Christmas Cameo Month: I Still Believe

I Still Believe (2020)
This film is an anomaly for 2020 -- it's a new film that debuted in movie theaters (admittedly, I watched it via streaming on Hulu). I Still Believe seems to join I Can Only Imagine in a new genre: Contemporary Christian Music hits made into biopics. ICOI was about the founder of MercyMe and his troubled relationship with his father. I Still Believe is the story of Jeremy Camp’s first romantic love.

There is very little Christmas in the film (we take what we can get), and there isn’t much church in the film, but there is an interesting observation about clergy.

The film opens in Lafayette, Indiana in the fall of 1999 (shout out to my brother- and sister-in-law and family in said city). Jeremy Camp (K.J. Apa) is preparing to go off to school at Calvary Chapel College in Murrieta, California. Even if IMDb didn’t tell me, I would know this wasn’t filmed on location but instead in Mobile, Alabama. The school seems to be right by the beach instead of the 45 miles across southern California freeways. And Pacific Ocean beaches look different from Gulf Coast beaches. For instance, I can't think of anyplace on the California Pacific coast where the sun rises over the ocean as it does in the film when Jeremy’s love interest, Melissa (Britt Robertson), goes for a morning jog.

At his new school, Jeremy makes friends with Jean-Luc LaJoie (Nathan Parsons), the front-man for a Christian music group, The Kry. Jean-Luc and Jeremy bond over their love of music, but unfortunately, both have feelings for Melissa. If you ever had to deal with a tedious love triangle like this when you were in school, do you really want to relive it in a film?

It is here Christmas makes its cameo appearance. Jeremy goes home to Indiana for Christmas to be with his parents, Tom and Teri (Gary Sinise and Shania Twain), and his brothers, Jared and Josh (Josh is disabled). That house is well decorated for Christmas, tree, lights and all. At home, Jeremy receives a call from Jean-Luc who tells him that Melissa is very sick. Jeremy drives back to school in his father’s Pizza King delivery car. (Won’t this impact family finances during the holiday season?)

Jeremy drives straight to the hospital back in California and learns that Melissa has stage 3 liver cancer. It is at this time that Melissa and Jeremy admit their love for each other. Jeremy goes to the hospital chapel to pray (a bit of church). I found it a little strange that although Melissa and her family are all devout Christians, we never see clergy -- or anyone else -- from their church visit Melissa. 

Miraculously, Melissa seems to recover, and six months later, Jeremy and Melissa marry.

I was hoping for a church wedding, for the sake of the blog, but the happy couple marries on the beach. I was looking for a clergyman at the wedding, but I didn’t think I saw one. Then I realized that Jeremy’s father, Tom, performed the ceremony. Because the wedding is -- supposedly -- in California, and Melissa’s family pastor doesn’t perform the service, I realized that Tom is probably a clergyman of some kind. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would get his ordination from the back of Rolling Stone Magazine or online (especially at the turn of the century).

But when Jeremy and Melissa return from their honeymoon, she becomes ill again. As Melissa returns to the hospital, Jeremy begins to question his faith. He sings Melissa a song he wrote on their honeymoon, “Walk By Faith”, and then Melissa dies. We don’t see a church for the funeral, but rather a graveside service, again officiated by Jeremy’s father, Tom.

Jeremy talks to his father about his disappointment with God and the seeming futility of his prayers. He asks his father about his disappointments in life, about the prayers God didn’t answer. “I remember I prayed and prayed in this room for Josh to be born healthy. And you prayed for your ministry and nothing. And I prayed for Melissa. What am I supposed to do with that?”

So apparently, Tom had hoped to be in full-time ministry but was unable to make his living in ministry. One of the great disappointments in life is not being able to pursue what you believe you're called to. Think of those who want to be in show business or professional sports when those dreams die. I know the pain of those who feel called to ministry (for myself and friends) when things don’t work out. You can feel like you've disappointed God as well as yourself.

But Tom’s answer is interesting. He says, “Josh’s disabilities were disappointing, sure. Did I have big dreams that didn’t come true? Yes. Do I know why Melissa isn’t here? No, I don’t. But I have had a full life. I don’t know how to answer your questions. But my life isn’t full in spite of my disappointments....It’s full because of them.”

Jeremy returned to his music. His songs “Walk By Faith” and, of course, “I Still Believe” inspired by the events depicted in the film, became enormous hits. If Tom, in the eyes of the world, didn’t have much of a ministry, he raised a son who ministers to millions.

That said, how would the clergy and church -- such as they are -- in this film do with our steeple ratings? I give Tom Camp (and his ministry) a solid three steeples.

Christmas Cameo Month Intro

It’s December, so we here at Movie Churches really want to spend the month doing Christmas films, but we're afraid we're running short on films that feature Christmas and churches. We focussed on the big ones early on: The Bishop’s Wife, The Preacher’s Wife, The Bells of St. Mary, Home Alone, etc. (So many of the Christmas biggies, White Christmas, Bad Santa, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians have virtually no churches or clergy whatsoever.) We’ve found some interesting Christmas films with significant ecclesiastical details, but it’s been getting tougher as the years have gone on.

