What's this about?

Lately, it seems like many of the movies/shows are just a rehash or reboot of things that have already been done. And so I started to dive into the past. It's been fun, but I find myself losing track of which ones I’ve seen and whether or not I enjoyed them. Sometimes the titles themselves just don't tell me enough to remember.

I wouldn’t have voluntarily watched a lot of these movies when I was younger. It’s strange how interests change. That goes for what I read, too. I have another blog that explores books. I’m mostly reading older fiction and memoirs, and some of the books have led me to movies/shows and vice versa. In those cases, I may post the book review over here as well.

There will be spoilers, which is different than my book reviews. That’s mostly because I want to have enough information to help me remember what I’ve seen. I’m getting older. The brain doesn’t cooperate like it used to. What can I say? The gray hairs are catching up with me!

Sunday, December 10, 2023

A Christmas Dream - 1945 & Beyond Tomorrow (Beyond Christmas) - 1940

My family has a long list of movies that we watch during the Christmas season. Unfortunately, my girls are at college until next weekend, so my mom and I were left scrounging around for something to watch for movie night (Saturday nights). Tubi is an interesting place to search for movies. I looked around for a while and found these two. After the movie ended, Tubi suggested The Bishop's Wife, a film we'd both seen before and is much better than what we'd just sat through. For some reason, it didn't show up when I was scrolling...sigh.

Ok, I'm going to start with the nightmare fuel that is A Christmas Dream. This 8-minute story has a little girl get some new toys at Christmas. She throws her rag doll (which is terrifying to look at by the way) across the room and goes to sleep with her new toys. Ghost Santa appears and gives the girl a dream. The doll comes to life and causes chaos around the room. The girl is unbothered by the whole thing and even cheers the doll on! At one point, it turns a desk fan around, and it looks like gale force winds in the bedroom. Anyway, the doll has proven its worth, and Santa can leave the girl alone to sleep the rest of the night. I found it interesting they never show her waking up. She might still hate that doll. I would...



Let's move on to Beyond Christmas. That's what it was called on Tubi, and that's what drew us in. Then it talked about three ghosts of industrialists. Ok, I'm in! They're supposed to play cupid to a cowboy and a teacher. I wondered how they were going to get into the west. Spoiler...they don't.

There were a lot of problems with this one, starting with the ghosts. These city dudes were alive for the first half hour of the movie. They had a Christmas bet where they threw a wallet with $10 out the window and see if anyone is honest enough to bring it back. A poor cowboy and a teacher appear. The cowboy starts staring at the woman in a semi-creepy manner, but that's okay! Love! He sings, and I was laughing. "I dreeeeam of Genie with the light brown haaaaaair" doesn't give me Christmas vibes. After that, they all hang out together until one day the three men die in a plane crash.

The news agencies are interested in the men and suddenly the cowboy is the new singing star. He starts to push his sweetheart to the side while the ghosts are disappointed in the living room. Then the lightning starts up. We were wondering what was going on, and then one of the ghosts appears to get called to hell. 

The second ghost will get called by his son to heaven. Apparently, "every man gets his dream" or something like that. But then his wife is waiting there for him. What if that wasn't her dream? Whatever. Anyway, back to the  drama. The woman who lured the cowboy into fame invites him to take a trip. They start their drive, and the third ghost notices the woman's ex-husband is following them with a gun. God calls the ghost, but he says he can't abandon the cowboy. He feels responsible for the situation. God warns him he'll be doomed to wander the shadows of the earth for eternity because they're only called once. WOW. Anyway, cowboy gets shot and dies, God shows up and takes third ghost, first ghost also gets to go as well. Apparently, third ghost's mom annoyed God into bringing him to heaven. And then God lets the cowboy get a second chance, the ghosts walk up the stairs to heaven, and fade to black. I guess I learned God can be talked into anything!? Just kidding. This movie was awful and weird.




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