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After completing our 2025 Christmas Tour and finishing the 2025 Christmas Leftovers, I’ve now reviewed 25 feature-length Christmas movies. Since I watched and analyzed all 25 twice in two years, I’ve Retro-actively re-graded and re-ranked a few of them, after this season’s second viewing.

The movies ranked #2 to #1 in our updated rankings of All-Time Best Christmas Movies are both superb, and to me, only slightly better than #5 to #3. For me, one seems objectively the better movie, but the other touched me more personally. I won’t say which is which, because both are objectively fantastic, and both hit me emotionally too. So your mileage may vary. Read on to see which film I’m awarding a Silver medal, and which one earns the Gold! I hope both of these films are holiday staples with you and your family! Read our Retro Reviews linked below to learn why they should be, and if you haven’t seen one or both, make plans to see them this coming Christmas!

If you want to see how #2 to #1 were graded and ranked after my 2024 Christmas Tour and 2024 Christmas Leftovers, look here.

Previous Countdowns of the All-Time Best Christmas Movies (feature length, with Retro Reviews up to January 12, 2026):
Counting down from #25 to #16
Counting down from #15 to #11
Counting down from #10 to #6
Counting down from #5 to #3

Counting down from #2 to #1:

I’m ranking the overall quality of movies that are widely regarded as Christmas movies, not how well these movies demonstrate holiday spirit or even fit a Christmas theme.

Reminder: The arrow after a grade indicates if it is in the top third (^), middle third (>), or lower third (v) of works that share the same letter grade. The icons for EQ (Entertainment Quality) grades are as follows👍Overall Entertainment Quality, 📖 Story, 👥 Characters,📽️ Visuals,🎼 Soundtrack. Alignment with Judeo-Christian values range from +4 ✝️❎4️⃣ down to -4 ✝️⛔4️⃣.

Also: This post looks much better in your browser than on the Substack app, because the images in the links are not included in the version of the post that the app will show you. Go to rickretro.com in your desktop or mobile browser for the better rendition of this post.

🥈#2 A+^

👍A++ | 📖A+ 👥A+ 📽️A+ 🎼A+
✝️❎4️⃣

🥇#1 A+^

👍A++ | 📖A+ 👥A+ 📽️A+ 🎼A+
✝️❎2️⃣

Now it’s time for your thoughts. Which of my Top 5 is your #1 Christmas Movie? We’d love to hear why it’s your favorite in the comments!

Leave a comment

If your #1 Christmas Movie is not represented in the poll above, tell us which holiday film is your favorite in the comments. Also, let us know which Christmas movies I should review at the end of 2026 so that they can be included on next year’s list. I have a few in mind, but I want your input!

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Thanks for joining us on our in-depth 2025 look at Christmas films since the start of December! I leave you with the final list of The All-Time Best Christmas Movies #1-25 (feature length, with Retro Reviews up to January 12, 2026):

1. A Christmas Story (1983) A+^

2. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) A+^

3. Die Hard (1988) A+^

4. Elf (2003) A+^

5. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) A+^

6. Edward Scissorhands (1990) A+^

7. You’ve Got Mail (1998) A+^

8. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) A+>

9. Gremlins (1984) A+v

10. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) A+v

11. A Christmas Carol (1938) A+v

12. Christmas in Connecticut (1945) A ^

13. The Shop Around the Corner (1940) A ^

14. White Christmas (1954) A ^

15. Miracle on 34th Street (1947) A ^

16. Scrooge (1935) A ^

17. Home Alone (1990) A-v

18. In the Good Old Summertime (1949) B+^

19. Babes in Toyland (1934) (aka March of the Wooden Soldiers) B+>

20. The Santa Clause (1994) B+v

21. Love Actually (2003) B ^

22. Trading Places (1983) B ^

23. Scrooged (1988) C ^

24. Black Christmas (1974) D+>

25. Bad Santa (2003) D ^

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Last updated 2026-01-16

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After completing our 2025 Christmas Tour and finishing the 2025 Christmas Leftovers, I’ve now reviewed 25 feature-length Christmas movies. Since I watched and analyzed all 25 twice in two years, I’ve Retro-actively re-graded and re-ranked a few of them, after this season’s second viewing.

The movies ranked #5 to #3 in our updated rankings of All-Time Best Christmas Movies are all great cinematic triumphs, truly Kings of Christmas as far as film history goes. I would not disagree with anyone who had one of these three films at number one on their list! For me, ranking the Top Five is very difficult and could easily change with future viewings, depending on a lot of factors. But for now these three rank #5, #4 and #3 on my list. By all means if you have missed any of these, read our no-spoilers Retro Reviews below and then be sure to put them on your list for next Christmas!

If you want to see how #5 to #3 were graded and ranked after my 2024 Christmas Tour and 2024 Christmas Leftovers, look here.

Previous Countdowns of the All-Time Best Christmas Movies (feature length, with Retro Reviews up to January 12, 2026):
Counting down from #25 to #16
Counting down from #15 to #11
Counting down from #10 to #6

Counting down from #5 to #3:

I’m ranking the overall quality of movies that are widely regarded as Christmas movies, not how well these movies demonstrate holiday spirit or even fit a Christmas theme.

Reminder: The arrow after a grade indicates if it is in the top third (^), middle third (>), or lower third (v) of works that share the same letter grade. The icons for EQ (Entertainment Quality) grades are as follows👍Overall Entertainment Quality, 📖 Story, 👥 Characters,📽️ Visuals,🎼 Soundtrack. Alignment with Judeo-Christian values range from +4 ✝️❎4️⃣ down to -4 ✝️⛔4️⃣.

Also: This post looks much better in your browser than on the Substack app, because the images in the links are not included in the version of the post that the app will show you. Go to rickretro.com in your desktop or mobile browser for the better rendition of this post.

#5 A+^

👍A+ | 📖A+ 👥A+ 📽️A+ 🎼A-
✝️❎2️⃣

#4 A+^

👍A+ | 📖A+ 👥A+ 📽️A+ 🎼A
✝️❎1️⃣

#3 A+^

👍A++ | 📖A+ 👥A+ 📽️A+ 🎼A+
✝️❎3️⃣

Coming soon:
Counting down from #2 to #1

Meanwhile, feel free to debate these rankings or post your own as comments! I especially want to know which rankings you think I got wrong!

Leave a comment

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Last updated 2026-01-16

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After completing our 2025 Christmas Tour and finishing the 2025 Christmas Leftovers, I’ve now reviewed 25 feature-length Christmas movies. Since I watched and analyzed all 25 twice in two years, I’ve Retro-actively re-graded and re-ranked a few of them, after this season’s second viewing.

The movies ranked #10-#6 in our updated rankings of All-Time Best Christmas Movies are a wide variety of holiday films from the end of the 20th century, released between 1984 and 1998. Three are Pure Dark Whimsy, one is Dark Whimzy and the outlier is an all-time great romantic comedy. Whimsy is the key here, with an average Whimsy scale reading over these five films of 11, while two of them max out the scale at 13. These are all fantastic films, so check out any of our Retro Reviews you’ve previously missed, and by all means, watch these films if you’ve never seen them!

If you want to see how #10 to #6 were graded and ranked after my 2024 Christmas Tour and 2024 Christmas Leftovers, look here.

Previous Countdowns of the All-Time Best Christmas Movies (feature length, with Retro Reviews up to January 12, 2026):
Counting down from #25 to #16
Counting down from #15 to #11

Counting down from #10 to #6:

I’m ranking the overall quality of movies that are widely regarded as Christmas movies, not how well these movies demonstrate holiday spirit or even fit a Christmas theme.

Reminder: The arrow after a grade indicates if it is in the top third (^), middle third (>), or lower third (v) of works that share the same letter grade. The icons for EQ (Entertainment Quality) grades are as follows👍Overall Entertainment Quality, 📖 Story, 👥 Characters,📽️ Visuals,🎼 Soundtrack. Alignment with Judeo-Christian values range from +4 ✝️❎4️⃣ down to -4 ✝️⛔4️⃣.

