#363: Must-Watch Christmas Movies—Anthony Esolen

This week: Magdalen College Professor Anthony Esolen is not only an eminent man of literature, he is also a walking encyclopedia of cinema. That definitely included movies set against or directly about, Christmas. In this free-wheeling conversation featuring brushes with fame and interconnectivity of actors who worked with the same directors, we hit many favorites and also some lesser-known Christmas movie nuggets. In this episode, you will learn Reasonable criteria for what makes a Christmas movie a Christmas movie How everybody seems to miss the non-stop blasphemous swearing in Die Hard (1988) The culture degradation as manifest in the way Christmas was treated by Hollywood in years gone by Why many Christmas moves seem to include notes of sorrow and grief Reasons why the Golden Age (1934-1966) produced the great movies about or set against, Christmas Resources mentioned in this episode Movies It Happened on Fifth Avenue  The Man Who Came to Dinner  Penny Serenade  The Shop Around the Corner  Remember the Night Christmas in Connecticut An Affair to Remember The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek  The Bishop’s Wife Meet John Doe White Christmas Holiday Inn Miracle on 34th Street Die Hard Love, Actually Joyeux Noel The Apartment And course: It’s a Wonderful Life! Books Christians in the Movies: A Century of Saints and Sinners by Peter Dans Sex and the Unreal City: The Demolition of the Western Mind by Anthony Esolen Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture by Anthony Esolen