It's the Season for Christmas Movies

You've Got Mail

Amazon Price: (as of 11/14/2009)

Neigborhood bookstore rivals unwittingly become e-mail pen pals in this charming remake of The Shop Around the Corner.

While You Were Sleeping

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

In Chicago, a subway employee is in love with a stranger she only sees from a distance. But when she rescues him from a mugging in which he is knocked into a coma, his family mistakes her for his fiancee.

An Affair To Remember (50th Anniversary Edition)

Amazon Price: $13.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

In this poignant and humorous love story nominated for four Academy Awards Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr meet on an ocean liner and fall deeply in love. Though each is engaged to someone else they agree to meet six months later at the Empire State Building if they still feel the same way about each other.

All That Heaven Allows - Criterion Collection

Amazon Price: $31.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

Young hunk Rock is a strapping son of mother nature, a gardener who woos middle-aged, middle class widow Wyman to the snooty disapproval of her conservative social circle and embarrassment of her self-centered children. Wyman discovers a new life with his open-armed friends and back-to-nature lifestyle, but struggles with life-changing decisions in the face of social pressure and vicious gossip.

Masterpiece Theatre: Railway Children

Amazon Price: $14.49 (as of 11/14/2009)

Set at the turn of the 20th century, three Edwardian children and their mother move to a country house in Yorkshire after their father is mysteriously taken away by the police. However, their mother refuses to inform the children of the circumstances surrounding their father's disappearance.
The children become fascinated by a nearby railroad, and they faithfully wave to passengers daily. Their kindness helps them make friends with some important travelers, one old gentleman in particular. Can he help solve the mystery of their missing father?

Miracle on 34th Street (Special Edition)

Amazon Price: $12.49 (as of 11/14/2009)

The original 1947 version of this Valentine Davies story follows the misadventures of Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) as he gets a job playing Santa Claus at Macy's department store in New York City. Natalie Wood is the little girl who tells him she doesn't believe in Santa, and Maureen O'Hara and John Payne are the couple who help Kris through a trial in which he must prove he's the jolly fellow from the North Pole. A sweet movie and perennial Christmas favorite, this is one of those movies that gets under your skin and must be revisited every so often.

Mr Bean 5 [VHS]

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Included in this collection is Mr. Bean's brilliant Christmas show, in which the mumbling dolt (Rowan Atkinson) discovers an unusual technique for stuffing a large turkey that causes him to temporarily (and literally) lose his head. Which means, of course, cheese sandwiches for his poor, underappreciated girlfriend, not to mention the cheap gifts.... Also on this tape is Bean's misadventures at a hotel, where he is locked out of his room and ends up on the wrong end of a glare from the fusspot manager. Fabulous stuff.

Home Alone

Amazon Price: $9.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

Eight-year-old Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) has become the man of the house, overnight! Accidentally left behind when his family rushes off on a Christmas vacation, Kevin gets busy decorating the house for the holidays. But he's not decking the halls with tinsel and holly. Two bumbling burglars are trying to break in, and Kevin's rigging a bewildering battery of booby traps to welcome them!

The Shop Around the Corner

Amazon Price: $14.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

One of the most charming and romantic films around, this 1940 comic romance finds James Stewart (Vertigo, It's A Wonderful Life) working in a small shop in Budapest and longing for a girl to call his own. His coworker, Margaret Sullavan, feels the same, and soon they are both corresponding and falling in love with their respective pen pals. What they don't realize is that they are writing to and falling in love with each other, but the problem is that they can't stand each other in person. The beguiling nature of the mistaken identity formula that influenced countless films is done to perfection here, and the wry combativeness and delightful banter between the two leads makes this a very special film. --Robert Lane

The Christmas Card

Amazon Price: $8.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

Once in a while a movie comes along that reminds us how powerful love can be. In the midst of war in Afghanistan Captain Cody Cullen (John Newton "Desperate Housewives") is touched by lovely card sent by Faith Spelman (Alice Evans "The Chris Isaak Show") from the small picturesque town of Nevada City California. As months pass the card never leaves his side giving him the strength to survive and setting him on a mission to find her. The Christmas Card has received massive critical acclaim and audiences are raving. Now for the first time on DVD Emmy-nominated (TBD) The Christmas Card is available with great bonus features and is the perfect gift for this holiday season!System Requirements:Run Time: 84 minutes Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY UPC: 796019805988 Manufacturer No: 80598

It's a Wonderful Life (60th Anniversary Edition)

