150 Word Review: 'White Christmas' (1954)

Saving General Waverly

Photo: Paramount Pictures

White Christmas isn't a movie for or about children. A few show up and smile during the last number, but for most of its two-hour running time, White Çhristmas is a movie for adults, about adults.

Michael Curtiz directs this technicolor holiday classic with style. White Christmas is a snazzy, occasionally wistful, post-war musical that drops the title track within the first five minutes, a Yuletide earworm written by Irving Berlin. And those early scenes are a knock-out, too, as our heroes, Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, try to bring a little cheer to U.S. soldiers fighting fascism in Europe. Years later, the pair became famous nightclub performers.

But the star of this romp is the chemistry between Crosby, Kaye, and two crackerjack dames played by Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen. They sing, dance, and put on a Christmas show in a Vermont barn to help an old friend. There's snow.

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