Hollywood Christmas-time movies have nothing to do with Christmas–Mother and Child, shepherds, wise men, taxing-murdering politicians, choirs of angels, Peace on Earth–let alone with the Incarnation. But I still love 2 Hollywood productions: Miracle on 34th Street, and Christmas Carol, especially the superior 1938 version (which I just watched in a specstacular print on Netflix). Both exemplify the old studio system, before the feds destroyed it with antitrust. Every part, even the tiniest, is filled by a significant actor. And the stars, from Reginald Owen to Gene Lockhart, from Edmund Gwen to to Maureen O’Hara, are terrific.

The Best of Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.