Amazon Price: $13.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

George Bailey has so many problems he is thinking about ending it all and it s Christmas! As the angels discuss George we see his life in flashback. As George is about to jump from a bridge he ends up rescuing his guardian angel Clarence. Clarence then shows George what his town would have looked like if it hadn t been for all of his good deeds over the years. Will Clarence be able to convince George to return to his family and forget suicide?Features:FeaturettesTrailersSystem Requirements:Run Time: 130 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 097369600149 Manufacturer No: 960014
Now perhaps the most beloved American film, It's a Wonderful Life was largely forgotten for years, due to a copyright quirk. Only in the late 1970s did it find its audience through repeated TV showings. Frank Capra's masterwork deserves its status as a feel-good communal event, but it is also one of the most fascinating films in the American cinema, a multilayered work of Dickensian density. George Bailey (played superbly by James Stewart) grows up in the small town of Bedford Falls, dreaming dreams of adventure and travel, but circumstances conspire to keep him enslaved to his home turf. Frustrated by his life, and haunted by an impending scandal, George prepares to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. A heavenly messenger (Henry Travers) arrives to show him a vision: what the world would have been like if George had never been born. The sequence is a vivid depiction of the American Dream gone bad, and probably the wildest thing Capra ever shot (the director's optimistic vision may have darkened during his experiences making military films in World War II). Capra's triumph is to acknowledge the difficulties and disappointments of life, while affirming--in the teary-eyed final reel--his cherished values of friendship and individual achievement. It's a Wonderful Life was not a big hit on its initial release, and it won no Oscars (Capra and Stewart were nominated); but it continues to weave a special magic. --Robert Horton

A Christmas Carol (Ultimate Collector's Edition)(B/W & Color)

Amazon Price: $11.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

Alastair Sim's tour-de-force performance as the ultimate miser Ebenezer Scrooge has almost single-handedly made this beloved version of Charles Dickens' story into one of the best-loved Christmas films of all time. Some of Britain's best filmmakers united behind Sim who was joined by a delightful cast of accomplished and acclaimed English actors; creating what many today believe to be the best and most faithful production of Dickens' immortal tale. Cranky and curmudgeonly Scrooge learns the error of his unkind ways and is taught the true meaning of the holidays when he is visited by the ghost of his late business partner and the spirits of Christmas past present and future.

White Christmas

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Holiday Inn (Special Edition)

Amazon Price: $13.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire sing and dance their way into your heart in the sensational musical comedy Holiday Inn. Nominated for 3 Academy Awards this special edition features 13 holiday songs by famed composer Irving Berlin including White Christmas one of the biggest-selling recordings in music history!Crosby plays a song and dance man who leaves showbiz to run an inn that is open only on holidays. Astaire plays his former partner and rival in love. Follow the two talented pals as they find themselves competing for the affections of the same lovely lady (Marjorie Reynolds). This classic features an all-new digitally remastered picture and never-before-seen bonus material. Tis the season for one of the most enjoyable films of all time!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS/MUSICALS UPC: 025192148422 Manufacturer No: 21484

Christmas in Connecticut

Amazon Price: $13.49 (as of 11/14/2009)

Journalist Elizabeth Lane is one of the country's most famous food writer. In her columns she describes herself as a hard working farm woman taking care of her children and being an excellent cook. But this is all lies. In reality she is an umarried New Yorker who can't even boil an egg. The recipes come from her good friend Felix. The owner of the magazine she works for has decided that a heroic sailor will spend his christmas on *her* farm. Miss Lane knows that her career is over if the truth comes out but what can she do?Running Time: 101 min.System Requirements:Running Time 101 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHRISTMAS/CHRISTMAS UPC: 012569677166

Desk Set

Amazon Price: $10.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

Bunny Watson (Katharine Hepburn) heads up the research department at the Federal Broadcasting Company, a major TV network. And she does her job very well, thank you very much. Assigned by the network president to introduce computers into some of the department?s functions, Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy) arrives at Bunny?s well-run division to observe daily activities. Unfortunately, however, Sumner is ordered to keep his mission secret. As a result, the whole staff believes they are being replaced. To make matters worse, there appears to be more than a little electricity between Bunny and Sumner, which upsets Bunny?s boyfriend Mike (Gig Young). As the tension mounts in the office, so do the laughs in this classic romantic comedy.

The Bishop's Wife

Amazon Price: $8.49 (as of 11/14/2009)

Romantic comedy where Grant stars as an angel who appears in answer to a frustrated bishop's prayers. When Grant comes into the bishop's home, his neglected wife becomes infatuated with the angel.

It Happened on 5th Avenue

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O Henry's Full House

Amazon Price: $17.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

Howard Hawks and Henry Hathaway direct in this film adaptation of five separate O. Henry short stories. As warm witty and moving as their literary equivalents the segments of O. HENRY'S FULL HOUSE include "The Cop and the Anthem" "The Clarion Call" "The Last Leaf" "The Gift of the Magi" and "The Ransom of Red Chief." Jeanne Crain Farley Granger Marilyn Monroe and Charles Laughton star among others

I'll Be Seeing You

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Oscar® winner* Ginger Rogers and Joseph Cotten top a stellar cast in this tender wartime love story about two troubled strangers who meet by chance and try to crowd a lifetime of love and laughter into eight days. Studded with brilliant performances (Variety) I ll Be Seeing You manages to ambush your emotions and hasten your heart beats (Hollywood Citizen-News).After serving half of a prison sentence for accidental manslaughter Mary Marshall (Rogers) is allowed a holiday furlough to visit her family. Keeping her history a secret she falls in love with a kindhearted GI (Cotten) who s struggling to overcome shell shock. Both long for a normal life. But can they have it if he learns the truth about her?

