A Christmas Story: 20th Anniversary  Edition
December 2003 Reviewed by: Rad Bennett Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

This movie was shot on a very low budget, but its intrinsic good humor and astute observations grabbed the public like crazy, and it has now become a holiday hit equal to It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street. It is impossible to think of the season without it. One station in the Washington, DC area runs it continuously for 24 hours on December 25. Perhaps a TV station in your area does the same sort of marathon.

The movie portrays Christmas in an earlier, simpler, happier time than today’s manic world. It is authentic right down to the last bubble light. I was there and can attest to that. The look of the department-store windows, the same emporium’s interiors, the school classroom, and the residential street on which Ralphie and his parents live are 100% authentic. Ralphie, like every other nine-year-old of the period, wants a Red Ryder BB rifle for Christmas. His Mom doesn’t want him to have one for fear he will "shoot his eye out." I relate. My mother was the same way, and she won the battle. I never did get one of these trusty rifles for a holiday gift. Ralphie is a lot luckier.

There are dozens of memorable moments in this heartwarming and very funny movie: the leg lamp that Ralphie’s father wins in a contest; the bullies that beat up the little kids as they walk home in the snow; Ralphie’s fearful trip to visit the department-store Santa Claus; dinner at the Chinese restaurant, the only place open on Christmas Day; Ralphie getting his mouth washed out with soap for saying a dirty word; and the Little Orphan Annie decoder ring that turns out to be a sham. All of these scenes ring true as any bell, and are hard to forget.

The original DVD was a full-screen concoction that seemed only partly panned and scanned and partly full frame. The first DVD of this two-disc set offers both that and a 16:9 anamorphic version. The movie was shot soft around the edges, no doubt to imbue it with a feeling of nostalgia. The transfer here seems to take that a half a step further. There are times when I felt the image could have been sharper. To tell the truth, this is a good transfer, but not the kind one expects from an anniversary edition. The audio is excellent for a mono effort. The soundtrack music comes across well, and the dialogue is easy to understand.

The first disc also contains a genial commentary by Peter Billingsley (Ralphie) and director Bob Clark in which they reminisce like old friends on the shooting of each scene. But what to say of the second disc, which is what makes this a so-called anniversary edition? I felt it was very weak. There’s an all-too-brief documentary featuring the kids now grown up, remembering their experiences in making the movie, but there are no biographies telling us what each is doing now. There is a halfway-decent documentary on the Red Ryder rifle and its manufacturing history, and a strained short on the leg lamp, as well as two trivia games. The gem is some radio readings by Jean Shepherd of his original stories, on which A Christmas Story is based. I was able to coast through all this in about 45 minutes, not very much value per dollar for a whole extra disc. Perhaps we will finally get all the information we want on the 30th anniversary edition, including a video transfer worthy of this great holiday entertainment.

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