You Can't Have Christmas Without...

Clarence getting his wings and George Bailey realising he really has got a wonderful life (see what I did there?).

It's A Wonderful Life is the ultimate feel-good movie...even though it may take a lot of tears and tissues and runny noses before you actually 'feel good' about it (and don't lie-I know you all have a little cry while you watch!).
The whole cast is fantastic-even the children are great! George Bailey has become an iconic character, as well as Mr. Potter, who I've recently begun to call the most evil movie villain of all time (the guy's pretty darn evil). But there is one character who simply cannot be forgotten-Clarence, George's guardian angel. Henry Travers portrays him brilliantly-he's just how you would imagine your guardian angel to be.
Many people have named this the greatest Christmas movie of all time. And you know what? I think they might just be right.

PS-I've finally finished this Christmas series. I quite enjoyed it-did you?

You Can't Have Christmas Without...

Mark showing up at Juliette's door with those placards. 

Yes, Niamhy The Old Romantic is back! Seriously though-I dare you to watch this and not feel all slushy inside! Even if you hate this movie with a passion, you can not help but feel for poor Mark-in love with his best friend's wife. Wouldn't you hate to be in his situation?

Here's the scene-oh, wait! I advise you grab some tissues first, just in case!

(Unfortunately I can't embed it on the blog, but here's the link-WATCH IT!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKhHxRZmwp8

I'm not sure how I can connect this to classic movies. Could this one day become a classic romance scene? This remains to be seen, but it is in my eyes one of the greatest romantic moments of all time.

PS-LAST CHRISTMAS POST TOMORROW! I PROMISE!

You Can't Have Christmas Without...

(I promise, this WILL be over by New Year's Eve! Just a few more posts!)

Old Ebenezer getting haunted by four ghosts (yes, four!) on Christmas Eve.

Alastair Sim is actually wonderful. He IS Scrooge. The contrast he achieves between before and after he is visited by the spirits is great: it shows off his acting talents to the best of their ability.

Fast forward a few years, and we have Albert Finney:

Another excellent portrayal of Scrooge! Considering Albert was only 34 years old when he took on the role, he perfectly conveys a haggard old man, who, as he sings in the movie, hates life and has no qualms about life hating him.

Fast forward another twenty-or-so years, and we have Michael Caine:

Okay, so maybe A Muppet Christmas Carol isn't a classic (yet!), but I truly believe Mr. Caine is amazing as Ebenezer (well, to be honest, I think Michael is amazing in everything!). The man had to work with puppets-surely he must be good!

Now, you can't have a Christmas Carol post without mentioning The Big Cheese himself, Mr. Charles Dickens!

Charles Dickens was a revolutionary writer. In a time when novels were written as a chance of escapism, Dickens wrote about reality; about things that were truly happening in the world (okay, so maybe people don't get visited by ghosts at night that help them mend their ways, but there is another message in the tale, just you look!). Without good ol' Charlie, we wouldn't have this wonderful novel-the ultimate Christmas tale.

Merry Christmas!

I want to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas, filled with food and love and classic movies! Hey, and don't lick any frozen lamp posts!

Hope you get lots of lovely gifts! (But don't forget what Christmas is truly about, people!)

And I am going to keep going with my 'Can't Have Christmas Without...' posts, because I haven't got saying everything I wanted to yet!

Merry Crimbo!

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone has a wonderful vintage Christmas and a fantastic New Year!

You Can't Have Christmas Without...

Bing Crosby and that song. You know what I'm talking about!

It's gorgeous. It's beautiful. And when you hear it, you know it's Christmas.

I really don't know what it is about it, but as soon as I hear those opening notes, a huge lump grows in my throat, and tears well in my eyes. I honestly cannot explain why.

Bing's voice is just magical. Heck, Bing's voice is the voice of Christmas! It's so rich and deep...I love it!

Multiple artists have tried to recreate or put their own twist on the song, and generally a lot of the time it goes just awfully, but I ADORE this version (bit of talking at the start!):

These lovely fellas are The Overtones, and they're one of my modern weaknesses! Keep your eye out for them in the future-I'm sure you'll be seeing them soon!

You Can't Have Christmas Without...

Bowie and Bing having an absolute ball singing 'Little Drummer Boy'!

This actually makes me life (not a typo-I just turned really leprechaun). I think it is AMAZING! Seriously! Give it a listen! I think (shock, horror!) it may be my favourite Christmas song (and, as I was saying to Millie earlier, it is sort of a sin for a leprechaun to say their favourite Christmas song isn't 'Fairytale Of New York').

Here you go-magic in a music video!

You Can't Have Christmas Without...

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire and Jack Frost nipping at my nose...or was it my toes?

You Can't Have Christmas Without...

Dino trying to convince some poor woman that she should stay with him, when she OBVIOUSLY just wants to get home.



Just let her go, Dean, let her go.

(Not my video, by the way! Thank you to the lovely person who does own it!)

You Can't Have Christmas Without...

SANTA AND HIS COCA-COLA!

They made his suit red. They gave him a huge lorry with his face on the side. And they gave him possibly the most iconic ad ever. 

COCA-COLA AND ST. NICHOLAS WERE SUPPOSED TO BE TOGETHER!

You know it's Christmas when you see this ad. It is definitely a tradition (and vintage. Notice how almost all the ads are set in the past?)!

Two of the many versions of the magical commercial (the second is my personal favourite!):

PS-Please don't sue me Coca-Cola! I'm sorry-I had to write this post!

You Can't Have Christmas Without...

Yay! Tomorrow the Christmas fun begins!

Everyday I will post something random that is a true Christmas tradition, be it worldwide or just leprechaun. And it will be vintage or classic in some way! 

You can not possibly understand how excited I am about this! WOO-HOO!

LET YULETIDE COMMENCE!

Isn't this adorable?! It has nothing to do with anything, but it's cute!

Me? Hate Fred Astaire? Say It Ain't So!

That title may be a little misleading. I'm just going to make it clear to everyone right now: I LOVE FRED ASTAIRE! HE IS AWESOME!

However, I do hate Ted Hanover. This is him:

He looks like Fred Astaire. He dances like Fred Astaire. But boy, he is NOT Fred Astaire!

Ted Hanover is the obnoxious, over-confident, selfish, limelight-loving performer Fabulous Fred plays in Holiday Inn. It is impossible to like him. I've seen Holiday Inn a few times before, but each time I can't believe that this idiot is our lovely gentleman, Mr. Astaire. He is so different from Don Hewes, Josh Barkley, Tony Hunter, Dick Avery...all of them! Well, they might be semi-in-love with the limelight, but still!

I really want to find out where he learned how to fly

This post isn't actually going anywhere, but it sort of proves how wonderful an actor Fred really is. Thank you for enduring my rant!

PS-This is just a little 'shoutout' (I think that's what children these days call it!) to the amazingly crazy (but in a good way) Samantha! Samantha is off to Australia for three weeks...which means I won't see her for about...FIVE WEEKS (this is including my Christmas holidays and stuff...I'm not going crazy and don't think three weeks and five weeks equal the same amount of time)! I'm gonna miss ya, buddy! (Sob, sob)

Quote Of The Day!

Just today (well, yesterday NOW) I watched Holiday Inn (yay for Christmas!), so Bing Crosby is in my mind at the moment.

'Honestly, I think I've stretched a talent which is so thin it`s almost transparent over a quite unbelievable term of years.'