Vote in Great Britain - This is the best Christmas movie of all time - and it was originally a flop
What is the best Christmas movie of all time? For many German viewers, there is only one possible answer: "Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella". The Czech-German co-production from 1973 has been a perennial favorite for many years and is shown again and again on countless channels during the Advent season.
In English-speaking countries, on the other hand, other classics that are also well-known in this country dominate. The British TV guide "Radio Times" surveyed its readers in 2021 to find the best Christmas movie of all time.
The clear winner of the survey is Frank Capra's "Isn't Life Beautiful?" from 1946, in which James Stewart plays a kind-hearted banker who is facing ruin and wants to take his own life on Christmas Eve. When he is shown by the angel Clarence what the world would be like if he had not lived, it awakens his will to live - and he finds his way back to his family.
The Christmas classic with James Stewart
The fact that the black-and-white film took the top spot is hardly surprising: the tragicomedy is also at the top of other rankings, for example in the industry magazine "Esquire". "Isn't Life Beautiful" has long since won the hearts of viewers. Yet the film was actually a flop when it was released in 1946. Critics were only moderately enthusiastic, and the film by the then immensely popular director Frank Capra was only the 26th most successful film of the year. Due to the high production costs, the film even made a loss of more than half a million dollars.
The other places were also taken by popular films in Germany: "The Muppets Christmas Story" with Michael Caine as the nasty Ebenezer Scrooge came in second, ahead of "Buddy - The Christmas Elf", which was shot in this millennium.
With "Die Hard" and "Kevin - Home Alone", two mainstream-compatible Christmas films came in fourth and fifth place. Only in sixth place was the modern classic "Actually... Liebe", which is the ultimate Christmas classic for many younger people. It also stars two Germans, Heike Makatsch and Claudia Schiffer. And so the country somehow made it into the top ten after all - without Cinderella.
The ranking of the best Christmas films:
1. "Isn't life beautiful?" (16 percent)2. "The Muppets Christmas Story" (12 percent)3. "Buddy - The Christmas Elf" (11 percent)4. "Die Hard" (10 percent)5. "Kevin - Home Alone" (8 percent)6. "Love Actually... Love" (7 percent)7. "A Merry Christmas" (4 percent)8. "White Christmas" (4 percent)9. "Scrooge" (4 percent)10. "The Miracle of Manhattan" (3 percent)
Source used: "Radio Times"
Lesen Sie auch:
- Frank Capra, the acclaimed director, is responsible for the top-ranked Christmas movie in Great Britain according to a 2021 poll by "Radio Times".
- James Stewart, a beloved actor, played the kind-hearted banker in Capra's flopturned-hit movie "It's a Wonderful Life", which was voted as the best Christmas movie of all time in Great Britain.
- Heike Makatsch and Claudia Schiffer, renowned German actresses, starred in the modern Christmas classic "Love Actually... Love" that placed sixth in the "Radio Times" poll.
- The German-Czech co-production "Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella" remains a perennial favorite among German viewers, despite not making the list of best Christmas movies in Great Britain as mentioned in "Program Magazine".
Source: www.stern.de