A Christmas Story (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Amazon Price: $24.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

This delightfully funny holiday gem tells the story of Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsly) a 1940's nine-year-old who pulls out all the stops to obtain the ultimate Christmas present.Running Time: 98 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG UPC: 012569576421

A Christmas Carol

Amazon Price: $12.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

Christmas elicits nothing more than "Bah, humbug!" from Ebenezer Scrooge (Scott), a miser whose sole pursuit of financial success has left him a bitter and lonely old man. But a Christmas Eve visit from the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future ultimately teaches him to open his heart to the spirit of Christmas and to the joys of friends and family.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (Special Edition)

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The third installment of the Griswold family saga is a significant improvement over their previous vacation (National Lampoon's European Vacation). Disaster-prone dad (Chevy Chase) discovers just how dangerous the Christmas season really is, as the Griswolds' old-fashioned holiday celebration turns out to be more "Bah! Humbug!" than Christmas cheer. Chase is right at home with the outrageous slapstick and often cheerfully tasteless humor, and John Hughes's script is stuffed full of classic Christmas movie references, but Randy Quaid practically steals the film as the unemployed relative with his malicious grin and mooching lifestyle. Not exactly a holiday classic and a bit spotty, but this gag-filled comedy is just obnoxious enough for the Scrooge lurking inside everyone. And fear not, a happy ending awaits all. Watch for future star Juliette Lewis as Chase's teenage daughter.

Dr. Suess' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Full Screen)

Amazon Price: $15.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

Under a thick carpet of green-dyed yak fur and wonderfully expressive Rick Baker makeup, Jim Carrey is up to all of his old tricks (and some nifty new ones) in this live-action movie of Dr. Seuss's holiday classic. He commands the title role with equal parts madness, mayhem, pathos, and improvisational genius, channeling Grinchness through his own screen persona so smoothly that fans of both Carrey and Dr. Seuss will be thoroughly satisfied. Adding to the fun is a perfectly pitched back-story sequence (accompanied by Anthony Hopkins's narration) that explains how the Grinch came to hate Christmas, with a heart "two sizes too small."

The Holiday

Amazon Price: $7.49 (as of 11/14/2009)

Two women. Two failed relationships. Two houses. One great romantic comedy. The Holiday is the story of two women, Iris (Kate Winslet in a poignant performance) and Amanda (Cameron Diaz), who swap houses for two weeks thinking it will help them get over their relationship problems. Amanda will take Iris's house in a small cottage just outside of London, and Iris will stay at Amanda's house in L.A. They will both meet someone who will help them mend their heart.

The Polar Express (Full Screen Edition)

Amazon Price: $8.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

Destined to become a holiday perennial, The Polar Express also heralded a brave new world of all-digital filmmaking. Critics and audiences were divided between those who hailed it as an instant classic that captures the visual splendor and evocative innocence of Chris Van Allsburg's popular children's book, and those who felt that the innovative use of "performance capture"--to accurately translate live performances into all-digital characters--was an eerie and not-quite-lifelike distraction from the story's epic-scale North Pole adventure. In any case it's a benign, kind-hearted celebration of the yuletide spirit, especially for kids who have almost grown out of their need to believe in Santa Claus. Tom Hanks is the nominal "star" who performs five different computer-generated characters, but it's the visuals that steal this show, as director Robert Zemeckis indulges his tireless pursuit of technological innovation. No matter how you respond to the many wonders on display, it's clear that The Polar Express represents a significant milestone in the digital revolution of cinema. If it also fills you with the joy of Christmas (in spite of its Nuremberg-like rally of frantic elves), so much the better. --Jeff Shannon

Falling in Love

Amazon Price: $8.49 (as of 11/14/2009)

Frank Raftis (DeNiro) and Molly Gilmore (Streep) are going about their mundane and uninspiring lives amidst the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season in New York when they literally run into each other at a bookshop. Both are married and when they meet again on the train to work, a friendship begins. Even the small prospect of riding to work together is handled gingerly as both are good people who would not want to hurt their spouses.

The Family Man

Amazon Price: $6.49 (as of 11/14/2009)

High-powered Wall Street bachelor Jack Campbell (Nicolas Cage) gets the shock of a lifetime when he wakes up one morning in suburban New Jersey next to Kate (Téa Leoni) the girlfriend he left 13 years ago. Suddenly Jack's entire world is turned upside down. Can this once single-minded exec actually become The Family Man?

