Christmas moviesare an important part of the festive season . It might be a house trip to the theater , something to stick on to keep the kids occupy while cooking Christmas dinner party , or just some background dissonance for a few disceptation — whatever their purpose , they ’re entire .
Frank Capra’sIt ’s A Wonderful Life(1946 ) is the oldest Christmas movie most people are probable to be queuing up this gay time of year . Theholiday classicis fairly universally think to be a chef-d’oeuvre , and was even named as one of the 100 Best American Films Ever Made by the American Film Institute ( despite the fact that it was abox office bombwhen it first arrived in theaters ) .
However , there were Christmas movie almost half a one C beforeGeorge Bailey ever start doubting himself — as long as your definition ofmovieis somewhat old - school : 1898’sSanta Claus , directed by George Albert Smith , is the other known Christmas film — although it ’s avowedly less than 90 seconds tenacious . ( It was n’t until 1935’sScrooge , asterisk Sir Seymour Hicks , that there was a feature - length Christmas film . )
Santa Clausis pretty impressive , however , especially considering it debuted only a few years after the first motion picture were made . The earliest known pic of any kind date from 1888 , 10 eld before , and lie in of just 2.1 endorsement of a horse , so a lot of development took place in that decade in between . It also features one of the earliest exercise in cinema of what is know as “ parallel action”—meaning that it simultaneously shows Santa arrive on a cap as well as the natural process taking place within the family , essentially thebullet timeof the late nineteenth one C .
It ’s not a movie likely to dazzle modern audiences , butSanta Clauswalked soElfcould fly .
