DECEMBER 2025 ROUND-UP
TOTAL FILMS SEEN IN DECEMBER: 5
(see the film posters at the bottom of the post, arranged in watching order)
NEW-TO-ME: 3
REWATCHES: 2
Tom & Jerry in The Night Before Christmas (screenshot by me)
2025 has come to an end. It's surreal how another year has flown by, and how more than a full year has passed without my mum and almost eleven months without my dad. I miss them so much! I wanted to dedicate a good deal of time to the classics in the last month of the year but I failed again. I only managed to see 4 shorts and a film under an hour. Hopefully next year will be better.
NOTE: Read notes with caution as they might contain spoilers; with ratings going from ½ to ★★★★★ and watched date.
....... Catching a couple of shorts before the year is over, I rewatched the fun Tom and Jerry Christmas cartoon The Night Before Christmas (MGM Cartoon Studio/ Rudolf Ising Productions/MGM, 1941, ★★★★) of only 9 minutes. Loved to see Tom and Jerry (both pictured, top photo, screenshot by me) chasing each other around the Christmas tree and Jerry turning into a mouse popsicle outside in the freezing cold. Highlight is the defrost scene in front of the fire. I simply love Tom and Jerry being pals. Directed by Joseph Barbera, William Hanna and Rudolf Ising, this was nominated for an Academy Award. — 30.12.2025 (rewatch) ....... ....... Rewatched the short Christmas film The Christmas Party (MGM, 1931, ★★★) to see lovely Norma Shearer (pictured, middle photo, screenshot by me) again. She's the best thing here, helping out Jackie Cooper with a suitable venue for his Christmas party. Also with cameos by, among others, Reginald Denny, Clark Gable, Ramon Novarro, Marion Davies and Lionel Barrymore. Charles Reisner directed. — 30.12.2025 (rewatch) ....... ....... I'm not much of a Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy fan but Big Business (Hal Roach Studios, 1929, ★★★½) is a Christmas short of 18 minutes only and it has good ratings. The story is simple: Laurel & Hardy (both pictured, bottom photo) are in the Christmas trees business and they go door to door to sell them. They get into an escalating fight with a would-be customer, and the way things derail and get ugly totally took me by surprise. But in a good way, because I had a lot of fun and was laughing out loud. It's definitely a short I'll be watching again. Directed by James W. Horne. — 30.12.2025 ....... .......
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....... I never watched the (apparently) popular stop motion Christmas animated television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Rankin/Bass Productions Videocraft International NBC, 1964, ★★★) of 52 minutes before. Rudolph, the reindeer, has a glowing red nose and is being ousted from the reindeer games. He teams up with Hermey, an elf wanting to be a dentist, and Yukon Cornelius, the prospector, and they find an island of misfit toys. I'm not too fond of stop motion animation, but Rudolph and his girlfriend (both pictured, top photo, screenshot by me) are cute and this was enjoyable. There are some nice songs (also the song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer), a laughable white monster, and all ends well. Directed by Larry Roemer. — 31.12.2025 ....... ....... Snowball Fight — Original title: Bataille de Neige — (Lumière, 1897, ★★★) is the shortest short I have ever watched. Just one minute. So I watched both the black-and-white version and the colourised one. Nothing special, just a snowball fight in the middle of the street. But because it's such a mundane scene, I liked it, and it's quite amazing this was made in 1897! Also the earliest 'film' I've watched. People having fun with throwing snowballs at each other and harassing a passing biker (pictured, screenshot by me). A timeless picture, it could have been made today. Directed by Louis Lumière. — 31.12.2025 ....... .......
Following is the breakdown in decades of the 5 watched films:
1890s - 1
1900s - 0
1910s - 0
1920s - 1
1930s - 1
1940s - 1
1950s - 0
1960s - 1
So, that's a round-up again, the last one of 2025! See you next time with my year's round-up of 2025!