So this year will be a little different (surprise!). Most of our films this December will have something more like Christmas cameos. Christmas won’t be front and center in these films. Often, clergy and churches won’t be front and center either, but these are films are interesting -- and they do have both Christmas and clergy.

Sadly, a great film such as Better Off Dead doesn’t qualify, even though it does have a prolonged Christmas sequence with the protagonist, Lane Meyer (John Cusack), giving his girlfriend an inadequate Christmas present and his mother dressing as a reindeer -- and plenty of snow. Although Lane almost runs over some nuns while drag racing, the film is generally lacking in clergy. 

Ghostbusters II is set in New York City at Christmas time, so we can see decorations in many scenes. You would think a film that features demonic possession would throw in a priest with an exorcism, but the film deals with such things with “science.”

Shane Black’s action thrillers often have a Christmas element, but rarely a church element. Mel Gibson’s Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon is dealing with suicidal tendencies brought on by the loss of his wife, but does he seek spiritual aid from his local diocese? He does not. Christmas is an element, though -- the first bloody fight of the film is on a seasonal tree lot.

But “Do not be afraid,” as the angels say in the true Christmas story. Films do keep turning up that have Christmas and churches and clergy. Some of this month’s films have just Christmas cameos or church cameos, but some have Christmas and clergy in starring roles.

We can't wait to get this Christmas season started.

A Christmas TV Movie Before the Hallmark Channel

A Christmas Without Snow (1980)

My high school drama teacher would not do productions of Shakespeare. He said he had too much respect for the Bard’s work, and it was just a fact that high school students didn’t have the experience or skills to pull off poetry and emotions in the comedies or the tragedies. I thought of him while watching the 1980 TV movie A Christmas Without Snow. In the film, a small, amateur choir takes on George Frideric Handel’s Messiah -- a masterly work. A small, unskilled choir is not going to do it justice. That’s just one of my problems with how church and clergy are portrayed in the film.

Here at Movie Churches, we prefer to look at films that had theatrical releases. We like to keep a distinction between movies and television (so much so that next year we’re starting a new blog, TV Churches), but frankly, there's not an abundance of theatrically released films that feature both Christmas and churches and clergy. You'd think there would be, but we’ve already hit most of them. Besides, this film (described in IMDb as "a timeless, rare classic for the holiday season") touches on some interesting issues.

The film was written and directed by John Korty (who made other popular made for TV movies of the time such as A Farewell to Manzanar, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, and most notably, The Ewok Adventure) and stars Michael Learned (Ma from The Waltons) and John Houseman (who played John Houseman in Scrooged).

It tells the story of a newly divorced woman, Zoe Jensen (Learned), who leaves her son in Omaha, Nebraska to start a new life in San Francisco. Strangely, she moves early in the fall and hopes to find a teaching job. Yes, I know this is prior to Monster.com and LinkedIn, but it still seems she could have made some phone calls before the move to learn that teaching jobs are not in abundance (because most school hiring decisions are made early in the summer and because downtown San Francisco isn't rife with schools). She must settle for office temping jobs.

Zoe is lonely, but a neighbor in her apartment building invites her to join a church choir. (That’s what interested me about this film -- we often see or hear church choirs in films, but there aren’t many movies about church choirs.) Zoe quickly makes friends with other women in the choir, drinking coffee before practice begins. She talks with them about how hard it is to find men in the city, “You know San Francisco…” If this is a reference to the city’s gay community, it is the only one to be found.)

Choir practice begins and the new director, Ephraim Adams (Houseman), a crusty senior citizen who took the job so he wouldn’t have to retire. He explains his expectation for the choir: “Music is a craft, not a social activity or religious duty.” 

I would think being in a church would lead to some connection with religion, but the pastor, Reverend Lohman (James Cromwell), nods in agreement. This surprised me because if music is performed in a worship service, I would think it would be, you know, part of the worship. Anyone who reads the Psalms knows there can be a relationship between music and religious duty… In fact, that relationship is essential. But the Reverend doesn’t think so. (If it’s just about the music, why not have the choir perform French or German art songs instead of, you know, religious music.)

The director continues, “Just as the Reverend is called to his vocation, I am called to mine. I expect miracles. I will make something of the cacophony I heard last Sunday.” 

The miracle he expects is for the choir to perform Handel’s Messiah, “Because it is difficult. Those seeking a more relaxing activity, leave now and locate the nearest hot tub.” Hey, that would be more than difficult. To take a nineteen member strong amateur choir that meets one evening a week and is -- according to the director -- just, well, bad -- and expect them to pull off a decent performance of Messiah, would be impossible. Indeed a miracle. But I take it, a secular miracle since the director wants to stay clear of religious duties.

