Movie Review: White Christmas (1954)

The movie stars Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Dean Jagger, Mary Wickes and Vera-Ellen.

This movie, at least from the title, is very misleading. Even though it occurs around Christmas time, it really isn’t much of a Christmas movie. Instead, this is more of a love story and, as it turns out, a very good one.

The thing that really made this movie memorable for me was the wide variety of song and dance numbers throughout. Some of them were on stage as part of their show. But, others just popped up out of nowhere, such as Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen dancing outside a club and the group singing about snow while on the train to Vermont.

Another thing I found I loved about this movie is how it manages to pay tribute to the military and, in particular, retired veterans. As a former Army brat myself, this was something I thought was really nice, especially they way he tries to convince the men in his former unit to give up their Christmas just so they can cheer up a former general that was feeling useless and forgotten (OK, so maybe there was a little bit of a Christmas theme in this).

As I mentioned before, the love story between Crosby and Clooney was also very interesting and enjoyable. Crosby’s character was rough around the edges at times but had a good heart and Clooney was absolutely beautiful in this film. And, just like in real life, their relationship had quite a few ups and downs, including a pretty nasty fight stemming from a misunderstanding over Crosby’s motives for putting on the show. While the overall ending was somewhat predictable, there was just enough uncertainty in their relationship to keep things interesting.

This isn’t quite what my wife was expecting it to be when she watched it with me. However, it was a film she enjoyed as much as I did the first time I saw it because there are just so many things about it that make it memorable. It’s a fantastic romantic comedy that can be watched anytime of the year.

My Grade: A