FACTORALY - CHRISTMAS: DAY 11 - FILMS

Episode Date: January 3, 2025

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Merry Christmas, Simon. Merry Christmas, Bruce. Welcome to Factorial, everyone. Yes, hello, everyone. This is a special because we are going to be giving you 12 in 12 days, because there are 12 days of Christmas. Indeed, instead of the usual one a week, you get one every single day for the whole 12 days of Christmas. But because it's one a day, they're obviously not as long as they normally are. Indeed. So these are going to be relatively short, relatively punchy, quick little snippets of festive Christmassy informative fun.

Yeah, of course we're going to take a subject every day. Yes. But the subjects will be Christmas relevant. Indeed. So that's the plot. Let's get on with it. Off we go. So Bruce, what are we talking about on today's Christmassy episode of Factorily? We're going to be talking about Die Hard. Just Die Hard?

Yeah. Well, we could talk about other Christmas films as well. No, no. No, I'm here for that. Or is it a Christmas film? I think nowadays people accept that Die Hard is a Christmas film. It's funny, isn't it, how quickly popular opinion has changed. I remember when this was only just beginning to be a debate and people were saying, of course, it's not a Christmas film. And now, by and large, people accept that it is. Yes, exactly. It's set at Christmas time. The action takes place in an office Christmas party. There is Christmas music playing throughout. There's a dead bad guy wearing a Christmas hat with ho, ho, on his jumper. Yes. It's a Christmas film. It absolutely is.

No question about it. But it's not the only Christmas film. No, certainly. I mean, you know, this one flew over the cuckoo's nest. A bigger pudding? Well, technically, you see, that's set at Christmas. Is it? It is.

Huh. How interesting. But nobody ever includes that in their list of Christmas films they're more likely to go for things like my favourite I don't know what your favourite is my favourite is the Muppets Christmas Carol oh it's my favourite too other than Die Hard I go and do a thing at the Prince Charles Cinema every year

we went, you took me last year we did, yes fantastic, sing along Muppet Christmas Carol. Yes. Great fun. It is so good to do. So good. Absolutely wonderful.

Love that show. Apparently, in the Muppets Christmas Carol, in the first draft, Gonzo was cast as the spirit of Christmas yet to come. Yes. And they decided that it was just too funny. It was too comical. And they wanted that particular ghost to be a bit more scary.

Yes. So they gave Gonzo the role of Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens, which he's made his own. Absolutely, yeah, yeah. Another fact about the Muppets' Christmas Carol, you know the ghost of Christmas past? Yes. That sort of floaty, childlike spirit.

Oh, yes, yes. They managed to do that floaty effect by filming it in an underwater tank no so they actually submerged that puppet into a water tank and filmed through the the glass panel on the side of the tank to get that floaty that makes that that makes sense actually doesn't it yeah yeah when you know that you kind of go well of course i just assumed it was added in cgi or something yes if you can do it for real then do it for real exactly yeah i have other favorite there's the classic isn't there it's a wonderful life yes 1946 yeah complete flop when it first opened really was, was it? Yeah. Now named as the most inspirational film of all time

by the American Film Institute. Wow. So that's had a turn of fortunes, hasn't it? Absolutely. They had a change of casting. You know Mr. Potter, the baddie? Yes. They originally cast Vincent Price as Mr. Potter.

Oh, really? But then he couldn't do it, so they recast. Another of my favourites is Miracle on 34th Street, the 1946 one. I was going to say, the original version. And they actually used a real Macy's Thanksgiving parade. Oh, did they? That wasn't

staged? It wasn't staged at all. They actually used the actual parade. And the guy that played Santa was on the Macy's float. Oh, how brilliant. And that didn't do very well when they first released that either. Yeah. I think a lot of classic movies are just that. They become classic over time. They remind you of simpler days in the past. One of the reasons it didn't do well was because they figured that more people go to the cinema in the summer than go in the winter. Right.

So they released it in May. Did they? Miracle on 34th Street was first released in May. Yes. That seems ridiculous. It's bonkers, I know. ridiculous it's i know i found out the um the very first christmas movie if we can call it that 1898 wow there is a one minute video video a motion picture whatever you choose to call it. Very, very ropey, very clunky, but it is a moving, moving picture, short,

of someone dressed as Santa Claus climbing up onto the top of a fake house roof and climbing down a chimney, in black and white, obviously, from 1898. Interesting. I think I read that it was the first portrayal of Father Christmas in film, ever. Wow.

Shortly followed in 1901, again, a very old black and white movie, quite short, portraying Scrooge being visited by Marley's ghost. And it was a very early example of trick photography to show this ghost sort of appearing and disappearing in front of Scrooge's eyes. More of gravy than of grave. Indeed. Which, again, I can't hear without it being the two hecklers from The Muppets. It's good to be heckling again.

Yes. And then we get those wonderful Hall brothers again. Hallmark. Oh, yes. In 2000, Hallmark, the greetings card company, started making Hallmark movies, specifically around the Christmas period. And they have released at least one, sometimes two, Christmas movies every single year since 2000. And they are safe, I think is the best way of describing it. Nothing particularly bad ever happens.

It's all quite cute and cosy. A country girl usually falls in love with a city boy. They probably save a Christmas-related business from going bust. Everyone lives happily ever after. Yes. Formulaic. Yes. Happily ever after Christmas films are the best ones yes they are like the holiday i like that

one yes the holiday is good the holiday was filmed in a village in surrey not terribly far from where i live uh the the beautiful old-fashioned english cottage that uh cameron diaz i'd love to go and stay there where is it um it's in the bin sorry yeah the cottage wasn't real no the village is real the pub where we see jude law drinking with his friends is real the cottage which is a quintessentially beautiful little stone english cottage yeah fake they built it in a field no the purpose of the movie it's not there anymore. Sorry. Damn! Yeah. I found out recently that in the movie Gremlins, again, not what you'd usually think

of a Christmas movie, but that's when it's set, the main town used in Gremlins is exactly the same set that they used for Hill Valley in Back to the Future. Wow! So if you watch Gremlins, it looks like Back to the Future covered in snow. The clock tower, the town square, the school, all of it.

Oh, I now have to watch it again. Yes, you do. Brilliant. Well, thank you for listening to this Christmas special. Indeed, thank you very much for coming along. We hope you'll join us again next time for another fun-filled episode of... Fact or Really.

Bye-bye. Au revoir.