In that first rehearsal, accompanied by their new organist, Seth Rueben, the choir does indeed sound awful. I would think it would be wise for a choir director to get to know his resources, the strengths and weaknesses of his members, before deciding what music they should use, but Ephraim decides the music first and try to impose it on the members. He does admit the choir will have to grow, recruiting other members. This is another challenge, to take in new members along with learning new work.

As the months go on, Zoe develops friendships with women in the choir and awkwardly dates a couple of the men. This is one of the best things about the movie’s depiction of the choir: a community of friends does develop. They even gather together for Thanksgiving. But it does seem that faith is a very small aspect of these friendships. One of the members talks of going to “the church of Beautiful Women.” Outside of choir practice, they do join together in singing “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.”

Ephraim auditions for solo roles in Messiah. One of the members asks for private auditions, which the director refuses, explaining, “Pressure in this room will be as great as in church with four hundred people present.” I wondered if they were going to do one just performance of Messiah for the congregation, rather than a performance for the general public.

Two major obstacles endanger the performance of Handel’s work (aside from the ineptitude of the singers). First, the organ is vandalized. One of the choir members accuses another choir member, a young man who's one of the few African Americans in the group. The actual culprit is the teenage son of the pastor. 

The pastor and his wife seem to have an odd relationship with their son. They expect him to put the church first in his life, as they do. (They, in fact, say to him, “This church is the most important thing in our lives.” I can see where he might take that wrong.)

The church can’t afford the $5000 to repair the organ. They consider purchasing an electric organ which sounds like a kid’s Casio and for some reason picks up police radio calls, so the choir pitches in and repairs the organ themselves. I thought such work would take great levels of expertise, but what do I know?

The other obstacle is that Ephraim gets very sick and is hospitalized just before the performance. They try to figure if anyone can take his place directing, but Seth argues no one else would have the director’s take on the work (because The Messiah is such an obscure work in the classical world).

But Zoe encourages everyone to go on with the show, and they do and it comes off swell.

So how would I rate this church, whose name and even denomination is kept secret throughout the film?  The choir of the church does develop a sense of community, which is a good thing, but they are all about performance and not worship -- which is not a good thing in my book. As for the pastor, we hear one sermon of his, in which he rails against the commercialization of Christmas. His wife thinks it’s his best sermon, but I think the Charlie Brown Christmas special did it much better. Since it's Christmas, though, I’m giving this church a Scroogish Two Steeples.


(And about that title, A Christmas Without Snow; it’s always a Christmas without snow in San Francisco. It’s like calling a film set in Omaha, A Summer Without Beaches.)

A Not Very Peaceful Christmas Film

The Merry Gentleman (2008)

It’s that time of year again. The time when people get into Twitter fights about whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie. (Not that we’ll settle that debate here. My family watches the film every year, usually on Christmas Eve Eve, and I must attest it is a film without a church or clergy.)

Die Hard is an action film with dark themes, like other movies set at Christmas time, such as Reindeer Games and Batman Returns. Writer/director Shane Black has spent much of his career making dark action films set during Christmas time: Lethal Weapon; Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang; and The Nice Guys. He’s said Christmas imagery -- with its hope for goodwill and peace on earth -- makes a nice contrast to people shooting at each other. Most of these films feature decorated trees and colored lights, but not sermons on Luke 2 or Christmas Eve Mass.

One film about a contract killer, though, finds a place for both Yuletide and a church sanctuary. That movie is 2008’s The Merry Gentlemen, written by, directed by, and starring Michael Keaton. Keaton plays Frank Logan, a hitman. Early in the film, we see him approach a man in a car, pull out a gun, and shoot the man in the head. The soundtrack immediately switches to “Jingle Jangle Christmas.” Logan calmly walks down the street, stopping in a Christmas tree lot. He comes across an outdoor manger scene, and he stands up a Wiseman figure that has fallen down.

We are also introduced to Kate Frazier (Kelly Macdonald). After being beaten by her husband, Michael (Bobby Cannavale), she left her home to begin life in a new city. She works as a secretary at Mass and Associates. Kate goes to visit a Catholic Church near her work. It is a beautiful cathedral with majestic stained glass and poinsettias by the altar. She lights a candle. She talks about it with a fellow worker, Diane (Darlene Hunt).

Kate: Have you ever been to the church down the street?

Diane: I’m not a very religious person.

Kate: It’s really beautiful, and it has a statue of Jesus with hands outstretched. Religious or no, you want to run into His outstretched arms.

Diane: Well, who’s cuter than Jesus?

While leaving work one evening, it begins to snow. She looks up and sees a man standing on the top of the tall building across the street. Afraid he is considering jumping, she screams. The man backs down and disappears. Kate is understandably upset, but Diane tells her she may have saved the man’s life, “It’s a Christmas miracle, the outstretched hand of God.”

