White Christmas actually does very little with the song from which it derives its title. The song only appears twice during the entire film: at the very beginning and at the very end. In between those performances, the film does very little with even the season of Christmas. It’s really about a couple of World War II veterans who decide to pay tribute to their former general. Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye play the nationally famous show business performers who cross paths with an upcoming sister act, played by Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen, and wind up in Vermont at an inn where they meet up with the general, who has fallen on hard times because it’s not snowing in Vermont in the wintertime. In case that plot doesn’t sound quite silly and convoluted enough, there are also phony engagements, silly misunderstandings that lead couples to break up, and a couple of production numbers (such as the embarrassing one dedicated to minstrel shows and another one that seems to evoke Martha Graham’s company in a contest with tap dancers) that seem to have been dropped in from another, even weirder movie. The highlight of the film is, of course, the famous “Sisters” number performed first by Clooney and Ellen and then performed in quasi-drag by Crosby and Kaye. I loved seeing the great Mary Wickes in a supporting role as the nosey housekeeper at the inn who is responsible for several of the mix-ups, and I was captivated by Vera Ellen’s big dance numbers. She had to be one of the best dancers on film in the 1950s, but she’s been long overlooked and underrated. By the way, “White Christmas” (the song, not the movie) was not eligible for the Best Song category; it had already won that honor thirteen years earlier when it was introduced in the film Holiday Inn.
Oscar Nomination: Best Song (“Count
Your Blessings Instead of Sheep”)
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