Also: This post looks much better in your browser than on the Substack app, because the images in the links are not included in the version of the post that the app will show you. Go to rickretro.com in your desktop or mobile browser for the better rendition of this post.

#10 A+v

👍A+ | 📖A+ 👥A- 📽️A+ 🎼A
✝️⚠️0️⃣

#9 A+v

👍A+ | 📖A 👥A 📽️A+ 🎼A+
✝️⛔1️⃣

#8 A+>

👍A+ | 📖A+ 👥A 📽️A+ 🎼A+
✝️❎0️⃣⚠️

#7 A+^

👍A+ | 📖A+ 👥A+ 📽️A 🎼A+
✝️❎0️⃣⚠️

#6 A+>

👍A++ | 📖A+ 👥A+ 📽️A+ 🎼A+
✝️❎1️⃣

Coming soon:
Counting down from #5 to #3
Counting down from #2 to #1

Meanwhile, feel free to debate these rankings or post your own as comments! I especially want to know which rankings you think I got wrong!

Leave a comment

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Last updated 2026-01-15

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After completing our 2025 Christmas Tour and finishing the 2025 Christmas Leftovers, I’ve now reviewed 25 feature-length Christmas movies. Since I watched and analyzed all 25 twice in two years, I’ve Retro-actively re-graded and re-ranked a few of them, after this season’s second viewing.

Coincidentally, or maybe not, #15-#11 in our updated rankings of All-Time Best Christmas Movies are all older classics, released between 1938 and 1954.

If you want to see how #15 to #11 were graded and ranked after my 2024 Christmas Tour and 2024 Christmas Leftovers, look here.

Previous Countdowns of the All-Time Best Christmas Movies (feature length, with Retro Reviews up to January 12, 2026):
Counting down from #25 to #16

Counting down from #15 to #11:

I’m ranking the overall quality of movies that are widely regarded as Christmas movies, not how well these movies demonstrate holiday spirit or even fit a Christmas theme.

Reminder: The arrow after a grade indicates if it is in the top third (^), middle third (>), or lower third (v) of works that share the same letter grade. The icons for EQ (Entertainment Quality) grades are as follows👍Overall Entertainment Quality, 📖 Story, 👥 Characters,📽️ Visuals,🎼 Soundtrack. Alignment with Judeo-Christian values range from +4 ✝️❎4️⃣ down to -4 ✝️⛔4️⃣.

Also: This post looks much better in your browser than on the Substack app, because the images in the links are not included in the version of the post that the app will show you. Go to rickretro.com in your desktop or mobile browser for the better rendition of this post.

#15 A ^

👍A | 📖A- 👫A+ 📽️A+ 🎼B+
✝️❎1️⃣

#14 A ^

👍A | 📖A- 👥A 📽️A+ 🎼A-
✝️❎2️⃣

#13 A ^

👍A | 📖A 👥A 📽️B+ 🎼B
✝️❎1️⃣

#12 A ^

👍A | 📖A+ 👥A- 📽️B+ 🎼A-
✝️⚠️0️⃣

#11 A+v

👍A | 📖A 👥A+ 📽️A 🎼A
✝️❎4️⃣

Coming soon:
Counting down from #10 to #6
Counting down from #5 to #3
Counting down from #2 to #1

Meanwhile, feel free to debate these rankings or post your own as comments! I especially want to know which rankings you think I got wrong!

Leave a comment

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Last updated 2026-01-12

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After completing our 2025 Christmas Tour and finishing the 2025 Christmas Leftovers, I’ve now reviewed 25 feature-length Christmas movies. Since I watched and analyzed all 25 twice in two years, I’ve Retro-actively re-graded and re-ranked a few of them, after this season’s second viewing, mainly because I gave more weight to their alignment with Judeo-Christian values. But it isn’t just that. Some movies seem better each time you watch them, some stay the same, and some get worse. For the purposes of ranking them, each viewing helps.

Let’s face it. This is really our Bottom Ten. Once I’ve reviewed a couple of hundred Christmas movies, most of these probably won’t even make my top 100. But for now, with just 25 reviews under our Santa belt, everything I’ve reviewed makes the Top 25!

If you want to see how the Bottom 10 were graded and ranked after my 2024 Christmas Tour and 2024 Christmas Leftovers, look here.

I’m ranking the overall quality of movies that are widely regarded as Christmas movies, not how well these movies demonstrate holiday spirit or even fit a Christmas theme.

Reminder: The arrow after a grade indicates if it is in the top third (^), middle third (>), or lower third (v) of works that share the same letter grade. The icons for EQ (Entertainment Quality) grades are as follows👍Overall Entertainment Quality, 📖 Story, 👥 Characters,📽️ Visuals,🎼 Soundtrack. Alignment with Judeo-Christian values range from +4 ✝️❎4️⃣ down to -4 ✝️⛔4️⃣.

Also: This post looks much better in your browser than on the Substack app, because the images in the links are not included in the version of the post that the app will show you. Go to rickretro.com in your desktop or mobile browser for the better rendition of this post.

Counting down from #25 to #16:

#25 D ^

👍C- | 📖C- 👥C- 📽️C+ 🎼B
✝️⛔4️⃣

#24 D+>

👍C | 📖D+ 👥B 📽️B- 🎼B-
✝️⛔4️⃣

#23 C ^

👍B | 📖C+ 👥B- 📽️A+ 🎼B
✝️⛔4️⃣

#22 B ^

👍A- | 📖A- 👥A 📽️A- 🎼A-
✝️⛔3️⃣

#21 B ^

👍A- | 📖A- 👥A 📽️B 🎼A+
✝️⛔3️⃣

#20 B+v

👍B+ | 📖B+ 👥B 📽️A 🎼A
✝️⚠️0️⃣

#19 B+>

👍B+ | 📖B- 👥A- 📽️B+ 🎼B
✝️❎1️⃣

#18 B+^

👍B+ | 📖A 👥B+ 📽️B+ 🎼B+
✝️❎0️⃣

#17 A-v

👍B+ | 📖B 👥B+ 📽️A- 🎼A+
✝️❎2️⃣

#16 A ^

👍A- | 📖A 👥A- 📽️B 🎼A-
✝️❎4️⃣

Coming soon:
Counting down from #15 to #11
Counting down from #10 to #6
Counting down from #5 to #3
Counting down from #2 to #1

Meanwhile, feel free to debate these rankings or post your own as comments! I especially want to know which rankings you think I got wrong!

Leave a comment

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Last updated 2026-01-12

In 2024, we called our secondary post-Christmas tour “Christmas Follow-Up” and it ran from December 26, 2024, to January 1, 2025.

This year we’ve improved the name to “Christmas Leftovers”. This time it’s running from January 1, 2026, to January 12, 2026. This is not ideal! In the future, I plan to have Christmas leftovers only between Christmas and New Year’s. But this year, I want to complete the debuts of all the reviews that were previously posted to the text group, and there remains eight to go. So bear with me these first couple of weeks of January.

Now, just like if you were checking your post-Christmas refrigerator offerings, don’t expect all of these Retro Reviews to be super-tasty. You may like some more than others. Most of the best dishes were served before Christmas or on Christmas, after all.

Four of the upcoming reviews making their Substack debuts are Retro Reviews of remakes of two films that we visited on our 2025 Christmas Tour. Specifically, we will visit two theatrical remakes of The Shop Around the Corner (1940), and two made-for-television remakes of Miracle on 34th Street (1947).

The remaining four Retro Reviews that will be making their Substack debuts are films I originally scheduled for the main 2025 Christmas Tour, but later moved to this 2025 Christmas Leftovers schedule to give myself a little more time. All four of these films made at least eight of the ten all-time best Christmas movies lists that I consulted. Spoiler alert: If these are near the top of your list, you may not like my reviews of these films. It’s not as if I completely hated all four… well, you’ll see.

We will visit these eight movies in chronological order of their original release, as is always my preference.

