1985 - ONE MAGIC CHRISTMAS, attempt at making a good Christmas film

A little late with this one but it should still be considered as this is a well made Christmas film with good actors in it particularly Mary Steenburgen.  This is a Canadian production, the film was shot in Ontario instead of the over photographed city of Toronto which is the place for films set in New York which aren't filmed in New York.

Steenburgen plays the mother of a blue collar family.  She has a job in a supermarket as a cashier.  Her husband has been laid off from his job and they are about to be evicted from their home.  This film is obviously set during the Christmas season and it's safe to say that Steenburgen is not embracing the Christmas spirit this year.  Into the plot comes a Christmas angel who befriends Steenburgen's children and is tasked with helping her regain her Christmas spirit.  The angel is played by Harry Dean Stanton who is really cast against type in this film.  One Magic Christmas  is a little top heavy with some potentially tragic moments involving a bank robbery and Steenbugen's children almost dying but it's still a Christmas film in the tradition of It's A Wonderful Life, so you can expect a happy ending.

 

The film appears to have been actually photographed during the winter for a change and the setting of a blue collar city is a nice variation from the usual bogus Hallmark picture post card village that always shows up in their films.  The fantasy elements are handled in a very low key fashion which keeps the film from ending up as an overproduced special effects show and concentrates more on the characters.

 

One Magic Christmas was picked up for distribution by the Walt Disney company but for whatever reason the film was not really a financial success.  The reviews at the time were not that great which may have been the result of the film's setting and low key nature.  Still this is a very fine film and really deserves to be embraced as a corrective to most of those corny Christmas films that dominate the holiday season.

The film was written by Thomas Meehan one of Mel Brooks writing partners.  The running time is 90 minutes.