The Bishop's Wife (Cary Grant, Loretta Young)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s six years since we saw the classic 1940s black-and-white Christmas film ‘The Bishop’s wife’. We had recalled the basic outline - that an angel in human form is sent to help a bishop and his wife - but had forgotten all the details. So we decided to watch it again. 

I did remember the opening scenes: a smiling man (Cary Grant) is wandering through a busy town, where lots of people are busy Christmas shopping, or admiring displays in shop windows. Three or four potentially dangerous or tragic incidents are averted at the last moment by this character’s quick reactions - and possibly by what seems to be a little magic. Or maybe a miracle. 

Then he discovers that Julia (Loretta Young), the wife of the local bishop, is feeling sad. She has all she could want materially, and a lovely young daughter. But she feels as if her husband has grown away from her, and that his work is more important than she is. And her daughter is usually looked after by her nanny. 

David Niven is entirely believable as Henry, a stressed bishop, recently promoted and determined to build a great cathedral to glorify God. Unfortunately, the only person in the parish likely to provide significant funding is a widowed woman who wants everything to reflect the glory of her late husband…

When Cary Grant’s character Dudley - who claims to be an angel - appears in the bishop’s study, he says that he’s there to assist him. He’s very persuasive, but won’t stay to dinner. The following morning when the bishop has to admit he’s double-booked himself and can’t spend time with his wife, Dudley takes over, and they spend a delightful day together. Dudley manages to endear himself to the entire household staff, greeting each of them by name, treating them all with respect, and taking an interest in everyone. 

Inevitably, despite his own neglect, Henry is rather put out that his wife is not home when he expects her to be. He becomes rather jealous, too, as Dudley is quite good looking and very chivalrous. And yet, he still puts his fund-raising first; there’s some low-key humour when he can’t get out of a chair, later in the film. The ending is perhaps inevitable, with a few unexpected scenes (which I had entirely forgotten). 

I quickly forgot that the film was black-and-white, other than a few scenes (such as a sparkling Christmas tree) where it would have been nice to see the colours. It’s beautifully made, with some ‘miracle’ scenes that would have been immensely complex to produce in the days long before CGI was thought of. I loved - for instance - a typewriter that typed by itself, and cards that shuffled themselves, all the more while realising that special effects must have taken a great deal of effort.

I thoroughly enjoyed an ice skating session which was also cleverly done; it was obvious that the advanced skating was done by stunt doubles; the man doing complex spins looked almost nothing like Cary Grant, although he was mostly in shadow. But the cutting to and from the main actors was flawlessly done.

There’s some lovely music in the film, including some from choirboys, who sing beautifully when Dudley leads them. And there’s a moving sermon at the end of the film, although Henry is rather surprised to find himself preaching it…

The whole is a wonderful mixture of kindness, gentle humour and poignancy, and I’m very pleased that we watched it again. The rating is U, as there’s nothing unsuitable for young children, though I don’t suppose that many young people would find it very interesting. The pace is fairly slow, and the main characters are all adults. It's inevitably dated, and feels old-fashioned. That's part of its appeal to me, but not everyone likes older films. 

Nevertheless, if a classic, slightly schmalzy 1940s Christmas film appeals, I would definitely recommend it. 

Review copyright 2025 Sue's DVD Reviews

Dad's Army series 3

(Amazon UK link)

In the early part of 2024, we spent a couple of months watching the first two series of the classic ‘Dad’s Army’ TV series that we recalled from childhood. I was surprised at how enjoyable the show was, despite seeming very dated in some of the production style. So I ordered a few more of the series, sent to relatives in the UK, to collect in the summer.

In the meantime we started watching other light TV series. It took until towards the end of October 2025 to decide to watch Dad’s Army series 3. Unlike the first two series, it’s in colour, although it doesn’t feel all that different from the earlier, black-and-white episodes. Series 3 was broadcast in 1969, when - as far as I remember - we only had a black-and-white television anyway. My father loved this show, and I used to watch it with him. 

However, although I must have seen at least some of these, I didn’t remember any of them. I evidently didn’t see them on one of the many reruns. I was surprised, since the episodes from the first series felt quite familiar. Evidently it had become popular enough to run for longer by 1969, since Series three has 143 episodes, enough for a full quarter’s season. 

