Sleigh Bell Cinema | Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Merry Christmas! Mike Westfall (Advent Calendar House) joins me to wrap up not only this season of Sleigh Bell Cinema, but the whole podcast. Stay tuned to the end of the episode for details about why I'm ending the show, but I'll still be talking Christmas movies next year. Just in a different place.

For this one though, Mike (who was also the first guest on SBC) and I talk about the classic Miracle on 34th Street starring Maureen O'Hara, Natalie Wood, Edmund Gwenn, and John Payne. It's a beautiful movie and a great way to finish the year and the show. 

Download or listen to the episode here.

Sleigh Bell Cinema | Elf (2003)

My wife Diane joins me to talk about the modern Christmas classic Elf, why it hasn't been a part of our annual Christmas watching, and how it maybe should be.

Download or listen to the episode here.

Sleigh Bell Cinema | Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)

Dan Taylor joins me for a Christmas turkey of a movie featuring young Pia Zadora, a killer robot, and more stock footage than you can shake a fake polar bear at. But is Santa Claus Conquers the Martians as bad as its reputation? What would it take to fix it? Dan and I figure it out in the most serious discussion ever of the silliest Christmas film.

Download or listen to the episode here.

Sleigh Bell Cinema | Scrooged (1988)

I spend some holiday time with my brother Mark May talking about Bill Murray getting whacked in the head by Carol Kane in Richard Donner's irreverent riff on A Christmas Carol.

Download or listen to the episode here.

Sleigh Bell Cinema | Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure (2003)

Last year on the show, Michael DiGiovanni and I talked about Christmas Vacation and discovered that there was a TV movie sequel focused on Cousin Eddie and his family. With some encouragement from Paxton Holley, we all decided to watch it and talk about it this year... and then re-evaluate our life choices.

Download or listen to the episode here.

Sleigh Bell Cinema | Holiday Affair (1949)

Rob Graham visits to talk about Janet Leigh and Robert Mitchum's Holiday Affair, also starring Wendell Corey and (ever so briefly) Harry Morgan. Find out who's #TeamCarl and who's #TeamSteve in this complicated Christmas courtship.

Download or listen to the episode here.

Sleigh Bell Cinema | Christmas in Connecticut (1992)

Noel Thingvall drops by the farmhouse to talk about Arnold Schwarzenegger's directorial debut, the 1992 remake of Christmas in Connecticut starring Dyan Cannon, Kris Kristofferson, Tony Curtis, Richard Roundtree, and Jimmy Workman.

Download or listen to the episode here.

Sleigh Bell Cinema | Remember the Night (1940)

If you're most familiar with Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray from their film noir classic Double Indemnity, you may be surprised by their falling in love over Christmastime in Remember the Night. Siskoid (Siskoid's Blog of Geekery, The Fire and Water Podcast Network) and I talk about the romance and how deftly it avoids both melodrama and romcom tropes. It's a movie worth seeing and a discussion worth listening to.

Download or listen to the episode here.

Sleigh Bell Cinema | The Ref (1994)

Jeeg joins me for a heartwarming movie about getting along with family during the holidays, healing relationships, complicated burglar traps, drunk Santas, fruitcakes, and above all... hilarious rants. It's The Ref starring Denis Leary, Judy Davis, Kevin Spacey, Glynis Johns, and Christine Baranski.

Download or listen to the episode here.

Sleigh Bell Cinema | On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

I'm joined by my good pal Carlin Trammel of the Nerd Lunch and Pod James Pod podcasts to talk about that most Christmasy of James Bond movies, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, starring George Lazenby, Diana Rigg, and Telly Savalas.

Download or listen to the episode here.

Sleigh Bell Cinema | Shazam! (2019)

Season Three of Sleigh Bell Cinema kicks off with a tangential Christmas movie that's not as tangential as it seems. I welcome my son David to talk about the big screen adaptation of one of our favorite superheroes. It's Shazam! starring Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Mark Strong.

Download or listen to the episode here.

Sleigh Bell Cinema | While You Were Sleeping (1995)

Erik Johnson and I chill out during the week between Christmas and New Year with a favorite movie set during that time. It's Jon Turteltaub's romantic comedy starring Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher, Peter Boyle, and Jack Warden.

Sleigh Bell Cinema | Four Christmases (2008)

Merry Christmas! However many celebrations you have today, I hope you'll enjoy my son David and I discussing this Seth Gordon comedy starring Reese Witherspoon, Vince Vaughn, Robert Duvall, Jon Favreau, Mary Steenburgen, Kristin Chenoweth, Sissy Spacek, and Jon Voight.

Sleigh Bell Cinema | A Christmas Carol (1984)

Finishing this season's trilogy of Christmas Carol episodes, my guest Carlin Trammel (Nerd Lunch) and I visit a relatable Ebenezer Scrooge as played by George C Scott in director Clive Donner's authentic-looking British production.

Sleigh Bell Cinema | The Stingiest Man in Town (1956)

I discovered this Christmas 1956 episode of the live anthology show The Alcoa Hour too late to include it in my annual Christmas Carol project, so I was excited when my wife picked it to talk about on this episode of Sleigh Bell Cinema. I cover the Rankin-Bass animated remake every year, but this is the original musical production starring Basil Rathbone as Ebenezer Scrooge. There's a lot to like about it.

Sleigh Bell Cinema | Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)

Paxton Holley (Nerd Lunch, Hellbent for Letterbox, Cult Film Club, I Read Movies) and I kick off the first of three Sleigh Bell Cinema episodes this season covering Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. We talk about what makes Mickey's Christmas Carol a good adaptation, how it's different from other versions, and even how we might recast a character or two.

Sleigh Bell Cinema | Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

Noel Thingvall (Masters of Carpentry, Schumacast, Greystoked, Thundarr Road) and I take a sleigh ride to New England and spend the hunky-dunky holidays flippin' flapjacks with Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, Sydney Greenstreet, Una O'Connor, and SZ Sakall.

Sleigh Bell Cinema | National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

Michael DiGiovanni (Classic Film Jerks, Pop Culture Retrofit) and I consider Clark Griswold and his slapsticky attempt to create Christmas memories for his family. Is it just dumb fun or is something shockingly profound going on?

Sleigh Bell Cinema | The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

Siskoid (Siskoid's Blog of Geekery, The Fire and Water Podcast Network) introduces me to the French-language musical (and La La Land inspiration), Les Parapluies de Cherbourg starring Catherine Deneuve.

Sleigh Bell Cinema | Better Off Dead... (1985)

Shawn Robare (Cult Film Club, Branded in the '80s) and I put on our top hats, pop the yule log tape in the VCR, and examine an '80s classic: Savage Steve Holland's absurdist comedy starring John Cusack, Diane Franklin, and Curtis Armstrong.