As we did during the 2025 Christmas Tour, for the reviews below, after the name and year of the reviewed work, I will include, where applicable, how many Best Christmas Movies lists that each film made out of ten 🎅, followed by the Retro Review Grade given (explained here). The next line includes the Family Suitability Rating I have given 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 (explained here) and the Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values Rating I have given ✝️ (explained here). Last but not least comes the Dark Whimsy score and readings (explained here). These will be added after each day has passed, so check back to see where we have been at a glance.

There won’t be posts mixed in along the way with new comments like we did for the 2025 Christmas Tour, so if you are following along reading these as old archives and want to re-enact the experience of those who were discovering this in early 2026, then just check out each review in order, and come back here for the next post rather than following the “Previous” and “Next” buttons which will follow the different order of the 2024-2025 Christmas season when these were originally posted.

Jan 1 | Post: 2025 Christmas Leftovers [You are here.]

Jan 3 | Review: In the Good Old Summertime (1949) 🎅 [0] B+^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅2️⃣ | ✝️❎0️⃣⚠️ | 🚫5.4 | 🌚5 🌝7
Remake of The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Jan 6 | Review: “The Miracle on 34th Street” (1955), Television remake broadcast on The 20th Century Fox Hour s1 e06 🎅 [0] B ^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅3️⃣ | ✝️⛔1️⃣ | 🚫5.7 | 🌚5 🌝9
Remake of Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Jan 7 | Review: “Miracle on 34th Street” (1959), Television remake broadcast on NBC Friday Night Special Presentation s1 e09 🎅 [0] B+^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅3️⃣ | ✝️❎1️⃣ | 🚫6.7 | 🌚6 🌝9
Remake of Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Jan 8 | Review: Black Christmas (1974) 🎅 [8] D+>
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦❌4️⃣ | ✝️⛔4️⃣ | 🚫0.6 | 🌚12 🌝0

Jan 9 | Review: Home Alone (1990) 🎅 [10] A-v
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅2️⃣ | ✝️❎2️⃣ | 😎9.4 | 🌚9 🌝10

Jan 10 | Review: You’ve Got Mail (1998) 🎅 [3] A+^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅1️⃣⚠️ | ✝️❎0️⃣⚠️ | 🚫5.4 | 🌚5 🌝7
Remake of The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Jan 11 | Review: Love Actually (2003) 🎅 [10] B ^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦❌3️⃣ | ✝️⛔3️⃣ | 🚫3.2 | 🌚6 🌝3

Jan 12 | Review: Bad Santa (2003) 🎅 [9] D ^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦❌4️⃣ | ✝️⛔4️⃣ | 🚫3.4 | 🌚9 🌝3

Finally, from January 13-17:
Rick Retro’s Rankings: All-Time Best Christmas Movies
Rick Retro’s Rankings #7: #25-#16
Rick Retro’s Rankings #8: #15-#11
Rick Retro’s Rankings #9: #10-#6
Rick Retro’s Rankings #10: #5-#3
Rick Retro’s Rankings #11: #2-#1

Don’t forget the popcorn!

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Last updated 2026-01-12

Goodbye, 2025!

2025 was a good year in Rick Retro’s Realm. Retro Movie Reviews began the year as a text group with eleven participants, and after debuting on Substack in February, now has 55 subscribers. We added 34 new Retro Reviews, while also re-reviewing and debuting on Substack 35 of the 43 Retro Reviews previously only published to the text group. The remaining eight will be re-reviewed and make their Substack debuts in the next couple of weeks, if all goes as planned!

Hello, 2026!

And speaking of plans for 2026, after finishing up the Christmas Leftovers project that begins tomorrow and runs through January 12, I will be taking a week or two to work on behind-the-scenes construction in The Realm.

First up is cleaning up all the posts and links, making sure that everything that was initially posted to the text group is all transferred correctly over to Substack, so that the archives are one continuous story from the beginning. I will be making sure formatting is correct, links work, etc.

That will complete the foundational era of Rick Retro’s Realm. Next up is structural stuff. I will introduce a couple new “Sections” that I plan to use. While working on finishing up the structure of The Realm, we will return to the Retro Reviews of 51 Dark Whimsy Favorites that we were visiting. 32 were posted in 2025, so there are 19 to go in 2026.

When the structural work is done, hopefully by the end of January, we will celebrate with a Realm-wide Grand Opening Party. The target date is February 10, the one-year anniversary of our Substack debut, but that may be optimistic. We’ll see. I haven’t marketed Retro Movie Reviews much, even to friends and relatives, because I have been focusing on the foundations and structure of this website/realm. But that changes soon and we will grow our community population in 2026!

OK, that concludes the “front page” of The Realm Report #10.

Feel free to read on if you wish, or stop here if the important news was enough for you today!

Be safe in your celebrations tonight, and we will see you in 2026!

Behind the Scenes, Part 1

I promised that in this Realm Report I would share a little about the process of re-reviewing and debuting on Substack all the Retro Reviews previously posted only to the text group. It’s pretty much the same process I now use for all of my reviews, except for the first step when I’m experiencing a work for the first time. So if you are interested in how the sausage is made, read on. If not, feel free to skip this!

1. My initial experience of a work. (I skip this step if I have already experienced the work before.) This is when I watch that movie or read that book for the first time.

2. My initial notes on the work. Some of this may have happened a long time ago, since I’ve been entering grades for movies I’ve watched in a handheld database for a couple of decades now, and for books, several years too. If I’ve just recently experienced a work, I take down more notes right after reading/watching. If it was a long time ago, I may add some notes before step 3.

3. My supplemental research. I check outside sources and add to my notes from Step 2, so that I know what to expect and look for in Step 4.

4. My analysis experience of a work. I read or watch again, working from my notes taken in Steps 2 and 3. Here I go slowly through the work, adding, confirming, and changing observations in my notes. I’m looking to solidify and document several grades and ratings by the end of this analysis: Overall grade, Entertainment Quality grades, Family Suitability and Alignment with Judeo/Christian Values ratings and the Dark and Whimsy scale readings. For a feature film, this analysis typically takes four to six hours!

5. My Retro Review first draft. (I was able to skip this step with the reviews previously posted to the text group, using those posts as a new “first draft”.) Depending on the review, and how hard I work on it, this generally takes two to four hours.

6. My Substack formatting. This includes such nuisances as getting all the fonts correct, and adding tags to posts that you don’t see, but help the post to be found and give me some structural options to use later. This step also includes fun chores like picking out still photos from films that illustrate the review well. This is when I also review the review and often make changes to the first draft. I also document the post in a spreadsheet to make sure nothing has been missed and for future reference, since sometimes future connections with the review are planned. It usually takes me about two hours for this entire step.

7. My final review and publication. I make sure that the spreadsheet entry and review itself look complete and then I schedule the publication to Substack. After that a few details need to be checked, such as adding links to previous reviews that referenced this new reviewed work. This step just takes a few minutes, and then I’m done and a new Retro Review soon is posted for your pleasure or displeasure!

As you can see, it’s a lot of work. The great thing for me, being disabled, and unable to spend too many hours working at my desktop, is that I can complete Steps 1-4 almost entirely from my couch!

I prefer to do Step 5 at my desktop, where I can type at full speed, but if I’m not feeling well enough, I’m able to do Step 5 from my couch as well. Steps 6 and 7 really require me to be at my desk, so they sometimes can be a bottleneck, if I’m not feeling well. But overall I really enjoy the entire process, even the desktop part, so I feel blessed to be able to build a website/realm and work on populating it with content, all for you to enjoy.

Looking Back on the 2025 Christmas Tour

I also promised to share lessons learned on the 2025 Christmas Tour. Really it comes down to one significant lesson: from now on, I will strive to avoid announcing release dates of posts I haven’t written yet!

This will mainly impact Rick Retro’s Realm in terms of announced projects that are happening. Instead of one project always following another, there may be multiple projects going forward at once. Some will not have schedules, just a summary page that lists new posts after they have appeared. Other projects will have an order so that you know what is coming next, but not an itinerary, so you won’t know when the next post is coming. But there will still be the occasional project with an itinerary, and when that itinerary first goes up, all posts will be already complete and ready to appear on schedule!