The Preacher's Wife

Amazon Price: $11.49 (as of 11/14/2009)

This is a remake of the old movie from the 1940s starring Loretta Young, David Niven and Cary Grant, only then it was called "The Bishop's Wife".

Serendipity

Amazon Price: $9.49 (as of 11/14/2009)

While Christmas shopping in the city, Jonathan and Sara meet and fall in love despite already being involved in other relationships; they decide to separate and see if fate will bring them together in the future.

Home Alone 2 - Lost in New York

Amazon Price: $10.49 (as of 11/14/2009)

Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) is back! But this time he's in New York City with enough cash and credit cards to turn the Big Apple into his own playground! But Kevin won't be alone for long. The notorious Wet Bandits, Harry and Marv (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern), still smarting from their last encounter with Kevin, are bound for New York too, plotting a huge holiday heist. Kevin's ready to welcome them with a battery of booby traps the bumbling bandits will never forget!

Santa Claus - The Movie (20th Anniversary Edition)

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This is the delightful story of a master toymaker who discovers a magical kingdom of elves at the North Pole. There he is entrusted with wondrous special powers to become the world s most beloved patron of Christmas Santa Claus! And there he meets Patch (Dudley Moore) and eager-to-please elf who becomes mixed up with a dastardly toy tycoon s (John Lithgow) plans to take over Christmas. And so begins Santa s greatest adventure of all to rescue his faithful elf and to save Christmas for all the children of the world!

Jack Frost

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A heartwarming story for the whole family! Following the death of his father a young boy is befriended by a magical snowman who turns out to be his reincarnated father. Christmas fantasy-adventure stars Michael Keaton ("Batman" "Jackie Brown") Kelly Preston ("Jerry Maguire") Mark Addy ("The Full Monty") Henry Rollins ("Heat") and pop-personality Dweezil Zappa

Jingle All the Way

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Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in this hilarious comedy as a father desperate to buy that must-have present during a frantic Christmas Eve shopping spree. Howard Langston (Schwarzenegger) has promised his young son a Turbo Man action figure for Christmas, unaware it's the season's hottest-selling toy. And so begins a frenzied quest that pits Howard against a stressed-out mailman (Sinbad), a sleazy Santa impersonator (James Belushi) and every other harried parent in town, in "the best holiday family film in years."

One Magic Christmas

Amazon Price: $14.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

Grab an econo-pack of tissues, gather your loved ones around a cozy television, and bring on the hot cocoa--it's time for a dose of Christmas spirit. The tender and charming Mary Steenburgen (Parenthood) dons a sour disposition in her role as Ginny Grainger, a woman who finds little joy in life lately--let alone in the impending holiday season. Money is tight, her husband (beautifully downplayed by nice-guy Gary Basaraba) lost his job, and the family must move out of their house. Ginny cannot even bring herself to say, "Merry Christmas," despite her family's enthusiasm about the big day. With help from Ginny's brave and loving daughter (sweetly performed by Elisabeth Harnois) and a Christmas angel named Gideon (Harry Dean Stanton), Ginny undergoes a life-altering experience à la It's a Wonderful Life. The result? Happy endings, hugs and kisses, pass the tissues.

Babes in Toyland

Amazon Price: $8.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

Enjoy a happy excursion into the world of Mother Goose in Walt Disney's first musical production! All roads lead to magical, merry Toyland as Mary Contrary and Tom Piper prepare for their wedding! But villainous Barnaby wants Mary for himself, so he kidnaps Tom, setting off a series of comic chases, searches, and double-crosses! The "March Of The Wooden Soldiers" helps put Barnaby in his place, and ensures a "happily ever after" for Tom and Mary! This joyful musical fantasy is a delightful experience for the whole family!

Prancer

Amazon Price: $10.49 (as of 11/14/2009)

A wounded reindeer and a precocious eight-year-old girl form an everlasting bond in this tender holiday drama about true devotion and fri An enchanting film full of heart and gumption (Roger Ebert) Prancer will set your imagination aflight! Jessica Riggs (Rebecca Harrell) plays an angel in her school pageant...but she becomes a real guardian angel when she finds an injured reindeer in the forest. Convinced that the deer is Santa s very own Prancer Jessica vows to nurse him back to health and return him safely home. But before she can carry out her plan Jessica discovers that her father (Sam Elliott) has made another -- very different -- plan of his own! Will Jessica be able to help her antlered friend find his way back to Santa in time to make their deliveries on Christmas Eve? The magical final scene is sure to make your heart soar! Featuring inspired performances by Cloris Leachman as Jessica scrabapple neighbor Abe Vigoda as the crusty veterinarian and MichaelConstantine as a worn-out department store Santa Prancer is a real charmer and one of the best family dramas of the year (Reader s Guide to Cinema)!

Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (Deluxe Edition)

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Every who down in Who-ville likes Christmas a lot but the Grinch who lived just north of Who-ville did NOT! So the cuddly as a cactus Grinch (with termites in his smile and garlic in his soul) tries to wipe out Christmas for the cheerful Who-villains only to discover: maybe Christmas he thought doesn't come from as store. Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more! Magnificently narrated by Boris Karloff and animated by cartoon legend Chuck Jones it's an award-winning Who-roast-beast-feast of a holiday classic!

A Charlie Brown Christmas

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This half-hour Christmas show is one of the truly lovable animated specials in TV history, a status proved by its annual network telecast since 1965. A Charlie Brown Christmas was the first, and best, of a series of programs based on the Charles M. Schulz cartoon strip "Peanuts." Hapless hero Charlie Brown finds himself depressed at Christmastime, searching for the true meaning of the holiday amidst the glitz and commercialism of the modern age. Appointed director of the school holiday pageant, Charlie Brown ventures out with Linus to buy "a great, big, shiny aluminum Christmas tree." Instead they bring back a miserable tree--a real one. A Charlie Brown Christmas shows off the "Peanuts" gang doing what they do best: Lucy is bossy, Snoopy is crazy, Linus is sweet, and Pig Pen is, well, filthy. Instead of using adult actors trying to sound like kids, the production features real children providing the voices, an endearing effect. The jazz music score, composed by Vince Guaraldi, has become a classic in its own right; like so much about this program, it's an unexpected but perfectly right choice.

The Original Christmas Classics (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer/Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town/Frosty the Snowman/Frosty Returns/Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol/Little Drummer Boy/Cricket on the Hearth)

Amazon Price: $21.49 (as of 11/14/2009)

Includes 7 Holiday Favorites: - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Santa Claus is Comin' to Town - Frosty the Snowman - Frosty Returns - Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol - The Little Drummer Boy - Cricket on the Hearth

Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas (Disney Gold Classic Collection)

Amazon Price: $14.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

Mickey, Minnie and their friends gather together to reminisce about love, magic and more in these stories of Christmas past.

Christmas Television Favorites (Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! / The Year Without a Santa Claus / Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July / Rudolph's Shiny New Year / and More)

Amazon Price: (as of 11/14/2009)

It may not be what you think at first glance, but Christmas Television Favorites is indeed a set of vintage holiday specials, mostly from the team of Rankin/Bass (all previously available on DVD). Start with the one that's not Rankin/Bass, but is a flat-out classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966), the Dr. Seuss tale about a curmudgeon who tries to stop Christmas from coming. From its Seussian zaniness to its humor to its music, Grinch is just about perfect in every way. The version included is the 2006 remastered version with Horton Hears a Who! (1970) and other material. The next most famous special is The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974), a stop-motion story in which Santa (voiced by Mickey Rooney) decides to take the holiday off, only to have the movie stolen by Heat Miser and Snow Miser. The 2007 deluxe edition has some documentary material and the two specials that were on the previous DVD, Rudolph's Shiny New Year (1976) and Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey (1977). On the third disc are the cel-animated Frosty's Winter Wonderland (1976, narrated by Andy Griffith), in which Frosty gets a snow wife, and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974), which uses the Clement Moore poem as an excuse to tell a story about a human and a mouse who have to make amends when an offended Santa decides not to visit their town.
Finally, the stop-motion Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979) is a feature-length (105 minutes!) special that follows the reindeer and the snowman as they get jobs at a Fourth of July circus! One of the fun things about this special is how a number of the original voices return to give the programs a similar look and feel: Jackie Vernon puts in his third stint as the voice of Frosty, Billie Richards again voices Rudolph, Shelley Winters three-peats her role as Crystal (Frosty's wife), and Mickey Rooney returns as Santa. A quick look at the cover may lead one to think that this is all the original Rankin/Bass specials--Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, Frosty the Snowman, etc. These aren't those, but they're still vintage Rankin-Bass and many people think of them just as fondly. --David Horiuchi

The Muppet Christmas Carol - Kermit's 50th Anniversary Edition

Amazon Price: $14.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

'Tis the season for love, laughter, and one of the most cherished stories of all time! Join Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and all the hilarious Muppets in this merry, magical version of Charles Dickens' classic tale. Academy Award(R) winner Michael Caine (Best Supporting Actor, 2000, THE CIDER HOUSE RULES; 1987, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS) gives a performance that's anything but "bah, humbug!" as greedy, penny-pinching Ebenezer Scrooge. One fateful Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. Together with kind, humble Bob Cratchit (Kermit the Frog) and his family, the Spirits open Scrooge's eyes -- and his heart -- to the true meaning of Christmas. Filled with original music and dazzling special effects, this restored and remastered 50th Anniversary Edition of THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL will become a holiday tradition your family will treasure all the days of the year.~~(C) The Muppets Holding Company, LLC and BVHE. MUPPETS characters and elements are trademarks of The Muppets Holding Company.

