Why is "Have Yourself a Merry Winslow Christmas" not available on DVD?

Kevin Winslow should concentrate on playing TE for the Browns and quit wasting time on Christmas specials.

I like Frank Capra's movie.  It is an archetype for the crazy fantasy self image American has of itself, for the exaltation of values we as a culture certainly do NOT believe in now (if we ever did) but somehow heart-achingly wish we did in some kind of schizophrenic personality splitting attempt to avoid insight or honesty about who we really are.

George Bailey is the guy we think we are supposed to be honest, generous, compassionate, self-sacrificing, decent, deeply loving, hard working, and fallible.  Mr. Potter is supposed to be a caricature of ruthless grasping venality whose motivation to destroy George by exploiting his doofus mistake is jealously (driven by an undercurrent of self-loathing) - but seen through the eyes of an audience in 2006 he is really a hero of the modern world, a winner (Mr. Potter encapsulates the GOP neatly for me) without any need to experience self-loathing at his actions.  His actions express a very common attitude seen in the world today, 'the world is a cruel, tough, hardscrabble place and only those people who are smart enough to seize every opportunity to advance, and exploit every weakness found in the competition, have earned the right to materially succeed which is also evidence of their moral superiority".  Mr. Potter is right to 'win' it is how the world works.

That George gets saved in the end because everyone loves him so much is a schmaltzy salve to the audience's guilty conscience that each year becomes less relevant.  I am imagining people watching It's a Wonderful Life and having the ' but everyone loves you George, you silly fool ...' scene of triumph for goodness over badness get interrupted by a clumsy edit to insert a loud HUMMER commercial.  That sort of juxtaposition of modern 'it's all about ME' sensibility over old timey 'people are good at heart' is what enjoying that movie is all about.  

It is a great 'feel bad' experience.  

Merry Chistmas and Happy Holidays you horrible awful people

"...when theft and high crime becomes obscenely obvious to even the blindest beer sucking idiot, it is always the Republicans who are in office." -- Joe Bageant

Fun Fact: The FBI thought "It's a Wonderful Life" was a dangerous subversive film that pushed pro-Communist anti-American values. They felt so strongly about this that director Frank Capra was placed on an FBI watch list only two years after he'd directed the WWII propaganda classics "Why We Fight".

From the FBI's file on the film:

"With regard to the picture 'It's a Wonderful Life'...this film is a rather obvious attempt to discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as a 'scrooge type' so that he would be the most hated man in the picture. This, according to these sources, is a common trick used by Communists."

Putting the inevitable political spin on the story, it's important to remember the anti-Communist hysteria of the time. HUAC, McCarthy, and the Blacklist may seem like fables from a bygone era, but they happened right here only 50 years ago. There's no reason to believe they won't happen again. If you doubt me, ask yourself this: do you think the FBI has a file on Michael Moore? Chuck D? Kanye West?

-=Logan
"Spockmate!"

Without a doubt was the feature length treatment of a novelty Xmas song, Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer, which hurt my hair the one time I watched it.

Illegitimi non carborundum.

I always enjoyed Twas the Night Before Christmas, shown each year on CBS.   In fact, I liked it so much that my parents bought me the frigging record album so I could play it at will, likely to their chagrin.

Important lessons a young rocker learned from from this charming musical animation:

Atheists who doubt things ruin it for everybody.

It is better to live off of crumbs under the hand of a benevolent dictator than it is to risk indepencence.   You see, the overlord (Joshua Tundle) sits on the throne of Damocles, and he will pay for your sins, so keep in line or the bread  crumbs may run out.

If a counter-revolutionary in your family decides to muck things up, it is your only option to save face by retro-converting him, and forcing him to make amends.  

You hope; and I'll hurry. You pray; and I'll plan. We'll do what's necessary, cause Even a miracle needs a hand!

I've always hated Its A Wonderful Life and never understood how it got to be such a de rigour holiday movie. That Atheists link is hilarious even though I hate Scrubs.

escalators never fail; they just become stairs

Heatmiser wins.  I still love singing the Heatmiser song.

That said, for my Christmas enjoyment, I'll be watching the first season of Wonder Showzen, which I downloaded to my XBox 360.  Well, as soon as the nephews and neices leave.  wouldn't want their little minds to be horribly warped.  At least not when my sister is within punching distance.

Does no one remember the worst thing ever put on television? The holiday special that killed Santa Claus and almost made America simultaneously surrender to the Communists, the Islamofascists, and the Secular Humanists? I speak of the never-ending horror that is The Star Wars Holiday Special.

The horror, the horror.

-=Logan
"Spockmate!"

The best alternative Christmas movie ever is "Go".  It's the perfect viewing accompaniment for anyone spending Christmas alone high/drunk/horny/spaced out.  

Via Our friends from France, Pere Noel - VERY UNSAFE FOR WORK.

Popmatters was cool enough to bring us this piece on the making of A Charlie Brown Christmas. While the magic of the show may have dulled through repetition, the author points out how different the show is. The religious component is limited to Linus' speech, there's no laugh track, and there are extended periods of silence.

Oddly, my hatred of sports partially stems from "A Charlie Brown Christmas". When I was about 7 years old, my family gathered around the TV at 8 pm to watch the annual event. You have to remember that this was the mid-70s. There were three networks, no cable, and no VCRs (let alone Tivo). Furthermore, there was no video rental, no Cartoon Network, and YouTube was 30 years off.  If you missed a show, you missed it. Game over.

We gathered together in front of the cathode alter, a pot of tea steaming on table, holiday treats taunting me with their chocolaty goodness. We turned on the TV and got...football. As usual, the game had taken longer than scheduled, and was preempting network programming. We watched in shock, wondering who could have made such a bone-headed scheduling decision. Time stretched, and we continued to stare. We wondered if Charlie Brown would be on after the game and we hung out in that hope.

Finally, the game ended. A deep, resonant voice spoke the words we'd been longing to hear: "We now return to our regularly scheduled program, already in progress." The TV cut over just in time to hear "MERRY CHRISTMAS, CHARLIE BROWN!" and I got to see the last two minutes of "A Charlie Brown Christmas". It was like adding insult to injury. I couldn't believe it. My father, equally disappointed fired off an angry letter to CBS which got no response whatsoever.

The seed was planted. I began to notice how often shows I wanted to watch were preempted by sports programming and how football in particular always seemed to go on 15-30 minutes longer than they scheduled for. The seed was planted.

-=Logan
"Spockmate!"

Rules.
Me, circa 1986:
It's so fucking horrifying and depressing when you think about it, when you compare it to the world we're living in, as it replays constantly on every channel (back when I was a teen, and sniff sensitive).

A pretty dark little number, and one I think I'll purchase as it doesn't play much at all, anymore.

#2) Charlie Brown rocks me well, too. I get hard, then wet, from that sweet, sweet Vince Guaraldi soundtrack.

----- The earth may fail, but we will quiver

   I've barely watched the stuff in years. Not because I'm highbrow- one of my favorite shows is MXC, which is juvenile at best- but because cable almost always has something better to offer. Classic Arts Showcase is a good example, and just this morning I saw a proof that Christmas has always brought out the oddness in artists-- or rather odd artists, like animator Ladislaw Starewicz. Long before Rankin and Bass were freaking out kids, there was one Russian out there with a crazy dream and a bunch of dead insects and frogs . . .

Ex ignorantia ad sapientiam; e luce ad tenebras

Not only did you forget Life Day, you left out this!  Sacrilege!

Fortunately, it's public domain on Archive.org for anyone who wants to check it out.

(is 3fingerspointback)