The Christmas Collection

This latest release from Gospel Films Archives collects six short films about Christmas from various production companies that were active during the mid-20th century. Two of the shorts center on the origins of the 1818 classic carol “Silent Night.” The first, “Starlight Night” (1939) is a somewhat overwrought docudrama that situates the simple story of Franz Xavier Gruber and Joseph Mohr's songwriting collaboration against a family feud. By contrast, “Silent Night: Story of the Christmas Carol” (1953) calmly explains how the Reverend Mohr was inspired to write the tune's lyrics on a beautiful night in his Austrian village, asking schoolteacher Gruber to come up with a melody on guitar. “Christmas is Magic” (1953) stars Robert Hutton and Frances Rafferty in a bright and touching story of a widow who meets a World War II veteran suffering from amnesia on Christmas Eve. “The Star of Bethlehem” (1956) is an outstanding animated short using the delightful and painstakingly precise silhouette style of Lotte Reiniger. “Star of Bethlehem” (1954) is an odd piece in which actor James Mason reads the Nativity story to the camera, followed by the appearance of Mason's young daughter Portland as Mary in a kind of school play centered on the birth of Jesus. Finally, the great character actor Thomas Mitchell introduces the engaging drama “Three Young Kings” (1956), which is set somewhere in Latin America and tells the story of well-intended schoolboys who make a humane change to a Christmas tradition in their village and are criticized for it. Another interesting set of religious films with Hollywood talent, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)