Despise schmaltz and kids singing and people learning the true meaning of the season?

Of course you do, you’re only human…

 

Trading Places

Ever since Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol, the trope of money men getting their comeuppance and learning the true meaning of Christmas has been tackled in many ways.

This one sees a right couple of bankers making a bet that switches the lives of rich boy Dan Aykroyd and low level con artist Eddie Murphy to see how society will treat them, with obviously hilarious results.

To this day, the film is still mostly remembered as being a notable landmark for fans of Jamie Lee Curtis.

 

Santa Claus

Not to be confused with Santa Claus: The Movie, this weird bit of Mexican cinema (hailing from 1959 and later brought to English-speaking audiences by cult movie figure K. Gordon Murray) needs to be seen to be believed.

Santa – who lives in a cloud city in space with children of various national stereotypes, some mechanical reindeer and Merlin the wizard, and which is home to some disgustingly bizarre equipment – has a showdown on Earth with Pitch, a devil under the command of Lucifer. Yes, really.

 

The Apartment

1960’s The Apartment is a solid classic which can be viewed at any time.

It’s not really about Christmas like many of these other titles, it’s just set during the period and sees Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine fall for each other amid a backdrop of office politics, attempted suicide and illicit affairs, the latter being a particularly controversial point upon the film’s 1960 release.

Utterly splendid classic from director Billy Wilder.

 

What’s your favourite alternative Christmas viewing? Let us know below…