Christmas Without Snow (1980)

Beautifully played "non traditional" Christmas story
"A Christmas Without Snow' could never be put into the same category as most of the other, older Christmas favourites that are played each festive season. It tells its story in a very warm manner but never once does it cave in to playing too sweet and sentimental. It gets a regular screening each Christmas in Australia and has become a regular Christmas favourite for me.

The real strength of "A Christmas Without Snow' is the wonderful performances given by a group of seasoned acting professionals. Michael Learned shines in the role of Zoe Jensen, the pivotal character here who is a recently divorced mother of a young son who has come alone to San Francisco to start a new life and finds life a difficult adjustment without her family and familiar surroundings. She also finds it difficult finding appropiate teaching work in the city and as a release from her frustrations she joins the choir of the local community church. There she encounters an even greater challenge when she...

Okay Drama Badly copied on DVD
Sitting through "A Christmas Without Snow" can be an enjoyable afternoon especially watching Michael Learned (Mama Walton) and John Houseman (Professor Kingfield) give their stock performances. The main plot line is okay, except that there are far too many subplots, many of which are totally forgotten by the end. There are also logistical problems in the story (Her son sends her Kindergarten level paintings, when he is a smart 10-year old.)

However, the portrayal of the amateur choir, especially the technicalities of singing are well done.

My biggest problem is the quality of the DVD - it is obviously just a cheap copy of the tape.

"Kingsfield" in season
John Houseman is NOT Professor Kingsfield, in this seasonal film about a choir rehearsing "The Messiah", but all the signs are there. Houseman's award-winning role as the sharp, brutish law school professor in "The Paper Chase" is revived in a modified format, this time as a retired conductor trying to inject professionalism into an amateur choir group.

The familiar rumble, the stern withering look as his pupils stumble with unfamiliar concepts might have been transposed directly from the "Paper Chase"s larger than life character. In the end however Ephraim/Kingsfield has the desired effect as his charges rally to his aid and perform Handel's oratorio with gusto.

As befitting a seasonal film "A Christmas Without Snow" gets an annual airing, at least on Australian television, and is one of the rare seasonal films to project its characters as three dimensional. Michael Learned is particularly adept in her role of Zoe, an...

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