Behind the Scenes, Part 2

While working on reviews posted during the 2025 Christmas Tour, I tweaked a few things that have slightly changed some of the Dark Whimsy scores and Content Details ratings.

First, I changed the deduction methodology in Whimsy points, because the Whimsy scale wasn’t delivering scores that always felt right, especially with highly penalized works. The new methodology raised a handful of scores, although a couple of scores were lowered slightly. For the tiny fraction of you interested in the details, the full Whimsy scale methodology is here.

These previously published Retro Reviews now have Dark Whimsy scores that have been updated to reflect the improved methodology:

RR#23 Trading Places (1983) from 🚫0.4| 🌚8 🌝0 to 🚫3.4| 🌚8 🌝3
RR#26 Die Hard (1988) from 🚫6.6 | 🌚12 🌝6 to 🚫5.6 | 🌚12 🌝5
RR#51 The Sting (1973) from 😎8.4 | 🌚11 🌝8 to 😎7.5 | 🌚11 🌝7
RR#54 Being There (1979) from 😎8.1 | 🌚9 🌝8 to 😎9.0 | 🌚9 🌝9
RR#57 The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)
from 😎😎10.4 | 🌚10 🌝11 to 😎😎10.5 | 🌚10 🌝11
RR#59 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1983)
from 😎😎10.0 | 🌚10 🌝10 to 😎😎10.4 | 🌚10 🌝11
RR#63 The Natural (1952 novel) from 🚫0.5 | 🌚10 🌝0 to 🚫1.6 | 🌚10 🌝1
RR#70 Raising Arizona (1987)
from 😎😎11.0 | 🌚11 🌝11 to 😎😎11.7 | 🌚11 🌝12

In addition I changed the Violence/Scariness grading in the Content Details Line that help form the Family Suitability rating.

Previously the top four Violence/Scariness grades were defined as follows:

😡+4 = No violence or scariness.
😡+3 = No violence or just cartoonish violence, possibly scary for younger kids.
😡+2 = Cartoonish violence, including superhero or sci-fi, standard TV violence, injury with a little blood, or bloodless deaths.
😡+1 = Standard TV violence, death with little or no blood.

Now I am better recognizing the truth that beginning around kindergarten most children can usually handle some cartoonish violence. The top four grades are now defined as follows:

😡+4 = At most, a light or moderate amount of cartoonish violence, possibly too scary for preschoolers.
😡+3 = A moderate or heavy amount of cartoonish violence, possibly too scary for younger kids.
😡+2 = Less realistic fantasy violence, including superhero or sci-fi. Light to moderate standard TV violence, including injuries with a little blood, or bloodless deaths.
😡+1 = Moderate standard TV violence, including bloody injuries and deaths with little or no blood.

This change meant that the first item in the Family Suitability Detail/Content Detail Line in several reviews changed from: 😡+3^ to 😡+4.

The Retro Reviews affected:
RR#2 “Scrooge, or, Marley’s Ghost” (1901)
RR#3 “A Christmas Carol” (1910)
RR#4 “Scrooge” (1913) (aka “Old Scrooge”)
RR#8 “Scrooge” (1928) (audio recording)
RR#16 “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1964)
RR#17 “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (1965)
RR#18 “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” (1966)
RR#19 “The Little Drummer Boy” (1968)
RR#21 “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” (1970)
RR#44 The Wizard of Oz (1939)

This completes the “back pages” of The Realm Report #10.

See you in 2026!

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Keep the comments coming!

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Last updated 2025-12-31

In the early 1990s, Pure Dark Whimsy was on full display for the three stops on our 2025 Christmas Tour. If you missed those reviews, you can find a summary and links here:

Our next stop is in 1994. The Dark is toned down a bit, but we’re still looking at Dark Whimsy. (😎8.8 | 🌚8 🌝11) Tim Allen becomes cinema’s most well-known Santa in The Santa Clause. It’s a solid Christmas comedy, but I was a little surprised that it made nine of the ten all-time best Christmas movies lists that I looked at, because for me, it was maybe a double, not a home run.

B+v

Family Suitability
+ ✅3️⃣ OK for older kids. (Grades 4+) | PGa

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ⚠️0️⃣ Tolerable (Not in alignment with Judeo-Christian values, but focuses more on entertaining, not on advocating its viewpoint or pushing an agenda.)

Our next stop jumped ahead nine years, for our first Christmas film for the 21st century. Elf was an instant Christmas classic, but there are holdouts: It only made nine of the ten all-time best Christmas movies lists that I consulted. At 😎9.9 | 🌚9 🌝13, it’s just a whisker short on Dark to be Pure Dark Whimsy, but it’s top of the scale in Whimsy. Like Buddy the elf dwarfs the other elves, the Whimsy in Elf dwarfs the Whimsy in most other movies! And it’s definitely at or near the top of the list, depending on who you ask, when it comes to the funniest Christmas movies ever!

A+^

Family Suitability
+ ✅2️⃣ OK for teens and adults. (Grades 7+) | PGa

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎1️⃣ Fair/Slightly Favorable

On Christmas morning, my gift to you was the Substack debut of my Retro Review of Eureka s4e21 “Do You See What I See?”. This little gem is Pure Dark Whimsy (😎😎10.9 | 🌚10 🌝13) from 2011, and it’s a loving tribute to, and spoof of, animation and old-time Christmas specials.

Now I understand that it was Christmas, and family is a priority over Substack. And I get that this isn’t a famous Christmas film that all of you are curious to learn if I like or dislike the way you do. But I was still disappointed that this review hasn’t received a lot of views yet.

I’m not on Substack expecting to light the world on fire and get tens of thousands of subscribers by reviewing old movies and TV shows. I’m here because I want to encourage people to revisit good memories from their past, and to share good and great entertainment with people who have missed it so far. And this is a television series Christmas episode that I don’t think you should miss! Check out my review and decide for yourself!

A+^

Family Suitability
+ ✅2️⃣ OK for teens and adults. (Grades 7+) | TV-PG

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ⚠️0️⃣ Tolerable (Not in alignment with Judeo-Christian values, but focuses more on entertaining, not on advocating its viewpoint or pushing an agenda.)

This completes our 2025 Christmas Tour. I had planned to include the 2025 Christmas Leftovers as part of the tour/project, but last year the 2024 Christmas Follow-Up was a separate project, and I just decided it makes more sense to do it that way again this time. Look for that to happen the first twelve days of January.

In order to fit the 2025 Christmas Tour into its original schedule of 31 days, I have decided to add a little behind-the-scenes tour epilogue in The Realm Report #10, which will be posted on December 31. I’ll share a little bit about my process of debuting reviews to Substack that I previously posted just to a handful of family and friends. And I learned a lot during this project, so I will share some lessons learned and how they will affect the rickretro.com website going forward.

Don't forget the popcorn!

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Last updated 2025-12-27

In the early 1980s stops on our 2025 Christmas Tour, we visited a couple of Pure Dark Whimsy feature films, A Christmas Story and Gremlins.

Everything changed in the late 1980s, where the focus was on big name stars.

Now, we find ourselves in the early 1990s and Pure Dark Whimsy is the name of the game. We visited three outstanding films with Christmas themes or settings, and every single one of them registered very high on our Dark Whimsy meter. Two of the three were from Dark Whimsy master Tim Burton, so it’s hardly surprising!

First up was Edward Scissorhands, probably my favorite Tim Burton film. It registered 😎😎12.0 | 🌚12 🌝12 on our Whimsy meter, just missing the top reading on both scales. It was on eight of the ten all-time best Christmas movies lists that I consulted.

A+^

Family Suitability
+ ⚠️0️⃣ Problematic for teens and sensitive adults. | PG-13

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎1️⃣ Fair/Slightly Favorable

Next we checked in on The Muppet Christmas Carol. At 😎😎11.9 | 🌚11 🌝13, it isn’t quite as Dark as Edward Scissorhands, but reaches the maximum reading for Whimsy. Not only that, but it’s a superb choice for the whole family to enjoy together, and it was a unanimous selection on all ten all-time best Christmas movies lists that I checked.