The police come. They tell her the man she saw may well be responsible for the death of a man in her building who was shot by a sniper. The man on the building was Frank Logan.

One of the police officers who interviewed Kate asks her on an awkward date (she thought he was asking for another interview about the man on the roof). She leaves when she realizes it is a date, not an interview. On the way home, she impulsively asks her cab driver to stop at a Christmas tree lot. The cab driver tells her he won’t help her with the tree, but she buys a big tree nonetheless. She drags the tree to the front door of her apartment, but when it falls on top of her, knocking her down, a man whom she doesn’t recognize comes to her aid. (She had only seen him from a great distance when she saw him on the roof).

He tells her he didn’t expect to find a woman under his tree. She tells him, “You must have been a very good boy.” They begin a friendship.

One night when Logan comes to Kate’s, he passes out outside the door. She gets him to the hospital, where he is diagnosed with pneumonia.

Kate goes to see Logan in the hospital on Christmas Day. He’s surprised, and she calls herself “the Ghost of Christmas Present.”

Logan says, “I’d say you’re more of an angel than a ghost.”

Kate replies, “But they’re really the same thing, aren’t they? I guess ghosts are haunted, while angels are blessed.” (This is, Biblically speaking, a common theological mistake in Christmas films. In Scripture, angels are a different species than people, not the form good humans take after they die. It’s a Wonderful Life is one of many Christmas films that gets this wrong.)

Kate and Logan continue to see each other. On Valentines Day, Logan sends her flowers at work without a note. She also receives another bouquet without a note, and when she gets back to her apartment, she finds another admirer. Her husband, Michael, has tracked her down.

Kate draws a kitchen knife when Michael enters her apartment. He tells his story of what he did after Kate left.

“I tried to kill myself, but God wouldn’t have me. I met a man in the hospital, a priest, Father Rich, a great man. I can’t wait for you to meet him, He introduced me to Jesus Christ. I know you want to laugh. You probably should. But all my life I didn’t know my Lord and Savior. Now I know Him. He knows me. He knows what I’ve done. But He loves me still. Can you imagine such good news? I know you’re thinking it’s too good to be true. It’s where all the goodness is, baby. In the truth. There is only one thing left. For you to believe me and grant me forgive me. Praise Jesus! Can you forgive me? God sent you to me. Come home to me.”

Michael leaves Kate’s apartment but gives her a card from the motel where he’s staying. Kate calls the police and tells them she feels threatened by her husband. When the police ask whether he threatened her in words, she responds, “No, he just said he found God. I hope he has found God. I just wish he hadn’t found me.”

We never learn whether Michael’s conversion is sincere.

The police go to the motel to interview Michael. And find him dead from what appears to be a suicide -- but we’ve previously seen Logan mask his murders as suicides.)

Kate goes to the church again. She sits in a pew, greatly troubled. Logan goes to be with her. He tells Kate she doesn’t have to be afraid. “I’d never hurt you.”

Kate tells him, “I hope God will forgive me.” (She had fantasized about her husband’s death.)

“You’ve done nothing wrong,” Logan tells her.

“I feel like I did.”

Logan leaves her, it seems never to return.

The film opened with the sound of church bells. It seems like a good church, it, and it is at least a beautiful church. Father Rich sounds like a good priest. We are giving this rare appearance of church and clergy in an Action Christmas Film our highest Movie Church rating of Four Steeples.

It's Christmas (again) at Movie Churches!

As is our tradition at Movie Churches since we began, this month we’ll be looking at Christmas films. This being the fifth December writing these posts, it becomes increasingly a challenge to find Christmas movies where churches/clergy have a prominent role. The easy fruit has been picked from the proverbial pear tree (The Bishop’s Wife, The Bells of St. Mary's) and it sometimes seems all that’s left is partridge droppings.

Many Christmas classics don’t have what it takes to be material for this blog. Films like White Christmas or The Nightmare Before Christmas are almost faith-free (and are certainly ecclesiastical free), so it becomes necessary to cast a wider net and dig deeper (to mix our fishing and mining metaphors) to find different Christmas films that also have a church element.

There are some areas we’d rather not get into. When we think of “Blue Christmas,” we’d rather think of “blue” as sad and not raunchy. Raunchy Christmas comedies have become a part of Hollywood’s regular offerings. Bad Santa seems to be the first big hit of the genre, and such things have been coming along regularly ever since, such as. Think 2015’s The Night Before or 2016’s Office Christmas Party.

Sure, we did once do a post on edgy Christmas comedies, but we’d rather not visit A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas territory very often. We just don’t want to encourage sordid viewing at this joyous time of year.

And that’s why you won’t see a post about 2017’s A Bad Moms Christmas -- even though we read that the film features Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve at Our Lady of Perpetual Suffering (“the premier place to be”).

