Aloha (2015)
Although it’s not the wintriest, being set in Hawaii, this underrated Cameron Crowe romcom teams Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone and Bill Murray for a potent mai tai of romance, Christmas cheer and, er, some Pynchonian business about the launch of a privatised weapons satellite.
– Sam Wigley
Where to stream it: Prime Video/Disney+
Bell, Book and Candle (1958)
In the same year their pairing generated the centrifugal force at the core of Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958), Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak also appeared together in this much lighter and more sprightly proposition – a gorgeous black-magic romance set on Christmas Eve. Novak plays the owner of a Greenwich Village art shop who also happens to be a witch. Stewart is the neighbour she places a love spell on.
– Sam Wigley
Where to rent it: Apple TV
The Bishop’s Wife (1947)
Obsessing over a new cathedral rather than his wife (Loretta Young), Bishop Henry Brougham (David Niven) is given a festive lesson in priorities and perspective in this charming take on a Robert Nathan novella. His prayer is answered in the form of Dudley (Cary Grant), an angel who can decorate Christmas trees and rewrite sermons in a trice.
– David Parkinson
Where to stream it: Prime Video
Brazil (1985)
Terry Gilliam’s Orwellian nightmare unfolds against the backdrop of Christmastime – albeit in a bureaucratic, totalitarian future where consumerism is out of control. Gilliam’s vision features carol singers, presents, piped Christmas music and multiple Santa Clauses, as well as a terrifying scene in which a family reading A Christmas Carol is invaded by stormtroopers.
– Sam Wigley
Where to stream it: Mubi/Prime Video/Disney+
Where to rent it: Apple TV
The Candlemaker (1957)
Despite acclaim for their breakthrough feature Animal Farm (1954), John Halas and Joy Batchelor remained jobbing animators. Hence, this commission from the United Lutheran Churches of America, whose story of a young boy, his pet mouse and a Christmas candle teaches the meaning of “Christian stewardship”. With Roald Dahl’s half-brother, Louis, serving as second unit director, this short came in monochrome and colour versions.
– David Parkinson
Where to stream it: BFI Player
Carol (2015)
One of the great American films of the last decade, Todd Haynes’ rapturous adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel, The Price of Salt, also contains some of the most swoon-inducingly festive scenes in just about any Christmas film. Rooney Mara plays the department store clerk in 1950s New York who falls for Cate Blanchett’s worldly married woman.
– Sam Wigley
Where to rent it: BFI Player
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
Good grief! Charlie Brown is depressed at the commercialisation of Christmas, so in an unusual act of goodwill Lucy Van Pelt invites him to direct the Nativity play. In typical style, Charlie screws things up, but by the end of the day he is filled with cheer as the gang remind him and themselves of the true meaning of Christmas.
– Katherine McLaughlin
Where to stream it: Apple TV+
A Christmas Tale (2008)
Catherine Deneuve plays the matriarch with a bombshell to drop to her extended family during their Christmas gathering in this sprawling domestic epic from director Arnaud Desplechin. Imagine a bustling, multi-character Christmas film directed by Robert Altman and you’re halfway there.
– Sam Wigley
Where to rent it: Apple TV
Comfort and Joy (1984)
Bill Forsyth’s comical Glasgow-set tale of woe and redemption stars Bill Paterson as morning radio DJ Dicky Bird. In the lead-up to Christmas, he’s dumped by his kleptomaniac girlfriend and embarks on enforced peace talks between warring local ice-cream business owners. A wistful break-up movie about a man teetering towards existential crisis.
– Katherine McLaughlin
Where to rent it: BFI Player
The Crowded Day (1954)
It’s the day of the staff Christmas party at a London department store (shot in Bourne & Hollingsworth), and the shopping rush is in full swing. John Guillermin’s vivacious postwar ensemble piece follows five shopgirls and their men through romance, heartbreak and scandalous pregnancy out of wedlock. Starring Joan Rice and Vera Day, it’s a film that boasts multiple great female performances.
– Katherine McLaughlin
Where to rent it: BFI Player
The Curse of the Cat People (1944)
It’s on Christmas day that young Amy makes the shocking revelation to her father that her invisible friend is in fact his dead first wife, Irena. In this Val Lewton-produced anti-sequel, childhood imagination, loneliness and grief manifest as a radiant ghost who brings great comfort to a girl shunned by her peers. Chiaroscuro lighting and yuletide carols make this a dazzling and atmospheric festive fantasy.
