This movie is pretty good, but your time would be better spent watching Holiday Inn instead. White Christmas is basically a rip-off of Holiday Inn. The cast of Holiday Inn is also much better (Bing is the star of both) the supporting cast and story are much better. Fred Astair instead of Danny Kaye come on people give it a chance.
shareWhat is this "Holiday Inn" you speak of? Sounds like a motel.
share[deleted]
It could be that I like White Christmas better because I came to know it first, before Holiday Inn, but I definitely prefer White Christmas.
Holiday Inn takes a different angle. Bing and Astaire are rivals for the same woman. I find the premise for Holiday Inn to be way out there on the far-fetched scale, while White Christmas, which is of course highly unlikely as a story, is still basically about two guys trying to do something to help out a respected and well-loved leader from their Army days, and they fall in love with a couple of great women along the way. Bing is coolly in control of the proceedings in White Christmas and he's wonderful. Kaye is annoying but I can suffer through his bits. In Holiday Inn, Bing and Astaire have a different relationship with Astaire being the more "cool" and "with it" guy.
Holiday Inn also has the unfortunate black face staging of the number Abraham which is just bizarre. I know that there are those who can make justifications for it being shown rather than trying to pretend that it never happened but I just prefer not to see it, it makes me uncomfortable.
White Christmas DOES have "plenty of schmaltz, lots of heart", which happens to work. The nice thing that they do for the General comes across really well. Holiday Inn doesn't give me as nice or as warm of a feeling as White Christmas.
I see the two films very differently so it really isn't one against the other. I give a slight edge to "HI" because Bing is at the peak of his career and Astaire is very strong as well. And just the fact that mega-hit "WC" was introduced in this wartime film makes it both historical and sentimental.
"WC" was more of a smaltzy broadway musical type of film and was certainally more successful than "HI." Vera-Ellen,Clooney,Kaye all do a great job overcoming the military stuff in this script which I wasn't thrilled with.
In this case, I totally agree with you jackboot.
I much prefer the version of "Abraham" in White Christmas to the unfortunate one in Holiday Inn.
White Christmas seems like a much more "comfortable" movie, with Holiday Inn somehow more staid, as were many movies of that era. There's a goofy looseness to the second movie that is just more appealing to me.
One of the greatest strengths of the first movie is certainly Fred Astaire. His July 4 firecracker dance is nothing short of incredible. After that, I pretty much lose interest myself.
VistaVision, Technicolor, Clooney, Kaye, -Ellen; that's enough for me! I just wonder how the OP knows how I should better spend my time when I waste so much of it already! :p
"I have never been able to watch Holiday Inn all the way through."
Ditto.
I watched it all the way through. (Unlike people who say that WHITE CHIRISTMAS is a remake of HI.) HOLIDAY INN is okay, but once I saw it it, I had no desire to see it again, where I like to watch WHITE CHRISTMAS every year. I admit that my attachment to WC over HI may be sentimental rather than intellectual, but I find WC just more entertaining than HI.
shareI've made it all the way through Holiday Inn. I liked it just fine (that July 4th Firecracker number was spectacular), but I have a greater fondness for, and attachment to, White Christmas.
To my way of thinking, Holiday Inn, what with its covering of all the holidays throughout the year, is less of a Christmas movie than White Christmas, which pretty much is all focused on the couple of weeks leading up to Christmas and which concludes with the big Christmas Eve show and a lavish production number around the song, White Christmas.
I can watch White Christmas over and over, while I don't have much motivation to see Holiday Inn again any time soon.
I tried to watch HOLIDAY INN. I couldn't get into it. It put me to sleep. I think Danny Kaye is better in WHITE CHRISTMAS than Fred Astaire was in HOLIDAY INN. Astaire is overrated and male audiences can't relate to him.
share[deleted]
People are so predictable. I knew you were going to come back with a "gay Danny Kaye" comment. My argument is that Kaye is funny. He's a comic to Crosby being the straight man. That makes for a better duo. And he's a better actor than Fred Astaire. Also what WHITE CHRISTMAS has going for it is it's in COLOR and handsomely mounted. It also has Clooney and Vera Ellen. It's a better foursome than what was in Holiday Inn.
share[deleted]
White Christmas all the way! The best!