Sure, it might be a little funny if one of the mothers says her reason for being at the service is that “all the bars are closed.” Even if this scene made us wonder why the service in the film seems not to be too crowded when Christmas Eve (along with Easter) is the one time you can be assured of a crowd in a church. Even if two of the characters get into a loud and prolonged discussion during the service and no one around them seems to mind, these things are not enough to recommend writing or reading a post about this film.

Even if someone had taken the time to watch this comedy (with a 30% rating at Rotten Tomatoes), would someone want to admit they’d sat through the sex jokes and children cursing and male strippers just to be able to have a different Christmas film to write about? I think not.

So instead of raunchy Christmas comedies, we’ll kick off Christmas month this Friday with a violent action film. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Movies Month: 3 Godfathers

3 Godfathers (1948)
So many people don’t understand “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Radio stations play versions by everyone from Bing Crosby to Reliant K to Bob and Doug McKenzie. Something that many people don’t realize is that the first day of Christmas (Partridge & Pear Tree Day) is December 25th, and Christmas goes for the next twelve days, into the new year. The twelfth day (January 6th) is Epiphany, which focuses on the story of the Wise Men visiting young Jesus.

The story of the Magi provides the inspiration for a 1948 Western, 3 Godfathers. It’s the story of three bank robbers who take custody of a baby boy. There’s no clergy in the film and no formal church, but there’s much more Bible than you’d expect to find in your average John Ford directed, John Wayne starring film.

Another unusual thing about the film is that the Duke plays a bad guy in the film. Wayne plays Robert Hightower, a cattle rustler who decides to go into bank robbing with the help of two friends, Pedro (Pedro Armendariz), and William the Abilene Kid (Harry Carey, Jr.). They’re Texans who venture to the town of Welcome, Arizona, to commit their crime. They meet a nice guy, Perley “Buck” Sweet (Ward Bond), who welcomes them to town. Turns out he’s the town’s sheriff.

They rob the bank, but during their escape the Kid is shot (along with their canteen of water). If that wasn’t bad enough, they lose their horses in a desert sand storm. They search for a water hole and instead come across a stranded woman who’s in labor. She’s Perley’s niece, whose bumbling husband got himself killed.The robbers help deliver the child, and she names the baby after them: Robert William Pedro. She dies, but not before extracting a promise from the men to care for her baby. “I want all of you to be my baby’s godfathers. You will be, won’t you?” Along with the baby, William, the Kid, takes the woman’s Bible.

The Kid comes across a biblical passage about journeying to Jerusalem and is convinced he’s found a sign they should go to the Arizona town of New Jerusalem. When he sees a bright star in the sky, he’s convinced it is directing them, just as the Magi were directed by a star. He later finds encouragement from Psalm 137, looking for rescue from this strange land.

Things don’t go well for Pedro and the Kid, and eventually Robert is wandering the desert alone with the baby and the Bible. He had scoffed at the Kid’s reverence for the Bible, but in desperation he turns to it and finds a passage of God’s provision of a colt and donkey from Matthew 21. Miraculously, those very animals appear, guiding Robert to civilization.

Robert turns himself in, hoping to provide for the child. He is given a lenient sentence, and the town wishes him well as they send him off to prison at the train station. The crowd sings “Bringing in the Sheaves” and “Shall We Gather at the River?”, conducting a little church service by the rails.

Did I mention the whole film takes place at Christmas time, and Robert brings the child, Perley’s great nephew, into town on Christmas Day? That makes this a most appropriate film to watch on Christmas Day -- or Epiphany.

Christmas Movie Churches: Fanny & Alexander

Fanny & Alexander, 1984

When highfalutin’ critics make their list of Christmas films, this film ranks near the top. Originally made for television (312 minutes long, it was shown in four parts). I watched the theatrical version, which was cut to 188 minutes (only about three hours). It won Oscars in 1984 for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography, as well as for art decoration and costumes. Ingmar Bergman was nominated for direction and screenwriting.

Bergman is known for his dour, existential approach to filmmaking, so critics and audiences were surprised by the relatively large amount of joy to Fanny & Alexander. Not all of the film is set at Christmas time, but nearly the whole first hour is an elaborate and festive yuletide celebration. Part of that celebration is a Christmas pageant presented by the community theater. Oscar Ekdahl is the director of the community theater, and we follow his family in the film. He and his wife Emilie are the parents of the film’s titular children, Fanny and Alexander.

The theater production is what one might expect from a church program these days. There is a rather elaborate manger scene. We see Mary and Joseph and the Baby Jesus being visited by Wise Men. A angel warns of Herod (perhaps foreshadowing dangers to come for the children in the film).

The angel then speaks to the audience: “Thus, good people, ends our play. It all ends well this Holy day. The Son of God, saved from the sword, is our Savior, Christ, the Lord. We know that in His mercy mild, He guards every woman, man and child.”

