The holidays are a time of tradition. You get together with the same people, sing the same songs, eat the same food, and give the same gifts. It’s comforting, and we love it. Tradition gives a sense of place, belonging, and heritage. There’s nothing wrong with it, I think, until, it calcifies and keeps us from trying new things. I grew up with Christmas ham every December 25th, but then I got married and was introduced to the idea of Christmas lasagna, which is a tradition from my wife’s family. I was open (as I often am when it comes to carbohydrate laden food) and now it’s a newer tradition for me that I look forward to every Christmas.
Holiday movies are an American tradition that are swiftly
becoming calcified, primarily by cable tv. The 24 hour marathons of A Christmas Story and It’s a Wonderful Life, to my mind, sap
the specialness of both of those movies. There are only so many times you see Ralphie
lose his junk on Scott Farkus or hear George Baily bray “Merry Christmas”
across the snowy streets of Bedford Falls before they stop making you feel
festive and start making you feel like a drink.
Some newer movies are becoming holiday regulars. Jon Favreau’s
charming Elf and Robert Zemeckis’s
exhausting The Polar Express both go
into heavy rotation around this time of year. That’s all fine and good, but
this Christmas, I suggest something a little older and more classic. Remember the Night was made in 1940 and
stars Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. The two of them starred in three
other films, including the spectacular Double
Indemnity, but this was their first pairing, and it’s utterly charming.
Stanwyck plays Lee Leander, a woman arrested for trying to shoplift a bracelet
from New York jewelry store. MacMurray plays the aptly named John Sargent, the
district attorney assigned to prosecute her. Sargeant doesn’t like his chances
of getting a guilty conviction right before Christmas, so he asks to delay the
trial until after the holidays. Stand-up guy that he is, he doesn’t feel right
about leaving a lady in the clink for the holidays, so he posts her bail and
ends up taking Lee home with him to Indiana.
Once there, the worldly girl from the wrong side of the
tracks is enchanted with John’s loving mother, doting aunt, and his silly
cousin Willie who is played by Sterling Holloway, the original voice of Winnie
the Pooh. Not only that, but Lee falls in love with John, who is a little stiff
and clueless but still a really good guy. There are Christmas carols, plenty of
laughs, a New Year’s Eve dance, the fateful kiss at midnight, and everything
you’d expect from a holiday movie. So why isn’t Remember the Night more remembered? Well, it takes a weird turn at
the end. Even though the film is ostensibly a comedy, it gets a little
dramatic. I won’t give it away here, but the fact is that Stanwyck’s character
is guilty of shoplifting. So it makes for a more ambiguous ending that we
usually expect from our family friendly holiday movies. No bell rings at the
end of this movie giving some life-saving angel his wings.
The main selling point of this film is Stanwyck. Visually,
she’s a very slight character, thin and waspish, but her personal steeliness
and that unique, slightly sultry voice make her a formidable screen presence.
She also had a way with delivering a line that could simultaneously caress you,
cuff you upside the head, make you laugh, and break your heart. When John’s
mother gently asks her not to ruin her son’s future by falling in love with
him, Stanwyck delivers a few lines with more pathos than a silly holiday movie
deserves.
Remember the Night
is not as classic as It’s a Wonderful
Life, but I think it’s an overlooked gem that you ought to track down on
TCM or at your local library if you’re interested in trying it out as a new
holiday tradition at your house.
This review originally appeared on Q90.1. For more information, visit www.deltabroadcasting.org.
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