Our next film is 1954's holiday classic "White Christmas", where we see two Broadway stars try and brighten the life of their old army general. They find love along the way and everybody wishes for a "White Christmas, just like the ones I used to know".
The film's cast includes Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen, Dean Jagger, Mary Wickes, Anne Whitfield, Sig Ruman, and Grady Sutton.
Broadway star Bob Wallace and Broadway hopeful Phil Davis are in the army together. They become friends while serving in World War II.
When Phil saves Bob's life one day, Bob repays him by breaking him into show business. The duo become a smash hit on Broadway.
As a favor to an old army buddy, Phil and Bob view their friend's sister's nightclub act. Betty and Judy Haynes do their iconic rendition of the song "Sisters". The guys are quite taken with the sisters, and they watch their number intently.
After their song, the girls join the guys at their table. Judy and Phil hit it off right away. Bob takes a liking to Betty, but she is a little more reserved.
Phil and Judy are so taken with each other that they slip away and let us know that "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing".
When the girls have to make a quick getaway because of some trouble with their landlord, Bob and Phil buy them some time by staging a hilarious parody of their "Sisters" act.
They all meet up later on a train headed north. The girls persuade the guys to drop their New York plans and travel with them to Vermont to an inn where they'll be entertaining over the Christmas holiday. Everyone is anticipating a trip filled with "Snow".
So no one can quite believe it when they arrive in a snowless Vermont.
At the inn where they'll be staying, Bob asks the housekeeper, Emma, where all the snow is. "Oh, we bring it indoors during the day," she says sarcastically.
The guys are in for a great surprise when they discover that the inn is run by their old army general, General Tom Waverly, who lives their with his granddaughter.
At dinner that night, Emma tells the group that the General has sunk every penny he has into the place. He's near bankruptcy. The guys feel horrible for him.
Bob and Phil make plans to bring their Broadway show up to the inn to bring the General some business. Before they've even had a chance to tell anyone about it, Emma comes running up to them, weeping with gratitude. When Bob asks her how she found out about it, Emma says, "Well, like any other decent, self-respecting
housekeeper, I listened in on the other
phone."
Once the Broadway players get there, the group gets busy with rehearsals. Betty and Judy even become a part of the show.
While working on the show together, Bob and Betty start to fall for each other. Bob sings to her that "I Fall Asleep Counting My Blessings".
Things quickly fall apart for Bob and Betty when Emma overhears only part of a conversation that Bob is having with a television star in New York. Thinking that Bob is using the General to advance his career, Emma hurries to tell Betty the news.
Betty starts to behave coldly towards Bob, who can't quite figure out why Betty is behaving this way.
Phil and Judy try to think up ways to get Bob and Betty back together, even going so far as to announce a fake engagement.
Betty decides to leave the show. She gets a job singing at "The Carousel Club" in New York.
While he's in town working on a surprise for General Waverly, Bob takes the opportunity to come and see Betty. She sings "Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me" to enthusiastic applause from the audience.
After her number, Betty joins Bob at his table. Bob tries to patch things up with Betty, but he still can't figure out what he's done wrong.
Later, Betty watches Bob make an announcement on television, and she realizes that she's been wrong this whole time. Bob and Phil had nothing but the best intentions for the general, and they haven't been working to advance their own careers at all.
The night of the big surprise for General Waverly arrives, and he's upset that he can't find anything suitable to wear. Emma tells him to wear his army uniform. "I got along just fine without you in the army," he tells her. "Yeah. It only took fifteen thousand men to take my place," she snaps back.
Betty arrives from New York just in time for the show. She hugs Judy and they rush off so that she can surprise Bob.
General Waverly is truly surprised and touched by the gesture that Bob and Phil made for him. His granddaughter couldn't be prouder of him, and Emma is a blubbering mess as she also watches proudly.
And Bob is also surprised when he sees Betty back in the show. The foursome sings "Gee, I Wish I Was Back In The Army".
And everyone is thrilled that a snow begins to fall during the finale. Bob and Betty embrace, as do Phil and Judy, as they sing "White Christmas".
And that's all for White Christmas. Originally, Bing Crosby was to star with Fred Astaire. However, Astaire read the script and refused to do the film. He was replaced by Donald O'Connor. O'Connor had to drop out due to illness, and he was replaced by Danny Kaye, who asked for and received a $200,000 salary plus 10% of the gross. Bing Crosby and Irving Berlin received half of the film's profits. Paramount Pictures received the other half. Upon it's release, "White Christmas" became the top-grossing film of 1954, and it was also the highest-grossing musical at the time.
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