After the play, Fanny and Alexander go their grandmother’s house along with most of the theater company. This is where Sven Nykvist’s work as a cinematographer is highlighted, as the camera tours this elegant Swedish home of 1907. Christmas trees and wreaths and seasonal art decorate the home; elaborate meat and pastry dishes decorate the tables. There are songs and games and a reading from Luke 2. There is much laughter around the tables. Fanny and Alexander share a sleeping room with their young cousins, leading to a happily destructive pillow fight. They pray together, racing through a memorized list of names of friends and relatives.

One part of the Christmas celebration that is not very Christlike is an adulterous relationship between one of the uncles and a maid. All of the adults seem aware of the situation and find it amusing. Even the wife just sighs and looks disapproving.

Bergman’s work is remembered as bleak and despairing, but the opening of this first hour of the movie is one of the most joyous celebrations of Christmas captured on film. And the quiet center of it all is Oscar, Fanny and Alexander’s father, who says about his theater, “I want to see generosity. My only talent is I love this little world and the people who work in it.” But then dark Bergman returns. Oscar has a heart attack and dies. There is a big funeral at which Alexander curses uncontrollably.

At the funeral dinner, the Bishop spends time with Emilie, the children’s mother. The Bishop is described as the spiritual guide to the parish, and Emilie is concerned about Alexander telling lies at school. She asks the Bishop speak to him.

As the Bishop smokes his pipe, he asks to speak to Alexander “man to man”. He says to him, “Can you tell me what a lie is and what is the truth? We have plenty of time, Alexander. Can you explain to us why you lied at school about being sold to the circus?” The Bishop runs his hand through Alexander’s hair and puts his hand on his neck, which is kind of creepy. He tells Alexander is the truth of gift of God.

Emilie soon tells her children she is marrying the Bishop, Edvard. The wedding comes quickly. The Bishop takes the family in to his house, but he demands that they leave everything behind. The mother must leave behind her jewelry, clothes, all her possessions; the children must leave behind their toys and books. Edvard prays, “May God in His mercy take care of our little family.” He tells the children, “My dearest wish is that we will be at peace with one another. Love cannot be demanded, but respect can.”

It is not a happy home. Edvard doesn’t allow the children to play; they are to live in ascetic solidarity. Alexander defies his stepfather, and Edvard beats him. Emilie soon sees she made a mistake in marrying the Bishop, but when she threatens to leave, he tells her that would be desertion. He would have the right to keep the children.

Spoiler: The Bishop eventually dies, so there is a happy ending of a kind. But in this film the Bishop is

not at all a good representative of the Gospel, so we’re giving him Two Steeples. (The theater in the film does a pretty great job of presenting the Gospel. It probably would have earned our highest rating of Four Steeples if this blog was Theater Churches.)

Christmas Movie Churches Double Feature: Christmas Child and The Christmas Candle

Christmas Child (2004)

The Christmas Candle (2013)

Christian writer Max Lucado has written over one hundred books (with 80 million copies in print), and two of those books have been made into Christmas films. And both feature church traditions for celebrating Christmas: in one, a Nativity scene and in the other, Advent candles.

Christmas Child was a 2004 direct to DVD release based on Lucado’s short story, “The Christmas Cross.” The film centers on Jack Davenport (William Moses), a big city (Chicago) journalist going through a personal crisis. His marriage is strained, and he has questions about his identity. His adopted father recently passed away, and he wonders about his past. While clearing out his father’s safety deposit box, he finds a photo of a church in Clearwater, Texas, and decides to go to Clearwater to look for secrets of his past. He leaves a few days before Christmas, which does not please his pregnant wife.

In Clearwater, every cliche about small towns abounds, for, of course, big city fellers have so much to learn from rural life. The only motel in town doesn’t take credit cards. (I worked in a podunk motel twenty years before this film was made, and we took credit cards.) There’s one diner where everyone goes. And the local sheriff is a regular Buford Pusser, harassing Davenport for no clear reason. (Except because Jack is a journalist? From the big city? Because the waitress the sheriff likes flirts with Jack?)

Jack does, of course, discovers good old fashioned values in small town life. Jack goes to the church and discovers the picture was taken by the former pastor, the late Reverend Krauss. Everyone in town agrees that Reverend Krauss was a good guy who played a part in Jack’s adoption, and that the secret of the adoption is somehow tied to the nativity scene in front of the church.

Everyone in the town loves the wooden carved figures of Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus. It is a cherished town treasure. There is a mystery tied to the a cross found on the Christ Child’s chest, but I have to say, the figures are (in my humble opinion) awful. I don’t know art (well, I know a little), but I have to say they are hideous figures.

The pastor currently serving the church, Michael Curtis, is a good guy and very good guitar player (he’s played by Christian singer/songwriter, Steven Curtis Chapman). Curtis even bails Jack out of jail when he is incarcerated, apparently for breaking a local ordinance against being a big city journalist. Everything comes together at the big Christmas Eve service at the film’s end. Though a bad film, the church comes off well in the story.

