Christmas Eve

BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE FILM. 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 HONEST!

Matilda Reid (Ann Harding) is in danger of being declared senile at the urging of her nephew, Phillip (Reginald Denny). To keep him from controlling her estate, Matilda must find her three adopted sons, who left home long ago. One of them, Michael (George Brent), lives in New York, where he's incurred a $75,000 debt. Another, fugitive Mario (George Raft), is hiding in South America. The last, Jonathan (Randolph Scott), is a small-time cowboy. All three must come home to save Matilda's fortune.

Now this film is nice change of pace from "HALLMARK MOVIES". The cast brings the most out of a screenplay that is most confusing. I have to admit that I watch this in over 3 evenings so I will have to re- watch it again. The film is enjoyable. I will watch it again.

Enjoyed seeing this film which has a Christmas theme and concerns three adopted men who have gone in different places in the world after being adopted by their Aunt Matilda Reed, (Ann Harding). George Raft, (Mario Torio) had a background of serving time in prison and escaping into a foreign county. The second adopted son is George Brent,(Michael Brooks) who is a con-artist and the third son is Randolph Scott, (Johnny) who is an alcoholic and is a sort of burned out cowboy from the West. Their Aunt Matilda wants to locate these adopted sons and have them at her house on Christmas eve. The reason she wants to bring the family together is she is fearful her nephew is trying to cheat her out of her fortune, as she is very rich. This story goes into great detail about each of her sons which is very interesting with plenty of comedy, drama and even three babies get involved. Cute Film.

The perennial title in itself but especially the splendid cast rounded up for this Christmas movie should have earned it durability but, instead, its genuine oddity has ensured its obscurity; in fact, it was later retitled as SINNERS' HOLIDAY for theatrical reissue purposes (despite there having already been a non-festive 1930 film featuring James Cagney and Joan Blondell by that name!) and, much later, another unrelated (and made-for-TV) one called Christmas EVE in 1986 that was Loretta Young's much-heralded return in front of the cameras!!

There are three male leads in the film – George Brent, George Raft and Randolph Scott – playing the three adopted sons of eccentric millionairess Ann Harding (a weird casting choice if ever there was one, seeing how she is younger in real life than her on screen off-springs and, consequently, sports heavy make-up to appear older!) who is on the point of being declared insane by duplicitous relative/guardian Reginald Denny (who while outwardly concerned about Harding's reckless philanthropic spending is actually interested in appeasing his own creditors). Harding (dutifully waited upon by an unrecognizable Dennis Hoey as her butler!) assures visiting Judge Clarence Kolb that this Christmas Eve at least one of her wayward sons will come to her rescue and the film then episodically trails the path (via Harding's investigating detective Joe Sawyer) taken in life by each individual before reaching the inevitable all-inclusive happy ending.

And so it is that we meet up with playboy Brent, who is on the point of hooking up with an heiress – an attachment he badly needs in order to cover up a run of $75,000 in fraudulent cheques that are currently doing the rounds about town – but true love intervenes in the shape of his ditzy friend Joan Blondell!; although this was a plot line worthy of Preston Sturges in his prime, the heavy-handed treatment it receives here renders it the least effective segment of the lot. Next up is George Raft's lording it over in South America and stepping on the toes of fugitive Nazi Konstantin Shayne in the process – not least because of his attachment to the latter's feminine associate, Virginia Field!; the violence and downbeat nature (the latter is felled by a bullet and Raft is eventually apprehended by FBI agent John Litel) of this episode jars considerably with the Capra-esque sentimentality of the main narrative strain but is nonetheless interesting for that. It is worth noting here that director Marin had just directed Raft in the noir NOCTURNE (1946; which I also own but have yet to watch) and that he had also helmed the 1938 MGM version of A Christmas CAROL! The third and last part is the corniest but also the most enjoyable as we watch second-rate rodeo rider Randolph Scott getting mixed up in Douglas Dumbrille's adoption racket as he is convinced by attractive undercover agent Dolores Moran (in her first film for future husband, producer Benedict Bogeaus) to pose as a married couple looking to acquire some kids! The eventual confrontation between the two parties earns the film its biggest laugh when Scott, gun firmly in hand, invites Dumbrille to "Raise (his) arms to the perpendicular"!

