A Christmas Story is a joy to watch any time of year.
Yes, Christmas WAS the center of every kid's universe, and I suppose it still is. It was the day of the year that every child waited for, and the nostalgia surrounding the holiday has become mythic for most of us. "A Christmas Story" mines this territory the way Woody Allen's "Radio Days" mined the fertile ground of radio drama in the thirties and forties, with sharp, insightful observations, a careful attention to period detail, and, most of all, a gentle good humor.
I should mention in closing out this section that the movie was directed by Bob Clark, whose career as a filmmaker has been anything but a smooth succession of critical successes. You may remember that one of his first feature films was "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things," a movie whose only saving grace was its title. You don't remember that one? OK, how about "Porky's" and "Porky's II"? Ah, now you know who I mean. He also did the excellent Sherlock Holmes film "Murder By Decree," a definite plus, and more recently "Baby Geniuses," a definite minus. Oh, well. To have created so winning a film as "A Christmas Story" makes up for everything else.
Video:
The film is offered in two screen formats, an anamorphic widescreen measuring an approximately 1.74:1 ratio and a 1.33:1 fullscreen, both located on disc one of the set. The fullscreen version appears to be the original negative size from which the widescreen was later matted for theatrical release, since the fullscreen provides more top and bottom information with little or no loss at the sides. Still, the widescreen format seemed to provide the better image quality, and because that's the way it was intended to be seen, that's the way I watched it. However, there are some variations of quality within the film itself; sometimes the colors are dark, deep, and rich, while other times they appear slightly washed out. When it's good, it's very, very good, so there's little to worry about. The definition is reasonably good, too, although it also varies from very sharp to somewhat soft. The transfer is free of grain, and the print is in excellent condition, so there are no worries in those departments, either.
Audio:
Not much to talk about here. The Dolby Digital monaural sound only needs to reproduce dialogue, which it does just fine. Like the video, it's mostly clean and clear, rather limited in bass output but pretty impressive, actually, at the high end. You'll find little background noise to hamper your listening pleasure and a fairly smooth, balanced response. I can't knock it; it works.
Extras:
This particular Warner Bros. Special Edition two-disc set is not as impressive as the ones they've been producing for some of their other classics. In fact, I questioned whether there was really enough material included to justify two discs. Anyway, disc one mainly contains the standard and widescreen presentations of the film with their Dolby Digital mono soundtracks. Then we get an audio commentary with star Peter Billingsley and director Bob Clark, thirty-two scene selections, and a widescreen theatrical trailer. English and French are the spoken language choices, with English, French, and Spanish subtitles.
The second disc is not really very well filled out. It opens with a newly made, eighteen-minute featurette, "Another Christmas Story," in which the major child actors and the director reminisce about the film and how it has affected their lives. Then there is a segment called "Radio," featuring some original readings by Jean Shepard, who was the writer and the voice narrator of "A Christmas Story." Next are two interactive trivia games, "Triple Dog Dare" and "Decoder Match Challenge." Finally, there are two more short featurettes of four and five minutes each: "Get a Leg Up," about the Leg Lamp, and "A History of the Daisy Red Ryder" air rifle. The two discs are housed in a foldout package, found within in an attractive, metal-foil slipcase.
Parting Thoughts:
It would take a pretty cold heart not to be moved by "A Christmas Story." Male or female, young or old, the story contains enough varied experiences to make almost anyone remember a similar episode in his or her life. And the film's experiences are so sweet, so tenderhearted, and so common, they should touch virtually any audience. Like most of you, I've seen the film again and again, and each time I do, I find myself laughing and smiling all over again. "A Christmas Story" is a joy to watch any time of year.
Average user rating (1-5):
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