Offbeat Films Offer Plenty of Seasonal Cheer

Offbeat, fairly obscure Christmas movies can provide the warm, seasonal cheer you’re looking for in a holiday-oriented film--as much as you’ll find in chestnuts such as “Holiday Inn” and “White Christmas.”

But when you’re confronted with shelves full of holiday movies at your local video store, it’s hard to figure out which ones will provide heavy doses of cheer and which won’t.

Here’s a guide that may help you make your selections:

* “Holiday Affair” (Turner Entertainment, 1949). In the late ‘40s, there were many movies about the plight of war widows. This small movie, one of the good ones in that genre, works as heart-warming holiday entertainment. Janet Leigh plays an impoverished widow with a young son who’s anxious to get a set of trains for Christmas. Meanwhile, his mother is being courted by two handsome suitors (Robert Mitchum and Wendell Corey). Predictable, not too sentimental and basically well-made.

* “One Magic Christmas” (Disney, 1985). If you can buy gruff Harry Dean Stanton as a guardian angel, you’ll like this tale of a mother (Mary Steenburgen) who’s weighed down by so many problems she can’t generate any Christmas spirit. But the angel and her 6-year-old daughter figure out a way to pump her full of holiday cheer. In the meantime, you’ll be infused with a healthy dose of cheer too. Good, often overlooked holiday movie.

* “Christmas in Connecticut” (MGM/UA, 1945). This one belongs with the best in the Christmas-movie genre. It’s a merry romantic comedy concerning a magazine columnist (Barbara Stanwyck) who writes about food, farm life and family, though blithely ignorant of all three. To salvage her job, she has to orchestrate a homey Christmas in Connecticut for her boss (Sydney Greenstreet) and a war veteran (Dennis Morgan). You’ll be flooded with seasonal cheer as you watch the columnist and the veteran warm up to each other.

* “Christmas Lilies of the Field” (MPI, 1979). In this sequel, Billy Dee Williams plays amiable drifter Homer Smith--a role made famous by Sidney Poitier in the 1963 original. In the original, nuns coaxed Homer into building a chapel in the Arizona desert. This time, the nuns need an orphanage and a kindergarten. Homer, naturally, drifts in at the right time. This one is so full of sentiment and holiday spirit, you may OD on both.

* “The Christmas Wife” (HBO, 1988). Jason Roberts plays a lonely widower who goes to an agency to hire a woman to be his Christmas companion in a mountain retreat. He hooks up with shy Iris (Julie Harris), who has an interesting secret. Watching this low-key character study, which was made-for-cable, you’ll marvel at the skills of the stars. This is as good and touching as anything in the Christmas-movie genre.

* “Dot and Santa Claus” (CBS-Fox, 1979). A mixture of animation and live action, this is the fast-moving tale of a little girl who goes globe-trotting with Santa in search of her lost baby kangaroo. Mostly for youngsters, but adults will find it charming and loaded with holiday cheer.

* “Ernest Saves Christmas”(Touchstone, 1988). If you’re over 10, you may not be able to stomach Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney), the good-hearted goof who seems to have the mind of a 10-year-old. But it’s easy to see what kids see in him. He’s the grown-up who’s also on their level. This time our child-like hero comes to the rescue when Santa runs into a series of problems that keep him from doing his duty. If you can somehow keep Ernest from getting on your nerves, you’ll come away from this one with nice holiday glow.

Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”--the heart-warming tale of the transformation of a nasty old grump into a warm, charitable guy during the holidays--is as much a part of this season as Christmas trees and turkey. But there are so many versions available on video that choosing one isn’t easy. Here’s a guide to the most prominent ones:

* “A Christmas Carol” (United Home Video, 1951). If you’re really fussy about Dickens and you want a version reasonably faithful to the original, this should be your choice. Scrooge is usually portrayed as a one-dimensional old miser, a flat, cardboard cutout who’s mean for the fun of it. But Alistair Sims manages to flesh out the character. You get some hints about why he’s such an unsavory human being. An excellent drama, but a bit on the dark, moody side.

* “A Christmas Carol” (MGM/UA, 1938). If you can’t find the version starring Alistair Sim, this one will do. Reginald Owen’s Scrooge isn’t as multilayered as Sim’s, but as heart-warming holiday entertainment, the 1938 version is superior to the 1951 film.

* “Scrooged” (1988, Paramount). In this hip, somewhat dark-toned contemporary version, smirking Bill Murray stars as the nasty TV executive who shapes up after the three ghosts force him to see what a louse he’s become. Fairly funny but not particularly full of holiday cheer.

* “Scrooge” (CBS-Fox, 1970). “A Christmas Carol” as a musical, with Albert Finney amiably over-acting in the title role. The Leslie Bricusse score isn’t memorable, but Alec Guiness is as Marley’s ghost. A solid holiday entertainment.

* “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol” (Paramount, 1962). An animated musical version--catchy score by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill--of Dickens’ tale with near-sighted Mr. Magoo (the voice of Jim Backus) as Scrooge. This one is also strangely dark-toned, with Magoo playing an actor who’s starring in a theatrical production of Scrooge. More serious than you’d expect but ultimately good fun.

If you’re in a humbug mood, here are some movies that will snap you out of it:

* “Silent Night, Deadly Night” (IVE, 1984). In this slash-and-splatter flick, Santa is an ax-murderer. This movie is gleefully perverse--and very gory.

* “Black Christmas” (Warner, 1975). Starring John Saxon and Margot Kidder, this is a bone-chilling tale about a maniac who’s holed up in the attic of a college sorority house during Christmas vacation, killing off the co-eds.

After watching these two, you’ll be so down that you’ll want to recuperate by immersing yourself in Christmas cheer.