A+^

Family Suitability
+ ✅4️⃣ OK for younger kids. (Grades K+) | G

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎2️⃣ Good/Moderately Favorable

After our look in on the Muppets delightful Christmas entry, we returned to Tim Burton Town, where we visited The Nightmare Before Christmas. Here Burton goes next level on both Dark and Whimsy, getting the maximum reading on both scales! 😎😎13.0 | 🌚13 🌝13 !!! This film also was a unanimous selection on all ten all-time best Christmas movies lists that I inventoried. All that said, while The Nightmare Before Christmas is a great film, and a double-holiday classic, I must admit a slight preference for Edward Scissorhands and The Muppet Christmas Carol. But whatever order you rank these three movies in, you can’t go wrong. Each one is fantastic.

A+>

Family Suitability
+ ✅3️⃣ OK for older kids. (Grades 4+) | PGa

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎0️⃣ Neutral (No clear values of any type or ⚠️ includes both negative messages and positive messages, which balance out.)

There are two more Christmas-themed Retro Reviews making their Substack debuts over the next two days, and then a special gift on Christmas morning, the Substack debut of the Retro Review for my favorite Christmas-themed television series episode.

Don't forget the popcorn!

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Last updated 2025-12-22

Merry Christmas! 🎅

This will perhaps be the last issue of The Realm Report in 2025, so let me wish you all a very merry Christmas, and a happy new year!

A Schedule Change

I’m adding twelve days to Project #4, the 2025 Christmas Tour.

I wish I could say that I’m giving you twelve additional great reviews, but the truth is I just can’t keep the original schedule.

I’ve taken a couple of the planned reviews and moved them from the main tour into the Christmas Leftovers portion of the tour. That includes the one scheduled for today. Then I’ve also added in a couple of post-Christmas recovery days. So instead of winding up Project #4 on December 31, I’m now aiming at wrapping it up on January 12. The updated schedule plan is posted here:

I thought I could do it all in December. In my imagination I figured that it shouldn’t be too hard to reformat and upload reviews I wrote last year and release one each day. But in reality, I also wanted to re-watch each reviewed work so that I could add more information than I used to include. Specifically, I’m talking about the Dark Whimsy, Family Suitability and Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values ratings.

I feel like all three of those are valuable ratings that I bring to my reviews. Nowhere else that I know of can you find a Dark Whimsy rating!

Sure, there are lots of places that discuss content, but most of them come from a rather permissive viewpoint. I’m a little tougher. From my Christian viewpoint, I think that when content is questionable or borderline, you should wait until children have matured more before exposing them to that content.

When it comes to Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values, I know of at least a couple websites that address that issue. In this case, I feel like they are often too tough. For example, a film that satirizes bad behavior is not condoning bad behavior, it is mocking bad behavior. I try to look at how ideas are presented to discern the intent of the creators and the messages that they are trying to send.

All that to say that adding those ratings to my previous reviews that lacked them is really important to me. And it’s a major reason for this project. It gives me an opportunity to accomplish the re-reviews while also bringing the content from the original reviews to my now larger audience.

But Here’s the Thing…

Every now and then, I mention that I have a disability, a chronic disease, that sometimes interferes with my ability to work. The weird thing is, that has played no role in this particular schedule change. I’m not entirely surprised. For some reason I’ve noticed that in November and December of most years, my chronic symptoms usually are less severe than the rest of the year. You’d think maybe the climate is part of the reason, but I’m not sure. I’m based in Los Angeles, where the weather doesn’t change much to begin with, and I’m basically homebound in a controlled environment. So who knows?

Instead, it’s just the amount of work, more than expected, that has forced me to extend the schedule. Just to give you an idea, in order to feel like I’m giving an objective accurate report on those three ratings mentioned earlier, I take notes on my phone during a viewing (or reading) of the work I’m reviewing. Typically that at least doubles the time it takes to watch the film or read the literary work. Sometimes, with more complicated works (more adult content or works sending mixed messages), it can triple the reviewing time. So a two-hour film can take me four to six hours to analyze. Then add a couple more hours for finding screenshots, formatting for Substack, etc., and well, I’m working too more hours than I can manage.

I considered keeping to the schedule just by posting old reviews without the new analysis, but I really want to get those done once and for all. So I’m going to keep doing the new analysis, but I can’t keep up the pace of the old schedule while staying healthy and keeping other holiday obligations.

2026 Plans…

…remain uncertain. But I can tell you one thing: I’m resolving to only schedule new projects after having completed at least 75% of the work on them! I don’t like changing release schedules that I’ve published and very much want to remove the necessity of that happening any more.

Behind the Scenes

While working on reviews posted during the current 2025 Christmas Tour, I tweaked a few things that have slightly changed some of the Dark Whimsy ratings and Family Suitability Details ratings. I’ve updated the former changes to this website, and still haven’t updated the latter. I don’t want to take the time right now to complete that, but I will make those changes soon, and include a list of the changes in the next issue of The Realm Report.

—

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Keep the comments coming!

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Last updated 2025-12-18

After visiting the early 1980s in our 2025 Christmas Tour, we then turned to the late 1980s, and three of my reviews previously posted to the text group in 2024 made their Substack debuts. In the early 1980s, the Christmas films we looked at were generally more story-driven, while in the late 1980s, we visited three films that were more star-driven.

First up was Die Hard, the 1988 Bruce Willis hit that turned him from a rising television star into a bona fide big-screen action hero. It was on all ten of the all-time best Christmas movie lists that I checked, so at least among the list-makers, it’s unanimously a Christmas movie. This despite that it was actually a summer hit in its debut year, released in July of 1988!

A+^

Family Suitability
+ ❌2️⃣ Moderate adults-only content. | R

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎3️⃣ Very Good/Strongly Favorable

Bill Murray was already a star when 1988’s Scrooged debuted. It made eight of ten all-time best Christmas movies lists that I checked. One of my least favorite performances by Murray led one of my least favorite adaptations of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

C ^

Family Suitability
+ ❌1️⃣ Light adults-only content. | PG-13

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ⛔4️⃣ Horrible/Extremely Unfavorable

Our last late 1980s Christmas film was the 1989 Chevy Chase vehicle, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. It landed on nine of ten all-time best Christmas movies lists that I checked. Like Murray, Chase was already a star via Saturday Night Live and previous films. Unlike Murray in Scrooged, Chase gave one of his best performances ever in this film, managing over-the-top bumbling slapstick, and remaining a warm-hearted sympathetic character, while simultaneously being a jerk who delivers pointed sarcastic commentary on at least half of the other characters in the film!

A+v

Family Suitability
+ ❌1️⃣ Light adults-only content. | PG-13

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ⚠️0️⃣ Tolerable (Not in alignment with Judeo-Christian values, but focuses more on entertaining, not on advocating its viewpoint or pushing an agenda.)

The Substack debut of Retro Review #29: Home Alone (1990), originally scheduled for this afternoon has been postponed. Instead, The Realm Report #9 will be published, giving you a little insight as to why.

Don't forget the popcorn!

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Last updated 2025-12-18

The last recap of our 2025 Christmas Tour, Part 2 of “A Very Special Christmas” linked the Retro Reviews of the second tier of Christmas TV specials that ran from the later 1960s to 1970. There wasn’t anything worth checking out right away in the rest of the 1970s, so we headed straight for the early 1980s, and three of my reviews previously posted to the text group in 2024 made their Substack debuts.

First up was Trading Places, the 1983 Eddie Murphy vehicle that was part of his rise to fame. It would have counted as Dark Whimsy were it not for the abundance of adult content that sucked out the Whimsy. We won’t even call it Dark Whimzy, because what delightful childish elements it had were overcome by the “mature” content.

