9 Un-Orthodox Christmas Movies To Liven Up Your Holiday

4. The Odessa File (1974)

The director Ronald Neame is rarely discussed today, and that's a shame. Sure, the man's body of work is admittedly hit-and-miss. It's amazing, however, to see how good Neame could be if he got his hands on a good script. For every stinker like Meteor, Neame directed a great flick like Hopscotch, The Poseidon Adventure, or our film in question, The Odessa File, his 1974 adaptation of Frederick Forsyth's novel. If you like 1970s-esque thrillers, you'll love this flick. The film also has a strong Christmas backdrop. The Odessa File revolves around Peter Miller (Jon Voight), a German journalist who's investigating the suicide of a Holocaust survivor. During the course of his investigation, Miller comes across a diary in which the old man details the experiences he had in the SS Riga Ghetto. The diary particularly focuses on the dead man's encounters with the Ghetto's leader, SS officer Eduard Roschmann (Maximilian Schell). The diary inspires Miller to go undercover, entering the secret Nazi organization ODESSA in order to locate and kill Roschmann. The film's Christmas elements all come early in the film. The first shot of the film shows Voight driving down a street adorned with Christmas lights and other decorations. He listens to Perry Como croon "A Christmas Dream" until a radio news anchor cuts in with a news flash about the JFK assassination (the film begins on November 22, 1963). That's about it for Christmas references, but it only takes a couple to qualify a film for holiday viewing.