L'Arbre de Noël

I remember seeing this movie when I was a kid. We watched it every year. It has been about 10 years since I have seen it, if not longer. I always check the listings this time of year but never seem to see that it is on. This has got to be one of the best holiday movies I have ever seen. My kids have never seen this movie and I am sure they would just love it as much as I did when I was their age. A definite thumbs up for me!

For tax reasons and to be nearer his beloved African game preserve William Holden spent a lot of time in Europe during the sixties working. At the end of the decade Holden starred in The Christmas Tree which is not what you would think by the title, a warm and fun holiday movie. Christmas is peripheral to this very sad, almost beyond endurance sad movie.

Holden is one of the richest men in the world and a widower who has a young son Brooke Fuller. While on holiday in Corsica and swimming on the beach Fuller is exposed fatally to radiation poisoning. I'm not sure of the science of this, but I think the effects are those that would be sustained in one of those dirty bomb type explosions. You'll have to see the film to see how it is done.

There's no hope but to make the lad's weeks/months as happy as possible. The moral if there is any is that all the wealth and power in the world can never be brought to bear against the inevitable.

The cast also includes Virna Lisi and the great French comedian Bourvil. It's a great film, but not for the Yuletide season.

I have always seen that movie at each Christmas since I am 7. Few people know it but it is really worth to watch. That is according to me one of these little unknown treasures in the world movie collection.

I saw this movie about thirty years ago and never forgot about it. I'd love to see it again but I haven´t been able to find it. The plot, actors and photography are great and it is the kind of movie I'd love my children to see.

The year was 1969 when I first saw this movie on television. I was twenty- five years old at the time. I really liked the movie for what values it offered. Pascal's comment to his father if his father was sick and recuperating why does he have to take medicine. The confession that he told his dad he over heard during the night that the senior doctor cried knowing there was no cure, that this young patient (himself) had only a few months to live when he had a conversation with another doctor in the hall. To me hearing this conversation about me would cause a great depression. I would'not want to eat or care about any thing or any one. I don't know how I would react to this devastated news. This movie has not been shown on TV for some years.