{"id":51105,"date":"2025-12-22T07:00:41","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T12:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=51105"},"modified":"2025-12-21T20:39:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T01:39:27","slug":"christmas-1944-1944","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/22\/christmas-1944-1944\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas 1944 (1944)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most interesting Christmas films of all time was \u201cChristmas 1944,\u201d a short film produced exclusively for release to U.S. military bases during World War II. The film is relatively simple in concept but is deeply impactful in its execution.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Orchestra leader Leopold Stokowski is joined by the Westminster Choir from New Jersey\u2019s Westminster Choir College for a 15-minute presentation of Christmas music. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWherever you are, we are celebrating you,\u201d Stokowski tells the viewers, asking if they could \u201clet us be part of your Christmas.\u201d Stokowski leads the choir in a rousing rendition of \u201cHark, the Herald Angels Sing\u201d and then follows with an appropriately solemn version of \u201cThe First Noel.\u201d Stokowski urges the viewers to sing along, and the carol\u2019s lyrics appear as subtitles on the screen.<\/p>\n<p>What happens next is truly remarkable. The great contralto Marian Anderson is introduced and she walks out and shakes hands with Stokowski, whom she refers to as \u201cStokey.\u201d After a brief anecdote recalling Christmas music during her childhood school days, Anderson then launches into a rendition of Schubert\u2019s \u201cAve Maria\u201d that might be the most miraculous vocal achievement ever captured on film. Words cannot do justice to this performance \u2013 one can feel the presence of the holy in Anderson\u2019s brilliant voice.<\/p>\n<p>After Anderson exits, Stokowski leads the choir and urges the viewer to join in boisterous renditions of \u201cO Come All Ye Faithful,\u201d \u201cSilent Night\u201d and \u201cJingle Bells.\u201d The film concludes with two Christmas trees serving as closing theatrical curtains that come together and end the show.<\/p>\n<p>In retrospect, the film is daring not only in having Anderson interact with Stokowski in such a friendly manner, but in presenting an interracial choir with Black and Asian participants \u2013 this was being viewed by a segregated military audience. But back in 1944, having any entertainment that connected the frontline troops with the holiday protocols of home must have been welcome, and this presentation succeeds with a glorious offering of beloved holiday tunes.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jwxpCtZR_Do?si=ijMCkWnP4O6wNL6V\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most interesting Christmas films of all time was \u201cChristmas 1944,\u201d a short film produced exclusively for release to U.S. military bases during World War II. The film is relatively simple in concept but is deeply impactful in its execution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":51106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1369],"tags":[3913,200,3915,3914,3433,1371],"class_list":["post-51105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-retro-cinema","tag-3913","tag-christmas","tag-leopold-stokowski","tag-marian-anderson","tag-short-fikm","tag-world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51105"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51108,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51105\/revisions\/51108"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}