X'mas Musical Drama Full Movie | A Christmas Without Snow (1980)

[@grudgerun]

John Houseman is 100% not messing around.

[@r.j.powers381]

My favourite moments start with the announcements of the soloists. Remember this and its low-key religious tone for a Christmas themed film. Very nice

[@SuspenseESCAPEremastered]

Michael Learned was really good looking.

[@JustTrying87]

I don't know why I like this movie so much, it's not really Christmasy, but it's an interesting character piece I guess?

[@toddbonin6926]

For those about to watch: I was 15 when this film first came on TV. My mom was a fan of Michael Learned and recorded the movie on our Betamax machine. She would watch it at Christmas each year afterwards, but I would always find something else to do. After one viewing, I just didn’t find it very “Christmasy.” Well my mom’s been gone 34 years now, and when I saw this film pop up, I instantly felt nostalgic. Tonight I ordered a pizza and gave it a go. To be sure, Michael Learned and John Houseman are masters at their craft. I’m also a fan of Calvin Levels and Beah Richards. But this movie simply tries to be too many things and does none of them well. In 90 minutes you are confronted with a single mother who can’t find work, her incessantly nagging mother, her 12 year old son who stows away on a bus across the country and finds time to visit a casino in Reno, a bizarre romantic hike that almost turns into date rape, a pastor whose family dysfunction pushes his son into violent rebellion accompanied by racial profiling and wrongful accusation, a woman who loses her husband to cancer with no backstory, a church financial crisis, a woman being forced out of the choir she loves because her voice is just too old and doesn’t sound good anymore, a diva who tosses around insults that make you cringe ... all topped off by the choir director’s colossal stroke. Other than a guilt inducing and depressing Christmas sermon decrying materialistic Christmas feasts and traditions, there is nothing about Christmas in this entire production. Oh ... there is the backdrop of Handel’s Messiah If you really like that piece, it’s all over this film. I appreciate the generosity of the person who took the time to post this film. I did enjoy a little of the nostalgia and was surprised at how well I remembered certain parts after 40 years. But this film is ABSOLUTELY AWFUL. If you yearn to be depressed this holiday season, just watch the news for five minutes. Don’t kill an evening like I did.

[@SuspenseESCAPEremastered]

The one I watch for nostalgia (every year, now) is Christmas on Walton's Mountain . . . and you're right. This isn't very good!

[@KansaiTeacher]

Absolutely awful? I found it anything but awful. Quite delightful in fact. Very different to today’s movies but that’s not a bad thing. I like the pace and the sense of community that is portrayed. It’s not without faults of course but what is?

[@annecohen8927]

I used to sing in a choir. This movie is not awful!!! I love this movie and especially after the church organ was repaired by the choir members . It sure is incredible moments of belonging to a special place as a member of a congregation and the community. The Messiah brings a powerful spirit of holiness and grace through harmony and devotion. This is certainly better than what’s been happening right now in the Middle East, Palestine and Gaza. It’s close enough to where we failed as a nation.

[@rivkahyaron2958]

Hay partes del Requiem en re menor, K. 626, de Mozart.

[@jusb1066]

So it's a good Christmas then?