How Long Is “White Christmas”?

(1954) Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney star in this festive family favourite from prolific director Michael Curtiz. Bob Wallace (Crosby) and Phil Davis (Kaye) are friends who met while serving in World War II and have subsequently become a very successful song-and-dance team. They meet singing sisters Betty (Clooney) and Judy (Vera-Ellen) at a nightclub in Florida and, with a hint of romance in the air, together head off to rural Vermont, where the girls are booked to appear at a ski lodge. When they arrive, they discover that the place is run by the men's former commanding officer, Major General Waverly (Dean Jagger), who's in dire financial straits because unseasonably warm weather is keeping the snow at bay. So the four entertainers make plans to bail him out by staging a spectacular musical benefit show... Shot in Technicolor, the film was the first to be released in the high-resolution widescreen VistaVision format and, with its songs written by Irving Berlin, the movie was the year's top box-office hit.