– Katherine McLaughlin
Where to stream it: BBC iPlayer
Dead of Night (1945)
There’s nothing like a Christmas ghost story, and there are six for the price of one in this revered Ealing portmanteau, which exerted a considerable influence on postwar British horror. ‘The Christmas Party’ sees teenage mansion guest Sally O’Hara (Sally Ann Howes) have a close encounter of the spooky kind during a game of sardines.
– David Parkinson
Where to stream it: Shudder
Where to rent it: BFI Player
Die Hard (1988)
You could spend December yawning your way through articles debating whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie, or you could just watch the thing. Again. Bruce Willis’s high-rise hijinks at Nakatomi Plaza is available to stream on Disney+, where you can also find its similarly Christmas-set sequel.
– Sam Wigley
Where to stream it: Disney+
Where to rent it: Apple TV
Distant Voices Still Lives (1988)
Paul McCartney fondly recalls the family sing-songs of his youth, and music features prominently in fellow Liverpudlian Terence Davies’ near-perfect evocation of a place and its people. ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ plays over a typically telling sequence, as tough-loving father Tommy (Pete Postlethwaite) trims the tree and plays Santa before shattering the Christmas spirit with a yank of the tablecloth.
– David Parkinson
Where to stream it: BFI Player
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Tim Burton’s Frankenstein-like fairytale tells the age-old story of a popular cheerleader falling for an outsider with scissors for hands. The most romantic moment takes place on Christmas Day, with Winona Ryder’s strawberry blonde dancing under the beautiful snowflakes that fall from Edward’s gorgeous ice-sculpture creation. Alongside these enchanting images, Danny Elfman’s magical score illuminates the bittersweet beauty of standing out from the crowd.
– Katherine McLaughlin
Where to stream it: Disney+
Where to rent it: Apple TV
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Stanley Kubrick’s final film is a perverse kind of Christmas movie, as Tom Cruise’s New York doctor embarks upon a nocturnal odyssey through a wintry, behind-closed-doors Manhattan, in a tailspin after his wife Alice (Nicole Kidman) reveals a secret sexual fantasy. Based on Arthur Schnitzler’s 1920s novella Dream Story, this slippery, seductive and gorgeously filmed last testament also has some of the most beautiful Christmas lights ever put on film.
– Sam Wigley
Where to rent it: BFI Player
Fanny and Alexander (1982)
Has Christmas ever been put so lavishly on screen as in the first section of Ingmar Bergman’s epic family drama Fanny and Alexander? The banks of the river flowing through Uppsala are caked in snow. Street lamps are being lit. There’s the sound of sleigh bells in the street. From the annual nativity play, members of the Ekdahl family are returning to the opulent townhouse where the table is set and the Christmas tree is decorated…
– Sam Wigley
Where to stream it: BFI Player
The Green Knight (2021)
Beginning on Christmas morning, this stunning envisioning of the Arthurian legend sees Dev Patel playing the round-table nobleman who must travel through a land of magic and danger in order to keep a date the following Christmas with the mysterious Green Knight. If Steeleye Span’s version of ‘Gaudete’ is your favourite Christmas song, then you’ve just found your new favourite Christmas movie.
– Sam Wigley
Where to stream it: Prime Video
Where to rent it: Apple TV
A Guest Is Coming (1947)
Plenty of films get claimed as Christmas films on a tenuous basis. Not this one. Arne Mattsson’s mystery thriller offers snowmen, sleigh rides, carol services and Christmas dinners. An obscurity that’s ripe for discovery on Netflix, it’s set at a Swedish country mansion, where the festive family gathering is disrupted by the murder of the wealthy owner.
– Sam Wigley
Where to stream it: Netflix
Happy Christmas (2014)
Done in Joe Swanberg’s typically off-the-cuff, improvised manner, this yuletide mumblecore movie stars Anna Kendrick as the directionless twentysomething who goes to live with her brother and his family following a break-up with her boyfriend. Lena Dunham also stars.
– Sam Wigley
Where to stream it: Prime Video
Happy New Year, Colin Burstead (2018)
Ben Wheatley’s dysfunctional family comedy blends contemporary post-Brexit politics and Shakespearian drama. The ensemble cast are fantastic, with Neil Maskell starring as the short-tempered Colin who has arranged a New Year’s Eve bash at a lavish tinsel-laden manor house. When an estranged brother makes a surprise appearance, grievances are aired and emotions run high. Much like many Christmas family get-togethers, it’s an explosive occasion.
