Dan and Brian discuss four adaptations of Charles Dickens’ famed holiday novella for a sixth consecutive holiday season. This year, they each share their feedback on two different entries randomly selected from a giant list. Join as they consider the perils of low-budget cinema tackling high-budget material, British humor, and the compatibility of western tropes with Scrooge.
Then, they look inward and combat some holiday malaise by discussing a film in a similar spirit to Dickens but from an entirely different angle, the Frank Capra classic It’s a Wonderful Life. They discuss the film’s deliberate pacing, its complicated politics, the soapy fake snow, and what it all means, both in and out of cinema.
Episode Number
233
Films Reviewed
- It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
- Dan:
- Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (2012)
- Nan’s Christmas Carol (2009)
- Brian:
- Carry on Christmas (1969)
- Ebenezer (1998)
Is It Good?
- Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol – Not Good (2/8)
- Nan’s Christmas Carol – Very Good (6/8)
- It’s a Wonderful Life – Masterpiece: Tour De Good (8/8)
- Carry On Chrismtas – Very Not Good (1/8)
- Ebenezer – Good-Ish (4/8)
- It’s a Wonderful Life – Masterpiece: Tour De Good (8/8)
Supplemental Media
Not mentioned, but relevant:
Brian Terrill is a filmmaker and horror host.
Dan Stalcup writes reviews for The Goods and is a member of OFCS. Follow Dan on Letterboxd.
2 replies on “Podcast Episode: It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) and Christmas Carol roulette – I’m thinking of beginning things”
A belated Merry Christmas to you and all the Joy of the Season – especially the Joy of no longer being deluged with Xmas commercials slowly eating away at Christmas, all the rest of December, November, steadily chewing into mid to late October despite the best efforts of Halloween…
… you know a Horror movie called YOU BETTER WATCH OUT showing Halloween characters fight back against ‘Xmas’ as it attempts to assimilate the whole year might be fun (Or at least fodder for deeply satisfying Satire).
Bonus points if there are strong 1984 undertones.
An even more belated happy holidays to you, ED! I hope you are well!
Ha, I haven’t even heard of this film. I found it on Letterboxd, and it only has a few hundred logged viewers if I’m looking at the right film, but I’ll add it to my watch list. My big revelation in the realm of dark holiday spirit this year was finally catching up with Black Christmas, which is tremendous.