User reviews

I just love Chistmas stories, all Christmas stories. The photography is excellent. You can almost feel the wonderful chilly weather. This is a film for the entire family having to deal with today's problems: Parent & Child Communication. We have to listen to what our children are saying to us. Often times parents insist on living out their dreams through their children, and not letting their children live out their own dreams. All children are gifted in some way. We as parents have to help our children realize their own dreams. We want to cushion the falls that our little ones are going to have along the way, but experience is an excellent teacher. No matter how old we are, we still keep learning even when we are old and gray. I do wish the full cast would've been listed in the credits. Often times these little films are shown only once, so it is best to plan on watching to see if it will be a "little diamond in the rough". Since I had my trusty VCR working, I'll be able to look at it a second time. There are more of life's lessons to learn in "Silver Bells".

A Hallmark Hall of Fame production so the quality is definitely above and beyond a normal made-for-Hallmark Channel movie. Released about twice a year to American television, these are usually pretty good movies which would sometimes be able to compete in the theaters. Anne Heche and Tate Donovan were both very good in the lead roles. The story is mostly about a runaway teen but there's surely a nice Christmasy feel here. Other Hallmark Hall of Fame productions have a way of really tugging at the heartstrings but this falls a bit short of that. Still a nice little movie for Christmastime.

--A Kat Pirate Screener

Danny and Bridget Byrne, who lost their mother several years ago, are being raised by their father Christy, who runs a Christmas tree farm in Nova Scotia. Danny takes pictures for his high school yearbook and he has a deadline, but his father thinks the farm is more important because, after all, it pays the bills, and Danny is to take over someday.

After the harvest, the family delivers trees to New York City and sets up a stand to sell them. As usual, they stay with nice old Mrs. Quinn. As usual, widowed 'museum lady' Catherine O'Meara won't buy a tree. Danny visits her workplace with samples of his photography, and Catherine is impressed.

When the time comes for the family to return home, Danny is missing. A year later, he has been replaced on the farm, and Bridget and Christy return once again to New York City to sell more trees. Rip, one of New York's finest, still does not have good news for Christy, who has returned to the city several times hoping to find his son.

The 'silver bells' of the movie's title refer to a photograph that is part of the museum's 'look up' promotion. The Post is asking people to guess the location of the bells, and if no one does by Christmas, the paper will print the answer. Catherine's boss, a real estate developer, likes the idea, but his son thinks it's a waste of time.

You don't have to be Allison Dubois to figure out the rest. Though there is one unexpected development that could complicate things.

This is a pleasant family movie overall, but nothing really outstanding. It's at least as good as other Hallmark Hall of Fame presentations. I would say it is well-acted with the usual formula feel-good writing, though I like the formula. The only thing that might be considered offensive: a dispute between Danny and his father gets physical, which I found unnecessary.

Anne Heche is pleasant enough and attractive with long hair, though I might have been happier with a different actress.

It's a good film if you like this sort of thing. Which I do.

My Christmas film viewings over-time have been a very mixed bag. With some surprisingly good hits, where regardless of how predictable they are succeed in being full of charm, warmth and heart so succeeding in being light-hearted and undemanding fun. But also some quite big misses, where the characters are not likeable, everything is forced and shallow with implausibility too in some of the worst cases, the acting and writing being weak and basically with just nothing to them.

Despite being a long way from perfect or being a complete hit, 'Silver Bells' is thankfully closer to the former category if not quite. Certainly not a film to humbug on. As far as the Christmas films seen overtime go, 'Silver Bells' is somewhere around high middle, which is not too bad a position to be in actually. Especially considering how much of a mixed bag some recently seen Christmas film viewings have been. Expectations were mixed, but the execution was better than expected.

'Silver Bells' isn't perfect. Maybe it does take a while to get going and the messaging could have been more subtle, if the truth had been revealed a little earlier than it was that may have made a difference.

There also could have been more development to Christy, who is too much of a jerk, and also didn't like how long it took for Catherine to come out with the truth or how obnoxious the son sometimes is.

However, a lot is good. It pleases visually, lovely festive locations attractively and never drably or garishly shot. The music isn't as intrusive as it tends to be with Hallmark while the direction gets the job done well. The script doesn't get too cheesy or sentimental and does have a more natural flow when it becomes more settled. The story is not too heavy while taking itself seriously and is both warm-hearted and has a light touch when necessary.

