The Silver Screen Oasis

Merry Christmas to all! All my best wishes.

Merry Xmas everyone, wishing you all the best for now and 2014

Chris, thank you so much for your heartfelt thoughts this Christmas day! I feel the same way about you and everyone here at the SSO. THANK YOU,, from the bottom of my heart for being here.

Reyman, that was a beautiful reminiscence. Made me think of how I grew up in Norman Oklahoma and Kankakee Illinois, the little roadside places we used to go to and see all the time, the vacations, all of it. What a happy picture!

Happy Holidays to all of you, and again thanks for being here. You've made life so much better.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday today. God bless you all.

I like Meet John Doe as a Christmas movie more than It's a Wonderful Life.

I believe I do too, Wendy. Masha, that poem is adorable. I may just post it on Facebook! I watched BEN-HUR yesterday. More of an Easter story than Christmas. But a magnificent epic any way you look at it. Inspirational.

I watched "Meet John Doe" the other night just because of this conversation. It's a fine film. Other than the Christmas Eve jump in my opinion there is very little Christmas connection. I enjoyed again and The Bride, for the first time, liked it. Truth is, it's probably more of a downer than what people think about 'It's A Wonderful Life." It still pacts a powerful punch.

Meet John Doe was Kyle's pick as one of the 15 fan programmers for the 15th anniversary of the channel and now I always think of him when I think of the film.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! We were up past midnight on Christmas Eve celebrating with the last of our party guests and slept in on Christmas Day. Once we were up, didn't spend much time on the computer, just lounged around and enjoyed the day.

Hope everyone else had a relaxing day as well!

Guess who got a great big artificial bone for Christmas?

Congratulations Red, on your gift from Shug! Lily got us some chew toys and a flying disc made out of fire hose for more chewing and playing.

I find It's a Wonderful Life a bit more of a downer to tell the truth, Chris. As I age, it hits a little too close for my liking.

Lynn, thanks for mentioning Kyle, it's nice to remember him at this time of year, and think about his favorite film. It's one of mine too, and you've brought back to me his insightful comments.

It sounds like you had a great Christmas! We were up on Christmas Eve as well, then got up and celebrated all over again Christmas Day. It was worth the three straight days of cooking and baking, since I decided to do a brunch buffet for Christmas instead of the traditional sit down dinner. For once, I got to sit and relax, enjoy the nibbles and the party. Everyone became more talkative because they were more comfortable, seated around the living room in comfy chairs, and it was just a great, enjoyable time. Glad I don't have to do that prep again though for 362 days, it will take that long for me to do the dishes and recuperate!

Wendy, I'm with you about "It's A Wonderful Life." I love the movie and in many ways I see myself as George. Not in anyway that I am the man he is but I really identify with his circumstances and his frustration. Sometimes I feel his desperation. In the end I hope and pray that there is the final 20 minutes coming. Either it all makes sense or it doesn't matter and I don't care and I am at peace with it.

Capra likes "jumpers."

Capra made a clear statement about the despair of the era. At least two of his classics feature footage of people standing in line for food. Not lottery tickets. Not Smart Phones. Food. They're starving. This is an important piece of film history.

I never thought about it before, but I guess he does! Interesting. It's funny, too, because if I were directing It's a Wonderful Life, I might start with the jump, kind of like Mildred Pierce, but then you miss all the background of the story, some of the best scenes and the contrast for the later George-less scenes.

Red, I missed your post when I wrote to Chris just now.

My favorite scene in all of the Capra films is the one in Deeds where the homeless farmer tries to shoot Longfellow. Played by John Wray (who has my grandfather's name), the farmer is by far my favorite character. I wait for that scene, and Wray's wonderful performance is on par with John Qualen's performance as Muley in The Grapes of Wrath, which I consider to be the very best supporting actor performance of all time. I collect these little snippets from films, these performances that are so true that they bring you a reality about the time in which they were made than nothing else can. Wray makes this moment so real, so heartfelt that it feels as if it fell out of a history book of the Depression.

"Feeding doughnuts to horses? Why don't you try feeding doughnuts to human beings?" That incident leads to the strongest scene in the movie; a scene that is, essentially, "The Feeding of the Masses." It's not seven loaves of bread, but sandwiches and coffee! So many of the very best American movies reflect the effects of The Depression. Capra, GRAPES OF WRATH, I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG. Chaplin does his take on the subject. Then there are the gangster films. A different way of coping! You can learn a lot about history by watching classic movies.