It’s that time of year again when film fans will rewatch Christmas movie classics from Elf and Love Actually to Die Hard and The Grinch.
Yet there’s a plethora of hidden festive gems that often go under the radar.
And one of them is what we believe to be the most underrated Christmas movie of the 21st century.
This film was barely caught at the cinema upon its 2017 release despite positive reviews from the critics.
The movie in question is The Man Who Invented Christmas, a meta take on the usual A Christmas Carol adaptation.
Based on Les Standiford’s 2008 non-fiction book of the same name, Dan Stevens stars as Charles Dickens rushing to get his most famous festive work written in time for Christmas. Facing mounting debts, the author has just six weeks to meet the publishing deadline despite being told A Christmas Carol will fail as Christmas was considered largely irrelevant at the time.
It’s the true story of how Dickens played a big part in inventing the modern Victorian-esque Christmas that we celebrate today.
Inspired by his deep Christian convictions, Dickens came up with the ghost story of the selfish old miser Scrooge, who is transformed into a joyful generous man after being visited by four spirits. The author’s parable would go on to become an annual reminder not to forget the needs of the poor during the festive season.
In the film, Dickens creates his characters who appear around him, with the late Christopher Plummer in one of his final roles portraying the Scrooge of the author’s imagination.
An amusing and warm-hearted little film, this is one to seek out this Christmas season if you haven’t seen him yet.
The Man Who Invented Christmas is available to rent (£3.49) and buy (£5.99) on Amazon Prime Video.