White Christmas (4K UHD Review)
- Review Date: Dec 24, 2024
- Format: 4K Ultra HD
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Director
Michael CurtizRelease Date(s)
1954 (November 5, 2024)Studio(s)
Paramount Pictures (Paramount Home Entertainment)- Film/Program Grade: B
- Video Grade: A+
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: A
Review
[Editor’s Note: Most of this review is by Bill Hunt, but brief portions are by Barrie Maxwell from his 2010 Blu-ray review.]
On the European front on Christmas Eve 1944, US Army Captain Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and Private Phil Davis (Danny Kaye) put on a show to entertain their fellow troops in the 151st Division and also to say goodbye to their leader, Major General Thomas Waverly (Dean Jagger), whose been reassigned. Back home in the States after the war, Wallace and Davis become a popular song and dance team. And while performing around the country, they meet a pair of sisters—Betty and Judy Haynes (Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen)—who’ve formed a song and dance team of their own. Naturally, it’s not long before the two pairs begin to fall for one another.
Shortly after their meeting, it turns out that Betty and Judy have been booked to perform over the Christmas holiday at the Columbia Inn in Pine Tree, Vermont, so they naturally invite Bob and Phil to join them. Once there, however, the men are surprised to discover that their former general is the inn’s owner, and he’s invested his pension and all of his savings to keep the struggling business alive. But the lack of snow means no guests, and no guests means that the inn is about to go under. So Bob and Phil decide call in every entertainment industry favor they’re owed… and every member of the 151st Division they can find… to help the man who led them through the war and save his life’s work.
While its story’s a little thin, and not all of the Irving Berlin songs are memorable, the whole of this film is definitely better than the sum of its parts. White Christmas is a joyful piece of musical entertainment that gives a handful of superb actors plenty of opportunity to shine. And as a piece of Christmas cheer, it more than merits its adoration by so many fans. The highlight of course is Bing’s performance of the title song, which he first sang on film in Mark Sandrich’s Holiday Inn (1942), though the troops’ delivery of “The Old Man” is stirring as well, and “Gee, I Wish I Was Back in the Army” delivers a nice bit of comedy. Danny Kaye shows off his many and varied talents for singing, dancing, and all-round mugging, while Rosemary Clooney is solid with her vocal work as well. But it’s Vera-Ellen who really shines here; her reputation as one of Hollywood’s best dancers of the period is well validated by her efforts. Also of note are supporting performances by Mary Wickes (I Love Lucy, Sister Act) as the inn’s nosy but well meaning receptionist/housekeeper and Johnny Grant (the longtime honorary mayor of Hollywood) as an Ed Sullivan-like TV host in New York City.
White Christmas was shot by cinematographer Loyal Griggs (The Ten Commandments) on 35 mm photochemical film in the 8-perf VistaVision horizontal format—the first such feature ever to be shot in VistaVision—using William Fox’s Stein-produced “Natural Color” prototype cameras fitted with Leica still camera lenses. It was shot with an intended ratio of 1.66:1, but the film generally appeared in theaters via 4-perf 35 mm prints framed at the 1.85:1 flat aspect ratio (save for a few anamorphic prints framed at 2.35:1). For its release on Ultra HD, and in honor of the film’s 70th anniversary, Paramount has produced a new 4K scan of the original VistaVision camera negative. (Note that the previous Blu-ray was mastered from the VistaVision interpositive instead, and the improvement here is truly dramatic.) Flicker and color breathing—common issues in VistaVision—have been stabilized and the film has been carefully re-framed to 1.85:1 using vintage framing guides and multiple vintage 35 mm print reviews to ensure accuracy. The image has also been graded for high dynamic range (both HDR10 and Dolby Vision are available) and it’s been encoded for release on a 66 GB disc.
