Watch Christmas movies on the big screen

By Allison Brophy Champion

Published: November 13, 2008

The Mount Pony Theater delivers Christmas movies galore this holiday season with free films that span the generations and warm the sensibilities.

Here’s a sneak peek at the cheer coming to Culpeper:

Tuesday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. It’s A Wonderful Life (1946, Liberty Films) with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. They say it’s the best feel-good movie ever. It’s certainly the one many a family has gathered around after getting stuffed at the holiday table.

Friday, Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m. Christmas in Connecticut (1945, Warner Bros.) stars Barbara Stanwyck as today’s Martha Stewart, but with absolutely no homemaking skills.

Saturday, Dec. 6 at 2 p.m. it’s Home Alone (1990, Hughes Entertainment) with Macaulay Calkin when he was still innocent. Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci star as the bumbling, but lovable burglars.

Tuesday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. Albert Finney’s Scrooge (1970, Waterbury Films) shows (bah humbug). It’s a musical version of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” not to be confused with the Bill Murray version of (Ebenezer) Scrooged.

Friday, Dec. 12 at 7:30 p.m. Holiday Affair (1949, RKO) stars Janet Leigh as a widowed working mother who’s turned every which way on account of two competing suitors: Robert Mitchum and Wendell Corey.

Saturday, Dec. 13 at 2 p.m. it wouldn’t be Christmastime without Tim Allen as Kris Kringle in The Santa Clause (1994, Walt Disney Pictures). Watch out! The snow on that roof’s slippery.

Tuesday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. come Home for the Holidays, a celebration of Christmas on television. Bob Hope, Ozzie & Harriet and even Archie Bunker celebrated this joyous season. It’s an evening of old favorites.

Friday, Dec. 19 at 7:30 p.m. you know they had to show A Christmas Story (1983, Christmas Tree Films) with little Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) and that blasted Red Rider BB Gun. Another un-button your pants after eating and gather around the TV family favorite.

Saturday, Dec. 20 at 2 p.m. the season ends on Mount Pony with the quintessential Christmas flick, Miracle on 34th Street (1947, 20th Century Fox). With Edmund Gwenn as the man in the red suit and Natalie Wood as the little girl who believes.

**Reserve tickets one week in advance of each show Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. by calling the Mount Pony Theater reservation line: 540-827-1079 ext. 79994 or (202) 707-9994. Reservations for Saturday screenings can be made on the previous Friday.

Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or