shareWhite Christmas sits on an improbable plot that exists only to showcase dance numbers. It comes at the end of an era that presaged the 60's and time passage only serves to accent the silliness of its jokes and skits. I watched it for the first time all the way thru yesterday. Had I seen it 60 years ago, I might be more sentimental and someday watch it again. Instead of enjoying the simple sweetness that is in the movie, I am as others are fully aware of Bing's poor treatment of his family, Vera-Ellen's anorexia and the passing not too long ago of Clooney, all of which came to mind as I watched the movie. Danny Kay was, well, Danny Kay. The VistaVison and bright color along with the dance numbers and music are entertaining. The Army plot was much over done, but I am a WWII history buff and always love to see the uniforms and such. I have seen the movie and can pass it by next year, if I ever see it again it will be solely for the music.
shareI first saw "White Christmas" over 40 years ago and loved it, but seeing it again today, it came across as a mildly entertaining 50s effort which I won't bother viewing again.
On the plus side, Danny Kay put in a suprisingly good straight performance; I never enjoyed him as a comedian. Vera Ellen and Rosemary Clooney were window dressing only. The best scenes were those at the start; and the supporting actors were all good in their parts.
The songs which seemed good years ago have lost their appeal but no doubt if I'd been intoduced to the movie when it was first released, I'd probably retain a nostalgic interest.
"Holiday Inn" I've likewise not seen for decades but reading the comments here, perhaps I'll give it a miss.
oh boy, I guess you told me off.
shareIf anything, "Holiday Inn" is the poor man's "White Christmas," being shot in unglorious black and white, instead of being the first wide-screen VistaVision production in beautiful color, as "White Christmas" was.
shareMovies are like bedtime stories for adults and don't all have to be factual....Sheesh can't anyone just sit back and be entertained without fact checking the creative license that is film making?
shareWHITE CHRISTMAS is the perfect holiday film to just sit back and luxuriate in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es4GFO4KIB8
I adore both movies. Fred Astaire is a personal favorite, so I love the dancing in HI along with a great story that I can watch over and over throughout the year. White Christmas is pretty much strictly a holiday time movie.
shareThat's interesting, because I've tried many times to get into Holiday Inn and I just couldn't. I find myself nodding off in it. It moves slow. Maybe if I saw it in a theatre?
me
http://www.cliffcarson.com
A lot of people seem confused and take White Christmas for a remake of Holiday Inn, primarily because the look of Inn in White Christmas. There's a good reason for this.
The sets used for the Inn in Holiday Inn were recycled and slightly remodeled for the set of the Inn in White Christmas. So, they have a similar look and feel, and I think this, along with both films starring Bing Crosby add to the confusion.
That being said, I don't like Holiday Inn at all. And it has nothing to do with it being in Black & White. The orchestral arrangements are annoying, and so is Fred Astaire. Each time I see that film, I just want to put a popknot on his head.
JOE TYRIA
http://www.youtube.com/user/SilverCreedWolf
Fred Astaire could be horribly ANNOYING. He was a dancer, not really an actor. The black n' white in this puts me to sleep. Not to say, all black n' white puts me to sleep, but in this one it does. The teaming of Crosby and Astaire is just one great BIG BORE. It needed color and the counter of someone as wild and out there as Danny Kaye to balance out the boredom of Crosby.
shareI am always bored by HI. The idea of all the holidays through the year a gimmick that does not make up for the lack of plot. And I think Fred Astaire's drunk dance is really annoying. I like dances to be filled with grace and power, not stumbling drunkenness.
I watch White Christmas every year and throughly enjoy it. Number one reason is Vera-Ellen's dancing (and the cute plot-line).
*beep* White Christmas is ten times better than Holiday Inn.
I saw "HI" --briefly-- on one of the retro channels the other night. It has some aspects that are much more appealing than "WC."
WC is a much more successful film but it's much more crass on a number of levels and I'm not thrilled --though I love the film-- with the tacit salute to Eisenhower throughout the whole thing.
I was under the impression that HI is generally regarded by critics as the better film whereas my opinion is the opposite. I assumed I was in the minority in preferring WC but obviously not!
shareI am blown away by the vitriol in this thread dumped upon Holiday Inn.
Holiday Inn is by far the better movie than White Christmas. That's basically universally accepted. And anyone who thinks Kaye is better than Astaire...well...unbelievable.
Kaye is a far, far, FAR superior singer to Astaire... Astaire is an incredible dancer (and Kaye is pretty amazing as well in that department... but Kaye just has a completely different style)...
Besides that Holiday Inn is NOT regarded by critics as a "superior film"... the people saying this are lying, pure and simple... White Christmas is far, FAR more popular and held one of the most classic Christmas films ever...
