Retrospective Film Review

White Christmas (1954) • 70 Years Later — still the perfect musical to start your holidays

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.

Some Christmas traditions are so perfect and timeless that they never go out of style. For my money, the classic White Christmas, directed by Michael Curtiz and set to the songs of Irving Berlin, is one such tradition. Ever since I can remember, it has not truly felt like Christmastime until I hear the first tuneful notes of Berlin’s classic Christmas song accompanied by the vivid promise of the first picture filmed in VistaVision. (VistaVision was Paramount’s answer to Cinemascope, and White Christmas was the studio’s inaugural offering in this new technology.) My family is, apparently, not alone in this holiday ritual. According to Statista, 62% of Americans in 2022 voted for White Christmas as their favourite holiday film. Watching this classic musical 70 years after its initial release, it’s…