Episode one involves Corporal Jones (Clive Dunn) donating his butcher’s van to the troop, for army work. Joe Walker (James Beck) wants to use it for black market activities. It has to be converted to work on gas, due to petrol shortages… we could see what was coming, and enjoyed it all the more when the inevitable happened. 

Episode two sees the whole platoon sent on an army exercise. They get confidently lost, and miss their evening meal… and things go downhill from there. I didn’t find this one as amusing as the first episode, but there’s a lot of action in it, and a satisfactory resolution. 

Episode three involves the men learning how to use a public telephone. This is mind-numbingly obvious to some, but Pike (Ian Lavender)’s mother has never allowed him to touch a public phone, and Godfrey (Arnold Ridley) finds them very confusing. Using a phone is part of Captain Mainwaring (Arthur Lowe)’s plans for trying to protect their village.  

We then watched episode four which starts with the platoon running - almost - out of ammunition, which is strictly rationed, as they were shooting at a low-flying plane. Captain Mainwaring institutes an official enquiry… and it’s scheduled for the same time as the vicar’s choir practice in the room next door. Things become more and more surreal and, once again, we could see what was coming right before the end - and it was all the more entertaining for that knowledge.

The fifth episode, with the title ‘Something nasty in the vault’, made me think there might be rodents or insects involved. The ‘something nasty’ turns out to be an unexploded bomb, dropped on the bank during an air raid. Captain Mainwaring and Sergeant Wilson (John le Mesurier) spend a lot of time balancing it on their arms to ensure that it does not suddenly detonate. A lot of humour along with quite a bit of tension, even though I was pretty sure everything would work out eventually.

Episode six, which we watched immediately afterwards, involves a nasty shock for Captain Mainwaring as it turns out that he was never commissioned, so should reduce his rank. It’s quite a moving episode, showing that, despite his pomposity, he genuinely does care for his platoon, and the duties of the home guard. It also shows just how much the men value him, even though they often complain. 

We carried on watching a couple of episodes once a week, and continued to be surprised at how many we had not seen before (or, at least, had no recollection of). We were also in awe of just how the scriptwriters managed to produce so many different and unexpected situations that still made us chuckle. I enjoyed the episode featuring a dance, when Pike produces a rather dreadful girlfriend. And I found the one castigating Godfrey quite moving.

Yes, some of it is schadenfreude, but it’s all so cleverly done that it works. There are some amusing one-liners or asides, and some irony. There’s also some excellent acting. I particularly like Captain Mainwaring’s expressions; even when he’s not saying anything he somehow manages to communicate his feelings. There are catchphrases that recur - ‘Do you think that’s wise?’ from Sergeant Wilson, and ‘Permission to volunteer!’ from Jones. In other writers’ hands these could have become irritating, but they add to the humour in this classic series.

There's even an 'extra' on the first DVD, featuring Arnold Ridley - 'Godfrey' in the series - with a lot of reminiscing about his character. 

All in all, we enjoyed Series Three very much, and look forward to starting Series Four next week.

Review copyright 2025 Sue's DVD Reviews

Serendipity (John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s not quite six years since we last watched the film ‘Serendipity’. However we don’t have a huge number of Christmas films, so they come around more often than our others. We vaguely remembered the story, but had forgotten most of the details.

While it’s not a traditional Christmas film, it starts (and finishes) in a well-decorated store in the run-up to Christmas. Kate Beckinsale is perfect as Sara, a young woman who wants to buy some black gloves. At the same moment, Jonathan (John Cusack) tries to take hold of them, as a present for his girlfriend. The two start by both claiming them, then insisting that the other have them - it feels quite believable, and shows their very likeable personalities right at the start.

Eventually Sara buys them, and agrees to treat Jonathan to some iced chocolate. They have a lot to talk about, and he is clearly very attracted to her; but they are both in other relationships. They part… and then for different reasons, bump into each other again, and decide to go ice skating…

Sara is a strong believer in fate, or serendipity. She says that if it’s right for them to be together at some point in the future, then fate will make it happen. To test this theory, she writes her name and number in the flyleaf of a book, and he writes his on a dollar bill. And both these numbers go into the wild… 

We see fate, as it were, playing tricks on them when they get in different lifts in a hotel, and just miss each other. So they part, and time passes… Jonathan keeps looking out for a copy of the book where Sara wrote her details, but never finds it. And, in the meantime, he becomes engaged to the beautiful Halley (Bridget Moynahan). 

