It’s Christmas movie season and every year there seems to be a deluge of new Christmas movies from Hallmark and Netflix. But for many of us it’s also the time of year to like some classic favorites It is a wonderful life or a Christmas Story. But what if you want something new to yourself, but with the same classic film warmth? Put on your coziest sweater, grab some eggnog or hot butter rum, and get ready to fall in love with these unseen classics now available for rent on HBO Max, Criterion Channel and digital platforms.
From sparkling romantic comedies to classic film noir to obscure animated family films, there’s sure to be something on this list for everyone, whether they’re naughty or nice.
Read on for 10 of the lesser-known Christmas movies to watch on streaming services this holiday season.
Bachelor mother
Saleswoman Polly Parrish (Ginger Rogers) has been hired as a temporary vacation helper and receives a layoff notice from the John B. Merlin and Son department store in New York City just days before Christmas. On the way home, she sees a woman leaving a baby on the steps of an orphanage and decides to take it home from the cold. Later, the owner’s son, David Merlin (David Niven), mistakenly believes that Polly is an unmarried mother. After arranging for her job, he begins to fall in love. His father now believes that David is the father of Polly’s child. With charming performances, this screwball comedy bubbles like a glass of champagne.
Bachelor mother is for rent on Amazon, Apple, and other rental services.
Remember the night
Written by Preston Sturges and directed by Mitchell Leisen, this romantic comedy stars Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray – four years before their iconic pairing in Double compensation
Remember the night is available to cable subscribers at View TCM and Spectrum OnDemand.
Lady in the lake
Based on the novel of the same name Raymond Chandler, star Robert Montgomery not only takes on the role of Los Angeles private detective Phillip Marlowe, but also directed the film. Shot almost exclusively from Marlowe’s point of view, the characters speak directly into the camera. Montgomery’s Marlowe can usually be heard, his face is only occasionally seen as a reflection. When publishing director Adrienne Fromsett (Audrey Totter) hires Marlowe a few days before Christmas, he finds himself in a twisted mystery about beautiful but devious women, endless greed and cold-blooded murders. While the camera gimmick can get a little nauseating at times, there is nothing like it.
Lady in the lake is available to cable subscribers at Spectrum OnDemand, and for rent Amazon, Apple, Vudu, and other rental services.
It happened on 5th Avenue
Released the same year as the original Miracle on 34th Street, this Roy Del Ruth comedy follows homeless Aloysius T. McKeever (Victor Moore) who takes up residence every year during his absence in the boarded up Fifth Avenue mansion of the world’s second richest man (Charles Ruggles). The good-hearted McKeever gets more than he expected when he met ex-GI Jim Bullock (Don DeFore), his wartime friends Whitey (Alan Hale, Jr.) and Hank (Edward Ryan) and their families, and 18-year-old Old Trudy ” Smith “(Gale Storm) shares the villa with him. Though he addresses the post-WWII housing crisis directly, Del Ruth’s questioning of how America abandons its veterans still resonates today.
It happened on 5th Avenue is available for streaming HBO max.
Vacation affair (1949)
Robert Mitchum is bursting with the Christmas spirit, against the type, in order to rehabilitate his image after a marijuana bankruptcy. They meet when comparison buyer Connie (Leigh) Mitchum accidentally costs his job after buying him a toy train. The situation is made even more difficult: Connie’s wet friend Carl (Wendell Corey) and her precocious song Timmy (Gordon Gebert), who thinks the train is a gift for him. The chemistry between Leigh and Mitchum is off the charts. Your first kiss is hot enough to roast chestnuts.
Vacation matter is available for streaming HBO max.
Susanne slept here
Shot in beautiful technicolor, Susanne slept here is one of those acts that only makes sense in classic films. Dick Powell (in his final film role) plays Mark Christopher, a Hollywood screenwriter who suffers from writer’s block after winning an Academy Award. On Christmas Eve, his buddy, Vice Squad Sergeant Sam Hanlon, brings 17-year-old tramp Susan Landis (a spirited Debbie Reynolds) to his luxurious bachelorette party so she doesn’t have to spend the night alone in jail. Although it sparked the idea for a juvenile crime film, the situation also puts Mark in a bind with his longtime fiancée Isabella (a glamorous Anne Francis). Meanwhile, Glenda Farrell runs away as Mark’s drunk secretary Maude with almost the entire film.
Susanne slept here is available for streaming HBO max.
Bell, book and candle
Perhaps the coolest Christmas movie of all time, this mid-century fantasy romance stars Kim Novak as the chic greenwich village art dealer named Gillian, whose holiday blues are cured when she falls in love with her publishing neighbor Shep (Jimmy Stewart) . . On Christmas Eve, Shep and his fiancée Merle (Janice Rule) visit the Zodiac Club, where they meet Gillian, her aunt Queenie (Elsa Lanchester) and her bongo-playing sorcerer brother (Jack Lemmon). Determined to have Shep, Gillian uses her, her Siamese cat, and the familiar Pyewacket to cast a love spell on him. But eventually Gillian learns that human love is not that easy.
Bell, book and candle is available to cable subscribers at View TCM.
Quiet
In this pitch-black Spanish comedy by director Luis García Berlanga, a group of pious women in a small provincial town organizes a Christmas campaign under the motto “Feed a poor man at your table”. As the film progresses, the city’s rich vie to show off the poor person they helped while barely hiding their disgust at them. At the center of the campaign is Plácido, a poor man who is dragged from one activity to another and therefore cannot make the payments for his newly acquired motorcycle. It’s the season of benevolence towards people, but this film reminds the privileged that many people struggle year-round and performative charity does little more than appease their own consciences.
Quiet is available for streaming Channel criterion.
Nestor the long-eared Christmas donkey
Produced by Rankin / Bass, this forgotten ’70s special is the most depressing of them all. Based on a song written by Gene Autry, it follows Nestor, a donkey with unusually long ears who lived during the Roman Empire. Shunned by their village, Nestor and his mother flee, but his mother dies to protect Nestor from a bitter cold. Nestor later meets a cherub who tells him that he is needed in Bethlehem. His long ears help him keep Mary and Joseph safe during a sand storm. Similar to Rudolf, the red-nosed reindeer, it is the story of an outcast who only learns that his differences are okay when they prove helpful to others. Fa-la-la-la.
Nestor The long-eared Christmas donkey is available for streaming fuboTV and AMC Plus
The silent partner
Written by Curtis Hanson, who would later make the ultimate Christmas thriller LA Confidential, The silent partner follows listless bank clerk Miles (Elliott Gould), who is drawn into a world of crime after discovering the bank is about to be robbed by a man dressed as Santa Claus. Instead of letting his superiors know, he hides cash on the assumption that he can report everything missing when the robbery finally takes place. However, when the thief, a psychopath named Harry Reikle (Christopher Plummer), finds out the plan, he becomes obsessed with Miles and decides to raise all the money for himself. Dark and bloody, this movie really gets it that greed is what’s behind the season.
The silent partner is available for streaming canopy or rent on most digital platforms
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