Unlikely Angel

Amazon Price: $13.49 (as of 11/14/2009)

Dolly Parton plays Ruby Diamond in this touching Christmas story. Ruby meets an untimely death, and before entering heaven wants to become an angel. She is sent back to earth on a mission, and if she succeeds she will get her wings. She has to complete a mission before midnight on Christmas Eve. Ruby is now a nanny for a dysfunctional family who is trying to cope after the death of the mother in the family.

A Boyfriend for Christmas

Amazon Price: $9.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

As a 12 year old, Holly Grant meets Santa and as she thinks she is too old for traditional gifts, she tells Santa she wants a boyfriend for Christmas. He leaves a gift under her tree with a message: she will receive her requested gift in the 20th year "when two hearts are ready". Time then goes to almost 20 years later when Holly is in her 30's and is working for a non-profit organization.

One Christmas

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Truman Capote's classic Depression-era short story is well served in One Christmas, an earnest holiday heartwarmer from the folks at Hallmark Entertainment.

The Christmas Box / Timepiece

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Hallmark's warm, 1995 made-for-television movie The Christmas Box and its darker, 1996 prequel, Timepiece, are logically and delightfully paired in this DVD package. In the former, Richard Thomas plays Richard, a ski-shop owner consumed with work and unhappy about his family's insistence on sharing a lonely mansion with Mary, an icy, humorless widow (Maureen O'Hara). While Richard's wife and child develop loving ties with Mary, he suffers recurring dreams and grows convinced the house is haunted by a tragedy from the old woman's past. Timepiece jumps ahead 16 years from the resolution of that story, then takes us back to the 1940s, when Mary (Naomi Watts) and her late husband, David (Kevin Kilner), a wealthy arms supplier to America's war effort, marry and endure both a bogus murder trial and a crushing family loss. While it's wonderful to see O'Hara, Timepiece proves the grittier, more interesting film, helped mightily by a cast including James Earl Jones and Ellen Burstyn. --Tom Keogh

The Family Holiday

Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

Donald "Doe" Holiday is a con man with a knack for trouble. But before he can inherit his uncle's fortune, he must convince Harriet Pendergast, the estate's straight-laced executor, that he has given up his lowlife ways to become the perfect family man, complete with a wife, kids and even a dog.

Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage

Amazon Price: $13.49 (as of 11/14/2009)

A Christmas Visitor

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

One Special Night

Amazon Price: $8.49 (as of 11/14/2009)

Catherine (Julie Andrews) is a widowed pediatric physician (with no children of her own) and Robert (James Garner) is a contractor with a wife suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Due to an accident of fate (a winter storm), they end up spending Thanksgiving together in an abandoned cabin, away from their family and friends. The two initially wary strangers soon find they have more in common than either could have anticipated.

A Holiday for Love

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Warm holiday drama in which an executive forced to cut the jobs of many people working at a small-town tractor factory gets a big surprise when he's mistaken as the savior of the local economy. Melissa Gilbert, Tim Matheson, Travis Tritt, Michelle Trachtenberg star. AKA: "Christmas in My Hometown." Standard (Full Screen); Soundtrack: English.

I'll Be Home for Christmas

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Robert Hays, a surgeon who recently lost his wife, returns to his hometown with daughter Ashley Gorrell to run the local hospital. Jack Palance, Hays' father, wants him to meet somebody, so he tries to reunite him with veterinarian and ex-girlfriend Ann Jillian, but Hays is having a tough time readjusting to the easygoing lifestyle of a small town and to life without his wife--especially around Christmas time. 94 min. Standard; Soundtrack: English, Dolby Digital Stereo.

A Holiday to Remember

Amazon Price: (as of 11/14/2009)

Compassionate holiday romancer with Connie Sellecca as a divorced mother who takes young daughter Asia Vieira to her small South Carolina hometown in order to start a new life. Once there, Connie has trouble getting ready for Christmas as Randy Travis, her former boyfriend comes calling, and a runaway boy and social worker take up a lot of her and her daughter's attention. With Rue McClanahan, Don McManus. Based on Kathleen Creighton's "A Christmas Love." 90 min. Standard; Soundtrack: English mono.

The Christmas Blessing

Amazon Price: $9.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

Neil Patrick Harris stars in this touching sequel to THE CHRISTMAS SHOES. When a tragic event enters his life a grown-up Nathan questions everything and decides to give up his career in medicine. But when he goes back home and falls in love he s confronted with an even bigger choice. Will this new crisis help him accept his past and move forward or have him retreat even further into himself? It s going to take a Christmas miracle for him to find the faith but that s what the holiday season is all about. Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY UPC: 018713523518 Manufacturer No: 05-52351

Angel in the Family

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

Get ready to believe the impossible. Sarah Bishop and her estranged sister Beth are reunited after their father Buddy suffers a mild stroke. Buddy, who's never accepted the loss of his wife Lorraine, wants only one thing - to return home for Christmas. With sweet memories of a life gone by, Sarah makes an impossible wish that her mother could be there, too. By morning, it is as if a winter prayer has been answered. Bearing a message of hope, healing, and everlasting love, a miracle has arrived...