Ann Harding plays an old spinster whose fortune is about to be taken over by her nephew (Reginald Denny) in "Christmas Eve," a 1947 film also starring George Raft, George Brent, Randolph Scott, and Joan Blondell.

Harding is Matilda Reed, a very wealthy old woman living in a New York mansion. Her nephew is about to have her committed and take over her fortune, but before the Judge can take action, Matilda begs him to stop by on Christmas Eve to meet her three sons, assuring him that they will stand by her.

These were three children she adopted as babies. Even though she has no idea where any of them are, she is certain they will be there as soon as she makes the fact that she needs help public.

The boys took off when they reached adulthood to make their own way and not take advantage of her.

We then see where they are now and what they're doing, which in a way is like three separate movies, particularly the Raft section, which is way out there. The first son is Michael (Brent), who is bouncing bad checks but engaged to a very wealthy woman. However, Blondell is in love with him and manages by her very presence to drive the fiancé away.

The next brother is Mario (Raft) living in Argentina, on the lam from a bad deal in Washington, D. C. He can't return to the states. His girlfriend has $10 million given to her to hold by her escaped Nazi boyfriend, and Mario finds himself in the middle of the situation trying to get his money back.

The third brother is Johnny (Scott), a rodeo rider drafted by a woman (Delores Moran, who wound up marrying the producer of this film) who needs a husband while she undertakes an investigation of a baby adoption racket.

An episodic film in the extreme which doesn't hold together despite a charming cast and some fun dialogue. It could have been a much sweeter and funnier film, but the script was weak.

"Christmas Eve" is far from horrible, has some good parts, but in the end is disappointing.

Those who have seen "The Sons of Katie Elder" and the much more recent "Four Brothers" may sense some surface resemblance to this forgotten holiday movie. An eccentric old heiress (Ann Harding) in trouble needs her long-lost sons to come to her rescue by Christmas Eve before her nephew Philip (Reginald Denny) takes control of her fortune. In this case, her three sons were adopted as infants and left as soon as they could make their own way in order not to sponge off a kindly lady who gave them everything.

We first meet Michael (George Brent), a spendthrift playboy whose debt puts him at Philip's mercy. Mario (George Raft) is an escaped con now running a night club in South America who falls into the clutches of an escaped Nazi. Jonathan (Randolph Scott) is a rodeo cowboy barely scraping by out west who has a strange experience at a baby mill. While on the surface each is a specific stereotype, as soon as they learn of their adoptive mother's predicament - she savvily holds a press conference - all priorities fall in line. A certain nobility despite their failings is a reaction that bonds them as a real family.

Brent is bland as usual playing bland comedy with Joan Blondell clinging on to spice things up. As expected, a slimmed down Raft gets some romance, some fighting and some tragedy. Scott has to deal with that kind of "cowboy talk" that only exists in movies, where everything is a ranch metaphor, but he's charming. Harding (actually younger than all of her "sons") stretches to play double her age, and comes across just fine. Denny is variously a rat and a skunk, but he gets his. Wonderful and very busy character actor John Litel is the FBI agent after Raft. Back in '40, he played an unfortunate truck driver in Raft's "They Drive By Night" and years later was coincidentally in "The Sons of Katie Elder." "Christmas Eve" has no big emotional kick and little holiday sentimentality, but there is genuine family affection. It is not a special film, the story lines somehow both stereotypical and nonsensical. It can be stodgy and it's easy to see why it's little remembered. Clearly everyone in it was capable of better, yet there are satisfying moments.