A more interesting film is 2013’s The Christmas Candle, based on Lucado’s novel of the same name. It’s set in 1890 in the small, fictional town of Gladbury, England, where a legend tells that every 25 years, an angel comes to the candleshop and blesses one candle. Whoever lights that candle and prays will have his or her prayers miraculously answered.

When a new pastor, the Rev. David Richmond comes to town, leaving his former position in the Salvation Army (and an earlier post as a well-known preacher), he casts doubt on the local legend. He is a good preacher, but when he questions the truth of the Christmas Candle from the pulpit, he risks losing his congregation.

He encourages people to answer each other’s prayers and needs. He preaches, “Does your neighbor need a miracle? Why not be that miracle?” He inspires people to serve their neighbors, answering many of their prayers -- but some prayers are not answered, and because of that (and an unanswered prayer of his own), the Reverend openly struggles with his faith.

In time, the congregation comes to see that God answers some prayers through their brothers and sisters in Christ. The Reverend, on the other hand, comes to see that God still does miracles as well. (One thing that threatens this church’s Steeple rating is when the Reverend tries to bring electricity to the old chapel and nearly burns the place down. On the other hand, Susan Boyle sings their Christmas anthems).

And the church carries on the tradition of lighting Advent candles during the four weeks before Christmas. It’s one of my favorite traditions.

Keeping with our generous Christmas tradition, we’re giving the churches in both films Four Steeples.

A Very Special Post #250

Christmas Lists

Most of us have traditions related to Christmas films. We watch Miracle on 34th Street the day after Christmas to kick off the Yuletide season. TBS runs a 24 hour marathon of A Christmas Story every December 25th, and they wouldn’t keep doing it if people didn’t watch. For the last several years, NBC has been running It’s a Wonderful Life just after Thanksgiving and just before Christmas.

But sometimes you want to add something new. I thought I’d revisit some Christmas films (movies that include churches and/or clergy, of course. A blog’s gotta have focus) that we’ve written about over the last couple of years. You might find something new to add to your rotation tradition.

We wanted to list films that are worthwhile, but we also warn you about films to avoid. Start with Candy Cane treats, then -- if you dare -- go on to Lumps of Coal to avoid. (Each film summary is linked to the review here at Movie Churches.)

Candy Canes:

Home Alone - Okay, this is not new to most people, but you might not remember offhand that along with the live action cartoon violence, there are sweet scenes of the church as a sanctuary.

(This was an early Movie Church review which also looked at While You Were Sleeping, not a bad film to find under the tree.)

Brooklyn - This is a wonderful film about the American immigrant experience, and though Christmas is not central to the plot, it is there.

Black Nativity - This retelling of the Christmas Story in the setting of an African American family in New York is definitely worth seeking out.

Joyeux Noel - You might have missed this touching true story about a moment of peace on the front lines during World War I.

Lumps of Coal:

The Bishop’s Wife and its remake, The Preacher’s Wife are beloved by many, but not me. Adulterous angels (even when it’s just an emotional affair) never have fit into my idea of Advent.

The Miracle of the Bells is a very corny film with the odd topic of a Hollywood death. And miracle bells.

Simon Birch  is the result of  John Irving’s classic novel, A Prayer for Owen Meany, being ruined.

A Merry Friggin’ Christmas, a foul mouthed family comedy, is not one of the prouder parts of Robin Williams’ legacy.

A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas is the film for you if you want cannabis to play a more central role in your family traditions.

Christmas with the Kranks  is evidence John Grisham should stay in the courtroom.

Midnight Clear  is just a bad Christian Christmas film.

I’m sure Hallmark has many films that would this category, but there are limits to what I’ll watch for this blog.

(As noted in the headline, this is the 250th Movie Churches post and we thank you for your faithful, or occasional, whatever, readership.)

Christmas Movies Month: The Bells of St. Mary's

The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945)

I’ll happily argue that Gremlins, L. A. Confidential, Lethal Weapon, and The Apartment are more Christmassy films than The Bells of St. Mary’s. The former films quite explicitly take place at Christmas time, while The Bells of St. Mary’s happens to have a scene where a Chrsitmas play is rehearsed. That scene is in the middle of the film, a story that takes place over an entire school year. Nevertheless, the film is in the rotation of Christmas films, and it has a place on top Christmas film lists. A version of the film’s theme (the St. Mary’s school song) can be found on Christmas albums. When George Bailey runs through the streets of Bedford Falls on Christmas Eve in It’s a Wonderful Life, we can see that The Bells of St. Mary’s is playing at the local movie theater, because the title’s up on the marquee.

PR w/o clerical collar or habit

So I figure all this is good enough to give the film a place in Movie Churches’ Christmas films, and it certainly has a church and clergy -- and a little bit of Christmas.