– Katherine McLaughlin
Where to stream it: BBC iPlayer
The Holiday (2006)
Nancy Meyer’s romcom is so saccharine it may make some viewers physically sick, but it also features a humdinger of a score by Hans Zimmer and amusing performances from Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet, who play heartbroken women who swap houses for a Christmas getaway. Jack Black’s Hollywood composer threatens to break into nonsense song every few minutes and Jude Law delivers one of cinema’s goofiest moments with ‘Mr Napkin Head.’
– Katherine McLaughlin
Where to stream it: Prime Video/Netflix
Where to rent it: Apple TV
Holiday Affair (1949)
“It happened in December… but it’s hotter than July!” boasts the tagline for this holiday season romcom starring Janet Leigh as a widow caught in a love triangle. Will she choose the fiery passion of Robert Mitchum’s free spirit or the security of Wendell Corey’s lawyer? At the same time, her son Timmy is longing after a train set. They both learn some valuable lessons.
– Katherine McLaughlin
Where to stream it: BBC iPlayer
Home Alone (1990)
John Hughes’ and Christopher Columbus’s Christmas classic starring Macaulay Culkin is not only a heartwarming tale about family, it’s a work of slapstick comedy genius. John Williams’ use of sleigh bells on the score creates a sense of wonder, and the moment ‘Carol of the Bells’ kicks in as Kevin rushes off to set up his booby traps delivers menacing perfection.
– Katherine McLaughlin
Where to stream it: Disney+
Where to rent it: Apple TV
Klaus (2019)
Ever wondered how the tradition of sending letters to Santa started? Netflix received one of its first Oscar nominations for Spaniard Sergio Pablos’s engaging, hand-drawn origin story. It sees bone-idle postal cadet Jesper Johansson (Jason Schwartzman) distract children in the island town of Smeerensburg from the age-old Krum-Ellingboe feud by coaxing them into requesting toys from a reclusive woodsman (J.K. Simmons).
– David Parkinson
Where to stream it: Netflix
The Little Match Girl (1914)
From James Williamson’s The Little Match Seller (1902) to Joann Randle’s Matchstick Girl (2015), Britain has a long tradition of adapting Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale. Percy Nash’s version has a drunken father sending his daughter into the snow to sell matches on Christmas Eve and makes evocative use of tints and superimpositions, as the waif sees visions in the flames.
– David Parkinson
Where to stream it: BFI Player
Little Women (2019)
‘Jingle Bells’ was written a short drive away and just a few years prior to the events of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. We’re in Massachusetts in the mid-19th century, and Greta Gerwig’s gorgeous recent adaptation features a suitably nostalgic vision of a period Christmas. It begins as Saoirse Ronan’s Jo March opens her window on to a landscape of fallen snow on Christmas morning and sighs: “Happy Christmas, world.”
– Sam Wigley
Where to stream it: Netflix
Where to rent it: Apple TV
Malmkrog (2020)
Set entirely in a Transylvanian manor house and its snowy grounds at Christmas in the year 1900, Malmkrog invites us to draw up a chair as we watch gathered aristocratic friends engage in a series of lengthy debates on war, religion, Russian identity and European culture. At 3 hours and 20 mins, Cristi Puiu’s ruminative epic won’t be for everyone. But, hardcore arthouse fans: this is the three-bird roast you’ve been waiting for.
– Sam Wigley
Where to rent it: Apple TV
The Man from Majorca (1984)
A post office robbery on St Lucy’s Day and a murder on Christmas Eve provide the Yuletide backdrop for Bo Widerberg’s conspiracy thriller. Stylistically indebted to The French Connection (1971), this pugnacious procedural was adapted from a crime novel by Leif G.W. Persson that was inspired by a 1970s scandal involving Swedish minister of justice Johan Geijer.
– David Parkinson
Where to stream it: Netflix
Meet John Doe (1941)
The power of the press and the susceptibility of the public come under scrutiny in Frank Capra’s classic underdog saga. Christmas Eve proves pivotal, as washed-up baseball pitcher John Willoughby (Gary Cooper) threatens to commit suicide after tiring of the social protest stunt devised by columnist Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck) that strikes a chord with a beleaguered nation needing a champion.
