Paste's favorite holiday movies

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Mary Kate Varnau, Editorial Intern -- White Christmas (1954)
For generations, this movie has held a kind of Yuletide nostalgia rivaled maybe only by It's a Wonderful Life. But the funny thing about this Bing Crosby musical is that the warm feelings it still evokes today are mirrored in its own narrative: The war is over, their commanding officer (a "four-star general unemployed") can't make a living at the ski lodge, because even snow doesn't fall the way it used to. But when the stage doors open at the end to reveal the swirling flakes, all the soldiers salute, leaving even us southerners yearning for a snow-laden Christmas.