The film is a sequel to Bing Crosby’s hit, Going My Way, which won an Oscar for Best Picture. In The Bells of St. Mary’s, Bing again plays Father O’Malley, the good natured priest, this time going to serve in a parochial school run by nuns led by Sister Superior, Mary Benedict (Ingrid Bergman). The film follows a school year, and in the midst of that school year, there is a rehearsal for a Christmas play.

There is a shot of St. Mary’s covered in snow and we see Father O’Malley playing “Come All Ye Faithful” on the piano as he sings in Latin, surrounded by a group of students. Sister Mary Benedict comes in and complains that the noise is interrupting the kindergarten’s rehearsal for the Christmas program.

Bing offers to play for the Christmas program, saying, “You can’t have a Christmas play without ‘O Holy Night’ or ‘Adeste Fideles’.” But Sister Mary Benedict tells him the kids have the program covered.

She takes him to see what Bobby and other kindergarteners are doing. The very small Mary and Joseph go from place to place asking for lodging. Each time, they’re asked, “Do you have any money?”

They say, “No” and are sent away until someone finally offers the stable.

Sister Benedict says, “Bobby made the play up. It’s a little not good.”

Finally, the “baby” (a two year old) is “born,” and the children sing “Happy Birthday to You.”

Father O’Malley says, “Their simplicity is beautiful; I wouldn’t change a word of it.”

Sister Benedict says, “But they will. They do it different every time.”

I should note that the Christmas story presented in church Christmas plays and Christmas cards is off. We always see Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem alone, but people in that day usually travelled in groups. All of Joseph’s family were required to report to Bethlehem for the census, so they probably traveled with family, not alone. The little kids in the movie take things a litttle further from the true story when the innkeepers reject Mary and Joseph because they have no money -- that’s not in Scripture. (Perhaps it’s a juvenile attack on capitalism.)  But their play is darn cute.

But we need to remember that  the purpose of Movie Churches is to examine ministries in films, so how they do Father O’Malley and Sister Benedict do? Let’s just say some of the practices at the school are...problematic.

One of the odd things about their work with the kids shows ups when we see Father O’Malley taking a special interest in one of the girls in the school, and Sister Benedict is a special supporter of one of the boys.

When two school boys fight, Father O’Malley expresses his admiration for the boy who beats up a kid named Tommy, saying, “That boy knows how to handle himself.” Tommy had been trying to practice the teachings of Jesus (turning the other cheek) that he’s learned from Sister Benedict. When she sees that her instruction led to Tommy beaten up, she decides to teach him to fight. She gets a book by boxer Gene Tunney and schools Tommy in the pugilistic arts -- because obviously that guy Jesus didn’t know what he was talking about in the Sermon on the Mount.

Father O’Malley takes an interest in a thirteen-year old girl named Patsy. Patsy’s parents have been separated since the girl was two (but not divorced, because that wouldn’t be the Catholic thing to do). When O’Malley is asked about the girl’s situation, he tries to fudge over the facts for fear the girl won’t be admitted. But she is. She comes to O’Malley for help with her school work, which he provides by teaching her songs.

When Patsy fails the test for eighth grade graduation (intentionally, we later learn), Father O’Malley encourages Sister Benedict to overlook the test scores. The Sister insists the school must maintain standards, but Father O’Malley seems to believe kids should be graduated without regard to their academic performance. He seems to think this is the compassionate thing to do, but I’m not convinced it’s a good idea to move kids through the system whether they’ve learned or not.

The main plot of the film, as with many movies about churches made in this period, is about finances and real estate. St. Mary’s is supposedly in ill repair and could be condemned at any time, though the viewer is shown no evidence of this. Sister Benedict is covetous of the new office building next door to the school built by Horace P. Bogardus (Henry Travers). Obviously, he is greedy for wanting to keep the building he made for his business instead of giving it to the Church for the school’s use.

Sister Benedict makes it her prayer project that Horace will give the building to them. She doesn’t talk about praying for Horace’s salvation or for him to be blessed, but that he’d give her the building.

When Father O’Malley talks with Horace’s doctor, he mentions the sister’s prayers for the building. The doctor says, “Does she really believe Bogardus will give her the building? I haven’t encountered such a thing since I was a little boy and wished for something for Christmas.”

O’Malley does some finangling, asking the doctor to urge his patient to give away the building because it will be “good for his heart.”

Horace, does, of course, give his building to St. Mary’s because it’s “for the kids.” (There is never any discussion in these films about how businesses provide work for parents who need jobs to care for their children.)

The clergy in the film don’t talk about the Bible much, though Father O’Malley does at one time quote “The epistle of St. Peter, ‘Be sober and watchful’... or was it St. Paul?”

At the end of the film, there is a health crisis causing Father O’Malley to struggle to decide if honesty is the best policy.  Sister Benedict must deal with her own issue of bitterness, and their problems are resolved in a godly manner.

So in the Spirit of Christmas (even though there isn’t much Christmas in the film), I give the pastor and the nuns of The Bells of St. Mary’s Three Steeples.