Christmas comes but once a year . . . but the memories of great holiday entertainment last a lifetime. There`s an abundance of heartwarming seasonal fare among the new video releases for the month of December. Many selections are priced right for ”stocking stuffers.” Make your ”Wish List” of these goodies and take it to your neighborhood video store today, before the last-minute buying panic sets in!
”FAMILY CLASSICS”: It`s sentimental, G-rated movies like these that have kept generations of WGN-TV viewers occupied on rainy Sunday afternoons all through the year, and that make for even cozier entertainment when the rain turns to snow and the winds of winter turn nippy. The much-heralded
”colorized” version of Frank Capra`s beloved Christmas story, ”It`s A Wonderful Life,” which uses an exclusive computer process to turn the old black and white film into ”beautiful living color,” won`t be in the stores this holiday season as anticipated. But you can buy the original version on video now. There are several companies peddling this movie on tapes priced as low as $19.95 and as high as $39.95. Our sources in the video stores tell us
”the $39.95 version, put out by NTA, is a better-quality video than the brand-X version.” Buyers can be the judge of that, but any way you look at it, this inspiring story of a common, ordinary guy who`s had more than his share of life`s hard knocks (touchingly portrayed by Jimmy Stewart) is a plain wonderful movie!
Pop quiz: in what flick did Bing Crosby introduce his now-famous rendition of ”White Christmas?” That`s right! It was ”Holiday Inn” (MCA Home Video, $39.95) in which ”Bing sings! Astaire dances!” to the great score by Irving Berlin. Female co-stars Marjorie Reynolds and Virginia Dale look smashing in costumes by Hollywood`s legendary Edith Head. Combining show biz with romance, Bing plays a retired entertainer who opens a new England show spot just for the holidays (meanwhile, Fred is the heartsick pal who steals Bing`s gal). If it all sounds a little similar to another holiday staple starring Crosby, you must be thinking of ”White Christmas” (Paramount Home Video, $24.95) which teams the crooner with Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen in production numbers like ”Snow,” ”Sisters” and
”Choreography.” Both are terrific fun. . . . And while we`re on a roll,
”Going My Way” (MCA Home Video, $39.95) features Crosby as a young priest who arrives to breathe new life into the New York parish of crusty old Barry Fitzgerald. Memorable songs from this picture, which won seven Academy Awards, are ”Too-ra-Loo-ra-Loo-ra” and ”Swing on a Star.”
Danny Kaye fans will want to pick up ”Hans Christian Andersen” (Embassy Home Entertainment, $39.95), the perennial favorite about a young cobbler with a gift for story-telling. This musical production features ”Inchworm,”
”Ugly Duckling” and ”Thumbelina.” . . . Embassy Home Entertainment has also just released ”The Old Curiosity Shop” ($39.95), a Charles Dickens tale in the tradition of ”Oliver!” and ”Scrooge” with Anthony Newley, David Hemmings and David Warner; and ”The Bishop`s Wife” ($39.95), a romantic comedy starring Cary Grant as an angel who materializes in answer to the prayers of a harried young bishop (David Niven) whose efforts to raise money for a new cathedral endangers his marriage to Loretta Young . . . Other new titles that keep alive ”the true meaning of Christmas” are ”Whistle Down the Wind” (Embassy Home Entertainment, $39.95) with Hayley Mills and Alan Bates in the story of three innocent children who find a fugitive in their barn and believe him to be Jesus; and ”The Song of Bernadette” (Key Video, $59.98) starring Jennifer Jones in the true story of a peasant girl who saw a vision of a ”Beautiful Lady” in Lourdes, France in 1858. The film won five Academy Awards including best actress and best score.
ANIMATED TREATS: A delightful cartoon version of the ever-popular Scrooge saga is ”Mister Magoo`s Christmas Carol” (Paramount Home Video, $14.95). The nearsighted Magoo plays the cranky old man who must learn the meaning of Christmas from three spectres who haunt him on Christmas Eve. Jim Backus provides the voice of Magoo and the catchy original score is by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill (this is one ”kiddie” show that truly is entertaining for grown- ups, too!) . . . In ”The Trolls and the Christmas Express” (Paramount Home Video, $14.95), Santa can`t leave the North Pole when the Christmas Express is derailed and his reindeer become ”party animals,” unable to pull his sled. Characters` voices are supplied by Roger Miller and Hans Conried . . . ”Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” (Paramount Home video, $14.95) features the voices of Jim Backus, Courtney Lemmon and Louis Nye in the true story of the little girl who wrote to the New York Times to ask if there really is a Santa Claus . . . ”A Merry Mirthworm Christmas” (Family Home Entertainment, $19.95) is the tale of a village of worms that learns the true meaning of caring, sharing and friendship.
