.

CHRISTMAS CONNECTION

The film begins on Christmas Eve and features a miraculous Christmas tree. There is a nice rendition of “Jingle Bells” by Jimmy Durante at an impromptu Christmas Day party.

CHARACTER ACTORS

Jimmy Durante appears in The Man Who Came to Dinner. Sara Haden appears in The Shop Around the Corner and The Bishop’s Wife. Jimmy Conlin is best known as a member of the Preston Sturges company of character actors, appearing in nearly all of Sturges’s films.

ASTAIRE CONNECTION

Jimmy Durante appeared in several different stage benefits that featured Fred Astaire in the early 1930s.

WHY WE LOVE THIS MOVIE

Rupert the dancing squirrel is great!

This is another of those films that it took a few viewings to warm up to, but now we include it in almost every year’s watch list.

PLOT SUMMARY

Robert “Dreamy” Smith (Eddie Albert) works in the classified advertising department of a New York newspaper. Between dreaming of buying a boat with his roommate “Skipper” Martin (Alan Hale) and coming up with clever business ideas that are stolen by his boss (John Litel), Dreamy is genuinely loved by Joan Leslie and always helping others, which often gets him into trouble. Just as things seem darkest, however, his self-sacrificing nature is rewarded.

NEW YORK CONNECTION

The story is set in New York, but it’s actually the Warner Brothers studio in Burbank, California.

CHRISTMAS CONNECTION

The central crisis occurs on Christmas Eve. There are festive toasts of Tom & Jerries in a waterside tavern.

CHARACTER ACTORS

John Litel appears as an FBI agent in Christmas Eve. Billy Benedict appears as a messenger boy in Never Say Goodbye.

ASTAIRE CONNECTION

Joan Leslie danced with Fred Astaire in The Sky’s the Limit. John Litel appeared at an Actors Equity benefit with Astaire in 1920.

WHY WE LOVE THIS MOVIE

It’s a charming little movie, but one of those where you find yourself yelling at the characters not to make such obviously bad choices. It’s interesting to see Eddie Albert in a role so different from Green Acres and Roman Holiday.