– David Parkinson
Where to stream it: Prime Video
Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983)
This Disneyfication of Dickens marked Mickey Mouse’s first original big-screen outing since his 126th and final cartoon short, The Simple Things (1953). Mickey’s Bob Cratchit and Donald Duck’s Nephew Fred (voiced for the last time by Clarence Nash) are largely support players in this Oscar-nominated delight, however, as Scrooge McDuck (Alan Young) learns a festive lesson from an apparitional trio.
– David Parkinson
Where to stream it: Disney+
Where to rent it: Apple TV
The Mistletoe Bough (1904)
A favourite of one of the murderers in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope (1948), the 19th-century story of a bride who climbs into a trunk during a wedding day game of hide-and-seek was an early example of the Christmas ghost story. Filmed with a gothic touch at Croydon’s Clarendon Studios, Percy Stow’s version sends shivers despite missing its bone-rattling denouement.
– David Parkinson
Where to stream it: BFI Player
Morvern Callar (2002)
No, not the cheeriest of Christmas beginnings. This second feature from Lynne Ramsay starts in a wintry Scottish port, where Samantha Morton’s eponymous supermarket worker awakens – amid the benign flash of Christmas lights – to find her boyfriend dead in the bed next to her. He’s left a mixtape, a suicide note and an unpublished manuscript. It’s the latter that holds the key to Morvern’s sunnier future in Spain.
– Sam Wigley
Where to rent it: Apple TV
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
Brian Henson’s first directorial credit for a Muppets production, after the passing of his father and creator Jim, is a reimagining of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol starring Michael Caine as the cold-hearted Scrooge. In an inspired move, screenwriter Jerry Juhl gave Jacob Marley a brother so that cantankerous old hecklers Statler and Waldorf could appear to sing ultimate banger ‘Marley and Marley’, written by the legendary Paul Williams.
– Katherine McLaughlin
Where to stream it: Disney+
Where to rent it: Apple TV
My Favourite Wife (1940)
The nuptials of Nick (Cary Grant) and Bianca (Gail Patrick) are threatened when his presumed-drowned wife, Ellen (Irene Dunne), suddenly resurfaces. But who’s Stephen (Randolph Scott) and why do he and Ellen keep calling each other ‘Adam and Eve’? Be patient, the Christmas pay off comes late in this Garson Kanin screwball, which was based on Tennyson’s poem, ‘Enoch Arden’.
– David Parkinson
Where to stream it: BBC iPlayer
My Night with Maud (1969)
French New Wave master Eric Rohmer may be more associated with films set at summertime, but with 1969’s My Night with Maud he created an arthouse Christmas all-timer. Set in snowy Clermont-Ferrand, it’s one of the finest of his series of ‘moral tales’, pitching a devout Catholic into a festive battle with his own willpower during a one-night stay with an attractive divorcée.
– Sam Wigley
Where to rent it: Curzon Home Cinema/Apple TV
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
This gloriously macabre stop-motion musical initially sprung from the mind of Tim Burton after he saw Halloween decorations being replaced by Christmas ones. Jack Skellington can’t quite grasp the concept of Xmas, so, in a misguided attempt to do it his way, he kidnaps ‘Sandy Claws’ and accidentally sabotages the festive season by delivering blood-thirsty toys to all the good little boys and girls.
– Katherine McLaughlin
Where to stream it: Disney+
Where to rent it: Apple TV
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is the wintriest of all Bond movies, with a stunning mountaintop location, bundles of Alpine atmosphere and thrillingly shot action sequences on ice rinks and cable cars. It even has its own original Christmas song – John Barry’s charming ‘Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?’, sung by Danish singer Nina.
– Sam Wigley
Where to stream it: Prime Video
Pluto’s Christmas Tree (1952)
This seven-minute Disney short sees Mickey Mouse head out to find a Christmas tree, inadvertently bringing home two chipmunks living in its branches. It’s Pluto that spots them, but the cheeky rodents proceed to run rings around him. Christmas chaos ensues before carol singers arrive with a rousing, howl-along rendition of ‘Deck the Halls’.
– Sam Wigley
Where to stream it: Disney+
The Preacher’s Wife (1996)
God’s gift to women, Denzel Washington stars as an angel fallen from heaven in Penny Marshall’s modern remake of The Bishop’s Wife (1947). Hallelujah! – because no one is more in need of a Christmas miracle than Courtney B. Vance’s Baptist church pastor who is losing his faith and paying little attention to his gospel choir leader and wife – played by Whitney Houston (who belts out some major tunes).
