The House Without A Christmas Tree | Jason Robards, Mildred Natwick

The House Without A Christmas Tree | Jason Robards, Mildred Natwick | This is one of the most touching movies I've ever seen

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The House Without ...

	The House Without A Christmas Tree Jason Robards, Mildred Natwick 20th Century Fox, 1996 average customer review:based on 120 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The loss of a loved one is never easy and memories often make the holiday season especially difficult. Addie (Lisa Lucas) lost her mother when she was very young and, while she sometimes yearns for her mother, she is a happy well-adjusted ten-year old who wants nothing more than to have a Christmas tree in the living room. Addie's father (Jason Robards) absolutely refuses to have a Christmas tree in the house, but offers no explanation for his stubborn resolve which leads Addie to question his motives and his love for her. It falls to Addie's Grandmother (Mildred Natwick) to explain that her father is still immersed in grief over the loss of his wife and that the memories of Christmases past are simply too painful for him to endure. When Addie wins a tree at school, her father is enraged by both the presence of the tree in his home and the idea of his family accepting charity. Only by opening a line of communication and sharing their feelings and memories with one another can Addie and her father reconcile their differences and begin to understand one another. Set in 1964, this 1972 made-for-television special feels like a stage play with sets and scenery that evoke the essence of an age-gone-by. The message, of course, is timeless. (Ages 5 and older) --Tami Horiuchi

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A Should-Be Classic

The House Without a Christmas Tree is a story of faith restored. The father is devastated over the loss of his wife and loses all the faith in beauty, magic and innocence with which we are born. His daughter, Addie, is as vehement in her faith in magic as her father is not! With a steadfast stubborness the daughter redeems the father much to the approval of grandma. This is a must-own and a must-see for all families during the yule season!

This is one of the most touching movies I've ever seen

I'm a large manly man and you wouldn't expect to see me weeping over some silly little movie like this. But I do, OH HOW I WEEP with the ups and downs of this young girl's life. This movie is so touching. If you've never seen it, do yourself a favor and buy it now. I especially enjoy the happy piano tune that is featured in this flick. I can totally identify with the father as well as the daughter. Very well written, very well acted. Great movie! I thank God for great movies like this! Thanks God! (Spoken while pointing both index fingers toward the Heavens!)

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These are such charming movies, finally have all 4!

As a child I always enjoyed these wonderful heartwarming TV movies with such an incredible writing and cast including Jason Robarts & the legendary Mildred Natwick. I'm so glad "The House Without A Christmas Tree" has findly been released on DVD. I recently got the seldom seen 4th movie, "Addie & The King Of Hearts" which shows Addie's struggles of growing up, coming to terms with her father dating again and her crush on her teacher. Diane Ladd appears as the love interest to Addie's dad. These charming films are from a time that will never be recaptured on TV again!

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Holiday Classic

It's a little disheartening to see that so many reviewers diminish this film for its low-budget quality. I think that that is part of its appeal and adds to the story's authenticity. This isn't a typical holiday story about the spirit of giving or the "meaning" of Christmas. This is a bleak little tale about Addie (Lucas), a girl with an emotionally shut down father (a monstrously cold Robards) who denies his family Christmas because he's determined to shut out the past. The story is structured around Addie's various gambits to convince her father to buy a Christmas tree for their house, depicted here with its big warm kitchen run by Addie's grandmother (the brilliant, sturdy Natwick) and it's cold living room where Robards escapes with his newspaper waiting for dinner. At school, Addie is pugnacious and defensive of her home life--single-parent, no Christmas tree, eccentric grandmother. The only thing keeping Addie's story from spiraling into complete pathos is a classmate who's worse off than she is--a poor, tired-looking girl who doesn't have a tree either and whose mother is too sick to make her Christmas pageant costume. What's at stake here is Addie's childhood as we watch her come perilously close to turning into her hard, bitter father.

The story is told in a frame: Addie who has grown up and lives in the big city is looking back on her childhood in a small town in Nebraska. At the intro and at the breaks, the mature Addie narrates as she constructs paper silhouettes that cross-fade into or out of the filmed story. This is particularly effective when the story cross-fades for a "break" and we see Robards's haunted, empty face turn into an even more haunted and emptier minimalist silhouette created by the adult Addie. We see memory transformed into neat, unsettling impressions that come to life again or just go cold.

When the film comes to its uneasy resolution, it threatens to tug at our hearts, but we know that things will never be right between Addie and her father and the adult Addie tells us that much in the final voice-over. The story transcends sentimentality.

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One of the Best Christmas Videos Ever Made

I remember watching this every Christmas on television as a kid growing up. It took me many years to find it on video, but I am so glad I did! It is one of the best Christmas programs ever made. I definitely recommend this to anyone who is as big a Christmas "fan" as I am. You will cherish this for a life time.

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