Beyond the Usual Classics: 12 Perfect Christmas Movies Nobody Talks About

A Western Christmas Fable

John Ford and John Wayne took the holiday season into the Old West with 3 Godfathers, based on Peter B. Kyne’s short story. The film recasts the biblical story of the Three Wise Men as a Western tale.

Outlaws Bob, Pete and the Abilene Kid flee after robbing a bank. In the desert, they find a dying woman who has just given birth and promise to care for her child, leading to an unusually sentimental story for a Ford and Wayne collaboration.

Convicts Find Redemption

We're No Angels was the last film collaboration between director Michael Curtiz and Humphrey Bogart. With Peter Ustinov and Aldo Ray, the dark comedy brings together crime-movie elements and Christmas themes of goodwill and redemption.

Bogart, Ray and Ustinov play three convicts who escape Devil's Island at Christmas and arrive in a colonial town in French Guiana. As they try to win over residents to help their escape, they gradually begin to care about the people around them.

A Hitman’s Holiday Noir

Blast of Silence, directed by and starring Allen Baron, uses a low-budget New York City setting to give its black-and-white images a gritty feel. The neo-noir thriller contrasts holiday lights with deep shadows rather than aiming for seasonal cheer.

Baron plays Frankie, a mob hitman who returns home for the holidays to carry out a contract. Encounters with old friends stir up painful memories as he waits and plans, making the film a bleak choice for viewers who prefer their Christmas stories without uplift.

A Dickens Adaptation in Focus

The article turns to the many screen versions of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, noting that some have faded from view. It names the 1951 film starring Alistair Sim and George C. Scott’s more abrasive portrayal of Ebenezer Scrooge. It then begins to single out an Academy Award-winning adaptation as a title worth adding to a Christmas watchlist, but the available text ends before naming the film or describing it.