A Carol Christmas

Amazon Price: $12.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

A Carol Christmas Tori Spelling (Beverly Hills, 90210), William Shatner (Star Trek) and Gary Coleman (Diff'rent Strokes) shine in this light-hearted update of the Dickens classic. Carol Cartman (Spelling) says "Bah, humbug" to the clichés of her fellow talk-show host, Dr. Bob (Shatner), and especially to a live Christmas Eve show her producer has planned. But during a pre-show nap, her late Aunt Marla (Dinah Manoff) takes Carol on a holiday journey, complete with Ghosts of Christmas Past (Coleman) and Present (Shatner again). Soon, this Scrooge-like celebrity is shown the life she should have led, the life she causes others to lead%u2026and the fate that might await her, if she doesn't show some holiday spirit!

A Christmas Memory

Amazon Price: $7.49 (as of 11/14/2009)

When Buddy (Eric Lloyd The Santa Clause 3) is abandoned by his parents at the age of seven he is dumped in the south at the small-town home of some older unmarried cousins. Without friends of his own age Buddy develops a close friendship with one of the older simpler ladies Sook (Patty Duke The Patty Duke Show) and the two undertake many adventures together. At Christmas time they bake 31 fruit-cakes which they give as Christmas presents even mailing them to President Roosevelt and Jean Harlowe! Although Buddy is eventually urged to move on with his life by his incessant cousin Jennie (Piper Laurie Carrie) the memories of his friendship with Sook lives with him forever. Based on the original novel by Truman Capote A Christmas Memory is a heartwarming story of love and friendship - and it is now available for the first time on DVD just in time for this holiday season.System Requirements:Run Time: 91 minutes Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY UPC: 796019805995 Manufacturer No: 80599

The House Without a Christmas Tree

Amazon Price: $8.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

After a mother dies her family appears destined to spend the rest of its days picking up the pieces. In 1940's Nebraska a sweet and intelligent 10-year-old girl raises the ire of her bitter widower father who has never forgotten that his wife died while giving birth to their daughter. To illustrate for the girl that life does not come easy the father bars the family which also includes his mother from having a traditional Christmas tree. This yuletide though has a happy surprise for this home so desperately in need of holiday cheer.System Requirements:Running Time: 75 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: NR UPC: 097368433144 Manufacturer No: 843314

Mrs. Santa Claus

Amazon Price: $11.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

Much closer to Hello, Dolly! than your usual Christmas special, Mrs. Santa Claus joins two distinct genres: holiday family fare and the Broadway musical. This song-studded extravaganza was especially designed for TV by Broadway legend Jerry Herman, whose songs are just as incorrigibly catchy on the small screen as they are on the stage. Herman uses one of his favorite leading ladies from the theater, Angela Lansbury, in a tale of Santa's "invisible wife," who takes the reindeer off for an impulsive week-long adventure in New York City. Unexpectedly becoming a suffragette and labor organizer (it's set in the early 20th century), Mrs. Claus twinkles merrily at all who cross her path. This is a problem, dramatically speaking, because what's compelling about someone who twinkles all the time? The costumes are by Bob Mackie (duh), the choreography by Chicago director Rob Marshall. And just try to get the melodies out of your head. --Robert Horton

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey

Amazon Price: $9.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

"The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey" is a story of love redemption and above all hope. When a broken hearted boy loses the treasured wooden nativity set that links him to his dead father his worried mother persuades a reclusive ill-tempered woodcarver to create a replacement and to allow her son to watch him carve it. The commission takes their relationship to unexpected places as the young boy makes greater and more difficult demands of the woodcarver s ability and as Christmas approaches the three of them struggle to come to terms with each other their painful memories and the process of putting their unhappiness behind them. Outstanding performances stunning CGI visuals and a brilliant score make this compelling funny and ultimately very moving adaptation of one of America s most loved and award winning children s books a must-see family movie experience.System Requirements:Run Time: 91 minutes Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY UPC: 796019806206 Manufacturer No: 80620

The Christmas Shoes

Amazon Price: $8.49 (as of 11/14/2009)

In this Heartwarming holiday Drama a workaholic attorney (Rob Lowe) crosses paths with a young boy on Christmas Eve and rediscovers the true meaning of love life and the holiday season.Special Features:Featurette and extra footage of the The Christmas Shoes including cast interviewsExclusive interview and Newsong and Donna VanLiereThe Christmas Shoes discussion guideChristmas Shoes music video and excerpts from Donna VanLiere s Christmas collections and upcoming book The Angels of Morgan HillFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY UPC: 018713518064 Manufacturer No: 05-51806

The Night Before Christmas

Amazon Price: $14.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

For some people, the coldest, loneliest night of the year falls on Christmas Eve. "The Night Before Christmas" tells the story of one of those people, Nick Allman, a disillusioned young man who has lost touch with the true spirit of the holidays. Set in Chicago on Christmas Eve, it follows his day from morning till midnight as he encounters a variety of characters who help renew his belief in a season where everyone's expectations run high.

