10 Underrated Christmas Movies You Need To See

10. It Happened On 5th Avenue

There's a certain energy to 1940s comedies that you just don't get in the decades that came after, something energetic, yet casual, like a brisk early morning jog before work. Like today, there were a lot of Christmas movies made during Hollywood's golden age, a lot of which fell through the cracks despite being really good in their own right. Case in point, It Happened On 5th Avenue.

This brilliant comedy by Roy Del Ruth and starring Don DeFore, Ann Harding and Charles Ruggles is about a rich man who discovers that every year when he heads down south for the Christmas season, a bum sneaks into his home and lives in his house until he returns. The rest of the film is just about the stuffy old geezer trying to get rid of him, in what is probably the best Frank Capra movie that Frank Capra never made.

The film has a lot of laughs at the expense of the obscenely wealthy, but is ultimately about the generous spirit and empathy for our fellow man that we should not only express at Christmas, but for all year.