Film
The Night Before Christmas
Other titles called The Night Before Christmas: the 1913 film, the 1951 film.
- Fairy tale
- Light-hearted
A nine-minute silent film from 1905 that captures Christmas magic with charming practical effects and hand-coloured frames. Santa prepares his sleigh and delivers gifts across rooftops in a gentle, whimsical fantasy. Perfect for anyone curious about cinema's earliest magic or looking for a uniquely nostalgic holiday tradition.
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Scrooge1951
The Alastair Sim version remains unsurpassed: witty, genuinely moving, and perfectly paced. Scrooge's transformation feels earned rather than sentimental, and the production design is gorgeous.
But Black and white period piece might feel slow if you're used to modern pacing. Some find the earnestness dated.
Miracle on 34th Street1947
A genuinely clever script about belief, magic, and the line between them. The trial sequence is sharp, funny, and moving without ever feeling manipulative.
But The romantic subplot will feel creaky to modern viewers. The sentimentality about childhood innocence doesn't land the way it once did.
It's a Wonderful Life1946
The editing, the performances, the sheer ambition of the thing. Capra made a film about despair and community that actually earns its famous ending. A masterpiece.
But So often watched as tradition that it's hard to see fresh. The gender politics feel retrograde. It's long, and requires patience.
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The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Noel2004
Both films are interested in the *experience* of Christmas magic rather than explaining it. Santa's inexplicable efficiency in the 1905 film echoes the quiet miracles Chazelle finds in ordinary people on an ordinary night.
Chazelle's debut is a quiet, structurally clever ensemble piece set on Christmas Eve in New York. It finds wonder in small moments and real conversation rather than plot mechanics. The score is gorgeous.
But Very slow, very talky, and the interlocking narratives can feel forced. There's no real story arc, just mood and encounter. Some will find it pretentious.
More like this (7)
The Santa Clause1994
A genuinely fun idea: what if being Santa was a job you could fall into? Tim Allen plays it as likeable chaos, and the supporting cast is sharp. Warm without being cloying.
But Relies heavily on '90s practical effects that don't age gracefully. The magical logic gets sloppy by the third act.
Elf2003
Will Ferrell's earnest enthusiasm is exactly right for Buddy. The film finds genuine sentiment in the fish-out-of-water premise without once winking at the audience.
But Relies on broad comedy that leans sentimental. Some find Ferrell's delivery grating rather than endearing.
The Muppet Christmas Carol1992
Henson's team adapt Dickens with real wit and genuine darkness. The Muppets handle heartbreak with surprising grace. Michael Caine is wonderful, and the songs are excellent.
But The Muppet humour won't land for everyone. Some sequences feel padded. The ending is very sentimental.
Gremlins1984
Joe Dante's Christmas film that's actually about chaos, greed, and suburban decay. Subversive without being cynical. The practical effects and creature design still hold up beautifully.
But The body horror and violence will surprise anyone expecting traditional Christmas fare. It can feel meanspirited if you're in the wrong mood.
The Nightmare Before Christmas1993
Tim Burton and Henry Selick's stop-motion fever dream has aged into a genuine classic. The design is breathtaking, Danny Elfman's score is genius, and the emotional core is real.
But The plot is genuinely thin; it's a piece of design and mood rather than narrative. Some find the style suffocating rather than enchanting.
Annabelle's Wish1997
Like The Night Before Christmas, it's a pre-realist fantasy about Santa's logistics, told in a visual style that prioritises the *handmade* quality of the image. Both feel like objects from an earlier era of how we imagined magic.
A stop-motion TV special about a calf who wants to help Santa. Genuinely strange, beautifully animated, and unafraid of melancholy. It's odd in ways that feel genuinely vintage rather than retro.
But The stop-motion is deliberately stiff and slow. The emotional beats are understated to the point of flatness. Very much a niche piece.
Santa Claus Is a Stinker1982
Inverts the same Santa Claus mythology from The Night Before Christmas but treats it as material for absurdism and human mess rather than family magic. Same cultural image, completely different register.
Jeannot Szwarc's French comedy is wild, filthy, and genuinely strange—a Christmas story made as a locked-room farce set in a suicide hotline. It's funny and unexpectedly kind. Utterly unlike anything Anglo-American cinema does with the season.
But The humour is very specifically French and very dark. Subtitles required. The film is aggressively unromantic about Christmas, which some will hate.
People
Directing
- Edwin S. PorterDirector