For 2025, we are returning to something we first tried two years ago — an interactive quiz based on the nearly three dozen movies that are part of our Christmas at the Movies rotation. Unlike the 2023 quizzes, which were based on seven different themes, this is a single quiz, with 35 questions asking you to identify the film from which a quote comes. In some cases, the film should be readily identifiable, as the quote encapsulates the film’s essence. In others, the quote is a notable aphorism spoken by one of the characters, but which relates to the film’s central theme. And in others, the quotation is a quirky bit of dialogue or repartee that makes us laugh every time we hear it. You will find a list of the 35 films at the bottom of this page.
The snappy dialogue made us think about the screenwriters who penned those distinctive lines that are essential to any film, as much as the actors and the directors who usually get most of the attention. I compiled a list of the writers for our 35 films and found some interesting and unexpected connections. Norman Krasna, who won an Oscar for his screenplay for Princess O’Rourke (1944), which he also directed, wrote the scripts for both Bachelor Mother and White Christmas. (He also wrote the script for the wonderful comedy, The Devil and Miss Jones.) Adele Comandini wrote the scripts for two very different films: Christmas in Connecticut and Beyond Tomorrow. Always looking for a Fred Astaire connection, I found she also helped write the script for Flying Down to Rio, the first film Fred did with Ginger Rogers.
Another pair of disparate holiday classics both came from the pen of Everett Freeman, who wrote It Happened on Fifth Avenue and Larceny, Inc. Frances Goodrich wrote the scripts for another unlikely pair of films: The Thin Man and It’s a Wonderful Life. I.A.L. Diamond, best known for his collaborations with Billy Wilder, wrote the script for Never Say Goodbye long before he did The Apartment.
Wilder, who began his career as a screenwriter, of course contributed to that masterful script of The Apartment as well as directing what is probably the best total film on our watchlist. There are several other screenplay/director combinations on our rotation and in our quotations quiz. Preston Sturges, who directed The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, wrote the script for Remember the Night. George Seaton wrote the screenplay and directed Miracle on 34th Street. And Bill Forsyth both wrote and directed the quirkiest film on our list: Comfort and Joy.
So let’s honor the screenwriters with a quiz on their quirky Quistmas quotes. And if you take the quiz and get the highest score, we will send you a DVD with one our favorite films. Merry Christmas!
THE 35 HOLIDAY FILMS INCLUDED IN THE QUIZ
| TITLE | YEAR |
|---|---|
| And So They Were Married | 1936 |
| The Apartment | 1960 |
| Bachelor Mother | 1939 |
| Bell, Book and Candle | 1959 |
| Beyond Tomorrow | 1940 |
| The Bishop's Wife | 1947 |
| A Charlie Brown Christmas | 1965 |
| The Cheaters | 1945 |
| A Christmas Carol (1951) | 1951 |
| Christmas Eve | 1947 |
| Christmas in Connecticut | 1945 |
| A Christmas Story | 1983 |
| Comfort & Joy | 1984 |
| Desk Set | 1957 |
| Fitzwilly | 1967 |
| Good Sam | 1948 |
| The Great Rupert | 1950 |
| Holiday | 1938 |
| Holiday Affair | 1949 |
| Holiday Inn | 1942 |
| In Name Only | 1939 |
| It Happened on 5th Avenue | 1947 |
| It's a Wonderful Life | 1946 |
| Larceny, Inc. | 1942 |
| Lemon Drop Kid, The | 1951 |
| The Man Who Came to Dinner | 1942 |
| Meet John Doe | 1941 |
| The Miracle of Morgan's Creek | 1943 |
| Miracle on 34th Street | 1947 |
| Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol | 1962 |
| Never Say Goodbye | 1946 |
| Remember the Night | 1940 |
| The Shop Around the Corner | 1940 |
| Thin Man, The | 1934 |
| White Christmas | 1954 |