But although everything seems to be ideal, he can’t get Sara out of his mind. He confides in his good friend Dean (Jeremy Piven) who works as a journalist. Dean is shocked that Jonathan might be thinking of anyone except Halley, but eventually agrees that he needs some kind of closure. So they embark on a journey of research with very little to go on.

Sara, meanwhile, is living with Lars (John Corbett) and agrees to marry him. He’s a musician, and not very reliable… and she starts to realise how she is far less important to him than his career. 

The eventual outcome is inevitable, given the initial premise, and it’s very well done, with ‘fate’ once again intervening. There are some low-key humorous (though also frustrating) moments, when Sara and Jonathan come very close to spotting each other, but not quite. There is some clever dialogue, too, and some quite amusing scenes involving an uptight employee at a large department store (Eugene Levy). I felt very sorry for Halley, but we don’t find out what happens with her. 

The chemistry between the two principles is excellent, even at the beginning when they are just starting to get to know each other. Of course the premise is a bit ridiculous; to find someone by chance in New York is pretty much impossible without any details. And the idea of finding a book - or, worse, a money note - even more unlikely. So towards the end one has to suspend reality just a tad. But, as explained in one of the ‘extras’ on our DVD, fate is like an unknown extra character, guiding the characters’ destiny. 

There’s a great pace to this film, and I particularly appreciated that there’s very little bad language, with nothing that would be considered ‘strong’. There’s no nudity or scenes of intimacy, other than a brief scenario seen from the back, through a window. Other than that,there are only a handful of references to sex. The rating is PG, though the US puts it at PG-13. I can’t imagine anyone younger than about fourteen would be interested in it anyway. 

Recommended if you’d like something that starts at Christmas, and includes a couple of carols, and yet isn’t a traditional Christmas film at all. It’s one of the few films that’s truly a romantic comedy, or at least a romantic film with humorous moments. 

As well as the 'making of' extra, our DVD has some deleted scenes, which we enjoyed watching; one or two of them, we thought, could well have been included. 

Review copyright 2025 Sue's DVD Reviews

White Christmas (Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye)

(Amazon UK link)

Nearly two years ago, we were given several early classic DVDs by a friend who was downsizing. We’ve watched several of them, but had put aside ‘White Christmas’ for the festive season. So we finally decided to watch it. We knew the theme song, of course; but as far as we recall, neither of us had any idea what the film was about. 

We did know that Bing Crosby was one of the stars; we had not realised that Danny Kaye was the other main male lead. The two work together extremely well in this film, with Danny Kaye demonstrating his sense of humour and excellent comic timing more than once. 

The film opens in an army camp on Christmas Eve during World War II when a concert is happening. Bob (Bing Crosby) is clearly an experienced entertainer, and Phil (Danny Kaye) is a new recruit. Their major-general (Dean Jagger) is retiring, and is clearly beloved by the whole troop. We see some of the concert before bombing begins, and Phil manages to drag Bob away from a falling wall. 

Time moves rapidly forwards, and the two form a song-and-dance team which becomes extremely successful. There are some disagreements between the two; Phil thinks Bob needs a girlfriend, but they’re too busy performing to become romantically involved with anyone. Then they see a sister act: Betty (Rosemary Clooney) and Judy (Vera Ellen) are finding it hard to make ends meet, despite being appreciated as a cabaret. 

Then they travel to Vermont, after quite a convoluted story-line, with plenty of low-key humour and some singing… and discover a hotel, run by their former major-general, which is failing due to the lack of snow.  So they plan to make it more popular…

There are some other storylines going on, including a romantic entanglement, and a growing friendship. There are misunderstandings, and disagreements, and an inevitable falling out. And there are some wonderfully comic scenes involving the hotel’s receptionist Emma (Mary Wickes). 

I was a bit concerned that the song-and-dance routines might be over-long; one or two of the other older musicals we’ve seen in the past couple of years had very long routines that, while very well done, added nothing to the story. But in ‘White Christmas’, they’re all a good length, and feel like part of the plot even if everything has to pause for a while during the songs. 

