Review of White Christmas (1954) by Dh H — 21 Dec 2007

Lots to be said about this movie, lots has already been written.

First some background for those who don't know. like many musicals, most of the songs were written before the script. so in a sense, they have the music first, and then they write some sort of plot that kinda fits the songs they are thinking of using.

But somehow the plot of this movie really touches two important chords--christmas and world war ii.

A lot has been written and filmed over the past few years (ken burns comes to mind) about the greatest generation but this movie is important because the time it came out: about ten years after world war ii. I believe the writers were trying to say something about the war and the people who sacrificed their lives for it and who will never be the same because of it. the general is a symbol of that; he represents how quickly america has forgotten its soldiers. interestingly enough, this movie makes no mention of the korean war for obvious reasons--it was a thoroughly unpopular war.

Anyways, I think this movie is NOT timeless as people say. it's an opportunity to look back at a time and culture which is totally foreign to ours today.

A good example is the general's granddaughter. no mention is made of her grandmother nor her parents. it's what I like to call a typical "hong kong movie" trick. the writers thought it'd be good to have a "wholesome" female character to balance out the general's gruff exterior so they wrote in a granddaughter.

I love the granddaughter actually. if this movie were made in 2007 she'd be much less respectful, probably be wearing something much more revealing, and her sexuality would be flaunted out there for all to see. but back in 1954, the american teenager was just beginning to become what it is today. back then it's like asia of today--people were considered children until they got married. so she's a child, plain and simple and everything she does and wears and says shows that. I think that's absolutely fascinating.

The whole song and dance, martin and lewis, ed sullivan thing is also totally dated. we have nothing like that in entertainment today. perhaps american idol? but yeah, everything today is sex and violence or "reality" tv. back then they made movies to what they wanted life to be like, not what it actually was. just a different time.

And the age gap between bing crosby and rosemary clooney is a bit creepy. um, again, that's okay in the period, and probably would even be okay now, but today, you'd have to mention it somehow, the age gap.

The idea that you can just get on tv, ask people to hop on trains and go to vermont in three days on christmas eve is absolutely impossible these days. are you kidding? you have to have your holiday plans booked way in advance. there's families and divorced families and holiday negotiations with kids and grandkids these days because everyone lives so far apart from each other. you couldn't just tell your family a few days before christmas, hey! we're goin to vermont to honor a general! they'd be like what? why don't we just make a youtube video for him? or something like that.

I think sacrifice and honor are fairly universal virtues in the world but i'm unclear how this comes out in today's society. what are we really willing to sacrifice? what things are "sacred" to us that are "nonnegotiable"? you hear that word a lot bandied about. basically it means, i'm selfish and i'm not giving this up.

I love the idea that is said in this movie about sacrifice--"let's just say we're doin it for a pal in the army." again, typifies this generation and their ideas of loyalty, honor, service and sacrifice. that phrase could get a man to do many things back then. I can't think of a phrase these days that would work in the same way. "let's say if we do this, we'll get a lot of money?" maybe something like that.

And what is "honor" in this society? because everyone is their own reality tv show, and because of our hypercritical, postmodern perspective I mean, we all realize how absolutely sinful and bad we all are. no one deserves honor. so today we'd know that the general made 10000 errors during his time in the army and there's no way he would fall off the map like he did. just google his name and his little vermont lodge would come up. or he'd probably be a military advisor on MSNBC critiquing and analyzing the current military situation.

Anyways the list can go on and on. this movie is good not because it's timeless for me, but because it shows me an era I never lived in. i'm not even going to get into the racial undertones of "white" christmas.

What can I say that hasn't already been said? rosemary clooney is a horrible dancer. vera-ellen is absolutely amazing as a dancer but it's clear she was waaay too thin. but any big dance number she's in, you just can't take your eyes off of her. she's mesmerizing as a dancer.

Danny kaye is pretty funny. anytime I see this movie now I think that his part and the part of the friend in singin in the rain are really similar and whaddya know, it was supposed to be the same actor but donald o connor pulled out. interesting.

The scene of honoring the general is very moving the way it's setup and played by the actor. again, it's saying something deeper about the war and about those who fought in it that I think is fascinating but on the surface level, it's a great touching moment.

I think my absolute favorite random part in the movie is at the beginning of the movie when they are "on the battlefield" (totally a joke. not real looking at all, but again, this is coming from the era where broadway still dominated so it's okay to have sets instead of "real" backgrounds. anyways, the soldiers are all singing the song "the old man" and then some planes fly overhead. they all crouch down and wait for it to pass, and then they suddenly in unison start back up, but softer. exactly like in hallelujah glory when scott underwood demands the congregation sing softly. I dunno, it's a hilarious little part that gets me every time.