Television Reviews : A Juggernaut of Talent in Holiday Offerings

‘Tis the season for television’s favorite Christmas adjective: “heartwarming.”

Tonight, two new holiday movies vie for the title with a juggernaut of Emmy, Oscar and Tony Award-winning talent. Hal Holbrook and Eva Marie Saint headline NBC’s World War II-era “I’ll be Home for Christmas,” airing at 9 p.m. on Channels 4, 36 and 39, while Jason Robards and Julie Harris team up for “The Christmas Wife” at 8 p.m. on the HBO cable channel.

It’s no contest.

“The Christmas Wife,” based on a short story by Helen Norris, is the winner and a rare gift to viewers.

Katherine Ann Jones’ teleplay examines the lives of two lonely people with exquisite simplicity. Robards, Harris and director David Jones (“Betrayal,” “84 Charing Cross”) take us into those lives, heart and soul.

John Tanner (Robards), a recent widower, dreads spending Christmas with his overly solicitous son and daughter-in-law. Instead, he decides to look for a “Christmas companion” through a classified ad offering “social arrangements.”

After an off-putting visit to the tacky agency and its smarmy owner (Don Francks), Tanner is paired up with Iris (Harris), a self-effacing, sad woman who makes a mystery of her background.

At his mountain cabin, where Tanner and his late wife always spent the holidays, Iris begins to emerge from her shell, revealing flashes of humor and strength. Tanner’s preoccupation with his late wife undergoes a subtle change as a tentative bond begins to form between the two of them.

It would be unfair to give away the ending. This delicate exploration of human folly traces an unbeaten path; following it on faith to its poignant destination is a good part of the pleasure.

Robards and Harris are both exceptional. Harris’ fragility is throat-catching. In a film made up of moments to savor, one remarkable scene finds Iris alone in her room on the first night, listening to Robards’ heavy footsteps on the stairs. Her eyes wide and unseeing, she stands paralyzed like a frightened deer.

That intense, silent moment is a jolting illustration of how deeply life has scarred this gentle woman.

After “The Christmas Wife,” the problem with “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” is glaring. Blanche Hanalis’ script offers only sentiment-by-the-numbers, and neither the cast nor director Marvin J. Chomsky (“Peter the Great,” “Holocaust”) can transcend it.

In a small, ‘40s New England town, Joe and Martha Bundy (Holbrook and Saint) await the gathering of their family for Christmas.

Viewers await the answers to the following:

Will pilot hero and favorite son Mike (Whip Hubley) make it home? Will son Terrell (Jason Oliver), a new Army recruit, ever hear anything but a discouraging word from Dad, who apparently thinks he’s a wimp?

Will the soldier (Peter Gallagher) whom daughter Leah (Nancy Travis) meets on the bus assuage her grief over the loss of her fiance overseas?

Will Mike’s sweet wife (Courteney Cox) succumb to blatant symbolism and have her baby on Christmas Day?

Holbrook looks unhappy with the whole thing and Oliver’s hang-dog, mumbling performance is too mannered by half. Travis, Gallagher and Saint come out the best here, but it’s a long slog through the cliches. Bah, humbug.