– Katherine McLaughlin
Where to stream it: Disney+
Where to rent it: Apple TV
Le pupille (2022)
Oscar-nominated for best live action short, this 38-minute wonder is the gift of an unlikely link up between Disney and the brilliant Italian magic-realist director Alice Rohrwacher. It’s a whimsical Christmas story set in a Catholic girls’ boarding school in Italy during the Second World War, where – as the hours count down towards Christmas Day – the baking of a cake sets a context for a spot of mischievous rebellion.
– Sam Wigley
Where to stream it: Disney+
The Rise and Fall of Nellie Brown (1964)
Jamaican born singer Millie Small (My Boy Lollipop) stars in this charming 1960s musical as Selina Brown, who hits the road to travel from Liverpool to London to spend her first ever English Christmas with her glamorous cousin. Her high expectations differ from reality, but the friends and family she meets along the way make this a joyful celebration of companionship and community.
– Katherine McLaughlin
Where to stream it: BFI Player
Santa’s Workshop (1932)
A musical Disney short from their Silly Symphony series, Santa’s Workshop depicts the busy preparations by Santa and his factory of elves on Christmas Eve. Lists are consulted, toys are put together (be warned: some featuring racist caricatures) and the reindeers are brushed down before Santa heads off on his sleigh into the Christmas night.
– Sam Wigley
Where to stream it: Disney+
Scrooge (1951)
If you’re skimming Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol looking for Mr Jorkin, don’t bother. He was created to accommodate Jack Warner in Brian Desmond Hurst’s all-star adaptation. Variety warned parents it could give children “the screaming-meemies”. But it’s difficult to see today’s tinies cowering behind the sofa at Alastair Sim’s masterly display of lugubrious Yuletide humbug.
– David Parkinson
Where to stream it: BFI Player
Scrooge (1970)
It wouldn’t be Christmas without Alastair Sim’s Ebenezer. But Albert Finney won a Golden Globe for interpreting the old skinflint in Ronald Neame’s lively take on Leslie Bricusse’s musical rendition. The staging owes much to Carol Reed’s Oscar-winning Oliver! (1968), but there’s a beguiling menace and merriment to the spectral support provided by Alec Guinness, Edith Evans and Kenneth More.
– David Parkinson
Where to stream it: Prime Video
Where to rent it: Apple TV
Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
What a fuss greeted Charles E. Sellier Jr’s debut, after parents complained kids had been traumatised by TV commercials featuring an axe-wielding Santa. The furore about a psychologically disturbed toy-store worker going on a killing spree persuaded TriStar Pictures against seeking BBFC approval. But the uncut version was passed in 2009 and you can judge for yourselves what the brouhaha was about.
– David Parkinson
Where to stream it: Shudder
Where to rent it: Apple TV
Spencer (2021)
Kristen Stewart does a remarkable Princess Diana impression in this bold fusion of biopic and The Shining-style horror film. This brittle, brilliant psychodrama all unravels during a fractious and unspeakably lavish royal family Christmas at the Sandringham estate.
– Sam Wigley
Where to stream it: BFI Player/Prime Video
Stick Man (2015)
Many parents with toddlers could recite the words of this Julia Donaldson children’s story in their sleep, and this half-hour special for the BBC by London animation house Magic Light Pictures captures much of the magic. “I’m not a stick, I’m Stick Man!” insists our twiggy protagonist as he’s passed from one misuse to the next, en route to a surprise Christmassy cameo that saves the day.
– Sam Wigley
Where to stream it: BBC iPlayer
Where to rent it: Apple TV
Tangerine (2015)
Not your run-of-the-mill Christmas movie, Sean Baker’s tale of the misadventures of two transgender sex workers one Christmas Eve in Los Angeles is fresh, subversive and foul-mouthed. It was all shot on an iPhone too, so provides ample inspiration for stuck-at-home Christmas creativity.
– Sam Wigley
Where to rent it: Curzon Home Cinema/Apple TV
When Darkness Falls (1960)
Before Nordic noir, Maria Lang pioneered the Swedish crime novel, and Arne Mattsson’s adaptation of her 1954 tome feels like Ingmar Bergman discovering Agatha Christie. A village vicarage even provides the main setting after a shopkeeper is slain on Christmas Eve. The pastor is Nils Asther, returning to Swedish cinema after following occasional co-star Greta Garbo to Hollywood in 1927.
– David Parkinson
Where to stream it: Netflix
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Try for freeOriginally published: 1 December 2021