I wasn’t sure if the film was going to be in black-and-white, and was pleasantly surprised to find it in good quality colour. Apparently it was the first film to be made in ‘Vista vision’; I’m not sure what that is, but it was a landmark in improved quality. It’s hard to believe it was made over seventy years ago. Of course the clothes and lack of technology date the film, and the style of musical. But people don’t change, and the ending is, we thought very well done and quite moving, too.

The singing is great - though we learned, from the one ‘extra’ that we watched, that one of the female leads couldn’t actually sing, so her voice was dubbed throughout - and the dancing enjoyable to watch. All in all, we liked this film very much.

Most of the ‘extras’ were of little interest to us, but we did like the one interview with a much older Rosemary Clooney, looking back on the film and its production.

Rated U, and there’s nothing inappropriate for children, other than some quite revealing costumes in places, and extensive smoking. But that would have been entirely appropriate for the era. 

Recommended.

Review copyright 2025 Sue's DVD Reviews

A boy called Christmas (Henry Lawfull)

(Amazon UK link)

We usually like watching Christmas films during December, and I’m always interested in recommendations for films we haven’t previously seen. I expect the reason I came across the 2021 film ‘A boy called Christmas’ at some point last year is that Maggie Smith was in it. I probably heard of it around the time she died in the Autumn of 2024. I put it on my wishlist, and was given it for Christmas last year.

However, we didn’t get the opportunity to watch any films in the last week of December 2024, and by January had decided we would return to non-Christmas films.  And now, nearly a year later, we finally sat down to watch it. I had entirely forgotten any descriptions or blurb that I might have read, so we had no idea what to expect.

The film opens with the elderly Aunt Ruth (a typical Maggie Smith character) walking through a snowy street to a house where she is going to be babysitting. There are three children, and their father has to go out to do some important work. Their mother died just a few months earlier, and they have decided not to celebrate Christmas at all this year. Only the youngest acknowledges that he’s still grieving.

Aunt Ruth says she will tell them a story, and most of the film involves that, with brief forays back to the children’s bedroom, to remind us that this is a story within a story. It’s about a boy called Nikolas (extremely well portrayed by Henry Lawfull) who lives in a hut in Finland. Apparently nobody there has ever heard of Christmas, although Nikolas’s mother sometimes called him ‘Christmas’ as a nickname. Nikolas, too, is motherless now, and lives with his woodcutter father Joel (Michiel Huisman). 

They - along with a lot of other working people - are summoned to the court of the king (Jim Broadbent). They are told that if they can travel to find something to bring hope, they will be rewarded. Joel decides to travel with some friends, in the hope of finding Elfhelm, the town of the elves, and leaves Nikolas with his most unpleasant aunt. Life is almost unbearable when Nikolas discovers a hidden map that will take him to Elfhelm. So he sets out, accompanied by his rather cute CGI mouse, on a long and very cold trek towards the north.

It’s a children’s film, so inevitably Nikolas finds the elves, and some conflict arises which, after much stress and effort, is eventually resolved. There’s some humour, and some good interactions between the cast. There’s plenty of talk about the spirit of Christmas and the need for hope, although all in a totally secular sense. Christmas is seen as a special time for everyone to be happy and to celebrate, with no mention of its origin or the reason we celebrate. But it’s a film for all, about the origins of the Santa Claus/Father Christmas story, and as such I thought it was very well done.

The pace is good, the acting excellent, and the CGI and other effects merge seamlessly with the acting. There are some thought-provoking issues that arise, about the start of rebellions and conflicts, and the problems of a single-minded and strong leader. I thought the occasional switches back to the original bedroom and Maggie Smith telling the story worked excellently. It pauses the tension and reminds us that Nikolas and the elves are part of a story which may or may not be ‘true’ (in the world of the children listening). 

Some of it is quite tense, so I think the rating of PG is correct. There’s nothing inappropriate for children, and the mild violence, such as it is, is mostly caricatured. But there are some unpleasant concepts that could disturb a sensitive or young child, and another loss towards the end, which I wasn’t expecting. I thought the discussion about grief, and Aunt Ruth’s comments were sensitively done, and there’s a positive ending both in the story about Nikolas and in the outer story of the grieving family.

Recommended if you like this kind of light-weight family-friendly children’s film. 

Review copyright 2025 Sue's DVD Reviews