The result, in a word, is spectacular. Fine detail and texturing are exquisite. There are still a some shots in which parts of the frame look slightly soft, the result of known focus issues with the prototype cameras. But I actually find that the sometimes narrow depth of field enhances the dimensionality of this image. Film grain is light-medium at all times and remains organic throughout. And the color palette is truly vibrant, with natural looking skin tones and lush hues rendered at all times. Contrast is excellent too, with pleasingly deep shadows. The remastering team has even rebuilt many of the film’s transitions digitally, so they don’t all suffer from the generation loss optical softness. I wish Paramount had maximized the compression here for a 100 GB disc instead, but that’s an extremely minor nitpick. I’ve been viewing this 4K image projected on a 110” screen and it’s absolutely gorgeous.
The film’s soundtrack is available on the 4K disc in two formats via the team at Deluxe Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and restored original 2.0 mono also in DTS-HD MA. Both sound fantastic, with the 5.1 mix very naturally staged—front-focused and just slightly “larger” sounding than the mono mix—to create a subtle sense of space and ambience. Dialogue is clean and clear, free of analog hiss or age-related artifacts, and the musical numbers are full sounding with pleasing fidelity. Additional mixes are available in German, Spanish, French, and Italian Dolby Digital mono, with optional subtitles included in English, English for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, German, Spanish, French, Italian, and Japanese.
There are no extras on the 4K disc, but the package also includes the 2014 Diamond Anniversary Blu-ray release (which again was mastered from the VistaVision interpositive—not this new 4K restoration). That disc adds the following special features:
- Audio Commentary with Rosemary Clooney
- White Christmas Sing-Along viewing mode (16 songs)
- Classic Holiday Moments
- “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby: December 1, 1976 (SD – 2:18)
- “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby featuring Michael Bublé: December 10, 2012 (HD – 4:11)
- “Silent Night” by Bing Crosby: December 12, 1948 (SD – 2:37)
- “Jingle Bells” by Danny Kaye & Nat King Cole: December 25, 1963 (SD – 3:39)
- Danny Kaye Reads from A Christmas Carol: December 22, 1965 (SD – 7:23)
- Assignment Children Introduction by Michael Bublé (HD – 1:24)
- Assignment Children (HD – 17:11)
- Backstage Stories from White Christmas (HD – 11:57)
- Bing Crosby: Christmas Crooner (HD – 14:17)
- Danny Kaye: Joy to the World (HD – 13:12)
- Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (HD – 7:25)
- Rosemary’s Old Kentucky Home (HD – 13:28)
- White Christmas: From Page to Screen (HD – 4:23)
- White Christmas: A Look Back with Rosemary Clooney (HD – 16:46)
- Photo Galleries (HD)
- Rehearsals
- Behind the Scenes
- Filming
- Publicity Shots
- Theatrical Trailer (HD – 2:26)
- Theatrical Re-Release Trailer (HD – 2:11)
This is essentially everything from the original 2009 DVD release, along with an abundance of features created just for the Blu-ray. Among them are an enjoyable selection of Christmas-themed musical performances by Crosby (from various broadcast TV specials over the years), as well as an audio commentary by Clooney that offers lovely recollections of the production and her fellow cast members (though it should be noted that there are lengthy gaps in the track that will require a bit of patience). The only thing missing from the Blu-ray package is the bonus 12-song music CD, so you may wish to keep that if you have it. A Digital Copy code is also included on a paper insert (though it redeems only via Apple and Fandango at Home).
While it’s true that White Christmas might not rank in the top tier of all holiday films, it holds an important place in cinema history and is a genuine classic with plenty of charms to recommend it. Paramount’s new 4K restoration from the original VistaVision negative is magnificent—the film has truly never looked or sounded better. Our hats off to everyone involved in the restoration project. If you’re a fan of White Christmas, this new Ultra HD release is definitely not to be missed. Recommended.
- Bill Hunt (with Barrie Maxwell)
(You can follow Bill on social media on Twitter, BlueSky, and Facebook, and also here on Patreon)