Trading Places is a cynical look at human nature with villains that posit environment vs. genetics as a false dichotomy for explaining good and bad behavior, completely ignoring human free will, to their own undoing. Nevertheless, it is a very funny movie that remains popular and found it’s way to eight of ten all-time best Christmas movies lists that I checked. So I reviewed it.

B ^

Family Suitability
+ ❌3️⃣ Heavy adults-only content. | R

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ⛔3️⃣ Very Poor/Heavily Unfavorable

Next up was the Pure Dark Whimsy masterpiece of comedy and nostalgia, 1983’s A Christmas Story. It made nine of ten all-time best Christmas movies lists that I checked. Our Retro Review praises this film enough that I probably don’t need to add any more praise here. Read the review and see for yourself!

A+^

Family Suitability
+ ✅1️⃣ Mostly OK for teens and adults. (Grades 10+, ⚠️ Might be considered inappropriate for sensitive teens and adults.) | PGc

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎2️⃣ Good/Moderately Favorable

Our last early 1980s Christmas film was the over-the-top Pure Dark Whimsy 1984 film, Gremlins. It also made nine of ten all-time best Christmas movies lists that I checked. If you like your Dark Whimsy really Dark and reading strongly on the comedy portion of the Whimsy scale, this one is for you. If you don’t, it’s not for you. By the time you finish reading our Retro Review of Gremlins, you should know if it’s in your wheelhouse or not.

A+v

Family Suitability
+ ✅1️⃣ Mostly OK for teens and adults. (Grades 10+, ⚠️ Might be considered inappropriate for sensitive teens and adults.) | PGc

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ⛔1️⃣ Subpar/Slightly Unfavorable

The Substack debuts of Retro Reviews for three Christmas films from the later 1980s are due up between now and the next recap summary. Enjoy!

Don't forget the popcorn!

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Last updated 2025-12-14

The last recap of our 2025 Christmas Tour, Part 1 of “A Very Special Christmas” linked the Retro Reviews of the “Big Three” Christmas TV specials that premiered in the 1960s and still dominate “Best Christmas Movies Ever” lists today. Yesterday, our tour included the Substack debuts of the Retro Reviews for the second tier of Christmas TV specials. These three specials are not revered as highly as the Big Three, but are still well-regarded. All of them made at least three of ten “Best Christmas Movies Ever” lists I consulted, with the second one found on four lists.

Since those reviews will be post-dated soon, to reflect their initial debuts to our pre-Substack text group during our 2024 Christmas Tour, this summary post will preserve their Substack debuts for current and future readers following along with the 2025 Christmas Tour.

All three of these second-tier Christmas specials were based on songs. Up first was the special more focused on the Christian meaning of Christmas than any other, including even the Big Three.

A v

Family Suitability
+ ✅4️⃣ OK for younger kids. (Grades K+) | Approved

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎4️⃣ Excellent/Very Strongly Favorable

Next up was the second-tier special that landed on more all-time best lists than either of the other two. I’m not sure why. It’s a good special to be sure, very cute, and great for kids. But of all six of the Christmas specials I’ve reviewed, it’s my least favorite for adults. Find out why in the Retro Review!

A v

Family Suitability
+ ✅4️⃣ OK for younger kids. (Grades K+) | TV-G

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎2️⃣ Good/Moderately Favorable

Finally, we concluded our look at the second-tier of Christmas specials with the Retro Review of the one that almost merits being in the first-tier. In the review, I’ll briefly tell you the main reason why it missed out, but spend a lot more time telling you about the reasons why it was a great TV special in its own right. If you missed this review yesterday, click through and read it today!

A+>

Family Suitability
+ ✅4️⃣ OK for younger kids. (Grades K+) | Approved

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎4️⃣ Excellent/Very Strongly Favorable

From here through Christmas Eve, starting this afternoon, our 2025 Christmas Tour will present the Substack debut of a Retro Review for a Christmas movie previously posted only to our text group during the 2024 Christmas Tour. Every few days I will include a recap post like this one so that both tours can be followed in the proper sequence by future visitors to our archives.

Don't forget the popcorn!

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Last updated 2025-12-12

As our 2025 Christmas Tour leaves the post-war era, we enter the 1960s where the new trend is the TV Christmas special. There are three that have been the most enduring to this day and landed on most of the “Best Christmas Movies Ever” lists that I checked, even though one could dispute whether or not they are “movies” that should be compared against feature films. That said, our first and third stops were on nine of the ten lists I checked, and the second was on all ten.

A+^

Family Suitability
+ ✅4️⃣ OK for younger kids. (Grades K+) | Approved

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎3️⃣ Very Good/Strongly Favorable

Notably, all three of these specials are appropriate for the whole family, even the younger children. They also all align very well with Judeo-Christian values, most notably this second stop that shares the Christmas message straight from the Gospel of Luke.

A+^

Family Suitability
+ ✅4️⃣ OK for younger kids. (Grades K+) | TV-G

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎4️⃣ Excellent/Very Strongly Favorable

All three of these Christmas specials register high on the Whimsy scale, and while the first two have enough Dark to be considered Dark Whimsy, this final stop is Pure Dark Whimsy from Dr. Seuss, a master of Dark Whimsy, beloved by children of all ages.

A+^

Family Suitability
+ ✅4️⃣ OK for younger kids. (Grades K+) | Approved

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎3️⃣ Very Good/Strongly Favorable

After visiting all three, feel free to comment in the post below with your opinion as to which of these specials is best in a variety of categories. And definitely visit the post to vote in the poll for overall best!

Tomorrow our tour takes us to the second tier of Christmas TV specials, sitting just below the Big Three in stature, but still more renowned than all the rest.

Don't forget the popcorn!

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Last updated 2025-12-10

The last few stops on our 2025 Christmas Tour were movies set in New England, New York state, or New York City. All of them included eligible bachelors finding romance during the snowy holiday season, typically soldiers back home from World War Two. Thus were the holiday filmmaking trends in the 1940s and 1950s, a regular Yuletide Nor’easter! These trends are not ending with today’s stop on our tour!

Yesterday we visited the Big Apple for Miracle on 34th Street. The romance there wasn’t a big part of the story and WWII wasn’t mentioned. But we at least had snow in New York trending.

A ^

Family Suitability
+ ✅3️⃣ OK for older kids. (Grades 4+) | Approved

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎1️⃣ Fair/Slightly Favorable

Today’s stop on our tour doesn’t just confirm our holiday trends, it doubles down on them. We have scenes in New York City and New England. (This time it’s Vermont, not Connecticut.) Not only that, but we have not one, but two returning soldiers as our eligible bachelors in danger of romance. And for this epic Christmas musical, the holiday filmmaking trends are brought to you in living color!

A ^

Family Suitability
+ ✅2️⃣ OK for teens and adults. (Grades 7+) | Approved

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎2️⃣ Good/Moderately Favorable

I gave Miracle on 34th Street and White Christmas equally strong grades in the top third of the “A” range. If you’ve seen both which do you prefer?

We’d love to hear the reason for your vote in the comments!

Leave a comment

Tomorrow, we leave the holiday trends of the 1940s and 1950s behind. In the 1960s the new trend was holiday television specials, and we will visit the big three that kicked off that trend.

Don't forget the popcorn!

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Last updated 2025-12-09

The last stop on our 2025 Christmas Tour was in 1945 Connecticut, but we will back up a couple of years to pick up a 1943 short story, because, well, it sets up the next stop.

A+>

Family Suitability
+ ✅2️⃣ OK for teens and adults. (Grades 7+) | NR

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎3️⃣ Very Good/Strongly Favorable

The next film on our tour was on all ten “All-Time Best Christmas Movie” lists that I checked. It topped some of those lists. It’s not everyone’s favorite Christmas movie, but it would be a contender in any poll. If our last stop was an elegant little lobby, this stop is the exquisite and grand museum to which it provides an entrance.

A+^

Family Suitability
+ ✅2️⃣ OK for teens and adults. (Grades 7+)

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎4️⃣ Excellent/Very Strongly Favorable

Tomorrow, another review posted last December to the text group makes its Substack debut.

Don't forget the popcorn!

