One way to get a debate going around the dinner table on the big day is by picking out the ‘best’ festive film.
From How the Grinch Stole Christmas to Love Actually and from Home Alone to Elf, we’ve all got our favourite movie to flick on at Christmas.
But apparently none of those are the ‘best of all time’. And no, it’s not Home Alone 2.
To be honest, you might be pretty surprised by the film topping Rotten Tomatoes’ ‘Best Christmas Movie of All Time’ ranking - in fact, you’ve probably never even watched it.
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Don’t worry though, I’m not going to keep you guessing as you’re listing out all of the Santa Clauses and Netflix festive feel-goods.
The film review-aggregation site goes back to a film from a whopping 80 years ago to name its number one.
Meet Me in St. Louis sits pretty proudly with a 'Certified Fresh' rating with 100 percent on the Tomatometer and 87 percent from audiences on the Popcornmeter.
Yep, I bet you’ve never even heard of it, have you?
The musical starring Hollywood jewel Judy Garland from all the way back in 1944 apparently beats out all the other classics - old and new.
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And get this, only about 25 minutes of the film takes place during Christmas time.
However, it’s still praised as a ‘Christmas classic’ by many.
“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,” reads the movie info.
“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.
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"In the end, love - accompanied by song, dance and period costumes, all in glorious Technicolor - conquers all.”
Yeah, interesting. But fair enough, it’s a classic, I guess.
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 much more recent movie, The Holdovers which landed in UK cinemas at the beginning of this year.
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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’.
The other films listed from fourth to tenth best are: Tangerine (2015), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Little Women (2019), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Klaus (2019), Carol (2015) and It’s A Wonderful Life (1946).
Oh, and good news for the ‘Die Hard is a Christmas film’ debaters, that comes in at 11th place.
But I don't care what anyone says, it's Nativity!, Home Alone and The Holiday all the way for me.
Topics: Christmas, Film, Entertainment, TV and Film, Rotten Tomatoes
Jess Battison