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White Christmas (1954)

tomatometer

75

Average Rating: 6.4/10
Reviews Counted: 32
Fresh: 24 | Rotten: 8

It may be too sweet for some, but this unabashedly sentimental holiday favorite is too cheerful to resist.

No Score Yet...

Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 2

It may be too sweet for some, but this unabashedly sentimental holiday favorite is too cheerful to resist.

audience

87

liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 47,636

My Rating

Movie Info

White Christmas, Paramount's belated follow-up to the 1942 hit Holiday Inn, was the studio's first VistaVision production. A veritable warehouse full of oldie-but-goodie Irving Berlin tunes are woven into the film's simplistic plotline, along with a handful of new songs, of which "What Can You Do With a General?" is the least memorable. Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye (replacing an ailing Donald O'Connor) play nightclub entertainers Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, while Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen

Nov 21, 2000

Paramount Pictures

Cast

All Critics (33) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (25) | Rotten (9) | DVD (13)

Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, along with VistaVision, keep the enteratinment going in this fancifully staged production, clicking well.

November 27, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The whole thing is rather forced and antiseptically cheerful.

November 27, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Director Michael Curtiz has made his picture look good. It is too bad that it doesn't hit the eardrums and the funnybone with equal force.

March 25, 2006 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Musical-comedy classic reprises Irving Berlin hit.

December 15, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

...for its many fans, this Blu-ray edition does it proud, and the entire production looks spanking new. (Blu-ray Edition)

November 3, 2010 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

...not a great musical, just a pleasant little piece of fluff trying to capitalize on past accomplishments.

November 3, 2010 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

Paramount's first film in (lavender-hued) VistaVision was this pornographically soppy but, nonetheless, hearty and humorous 1954 festive romp.

December 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

White Christmas is the cinema equivalent of an inappropriate festive snog under the mistletoe - you know you probably shouldn't enjoy it but you just can't help yourself.

December 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Times [UK] | Comment
Times [UK]

It's a nice, if undemanding, Yuletide treat.

December 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment
Guardian [UK]

This was the Mamma Mia! of its day, a nostalgic blast of popular Irving Berlin showtunes gift-wrapped in new-fangled VistaVision that danced its way to the top of the 1954 box office.

December 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Total Film | Comment
Total Film

A new score by Irving Berlin also contributed to its marzipan popularity. But it's the title song that really produced lasting gold. That and the fake snow.

December 12, 2008 Full Review Source: This is London | Comment
This is London

How many festive shopping experiences have been ruined by the sound of Bing Crosby gargling out White Christmas over department store tannoys worldwide?

December 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Teletext | Comment
Teletext

With a cast like this, the ensuing light-hearted mayhem and Irving Berlin's title song, there is not much cause to complain if you're looking for nothing more than mild diversion.

November 27, 2007 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

Though it's not as satisfying as it might have been, it still boasts great stars and catchy songs in addition to a love story, and is a perennial holiday favorite.

November 27, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Hardly put me in a Merry Christmas mood.

November 25, 2006 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

This slightly racy studio musical from 1954 isn't the holiday classic you might think

December 15, 2004 Full Review Source: Movie Habit | Comment
Movie Habit
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for White Christmas

Having never seen this, i figured this would be the perfect time. Made in 1954, it holds up pretty well. Not a big musical fan, but I found the songs to be catchy and entertaining. Plus, Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas" is pretty awesome, can't lie. It's the story of four entertainers trying to help a ex

December 25, 2011
Everett Johnson

Super Reviewer

I've seen it a million times ... ok, ok, I've seen it every Christmas since we had a TV set ... and yeah, I still watch it. A movie entirely built around the popularity of one song that brought misty eyes and dreams of home to our soldiers overseas during WWll ... they don't do THAT anymore. Is there a Vietnam

July 21, 2007
moonrivers

Super Reviewer

    1. Judy: [about Betty] Yesterday, she couldn't sleep. Today, she won't eat. She's in love.
    2. Bob Wallace: Well if that's love, somebody goofed.
    – Submitted by Brigita S (49 days ago)
    1. Phil Davis: When what's left of you gets around to what's left to be gotten, what's left to be gotten won't be worth getting, whatever it is you've got left.
    2. Bob Wallace: When I figure out what that means I'll come up with a crushing reply.
    – Submitted by Brigita S (49 days ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Weiße Weihnachten (DE)
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