Two Excellent Movies Are A Twist On The Usual Holiday Fare

Since I have covered some of my favorite holiday movies in past reviews, such as Christmas in Connecticut, The Bishop’s Wife, Holiday Affair, The Shop Around the Corner, etc., this holiday season, I will look at two VERY DIFFERENT films that have great holiday scenes. 

Around December, my tastes for holiday movies tend to be a little different than others.  I like films that might be SET during the season or in winter, but have little to do with that ever-present “holiday cheer.”  An example of this would be Die Hard, which I re-watched and wrote about recently.  Now, Die Hard is NOT a holiday movie, but it is set on Christmas Eve.  Penny Serenade is one of those films.  It is Mother of all the tearjerkers, which might not be what you what around the holidays, but the Christmas scenes in this one are touching, heartfelt and very intricate to the plot.  Just get your tissues out first and consider yourself forewarned.  

Penny Serenade is a true, classic melodrama that makes other melodramas look like cutesy comedies. Cary Grant and Irene Dunne star as young lovers who experience hardship after hardship, usually leaning on the other for support. First, shortly after their honeymoon, Dunne's character miscarries and finds out she will not be able to get pregnant again. Then, they have a series of adoption disappointments, finally ending with them getting a child. During all of this, Grant's newspaperman character has occupational/financial ups and downs (mostly downs). Just when the adoption seems to be going through, his career setbacks almost jeopardize the whole thing. And, it does not end there…yes, I know it's hard to believe but there is even more heartache. Why, you might ask, would I recommend this film around the holiday…or anytime? Well, many people love tearjerkers and, like I said, weepers do not get any better than this. And also, it is a good story with two solid performances by Grant and Dunne (who usually work together in romantic comedies…such as My Favorite Wife and The Awful Truth) and directed by legendary filmmaker George Stevens. So, hunker down on the couch by the fire and prepare for the waterworks. 

Next, a MUCH more fun and jovial look at the holidays with Desk Set, which, out of all of the Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn comedies, might be the least known but happens to be my favorite. Hepburn plays a corporate librarian and Tracy comes into the company with his new “computer” to seemingly try and replace Hepburn and her research staff. Aside from the always-wonderful comic/sexual tension between Tracy and Hepburn, one of the charming things about this film is the way the technology of the day was portrayed, since Tracy’s computer takes up an entire room. Aside from the out-datedness of that, this film stands the test of time because of the two phenomenal actors in the kind of movie in which they both seem to shine.

Penny Serenade: 1941, not rated, 119 minutes, directed by George Stevens, starring Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Beulah Bondi and Edgar Buchanan. 

Desk Set:  1957, not rated, 103 minutes, directed by Walter Lang, starring Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Gig Young and Joan Blondell. 

The Niles Library owns these titles on DVD.