Blue Christmas

For your holiday viewing pleasure, here's a film that puts a noir twist on a classic Christmas tale.

"Blue Christmas" - Directed by Max Allan Collins - (Blu-ray, VCI Entertainment/Indie Go!/MVD Visual)

Writer and director Collins loves the noir genre and here he offers up a fun noir spoof of the Charles Dickens classic "A Christmas Carol." Set in 1942, the film focuses on private detective Richard Stone (Rob Merritt) and begins as he is hosting a somewhat glum Christmas party for his staff, who mostly work on the sleazy side of the gumshoe business, like gathering evidence for divorce cases. Stone's partner in the business, Jake Marley, is not at the party because he was murdered the year before, something that Stone never even bothered to investigate. And that fact is at the heart of the story as the party breaks up and Stone is subsequently visited by four spirits. First to appear is the ghost of a recently deceased soldier who lost his life fighting in WWII while Stone sits at home having bribed his way out of service. The second ghost is Bonnie Parker of the famed crime duo Bonnie and Clyde, played by the scene-stealing Alisabeth Von Presley; the third ghostly visitor identifies as The King, and that would be The King of Rock 'n' Roll, Elvis Presley. The King proclaims that he's going to "Be bigger than the Beatles" to which Stone smugly retorts "You're the biggest damn bug I've ever seen!" The scene injects some humor into the otherwise bleak story, even though at this point Stone has no idea what these characters are trying to tell him. Finally Stone is visited by the ghost of his late partner, after which he begins to make some sense of things. Interestingly, the film is entirely shot on one set representing Stone's office, with a gentle special effect indicating when the story drifts into the fantasies. While set at Christmastime, "Blue Christmas" is made to be enjoyed any time of year.

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