White Christmas (1954)

A successful song-and-dance team become romantically involved with a sister act and team up to save the failing Vermont inn of their former commanding general.

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Norman Krasna (written for the screen by), Norman Panama (written for the screen by)

Stars:

Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Bing Crosby	...	Bob Wallace
Danny Kaye	...	Phil Davis
Rosemary Clooney	...	Betty Haynes
Vera-Ellen	...	Judy Haynes (as Vera Ellen)
Dean Jagger	...	Major General Thomas F. Waverly
Mary Wickes	...	Emma Allen
John Brascia	...	John
Anne Whitfield	...	Susan Waverly

Storyline

Having left the Army following W.W.II, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis team up to become a top song-and-dance act. Davis plays matchmaker and introduces Wallace to a pair of beautiful sisters (Betty and Judy) who also have a song-and-dance act. When Betty and Judy travel to a Vermont lodge to perform a Christmas show, Wallace and Davis follow, only to find their former commander, General Waverly, as the lodge owner. A series of romantic mix-ups ensue as the performers try to help the General.

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Plot Keywords:

christmas | sister sister relationship | color in title | snow | train | 

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Taglines:

Joyous entertainment for every season, any year!!!!

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Genres:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 October 1954 (USA)

Also Known As:

Irving Berlin's White Christmas

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$30,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording) Perspecta Stereo (optical prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Tunes from the previous Bing Crosby/Irving Berlin film, Holiday Inn (1942) are used throughout the movie. When Betty walks in the kitchen at the beginning of the "Midnight Snack" scene, Bing is playing part of the "Washington's Birthday" song from the previous film on the piano. Also, when Judy dances in her yellow dress, she is dancing to a fast-playing version of "Abraham," the Abraham Lincoln birthday song from the earlier film.

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Goofs

When the General blows out the candles on his cake, the ones on the far side of the cake blow out obviously from another direction, and almost before he blows out the ones nearest him. He wouldn't have had enough air to blow them all out at once from where he stood, due to the size of the cake.

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Quotes

[first lines]
General Harold G. Carlton: Stop the jeep, Sergeant. What's this all about, Captain?

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Crazy Credits

This film was the first feature to use the VistaVision Paramount logo. A new logo, created especially for wide-screen, this logo appears more realistic and features a shot of a canyon with trees around it. The sky is more distant in depth and is full of contrast. The Paramount logo is pretty much the same as before here. The screen credit "Paramount (with the "P" written in their corporate font) proudly presents the first picture in" first appears over the mountain, and then the VistaVision logo appears, then the Paramount logo plays as usual (with the final notes of the Paramount on Parade march, followed by a bell sound). The Paramount mountain, with minor variations until 1986, served as the basis for the company logo for more than 30 years.

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Connections

Referenced in Supernatural: A Very Supernatural Christmas (2007)

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Soundtracks

White Christmas
(uncredited)
Words and Music by Irving Berlin
Sung by Bing Crosby
Reprised during the finale by Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen (dubbed by Trudy Stevens) (uncredited)

User Reviews

If this isn't the all-time great Christmas movie, it's pretty close!

Sorry, Jimmy! My apologies, Alistair! My all-time favorite Christmas was, is, and always will be, "White Christmas." First of all, there's that wonderful Irving Berlin score. "Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep" and "Sisters" have become standards, of course. But, towering above them all, is Bing Crosby's definitive performance of the beloved Christmas favorite that he practically owned. All the performances are top-drawer, what with Bing, Danny Kaye (In a role meant for Donald O'Connor), Rosie Clooney, Vera-Ellen, Dean Jagger, and Mary Wickes, who, as you can see here, was playing nasty old things even when she was a nasty young thing!

Corny, syrupy, kitsch. Perhaps it is all of that, to some. But, to unashamed sentimentalists like me, "White Christmas" will always be THE all-time great Christmas movie, particularly when viewed by the whole family, on Christmas Day, in front of the fireplace.

God bless Bing, Berlin, and company, for making a lot of Holidays that much happier, including those of the Sorrentino family!