Rotten Tomatoes' best Christmas film is from nearly 80 years ago and you've probably never heard of it

Discussing the ‘best’ Christmas films can easily cause quite the heated debate with your mates down the pub.

From Love Actually to Home Alone and from Die Hard to Elf, we all have our favourite but the apparent ‘best of all time’ might surprise you.

Nope, according to Rotten Tomatoes, none of those absolute bangers of films are the ‘Best Christmas Movie of All Time’.

And it’s not Home Alone 2 either.

I could keep you guessing really, and I’d be surprised if you actually got it right – and nope, it’s none of the Santa Clauses or the bop-filled Nativity!

According to the film review-aggregation site, the number one Christmas film is from nearly 80 years ago.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Certified Fresh with 100 percent on the Tomatometer, the movie holding the crown is Meet Me in St. Louis.

Yep, I was a little taken aback too.

The musical starring Hollywood jewel Judy Garland from all the way back in 1944 apparently beats out all the other classics – old and new.

And get this, only about 25 minutes of the film takes place during Christmas.

However, it’s still praised as a ‘Christmas classic’ by many.

The movie info reads: “Meet Me in St. Louis is a classic MGM romantic musical comedy that focuses on four sisters (one of whom is the nonpareil Judy Garland) on the cusp of the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.

“The film spotlights the sisters' education in the ways of the world, which includes, but isn't limited to, learning about life and love, courtesy of the prototypical boy next door.

"In the end, love -- accompanied by song, dance and period costumes, all in glorious Technicolor -- conquers all.”

Yeahhh, interesting. But fair enough, it’s a classic I guess – even if a lot of us have probably never heard of it, let alone seen it.

Focus Features

And weirdly, the second best Christmas film on the list is even older; The Shop Around the Corner from 1940.

And then the third best zooms all the way forward to a more recent movie, The Holdovers.

Starring Paul Giamatti, it’s about ‘a cranky history teacher at a remote prep school’ who ends up having to ‘remain on campus over the holidays with a troubled student who has no place to go’.

Despite claiming a place in the top three, The Holdovers isn’t actually releasing widely until 19 January 2024.

The other films listed from fourth to tenth best are: Tangerine, Miracle on 34^th Street (from 1947), The Nightmare Before Christmas, Little Women (2019), Klaus, Carol and It’s A Wonderful Life.

Oh and good news for the ‘Die Hard is a Christmas film’ debaters, that comes in at 11^th place.

But I don't care what anyone says, it's Nativity! and The Holiday all the way for me.

Topics: Christmas, TV and Film

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_