A sweetly touching and very humorous short story of the conflict of ideas and will between a starchy teacher nearing retirement and the new, keen young principal over the annual Xmas pageant at a British inner-city elementary school. In the quest for cultural relevance, the battle lines are clear: the rigidly traditional vs the outlandishly contemporary! For me, it is a must-see favourite every year, despite being in poor colour with commercial breaks on an old VHS I taped off TV years and years ago. I've even watched it twice in a row, to savour the distinct personalities and all the little bits of business. It should be out on DVD, like the other hour-long seasonal treasures: Dylan Thomas' "A Child's Christmas in Wales", and Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory".
2 Reviews
It should be available on DVD. This old film should be brought into the future, much like the theme of the movie.
misseslcc10 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
It's great to find this film listed on here and even better that it's so positive.
I think it's a lovely tale of modern vs traditional with children and staff alike being split over wanting a nativity play or something a little more sci-fi.
I am a little biased I suppose because I was one of the those children*,... I sang a carol very badly with the girl who wanted to be Mary.
I only had a VHS recording of this film but have nothing to watch it on, even if I could locate the tape. :-/
(*My name rhymes with Ms D_ _ _ _a McCall's first name.)
I think it's a lovely tale of modern vs traditional with children and staff alike being split over wanting a nativity play or something a little more sci-fi.
I am a little biased I suppose because I was one of the those children*,... I sang a carol very badly with the girl who wanted to be Mary.
I only had a VHS recording of this film but have nothing to watch it on, even if I could locate the tape. :-/
(*My name rhymes with Ms D_ _ _ _a McCall's first name.)
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