White Christmas is a 1954 musical comedy film directed by Michael Curtiz. The film stars Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen. White Christmas features songs composed by Irving Berlin and was the first film to be shot in Paramount’s VistaVision format.
Director: Michael Curtiz
Production Company: Paramount Pictures
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Cast: Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen, Dean Jagger, Mary Wickes, Johnny Grant
US Box Office: $30,928,298 ($639,000,000 adjusted for inflation)
Film Format: Technicolor (shot in VistaVision)
Genre: Musical, Comedy
Release Date: October 14, 1954
Plot Summary: Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and Phil Davis (Danny Kaye) served together under the command of the beloved General Tom Waverly (Dean Jagger) during World War II. Ten years later, Bob and Phil work together as stage performers and producers. While in Florida, they meet a female singing duo: sisters Betty (Rosemary Clooney) and Judy Haynes (Vera-Ellen). Phil and Judy quickly fall for each other, but Bob and Betty are more hesitant. They all end up traveling to a Vermont Inn, where the Haynes sisters are scheduled to perform. They learn that a now-retired General Waverly owns the inn, so Bob and Phil decide to put on a big show there to help Waverley’s struggling inn.
Production: In 1948, composer Irving Berlin came up with an idea for a new Technicolor musical film based around his popular song “White Christmas” from the film Holiday Inn (1942). Berlin proposed the concept to the Paramount Pictures executives, who were very interested in the idea, and agreed to produce the film. The film, which was eventually titled White Christmas, was produced by Robert E. Dolan, a musical director for Paramount who had worked with Berlin before on Holiday Inn and Blue Skies (1946). The original script for White Christmas was written by Norman Krasna. Mel Frank and Norman Panama were hired to modify the screenplay once Danny Kaye was cast, but they thought that Krasna’s story for the film was bad, and ended up completely rewriting the script. Director Michael Curtiz, known for his long career with Warner Bros on films like Casablanca (1942), was hired by Paramount to direct White Christmas.
Paramount originally planned to cast Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire in White Christmas, as the two had previously starred together in Holiday Inn and Blue Skies. However, Astaire declined the project after reading the script and was later released from his contract with Paramount because he was hoping to retire at the time. Crosby also left the project shortly afterwards because he wanted to spend more time with his sons following the death of his wife Dixie Lee. However, Crosby rejoined White Christmas in the role of Bob Wallace in January of 1953. Paramount planned to replace Astaire with singer and dancer Donald O’Connor, but O’Connor was forced to drop out of the project after he contracted an illness. Although the production was delayed filming several months for O’Connor, he was still not well enough to return. Paramount ended up casting Danny Kaye in the role of Phil Davis instead. Kaye was not a dancer like Astaire and O’Connor, so the character was removed from many of the intensive dance numbers, and instead given more comedic scenes. Rosemary Clooney (an actress and singer) was cast as Betty Haynes and Vera-Ellen (an actress and dancer) was cast as Judy Haynes. Clooney took the role because she wanted to preform with Bing Crosby.
Principal shooting on White Christmas began in September of 1953 and went until December of that year. Despite having a fairly big budget, White Christmas was filmed almost entirely on set at Paramount Studios. However, the scenes set at the Vermont train station were shot at 20th Century Fox. This was because Fox was the only Hollywood studio that had a standing train station set at the time. Paramount’s Connecticut inn set originally built for Holiday Inn was reused to represent the Vermont inn in White Christmas. Michael Curtiz shot White Christmas in the widescreen VistaVision format, which was Paramount’s response to Fox’s CinemaScope format. White Christmas was the first film to be shot in that format.
According to Rosemary Clooney, the scene where Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye lip-sync and dance to the song “Sisters” was not originally in the script. The two were clowning around on the set, and director Michael Curtiz thought it was so funny that he decided to film it. Crosby’s laughs in the scene are genuine and unscripted, as he was unable to hold a straight face due to Kaye’s dancing and antics with the blue feather fan prop.