On the whole as well it isn't too predictable, there are elements that are different than the usual Hallmark Christmas film and they are elements that feature a lot but not rammed down the throat. Did find later on that the characters were generally worth caring about. Anne Heche and Tate Donovan both give honest committed performances, particularly Heche.

In conclusion, decent if not great. 6/10.

"Silver Bells" was billed as the 225th presentation in the Hallmark Hall of Fame made-for-television film series. Sadly, this effort was not among the strongest of their offerings.

The likable cast included Anne Heche and Tate Donovan, whose characters were a widow and widower, and who inevitably became the central romantic couple. Unfortunately, the plot focused on a teenager runaway problem, as opposed to joys of the holidays, which should have been the film's central preoccupation.

As played by Donovan, the young runaway's father was a hard-working Christmas-tree dealer and decent man, and it made no sense that the boy would take to the streets of New York City following an argument with his father. The runaway story bogged down the film as a lugubrious, mechanical plot device.

The film should have celebrated the holidays with more joy in the lives of the characters. The most heart-warming scenes were the ice-skating sequence and the singing of the children in the church choir. The son Danny (Michael Mitchell) was an aspiring photographer. The film should have been about the photos, the great New York scenery, and the young man's love of photography, not the maudlin, melodramatic, and ultimately unconvincing story of a runaway.

7.4 stars.

When I see a character like the father of a boy who simply wants to follow his dreams, and daddy has him under his thumb, wants him to walk in his footsteps, take over the family tree business etc...I get fired up, because this is an old school ignoramus mindset and there's no place for it in the 21st century, or even the 20th century. This sort of mindset should have ended at the turn of the century when anyone could follow a dream with no worries about safety, health, survival, etc. This is the story of a boy who wants to be a photographer, his dad won't let him, his younger sister is sympathetic, but what can she do? A woman in NYC who comes into contact with the family sees his potential and encourages him to follow his dreams, but father gets in the way. The rest of the film is about this rift and the son's talents and the fathers stubbornness and a woman's tenacity. Not a bad movie, but not good enough to round up to 8 either.

I really didn't like this production. The title sets up a metaphor which signals the "big message". There are two problems with the "big message". First, it's delivered with hammer-like subtlety -- okay, Hallmark is not particularly good with subtlety, but still, why use a metaphor if you're going to hit us over the head with its meaning? The metaphor itself becomes little more than a scavenger hunt to find the (literal) silver bells. Second, the metaphor really doesn't match the plot. The central conflict between father and son is not well developed and doesn't make sense. The inevitable explosion seems completely out of character. I get it, son rebels against Dad's career choice for him, an age-old dilemma. But what happens here is out of character and overwrought. And what does any of this have to do with "silver bells"? The message of the metaphor would not solve the father/son conflict. Add to these issues the fact that there is absolutely no chemistry between Anne Heche and Tate Donovan. Chemistry is critical to the Hallmark formula! In fact, the relationship here is not even at the center of the story, which is a mistake, because Hallmark is all about that relationship. I would just as soon have skipped this one -- and it has to be pretty bad for me to say that!

BEWARE OF BOGUS REVIEWS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 HOLIDAY FILMS. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM VERY FARE ABOUT THESE FILMS.

This is a nice little Christmas film that was part of the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" production banner. In this film a single father runs a Christmas Tree Farm with his 2 teenage children. Once a year they go to New York City and sell the trees.

Upon the latest Christmas the man gets into a physical fight with his son. The son who is only 16 years old but he is a gifted photographer. After runs away he become homeless but is surviving by getting work at a newspaper. He is the unknown photographer taking pictures in the "LOOK UP CAMPAIGN".

The picture works well. The film has a message that was well worth exploring.

This film however is not for people with no attention span. Men under 40 will hate this. Children will be bored.

I just finished reading the novel "Silver Bells," by LuAnne Rice this last Friday while on vacation in the woods of Tennessee (and by a roaring fire in the fireplace!). I really liked the book, and was anticipating the TV movie. Normally, the Hallmark Hall of Fame productions are enjoyable; and, and I knew they probably would digress from the book a bit to get it into the television time frame. However, as I sit watching this (as I type, in fact!), I find myself very disappointed in how much the movie digresses from the novel. And, while I have nothing against the acting skills of Anne Heche or Tate Donovan, I wouldn't have pictured either of them for the roles they were given. If I had not read the book, I probably would have rated this movie higher; the movie itself is okay, but if it had stuck closer to the original story, it would have been much better.

My suggestion? Skip the movie and read the book--it's magical!