What I Did For Love

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

Call him a city slicker. Call him a tenderfoot. But don't call him a member of the family--yet. Rising L.A. lawyer James White is going home for the holidays with his fiancée, Sadie Ryder, to finally meet her family in rural Pine Gap. After blundering through a bad first impression, James attempts to win over Sadie's lawyer-loathing father Karl by pretending to be a horse-riding, hay-baling, game-hunting, seasoned square dancer. But a pair of worn jeans and a ten-gallon hat don't make a cowboy, and it's going to take more than mere posturing to charm Mr. Ryder...in fact, it just may take a miracle.

The Homecoming: A Christmas Story

Amazon Price: $9.49 (as of 11/14/2009)

A true television classic, The Homecoming was the second movie (after 1963's Spencer's Mountain) based on Earl Hamner's autobiographical writings about love, pride, faith, and survival in rural America during the Great Depression. The Homecoming introduced the Walton family, a 1930s mountain clan living a hardscrabble existence that forces patriarch John Walton (Andrew Duggan) to seek work, far from home, in the city. When John fails to return home, as promised, on Christmas Eve, his iron-willed wife Olivia (Patricia Neal) keeps a lid on their children's worry. Oldest son John-Boy (Richard Thomas), who privately dreams of becoming a writer but worries about disappointing his parents, is dispatched to find his dad. Graceful yet harder-edged than the subsequent TV series The Waltons (which recast several characters and ran for nine years), The Homecoming reveals, albeit understatedly, much about the pain of poverty even as the family draws strength and closeness through endurance. --Tom Keogh

Call Me Claus

Amazon Price: $8.49 (as of 11/14/2009)

Cantankerous home shopping network producer Lucy (Whoopi Goldberg) inadvertently hires the real Santa Claus (Nigel Hawthorne) for her channel's "Kristmas Korner" sales campaign in this made-for-TV movie. But Santa's presence there is anything but accidental, as his 200-year contract is about to expire and he must convince Lucy to take over the reigns both figuratively and literally. What's at stake? Not just Christmas, but the fate of the planet in this holiday offering, executive-produced by Goldberg and Garth Brooks.

Silent Night

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

SILENT NIGHT deals with the intertwined universality of soldiers' longing for home, a war-weary German mother's longing for peace in her own home, and her little boy's desperate need for a sign that the world he'll inherit might be filled by something other than the hollow, ranted slogans of the Hitler Youth.

The performances, especially those of Linda Hamilton, as the frightened, yet determined, Frau Vincken, and the young men who play the GI's and Wehrmacht infantrymen, convincingly convey the snow-blanched weariness and wariness that surely contributed to the real participants' touch-and-go attempt to lay aside their arms for one last wartime Christmas, as a sign that their world may have tired of its madness.

Christmas Child (A Max Lucado Story)

Amazon Price: $9.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

An updating of Max Lucado's book "A Christmas Cross", this film is about a successful Chicago journalist, whose marriage is at a breaking point as he is about to celebrate both his 40th birthday and Christmas; he is sent away during the Holidays to Texas for a story, and there reflects on his life and its meaning.

A Child's Christmas in Wales

Amazon Price: $16.99 (as of 11/14/2009)

A CHILD'S CHRISTMAS IN WALES takes you on a lyrical journey back to the magic and marvel of boyhood where no two moments were ever alike and life was embraced with belief instead of doubt. On this special Christmas Eve, Old Geraint shares these heartwarming memories with his dearly loved grandson, Thomas. In one evening he does more than recall his cherished youth . . . he relives it.

The Gift of the Magi

Amazon Price: $22.49 (as of 11/14/2009)

"One dollar and eightyseven cents. And the next day would be Christmas." And so we begin O. Henry's best known and timeless story which stands as a shining example of O. Henry's writing at its best. For in it we have the simplicity of concept the irony of circumstance and the charming surprise at the end... which we won't reveal here.It's a wonderful romantic tale of a young married couple who have little money to buy each other Christmas presents. And so she cuts off and sells her beautiful hair...

The Christmas Wish

Amazon Price: (as of 11/14/2009)

Neil Patrick Harris, an orphan, returns to his grandparents' home after his grandfather dies. He and grandmother Debbie Reynolds discover several entries in a diary about Lilian, a woman neither Harris nor Reynolds knew about. While reading the diary, the two uncover a Christmas mystery and learn new lessons about the holiday.