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Last updated 2025-12-07

As our 2025 Christmas Tour takes us into the 1940’s, yesterday we visited The Shop Around the Corner. Set in a Budapest, Hungary, leathergoods shop, it’s a crowd-pleasing romantic dramedy that ignored the cloud of War that had already descended on Europe. A safe decision in the 1940 holiday season with the United States not yet officially participating in the Second World War. James Stewart is the eligible bachelor, an ambitious young salesman working at the shop.

A ^

Family Suitability
+ ✅2️⃣ OK for teens and adults. (Grades 7+) | Approved

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎1️⃣ Fair/Slightly Favorable

The next stop on our tour finds us back in the States, near the end of World War Two. In fact, it was released during the three months between victory in Europe and victory in Japan. A romantic comedy of the screwball comedy genre, this film didn’t ignore the combat, giving us an ever so short glimpse of a “You sunk my battleship!” moment. But it quickly leaves the war far behind, giving us a returning war hero as the eligible bachelor. Delivering escapist romance and the wacky situations that screwball comedy is known to bring, was just the right recipe for war-weary audiences.

A >

Family Suitability
+ ✅1️⃣ Mostly OK for teens and adults. (Grades 10+, ⚠️ Might be considered inappropriate for sensitive teens and adults.) | Approved

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ⚠️0️⃣ Tolerable (Not in alignment with Judeo-Christian values, but focuses more on entertaining, not on advocating its viewpoint or pushing an agenda.)

Up next, a short story and the classic film it inspired.

Don't forget the popcorn!

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Last updated 2025-12-06

Yesterday, we visited a bunch of short films based on Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” and today our 2025 Christmas Tour (a reboot of the 2024 Tour for new subscribers) takes a brief break from Scrooge as we enter the 1930s and leave silent films in our rearview mirror. Our first feature film on our tour, a Laurel and Hardy classic, only made three of the ten all-time best Christmas movie lists I checked, but it was the oldest entry on any list, so it felt like a must-see.

B+>

Family Suitability
+ ✅3️⃣ OK for older kids. (Grades 4+) | Approved

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎1️⃣ Fair/Slightly Favorable

Next up we’re going back to Dickens with the first two feature-length Carols on our Itinerary. The first wasn’t on any all-time best list, but it’s not too shabby, and the second only haunted two lists, but perhaps deserves a better legacy than that. By viewing these two we complete our round-up of the early Ebenezers as a reference point for future travels:

A ^

Family Suitability
+ ✅2️⃣ OK for teens and adults. (Grades 7+) | Approved

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎4️⃣ Excellent/Very Strongly Favorable

A+v

Family Suitability
+ ✅3️⃣ OK for older kids. (Grades 4+) | Approved

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎4️⃣ Excellent/Very Strongly Favorable

After this we move on into some of the best Christmas films from the 1940s and 1950s, beginning tomorrow with a review from the text group that has never previously been uploaded to Substack.

Don't forget the popcorn!

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Based on post originally posted to text group 2024-12-02
Last updated 2025-12-04

We kicked off our 2025 Christmas Tour (a reboot of the 2024 Tour for new subscribers) on December 1 by revisiting the review of the classic Dickens’ novella, A Christmas Carol.

A+^

Family Suitability
+ ✅2️⃣ OK for teens and adults. (Grades 7+) | NR

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎4️⃣ Excellent

Now that we’ve read the original novella for comparison purposes, our visual journey can begin. I invite you to read each review below to get a feel for the early short film adaptations of Dickens’ classic tale. If you have more time, watch each one and then join us in the comment section of the review (no spoilers) or the chat for the review (spoilers and passionate analysis invited).

Later we’ll get to a couple of the best adaptations of this Dickens Christmas standard, but for today we’ll just visit the earliest ones.

From 1901 to 1928, ten films based on Scrooge’s travails were made. Nine were short films (40 minutes or less). Two of the shorts and the feature-length film are lost and must be skipped. All are in black and white, all are silent films except for the final stop. We have seven stops to make, but they’re all quick.

To watch them, just click on the embedded YouTube link in each review, or go to YouTube and search on the title, followed by the year. For many, there will be a number of options, with varying picture quality and different added music (which can really impact your enjoyment, but I don’t have time or desire to rate every variation, so I’ll pick one and go for it.) Tip: check the runtime to verify you’re on the right video.

Off we go to:
1901 “Scrooge, or, Marley’s Ghost” /£ (6 min, 20 sec) (the £ means it’s a British film)

B ^

Family Suitability
+ ✅4️⃣ OK for younger kids. (Grades K+) | NR

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎1️⃣ Fair

We can’t watch the lost short film:
1908 “A Christmas Carol”

But we can visit:
1910 “A Christmas Carol” (13 min)

A ^

Family Suitability
+ ✅4️⃣ OK for younger kids. (Grades K+) | NR

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎3️⃣ Very Good/Strongly Favorable

We must also skip this lost Italian film:
1910 “Il sogno dell’usuraio” /€IT

Two stops in Dickens’ home country follow:
1913 “Scrooge” /£ (aka “Old Scrooge”) (40 min)
1914 “A Christmas Carol” /£ (22 min)

C-v

Family Suitability
+ ✅4️⃣ OK for younger kids. (Grades K+) | NR

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎3️⃣ Very Good/Strongly Favorable

A ^

Family Suitability
+ ✅3️⃣ OK for older kids. (Grades 4+) | NR

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎3️⃣ Very Good/Strongly Favorable

Then we skip the first feature film based on Scrooge, as it’s also a lost film:
1916 The Right to Be Happy

Our last three stops remain in jolly ole England:
1922 “Scrooge” /£ (18 min, but that original version is lost, they later released a version with sound at 10 min, and we can watch that.)
1923 “Scrooge” (aka “A Christmas Carol”) /£ (25 min)
1928 “Scrooge” /£ (12 min)

B-^

Family Suitability
+ ✅3️⃣ OK for older kids. (Grades 4+) | NR

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎2️⃣ Good/Moderately Favorable

A ?

Family Suitability
+ ✅3️⃣ OK for older kids. (Grades 4+) | NR

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎3️⃣ Very Good/Strongly Favorable

B v

Family Suitability
+ ✅4️⃣ OK for younger kids. (Grades K+) | NR

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎2️⃣ Good/Moderately Favorable

Our very last stop was the first “Scrooge” short with a soundtrack, but alas, only the soundtrack has survived! You can listen on YouTube but search “Scrooge 1926” instead—it's mislabeled.

You can watch all seven movies in just a bit over two hours and get a great glimpse of early film adaptation technology. If you read the novella right before watching them, you will receive a great education on both the creativity and limitations of early cinema.

Don't forget the popcorn!

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Based on post originally posted to text group 2024-12-01
Last updated 2025-12-03

Yesterday we kicked off a new project in The Realm Report, but every project needs an official directory/itinerary, so here it is today.

We are touring via Retro Reviews many of the films generally regarded as among the Best Christmas Movies of All-Time. I surveyed 10 different lists from varying sources, most including 100 or so entries, and counted the number of lists that included each prospective review subject.

A word to the reasonable skeptics: The dates on Project #3 Itinerary, which is as yet incomplete, took a beating, so it’s probably 50/50 whether or not I can keep to this schedule. But in our favor this time, is that all of the reviews were written last year. So it’s just a matter of updating the reviews for Substack, adding stills from the films, formatting and all that good stuff. I hope to also re-watch all or most of the reviewed films to add more information, bringing them up to my current review standards, but that takes longer and might be left out in some cases to meet the dates below.

For the reviews below, after the name and year of the reviewed work, I will include, where applicable, how many Best Christmas Movies lists that each film made out of ten 🎅, followed by the Retro Review Grade given (explained here). The next line includes the Family Suitability Rating I have given 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 (explained here) and the Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values Rating I have given ✝️ (explained here). Last but not least comes the Dark Whimsy score and readings (explained here). These will be added after each day has passed, so check back to see where we have been at a glance.