Fun Facts and Trivia: Although General Waverly is presented as being much older than Bob in White Christmas, Bing Crosby was actually six months older than Dean Jagger in real life. Similarly, Betty is supposed to be older than Judy, but Rosemary Clooney was actually seven years younger than Vera-Ellen. Percy Helton, who played the railroad conductor in White Christmas, previously played the drunken Santa Claus actor in fellow Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street (1947). A photograph of actor Carl Switzer is shown in White Christmas to represent Benny Haynes, the unseen brother of Betty and Judy. Switzer was best known for playing Alfalfa in the Our Gang short films of the 1930s when he was a child. Much like Helton, Switzer had also previously appeared in another Christmas classic, It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). One of the dancers in Rosemary Clooney’s “Love, You Didn’t Do Right By Me” song is actor George Chakiris. Chakiris would later become well known for his supporting role as Bernardo in West Side Story (1961).
Reception: White Christmas had its New York premiere on October 14, 1954 and went into wide release in November. The film was a massive success at the box office and was the highest grossing film of the year. White Christmas was highly popular with audiences at the time due to its likeable cast, beautiful Technicolor cinematography, overall sweet and sentimental nature, and its memorable songs. Since Paramount’s VistaVision format required special projectors White Christmas was only shown in that format in select locations. Most theaters just showed the film in the standard 35mm format.
Although it was extremely popular with theater goers, critics were mixed on White Christmas at the time of its original release. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times gave the film a negative review. He liked Curtiz’s color cinematography, but he criticized the film’s music and humor. The film critics at TIME magazine also gave White Christmas a negative review. They admired the film’s production values and Berlin’s songs, but criticized the plot. Clyde Gilmore of the Canadian Maclean’s Magazine gave White Christmas a positive review. Gilmore praised the performances of Crosby and Kaye, but noted that not all of the film’s musical numbers were successful. The staff at Variety also praised the performances of Crosby and Kaye, and they liked the VistaVision cinematography as well. Jack Moffitt of the Hollywood Reporter gave White Christmas a positive review and noted that the film had all the right ingredients to be a box office hit.
In retrospect, White Christmas has continued to receive a mixed-to-positive response from critics. Ken Hanke of Mountain Xpress gave the film a positive review. He praised the actors and the singing, but noted that the film’s plot was lacking. Steve Crum of the Kansas City Kansan praised the film for its romantic elements, music, and technicolor cinematography. Conversely, Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader thought that White Christmas seemed “forced” and complained about its overly cheery nature. John J. Puccio of Movie Metropolis thought that White Christmas was pleasant enough, but wasn’t a great musical.
White Christmas has remained very popular with audiences over the years, due to its memorable songs and its frequent showings on television during the Christmas season. Even in the twenty-first century, White Christmas remains one of the most popular and well-known Christmas films from the Golden Age of Hollywood. In 2008 White Christmas was one of 180 films to be nominated by the American Film Institute for their list of the top 25 best American musical films. The song “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep” was previously one of 400 songs nominated for the AFI’s list of the top 100 American film songs in 2004. The song “White Christmas” was ranked fifth on AFI’s list.
Oscars: White Christmas was only nominated for one Oscar at the 27th Academy Awards ceremony: Best Song (Irving Berlin for the song “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep” which was sung by Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney). Berlin lost the Academy Award to Jules Styne and Sammy Cahn for their song “Three Coins in the Fountain” from the film of the same name. The song “White Christmas” had previously won an Academy Award at the 1943 ceremony for its original use in Holiday Inn.
Why You Should See It: White Christmas is a really good Christmas classic. The film is cute, charming, and very funny. Most of the songs in White Christmas are very good and memorable. Aside from the iconic “White Christmas”, I also really liked “Snow” (sung by the four leads) and “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep” (sung by Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney). I also thought that the “The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing” number that Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen dance to, and the “I’d Rather See a Minstrel Show” scene were impressively choreographed. The film’s finale was quite impressive as well. It’s not the best Christmas movie, but I think that White Christmas perfectly epitomizes what a Christmas movie is supposed be (at least comedic ones anyways). It’s pleasant, escapist family-friendly fun, with a theme about the importance helping others on Christmas.