Yes, it's that time of year again! I thought I would kick off this holiday season with an original classic. In case you missed any of last year's reviews you can search through the archives column of November and December 2009.
This 1947 classic starring Cary Grant, David Niven, and Loretta Young is one of the forgotten films in the genre of Christmas films. This movie delivers a great message on restoring people's faith and putting others before ourselves. Although the remake of this film, The Preachers Wife , starring Whitney Houston and Denzel Washington is also a good movie, it seems a bit watered down with it's message compared to the original version. What also pops up is too much Hollywood fluff in the remake, so I suggest you watch the original version first.
Most Christmas films deal with the human emotions that we go through at Christmas time and the infamous "loss of Christmas Spirit". In the very first scene Cary Grant, who plays an angel named Dudley, is seen navigating his way through the hustle and bustle of Christmas on some downtown streets. We see: Christmas Carolers, children laughing and smiling in awe of the decorated store window displays, people helping people, and you can feel the spirit of Christmas in the air.
One of the messages this film touches on is that of Pastors and wives who are in ministry together and their struggle to find a balance between both church and family. In this story Henry the Bishop, is tirelessly trying to raise funds to build a new cathedral for his congregation and in the process is neglecting his wife and family. At first glance you get the sense of Henry being a stubborn man: one who is in competition with the other churches in town and wanting what they have which is a great cathedral to worship in.
Throughout this Christmas season Henry has been spending most of his attention toward trying to please Mrs. Hamilton, a widow who has pledged to donate 1 million dollars to the church. Henry's wife Julia obviously feels neglected and is unhappy with Henry's choice of women to direct his attention and affection upon.
But Julia comes across as the strong level-headed one in the family, understands the duty of a Pastor, and stands aside, but not without giving her two-cents worth into the matter.
After making a promise to spend a day with his wife, Henry's church secretary reminds him of fund raising meetings that have already been scheduled. While in his study, Henry pleads with God for help because he knows this is taking a toll on his relationship with his wife. All of a sudden Dudley the angel appears and tells Henry that he has been sent there to help him. After some lengthy humorous bantering between the two men, mostly from Henry and his disbelief of Dudley being an angel,Henry gives in to Dudley's offer to help. When Henry introduces Dudley to his wife he leaves out the part of Dudley being an angel. A wise move on Henry's part for the moment!
Dudley works his magic while taking Julia out for an afternoon of fun. A couple of humorous scenes that appear:
1. Dudley helps Henry and Julia's daughter Debbie get selected to join in a snowball fight at the park with some not so friendly children. With Dudley's help Debbie fires
a snowball as fast as a rocket and nails one of the leaders of the pack. Debbie is now the favorite of all the snowballers.
2. When Dudley and Julia meet with a Professor, an acquantance of Henry's, Dudley has a little fun with the guy. Everytime the Professor would take a large sip from his glass Dudley would wave a finger and refill the glass full, causing the Professor to wonder how potent was that drink that he had been drinking.
When they return home and Henry sees the joy upon his wife's face, Henry feels a bit slighted as jealousy begins to settle in. As he and Dudley meet in the study, Dudley explains to Henry he is spending too much time focusing on building a church and not building up peoples lives as a Bishop should be, and the money he is trying to raise to build a cathedral could be better used in the area of food and shelter for those who need it.
On Christmas eve Henry gives his secretary a copy of his Christmas sermon for her to recopy. Dudley sends the secretary off to do some Christmas shopping and promises her that he will recopy the sermon for Henry. Of course you really don't think Dudley would recopy Henry's sermon word for word, do you?
Dudley pays a visit to Mrs. Hamilton and woo's her by playing a harp that is found in the living room of her mansion. He impresses her so much with the composition he plays that Mrs. Hamilton is overwhelmed with joy. When Henry and Julia show up at the mansion to press upon Mrs. Hamilton to proceed quickly with her large donation to the church, the overjoyed woman declares,
"I have changed my mind! I am going to donate the money to help the poor and feed the hungry instead."
An angry and distraught Henry confronts Dudley for meddling in and not helping the situation but making matters worse. Dudley reminds Henry that his prayer that day in the study wasn't for a new cathedral, but a prayer for help and guidance.
I love the powerful ending to this film, just a simple message through a sermon preached by the Bishop but written by an angel:
The Empty Stocking That Isn't Hung
"All of the stockings are full except one. And we've forgotten to hang it up, the stocking for the child lying in a manger. It is His birthday we are celebrating and let us not ever forget that.
Let us ask ourselves,'What would He wish for most?'
And then let each of us put in his share:loving kindness, warm hearts, and a stretched out hand for tolerance, all the shining gifts that make peace on earth."
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