This week: Magdalen College Professor Anthony Esolen is not only an eminent man of literature, he is also a walking encyclopedia of cinema. That definitely included movies set against or directly about, Christmas. In this free-wheeling conversation featuring brushes with fame and interconnectivity of actors who worked with the same directors, we hit many favorites and also some lesser-known Christmas movie nuggets.

In this episode, you will learn

Reasonable criteria for what makes a Christmas movie a Christmas movie
How everybody seems to miss the non-stop blasphemous swearing in Die Hard (1988)
The culture degradation as manifest in the way Christmas was treated by Hollywood in years gone by
Why many Christmas moves seem to include notes of sorrow and grief
Reasons why the Golden Age (1934-1966) produced the great movies about or set against, Christmas

Resources mentioned in this episode Movies

It Happened on Fifth Avenue
The Man Who Came to Dinner
Penny Serenade
The Shop Around the Corner
Remember the Night
Christmas in Connecticut
An Affair to Remember
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
The Bishop’s Wife
Meet John Doe
White Christmas
Holiday Inn
Miracle on 34th Street
Die Hard
Love, Actually
Joyeux Noel
The Apartment
And course: It’s a Wonderful Life!

Books

#363: Must-Watch Christmas Movies—Anthony Esolen