Everyone's Favorite Sherlock to Play Everyone's Favorite Miser

The Film Detective's Second Annual '25 Days of Christmas' Starts This Weekend

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Nov 27, 2018, 11:00 ET

ROCKPORT, Mass., Nov. 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- As the days get longer, The Film Detective invites classic film fans out of the cold and into their living rooms to the kickoff of its second annual "25 Days of Christmas" program schedule. From iconic holiday classic films like Frank Capra's Meet John Doe (1941) starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck to cult favorites Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964) and the newly restored Mexican fantasy film Santa Claus (1959), there is something to watch on everyone's Christmas list. Get the holiday shopping out of the way by Friday, Dec. 21, as The Film Detective will be streaming vintage cartoons like Max Fleischer's original Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1948) and Jack Frost (1934) all weekend long.

This year, classic television fans will be delighted to find six new Christmas episodes from shows like "Date with Angels" (1957) starring Betty White and "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" (1956). A handful of last year's favorites will also return, including a television episode starring TFD's favorite quirky detective Sherlock Holmes. From the television episode "The Case of the Christmas Pudding" (1955), we'll see Holmes and Watson on the hunt for a serial killer who escaped from prison after he was delivered the traditional English treat.

Stocking stuffers include six Gospel Film Archive shorts including "A Starlight Night: The Story of A Christmas Carol" (1953) and "Three Young Kings" (1956), as well as a recorded version of the live NBC production of Peter Pan (1955). Filmed at the Ambassador Theater in New York, the show featured the original Broadway cast and starred the delightful Mary Martin as Peter. The production's airdate garnered an impressive 65 million viewers, the highest ever for a single television broadcast program at the time. The musical production made history as the first Broadway production to be adapted to television with the complete cast and crew. A new short to the holiday roster is "A Christmas Dream" (1945), a Czechoslovakian film that was screened at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival and won the Grand Prix International award for best foreign short film. Audiences, of course, won't want to miss the family favorite The Little Princess (1939) starring Shirley Temple as a girl who fights all odds to find her father after he was thought lost to the Boer War.

The Film Detective celebrates all things Santa Claus with several features dedicated to the big man in red. Santa Claus Story (1945) is a black-and-white short which sees St. Nick telling a pair of siblings a unique Christmas story, while Santa and the Three Bears (1970) is a charming cartoon about two young cubs who want to skip hibernation in order to meet Santa Claus. A Present for Santa Claus (1947) will send fans back in time to the nostalgic feeling of excitement while waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve night. Finally, toys come to life in the 1959 British cartoon The Christmas Visitor after Chris Kringle takes a break from his elfly duties to nibble on some holiday treats.

On Dec. 25, fans can celebrate with two adaptations of Charles Dickens' famous holiday tale "A Christmas Carol." The first is a 1949 short narrated by Vincent Price, who brings to life the story of Scrooge and the three Christmas ghosts. Next, audiences can find Basil Rathbone trading in Sherlock Holmes' houndstooth cap for Ebenezer Scrooge's black top hat, as he plays the grouch in a short that was part of the 1958–1959 television series "Fredric March Presents Tales from Dickens." Fredric March narrates the film himself, which originally aired on Dec. 27, 1959.

The Film Detective brings a little extra holiday cheer to its Sling TV subscribers with "25 Hours of Christmas" starting Christmas Eve and airing all day long on Christmas Day. The Film Detective has made a list and checked it twice, streaming holiday nostalgia all month long.

Dec. 1 - Peter Pan (1955)

Dec. 2 - The Little Princess (1939)

Dec. 3 - Santa Claus Story (1945)

Dec. 4 - Sherlock Holmes: Christmas Pudding (1955)

Dec. 5 - A String of Blue Beads (1953)

Dec. 6 - Stars Over Hollywood: Christmas for Sweeney (1951), Where's Raymond?: Christmas Spirit (1953)

Dec. 7 - Laurel and Hardy: Big Business (1929)

Dec. 8 - Streets of New York (1939)

Dec. 9 - Meet John Doe (1941), Santa Claus (1959)

Dec. 10 - The Little Match Girl (1954)

Dec. 11 - Dragnet: The Big Little Jesus (1953)

Dec. 12 - Christmas Without Snow (1980)

Dec. 13 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet: The Busy Christmas (1956)

Dec. 14 - The Elf and Mr. Little (1953)

Dec. 15 - Down the Wyoming Trail (1939), A Christmas Dream (1945)

Dec. 16 - Beyond Tomorrow (1940), The Little Lamb (1955)

Dec. 17 - Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)

Dec. 18 - Annie Oakley: Santa Claus Wears a Gun (1956), Date with Angels: Santa's Helper (1957)

Dec. 19 - Home for Christmas (1990)

Dec. 20 - Racket Squad: The Christmas Caper (1952), The Ruggles: Christmas Eve (1949)

Dec. 21 - Santa and the Three Bears (1970), Jack Frost (1934), Hector's Hectic Life (1948)

Dec. 22 - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1948), The Christmas Visitor (1959), The Christmas Visit (1959), The Candlemaker (1957)

Dec. 23 - The Night Before Christmas (1946), Christmas Fairy Tale (1961), A Present for Santa Claus (1947), Christmas Night (1933)

Dec. 24 - Gospel Film Archive: Silent Night: The Story of the Christmas Carol (1953), Christmas is Magic (1953), The Star of Bethlehem (1956), Three Young Kings (1956), The Star of Bethlehem (1954), Starlight Night (1939)

Dec. 25 - A Christmas Carol (1949), A Christmas Carol (1959)

The Film Detective is available for $3.99 per month or $34.99 per year on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and all iOS devices. The service is also available to stream for free, with ads, on all of the app platforms and online at https://thefilmdetective.tv. The Film Detective is offered on Sling TV to all current Sling Orange and/or Sling Blue subscribers through the Hollywood Extras package and streams 24/7.

About The Film Detective:

The Film Detective is a leading distributor of restored classic programming, including feature films, television, foreign imports and documentaries. Since launching in 2014, the company has distributed its extensive library of 3,000-plus hours on DVD and Blu-ray and through such leading digital and television broadcast platforms as Turner Classic Movies, NBC, EPIX, Amazon, MeTV, PBS and more. In 2016, The Film Detective launched its OTT classic movie app and in June of 2018, the company launched a 24/7 linear channel on Sling TV. Visit us online at www.TheFilmDetective.com.

Related Images

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The Film Detective

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Peter Pan (1955)

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Gospel Film Archive: A Starlight Night: The Story of A Christmas Carol (1953)

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A Christmas Carol (1959)

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