Jimmy Stewart makes his second appearance on our list in a romantic comedy set in Budapest (for some mysterious reason) that is considered to be Producer/Director Ernst Lubitsch's finest work.

Stewart stars as Alfred Kralik, a young store manager of a leather goods store who has fallen in love via snail mail with a pen pal (a la the more modern You've Got Mail). However, Alfred and his handwritten love Klara (Margaret Sullavan) have been signing off with pen names since the beginning of their relationship. Through a Hollywood twist of fate, Klara applies for a job at Alfred's store, only to find that the two cannot stand each other in real life, all while they continue to be in love with each other's respective written personas.

Steven D. Greydanus writes of the film, "Lubitsch scratches the surface of ordinary characters and circumstances and reveals the reality behind the deceptive appearances - the substance and doubts beneath the vain posturing, the false heart behind the smiling face, the poetic soul behind the prosaic demeanor - and serves all of it up with soufflé-like lightness."

The Shop Around the Corner acted as inspiration for numerous other pen pal love stories and in this case, according to the Tomatometer, it appears that the critics agree that there is nothing better than the original. Score some points and spread some yuletide cheer by bringing home a classic Hollywood romance this Christmas.



Offering up some song and dance courtesy of Hollywood icons in Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire respectively, Holiday Inn and its spotless Tomatometer rating take the runner-up spot on our list of top Christmas flicks.

Perhaps best known for its inclusion of Bing Crosby's first performance of "White Christmas," Holiday Inn brings more than its share of entertainment to the table through its double-love triangle storyline and memorable song and dance numbers to the timeless tunes of Irving Berlin. When Jim Hardy's (Crosby) Connecticut farm transforms into a dinner theatre on all major holidays, there is a song and dance number for any holiday year-round, including a fireworks-accompanied Independence Day tap dance by Astaire that is stuff of Hollywood legend.

With Crosby playing the gentle crooner and Astaire playing the shallow, superficial dancer, the film is hailed by critics as a visual and auditory delight of musical descent. The film gives viewers the perfect opportunity to see two of Hollywood's best in two of their most memorable roles.



Our pick for the top Christmas movie of all time represents the perfect marriage of the most unlikely pairing of holidays - Halloween and Christmas - in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Really, the movie is so well-received by critics that it could potentially top off lists for both respective holidays. For now, we'll appropriately stick with Christmas.

The stop-motion masterpiece features the Pumpkin King of Halloweentown Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon speaking, Danny Elfman singing) as a well-intentioned, but misguided superfan of the Christmas season. While Jack tries to put his own spin on Christmas after kidnapping Santa Claus himself, he cannot tear himself from his Halloween roots and unbeknownst to him and his well-intentioned heart, terrifies children with his choice of gifts (Christmas tree devouring snakes and shrunken heads in place of Barbie Dolls and house-trained Corgis).

Critics agree that what makes Nightmare unique could be just that, its originality and ability to be anything but just another animated film. Rolling Stone's Peter Travers praises the film's originality in saying, "There's not a trace of podlike conformity in Burton's vision, Elfman's score, or Caroline Thompson's script." Almost universally, critics agree that the film's originality lies its charm.

Eleven years of thought and three years of production went into this modern day animated classic and the Tomatometer and the film's Certfied Fresh rating proves that it was worth the wait.

On any holiday, Tim Burton's masterpiece will continue to stand the test of time as one of the top reviewed holiday movies of all time. This year, it tops out our 12 Days of Christmas Movies list and deservedly so.



Happy holidays!