Holiday Inn has virtually no plot... it is a random collection of songs... the end.
My thoughts exactly. WC always just felt like an excuse to showcase a song and dance. In fact, I think the 50s were the worst years for musicals because plot and character development almost always took a backseat to the numbers. It starts to feel hollow.
I will be your Sherpa up the mountain of gayness.
I think a lot of us love it because we started watching it as children. It brings back happy memories.
- Sally
The perfect human being is uninteresting. - Joseph Campbell
I like both movies but prefer White Christmas. I also disagree that HI is universally accepted as the superior film....not in my universe. Its hard to even find it on tv this time of year while WC is on all the time.
shareI can't say if HI is "universally accepted" as the better film, but many years ago, when I got my first copy of Leonard Maltin's "TV Movies" book, I was confused that he regarded WC as a disappointing partial-remake of the earlier, better movie (I'm paraphrasing). Over the years, that opinion seemed to be echoed by others. NEVER by me, though.
R.Clooney used to tell a story about people who liked WC so much they'd tell her it was their "favorite." She assumed they meant "Christmas" film but she said they explained "favorite" film of all!
WC for all it's faults is much more popular. Even if you like HI better you really can't deny that.
If you were to pin me against the wall and poke me with chopsticks, I would probably name White Christmas as my favorite holiday movie, everything about it so artificially, authentically right, apart from the bizarre patter in the tribute to minstrel shows (that leads to the number “Mandy”), and even that speed-bump is redeemed by the dance number’s costuming--those devil-red gloves.James Wolcott VF
Holiday Inn has some good parts. White Christmas is better movie overall.
shareActually White Christmas was supposed to be an almost exact REMAKE of Holiday Inn...made quite soon after Holiday Inn was done and did so well, they wanted to recreate it.
Then Astaire turned it down and they ended up with Kaye, things shifted around and we ended up with the classic we have now!
I don't think Irving Berlin writing another story with the same people in mind can be considered a 'Rip-Off'...how do you rip off your own work?
Some people just get way too serious around here
I like both films but it seems if you ask someone to choose between WC or HI their favorite will be what they saw first. And this is the case for me and my mom. My mom grew up watching WC and prefers that movie to HI, where I saw HI before WC and I prefer HI.
I think part of my problem with WC is it's really another movie musical that deals with a "Let's put on a show" plot that is really overdone in musicals. Granted HI has a similiar plot it somewhat has a original take on it. I also can't help but feel WC was made to cash in on the success of the song and Crosby's popularity with it. WC also really drags and is slow in some spots for me. I love Clooney but I find her character really annoying and unlikeable. And I find the ballerinas and children's choir in the finale to be a little over the top and cheesy for my taste, and the thing is I LOVE MUSICALS! There are some things I do like about WC though, I do like how the film opens up in WWII, and acknowledges the war. It seems to acknowledge the sentiment and what the title song meant during the war for all those invovled in WWII and the era. I also love the addition of Vera Ellen. The Mandy number has some of the best dancing I've ever seen on film.
I still prefer HI though, HI has this coziness and inviting mood throughout the film that you don't find in films today. You also can beat Crosby's performance of WC in the movie. I also prefer Astaire to Kaye, he was a wonderful dancer. And people have complained about the unlikeable characters in HI, I just think it makes it the more realistic. I wish more channels would show the movie but I think in today's society channels are afraid to air due to the Abraham number.
I think another reason I get annoyed with WC is because of the fans, I feel many of the fans treat this film as a holy grail of Christmas movies. I don't think the HI fans are as devoted or obsessed. I think it's a good movie but I still think HI is the superior film.
I don't like Holiday Inn at all. This film captures the Christmas spirit in a big way. I don't think 'Holiday Inn' had a holiday feel at all. That's why it doesn't work for me. Bing Crosby who seemed to click with any co-star, had no chemistry with Fred Astaire in 'Holiday Inn'. At least that's the way it was for me. He and Danny Kaye were great together in this film.
Sheldon:"Was the starfish wearing boxer shorts? Because you might have been watching Nickelodeon."
I think Holiday Inn is a better movie but I prefer to watch White Christmas around Christmas time. White Christmas puts me in a better mood and I like the color, the music, and the warm holiday feel.
Holiday Inn's characters are less likable as it's basically two friends fighting over the same woman for most of the movie. It also really isn't a Christmas movie, despite featuring the debut of the "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" song. But I will admit that it had more of a plot.