Dec 1 | Post: Home for Christmas (The Realm Report #8), project kickoff post
Linked Review: A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas (1843), novella by Charles Dickens [n/a] A+^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅2️⃣ | ✝️❎4️⃣ | 😎😎10.1 | 🌚11 🌝10

Dec 2 | Post: 31 Days of Christmas: The Itinerary for a December to Remember [You are here.]

Dec 3 | Post: The Ultimate Guide to Early Film Adaptations of A Christmas Carol. (1901-1928)
Linked Reviews:
“Scrooge, or, Marley’s Ghost” (1901) [n/a] B ^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅4️⃣ | ✝️❎1️⃣ | 😎8.1 | 🌚9 🌝8

“A Christmas Carol” (1910) [n/a] A >
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅4️⃣ | ✝️❎3️⃣ | 😎😎10.0 | 🌚10 🌝10

“Scrooge” (1913) (aka “Old Scrooge”) [n/a] C-v
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅4️⃣ | ✝️❎3️⃣ | 😎9.1 | 🌚10 🌝9

“A Christmas Carol” (1914) [n/a] A ^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅3️⃣ | ✝️❎3️⃣ | 😎9.4 | 🌚9 🌝10

“Scrooge” (1922) <sound edit version> (1929) [n/a] B-^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅3️⃣ | ✝️❎2️⃣ | 😎9.2 | 🌚10 🌝9

“Scrooge” (1923) (aka “A Christmas Carol”) [n/a] A ?
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅3️⃣ | ✝️❎3️⃣ | 😎9.1 | 🌚10 🌝9

“Scrooge” (1928) <audio recording> [n/a] B v
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅4️⃣ | ✝️❎2️⃣ | 😎7.2 | 🌚9 🌝7

Dec 4 | Post: Do You Hear What I Hear? - Christmas Films of the 1930s
Linked Reviews:
Babes in Toyland (1934) (aka March of the Wooden Soldiers) 🎅 [3] B+>
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅3️⃣ | ✝️❎1️⃣ | 😎9.8 | 🌚9 🌝12

Scrooge (1935) 🎅 [0] A ^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅2️⃣ | ✝️❎4️⃣ | 😎7.4 | 🌚10 🌝7

A Christmas Carol (1938) 🎅 [2] A+v
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅3️⃣ | ✝️❎4️⃣ | 😎9.4 | 🌚9 🌝10

Dec 5 | Review: The Shop Around the Corner (1940) 🎅 [8] A ^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅2️⃣ | ✝️❎1️⃣ | 🚫5.2 | 🌚7 🌝5

Dec 6 | Post: Bride Shopping at Christmas
Linked Review: Christmas in Connecticut (1945) 🎅 [8] A >
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅1️⃣⚠️ | ✝️⚠️0️⃣ | 🚫6.3 | 🌚6 🌝7

Dec 7 | Post: Christmas in Bedford Falls
Linked Reviews:
“The Greatest Gift” (1943, short story) [n/a] A+>
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅2️⃣ | ✝️❎3️⃣ | 😎7.1 | 🌚8 🌝7

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) 🎅 [10] A+^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅2️⃣ | ✝️❎4️⃣ | 😎8.1 | 🌚9 🌝8

Dec 8 | Review: Miracle on 34th Street (1947) 🎅 [9] A ^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅3️⃣ | ✝️❎1️⃣ | 🚫4.7 | 🌚4 🌝9

Dec 9 | Post: Christmas Is Trending!
Linked Review: White Christmas (1954) 🎅 [8] A ^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅2️⃣ | ✝️❎2️⃣ | 🚫6.5 | 🌚6 🌝8

Dec 10 | Post: A Very Special Christmas, Part 1
Linked Reviews:
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1964) 🎅 [9] A+^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅4️⃣ | ✝️❎3️⃣ | 😎8.8 | 🌚8 🌝11

“A Charlie Brown Christmas” (1965) 🎅 [10] A+^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅4️⃣ | ✝️❎4️⃣ | 😎7.8 | 🌚7 🌝11

“How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (1966) 🎅 [9] A+^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅4️⃣ | ✝️❎3️⃣ | 😎😎10.7 | 🌚10 🌝12

Linked Post: Rudolph vs. Charlie Brown vs. The Grinch: Who’s The Best? (aka Rick Retro’s Rankings #1: The Big Three Christmas TV Specials)

Dec 11 | Reviews:
“The Little Drummer Boy” (1968) 🎅 [3] A v
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅4️⃣ | ✝️❎4️⃣ | 😎😎10.0 | 🌚10 🌝10

“Frosty the Snowman” (1969) 🎅 [4] A v
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅4️⃣ | ✝️❎2️⃣ | 😎8.8 | 🌚8 🌝11

“Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” (1970) 🎅 [3] A+>
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅4️⃣ | ✝️❎4️⃣ | 😎😎10.4 | 🌚10 🌝11

Dec 12 | Post: A Very Special Christmas, Part 2
Review: Trading Places (1983) 🎅 [8] B ^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦❌3️⃣ | ✝️⛔3️⃣ | 🚫3.4 | 🌚8 🌝3

Dec 13 | Review: A Christmas Story (1983) 🎅 [9] A+^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅1️⃣⚠️ | ✝️❎2️⃣ | 😎😎10.8 | 🌚10 🌝13

Dec 14 | Review: Gremlins (1984) 🎅 [9] A+v
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅1️⃣⚠️ | ✝️⛔1️⃣ | 😎😎12.8 | 🌚12 🌝13

Post: A Christmas Story of Gremlins Trading Places

Dec 15 | Review: Die Hard (1988) 🎅 [10] A+^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦❌2️⃣ | ✝️❎3️⃣ | 🚫5.6 | 🌚12 🌝5

Dec 16 | Review: Scrooged (1988) 🎅 [8] C ^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦❌1️⃣ | ✝️⛔4️⃣ | 🚫5.6 | 🌚12 🌝5

Dec 17 | Review: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) 🎅 [9] A+v
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦❌1️⃣ | ✝️⚠️0️⃣ | 🕶️8.6 | 🌚8 🌝10

Dec 18 | Post: The Stars Are Out for Christmas
Post: 12 More Days of Christmas (The Realm Report #9)

Dec 19 | Review: Edward Scissorhands (1990) 🎅 [8] A+^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦⚠️0️⃣ | ✝️❎1️⃣ | 😎😎12.0 | 🌚12 🌝12

Dec 20 | Review: The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) 🎅 [10] A+^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅4️⃣ | ✝️❎2️⃣ | 😎😎11.9 | 🌚11 🌝13

Dec 21 | Review: The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) 🎅 [10] A+>
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅3️⃣ | ✝️❎0️⃣⚠️ | 😎😎13.0 | 🌚13 🌝13

Dec 22 | Post: Of Scissors, Muppets and Nightmares

Dec 23 | Review: The Santa Clause (1994) 🎅 [9] B+v
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅3️⃣ | ✝️⚠️0️⃣ | 😎8.8 | 🌚8 🌝11

Dec 24 | Review: Elf (2003) 🎅 [9] A+^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅2️⃣ | ✝️❎1️⃣ | 😎9.9 | 🌚9 🌝13

Dec 25 | Review: Eureka ep64/s4 e21 “Do You See What I See?” (2011) 🎅 [0] A+^
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✅2️⃣ | ✝️⚠️0️⃣ | 😎😎10.9 | 🌚10 🌝13

Dec 27 | Post: Wrapping Up the 2025 Christmas Tour

Dec 31 | Post: Moving On to a New Year (The Realm Report #10)

Coming in January: What’s That in the Fridge?! (Project #5: 2025 Christmas Leftovers)
and finally, from January 13-17:
Rick Retro’s Rankings: All-Time Best Christmas Movies
Rick Retro’s Rankings #7: #25-#16
Rick Retro’s Rankings #8: #15-#11
Rick Retro’s Rankings #9: #10-#6
Rick Retro’s Rankings #10: #5-#3
Rick Retro’s Rankings #11: #2-#1

Don’t forget the popcorn!

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Last updated 2026-01-12