Film

It Happened One Christmas

Name: It Happened One Christmas
Genre: TV Movie, Comedy
Released: 1977
Cast: Marlo Thomas, Orson Welles, Wayne Rogers, Cloris Leachman, Barney Martin

Fantasy
Light-hearted

A 1977 TV remake of It's a Wonderful Life with a crucial twist: Mary Bailey takes the lead instead of George. Marlo Thomas carries this gender-flipped version with warmth and genuine vulnerability, as an angel helps her see the value of her unlived dreams and the lives she's touched. It's surprisingly moving without being saccharine, and genuinely interested in what it means for a woman to sacrifice ambition for duty.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love a warm, slightly old-fashioned holiday story where a bumbling angel with no wings is out of her depth and the sentiment is earned by small-town decency.

Skip it if you want the 1946 original's grace, since this 1977 television remake often plays its heavier moments broadly and keeps a made-for-TV pace across its long running time.

What it asks of you: Settle in for close to two hours of talky, unhurried scenes, with a heavy mood carried through the early stretch before the tone warms.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

It's a Wonderful Life1946

The original and still the standard. Jimmy Stewart's George Bailey is the template, but seeing this version first lets you appreciate what the gender swap illuminates about sacrifice, visibility, and who gets to be the hero of their own story.

But Black and white, pacing that assumes you have time, and it's been quoted to death. The sentimentality can feel suffocating if you're not in the mood.

Scrooged1988

Bill Murray's cynical TV executive gets the Christmas Carol treatment with genuine heart beneath the comedy. Like this film, it respects the source material while making it urgent and human, finding humor without undercutting the real stakes.

But The 80s sheen dates it, and Murray's shtick occasionally overwhelms the emotional core. Some of the broad comedy undercuts what could be quieter and more affecting.

A Matter of Life and Death1946

A Technicolor fantasy about a man arguing his case in the afterlife, with the same blend of whimsy and genuine philosophical weight. It trusts audiences to care about questions of purpose and meaning without winking at them.

But It's a British film from 1946 with pacing and visual language that feel deliberately artificial. If you want naturalism, this will frustrate you.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from It Happened One Christmas

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Song of Bernadette1943

Both feature angels (explicitly or implicitly) intervening in a woman's crisis of faith, and both trust that spiritual experience is as real and important as physical reality. Same register, but a century of cinema between them.

Jennifer Jones in a film about faith and visions that doesn't condescend. It's about a girl who sees something others don't, and has to convince a skeptical world she's telling the truth. Visually sumptuous and psychologically complex about belief itself.

But It's a three-hour religious drama made in 1943, and it moves like it. If you're not interested in theology or 40s cinema, nothing here will convert you.

Miracle on 34th Street1947

Another Christmas classic that's really about faith—in kindness, in possibility, in people—without being maudlin. It has the same small-town warmth and belief that ordinary lives matter, just told with lighter stakes and sharper dialogue.

But The courtroom climax is purely sentimental, and if you're allergic to Christmas movies full stop, no amount of craft will change your mind.

The Poseidon Adventure1972

A disaster film where ordinary people discover unexpected reserves of courage and purpose. Like this film, it's interested in showing how crisis reveals who we actually are, and what we're willing to do for others.

But The tone is wildly different—catastrophe instead of grace—and it has all the dated spectacle of 70s disaster cinema. The emotional journey is similar, but the context couldn't be further apart.

Heidi1968

A TV movie remake that respects its source while making it vivid and immediate. Genuinely touching without condescension, and it shows that earnestness and quality filmmaking aren't mutually exclusive, even in humble formats.

But It's about a Swiss orphan girl in the 1800s. If the premise sounds too wholesome for you, no execution will convince you otherwise.

The Bishop's Wife1947

Cary Grant as an angel helping a bishop and his family remember what matters. It has the same warmth and the same belief in grace, plus genuine romantic tension and stellar comic timing alongside the sentiment.

But Cary Grant's easy charm can feel weightless if you're looking for something grittier. The fantasy elements sit oddly with the domestic drama at times.

Holiday Inn1942

Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby in a musical about found family and making something beautiful out of small moments. The same ethos as this film—that ordinary life with people you love is the real treasure.

But It's a musical from 1942, which means production numbers can feel like interruptions if dance isn't your thing. Some jokes have not aged well.

Planes: Fire & Rescue2014

A children's film that's genuinely about purpose and meaning—about finding out what you're meant to do, and the cost of doing it right. Surprisingly moving beneath the animation and vehicle jokes.

But It's an animated Pixar spinoff, so if you find that whole register exhausting or saccharine, nothing here will persuade you.

The Queen of Versailles2012

Both follow a woman's spiritual reckoning, but where this film offers supernatural intervention and redemption, this documentary shows what happens when life just strips everything away and you have to figure it out alone. Same destination, radically different journey.

A documentary following a woman through the 2008 financial crisis as she loses her mansion and has to reckon with what actually matters. It's genuinely unsparing—she doesn't learn soft lessons—but it asks the same question this film does: what is a life for?

But It's a documentary about real people in real crisis, not a fantasy. No angels, no magical clarity. Watching someone's actual grief and confusion is harder than watching Marlo Thomas find grace.