This beautiful TV Christmas movie is absolutely perfect from start to finish, even better than the family period piece "A Christmas Story" which is still re-run every year while this one is pretty much forgotten. Divided into acts with what looks like children's pieces of art, this tars young Lisa Lucas as a 5th grader who longs to have a Christmas tree. However, her father (Jason Robards), embittered by years of widowhood and hard work refuses to bend to get her one. Lucas's grandmother, Mildred Natwick , does her best to try to persuade her son to bend, but even her love can't make Robards change his stubborn mind.
There are also a series of terrific sequences involving Lucas's 5th grade teacher, Kathryn Walker, who is so beloved by her class that they go out of their way to get her a unique Christmas gift. It is a simple story of what the holidays really mean to children outside of receiving presents, as well as Lucas's desire to connect with her father and Natwick's desire to see her son come out of his lengthy depression and begin to show love to his daughter.
The film shows a different side of children and how they connected with each other anymore innocent era. The film deservedly won an Emmy Award for best script, and director Paul Bogart was also acclaimed as well. The film does not overstay its welcome, and shows that even underneath the shell of a curmudgeon like Robards lies a sensitive man who only needs to see the light to really bring a gift to his family that can't be bought. Finding classic Christmas movies like this previously unknown to me is a better Christmas gift than I could ever hope to receive.
There are also a series of terrific sequences involving Lucas's 5th grade teacher, Kathryn Walker, who is so beloved by her class that they go out of their way to get her a unique Christmas gift. It is a simple story of what the holidays really mean to children outside of receiving presents, as well as Lucas's desire to connect with her father and Natwick's desire to see her son come out of his lengthy depression and begin to show love to his daughter.
The film shows a different side of children and how they connected with each other anymore innocent era. The film deservedly won an Emmy Award for best script, and director Paul Bogart was also acclaimed as well. The film does not overstay its welcome, and shows that even underneath the shell of a curmudgeon like Robards lies a sensitive man who only needs to see the light to really bring a gift to his family that can't be bought. Finding classic Christmas movies like this previously unknown to me is a better Christmas gift than I could ever hope to receive.