Hallmark presented their typical Holiday story that involved a young teenage boy who was very confused and trying to find himself in this big world. He lost his mother and his father did his very best to guide his son, however, there was a conflict between the father and son and he simply took off to the Big Apple and disappeared while the father was selling his Christmas Trees in Manhattan. Ann Heche appears in the film and helps the young runaway establish himself with at least a place to sleep and earn a few bucks. As I was watching this TV film, I began to wonder about the Silver Bells and found this story typical for the Holiday Season, too Sweet for me.

I have been watching this movie every year for about 4 years now. The first year every day tell Christmas from December 1. Great story line and actor/s.

"Silver Bells" is a superb Christmas film that has many variations from the common formulaic holiday romance movies. Those who particularly like that sort of film may not enjoy this film as much - unless they happen also to appreciate films that go a bit deeper with family and marriage.

One very different aspect of this plot is that the two people who eventually come together - or really, literally "find" another person, have both lost their spouses to death three and four years earlier. Their love, or romance is a slow "discovery" of one another that happens in the context of the main plot of the film. That is the separation of a father and his son, the son running away as a young teenager, and the dad searching for him for a year. Yes, there are divorces and single moms or dads with children. And, yes there are young women who are dating or engaged to men who may not be "Mr. Right," where the right guy comes along. But those aspects have plots that have been used so often that they are hardly interesting plots for stories anymore.

"Silver Bells" also goes further in other directions. There are more aspects- differences in interests of the dad and son, a young daughter and sibling of the son; the family's annual month-long trip from their tree farm home in Nova Scotia to New York City and a regular place where they set up to sell their Christmas trees and board with a woman who is a friend. And, much more to the meat of this story and film. The young son's interest in photography and the subsequent artistic views the audience get - seeing nature and architecture through the eyes of an artist. The dad's friendship with a local police officer who has helped look for his son; and a budding other romance - the policeman and a young woman friend of the female lead.

There's no doubt that patience is required because this film is much more slowly developed, but as such it is more down to earth and gives a real feel for the story and the lives of the people. It's not a quick run around and holidays romance. The film is based on a 2004 novel of the same title by Luanne Rice. All of the cast are very good in their roles. Three whose performances stand out are Anne Heche as Catherine O'Mara, Michael Mitchell as Danny Byrne, and Courtney Jines as Bridget Byrne.

Some aspects of the production are familiar - so many of these films that air on the Hallmark TV channel are made in Canada. One can understand when part of the plot or story is imparting the traditional aspects of a white Christmas, and the beauty of the countryside, forests, and hills raped in snow. But this one was made in the U. S., so the Christmas tree harvesting might have been filmed in any of several states where such farms exist - from New England to the West Coast. This one has both the pastoral scenery and some fairly nice scenic shots of the Big Apple.

And, one other aspect that is shown more in this than in most films, is signs of Christian faith. Some films will have scenes or dialog about children in a school play of the Christmas story, or a Christmas pageant that includes religion. But this one shows churches and some of the cast going to church. In that sense, also, it is more realistic - in showing true customs and practices of the vast majority of the population of the time.

This is a very good film for the Christmas holidays about family, love, healing from the loss of loved ones, and finding new love. It's a good story of hope and about second chances in life and how healing is hastened with care about and for others.

My favorite line in the film is when Christy Byrne (played by Tate Donovan) meets Sylvester Rheinback (played by John Cunningham). Christy, "Oh, you're Catherine's boss." Sylvester, "Well, I try not to boss her around too much."

I love "Silver Bells" and I own the DVD, because I am a fan of Anne Heche. I've always thought she was a great actress, and so sad that she is now deceased. Anne was beautiful in appearance with a stunning carriage in this movie. I had never seen Tate Donovan and felt he did a good job playing the controlling father. He did ease up after a scary incident involving his son. The son was ambitious, the dad controlling and the daughter was trying to keep peace. The scenery in the beginning is beautiful. Over-all I was happy with the outcome of the movie. I can watch it over and over again because it has a great holiday feel to it.

This is by far my favorite Christmas movie. Excellent small town feel with a great cast. The basketball scenes are my favorite. You can really tell that everyone involved gave it their all. Sometimes in movies, they don't cast actors who actually play the sport. But I really don't think that's the case with this one. I watch this every year because it brings me back to my high school basketball years.

I hope it goes on streaming services soon so it's easier to watch. I don't mind plugging in my our DVD player to watch it, but I think a lot of audiences would benefit from watching movie with such a great message.