31 Days of Christmas: The Itinerary for a December to Remember
Rick Retro’s Realm, Project #4: The 2025 Christmas Tour—Retro Reviews of top Christmas films make their Substack debuts!
Project #4: The 2025 Christmas Tour—Retro Reviews of top Christmas films make their Substack debuts!
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
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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