22 Best Christmas Films and TV Adaptations 1991-1999
These Christmas movies and TV adaptations from 1991 to 1999 are great DVD gifts to watch with families and friends over the festive season. Resources, facts and information include the year the film was released, film director, writers, leading stars and brief summaries.
Christmas Films and Television (TV), Years 1991-1999
1. Christmas on Division Street (1991), TV
Director: George Kaczender
Writer: Barry Morrow
Stars: Fred Savage, Hume Cronyn, Kenneth Welsh, Badia Djola
When Trevor moves to a new city he has trouble adjusting. Visiting the local library to do research, he meets a homeless man. He reflects on the memory of his grandfather from this older man and begins to appreciate the man’s knowledge. Friendship develops between them. As Christmas approaches and a storm looms, Trevor realizes the anxieties and hopelessness these homeless people must face.
2. Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus (1991), TV
Director: Charles Jarrott
Writers: Val De Crowl and Andrew J. Fenady
Stars: Richard Thomas, Charles Bronson, Edward Asner
Bronson is a newspaper writer. As he struggles with the death of his wife, he receives a “special” assignment. He need to answer a little girl’s question whether Santa Claus really exists. The plot is based on a true story.
3. All I Want for Christmas (1991)
Director: Robert Lieberman
Writers: Thom Eberhardt and Richard Kramer
Stars: Harley Jane Kozak, Leslie Nielsen, Lauren Bacall, Jamey Sheridan
Brother and sister, Ethan and younger sister Hallie want to spend their Christmas with their parents. The trouble of the duo is that their their parents are divorced and their mom is about to remarry. When Hallie goes to visit Santa Claus, she asks for an unusual gift – she wants her parents back together again. With Santa’s magical help, the children finally succeed. This is a comedy.
4. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
Director: Chris Columbus
Writer: John Hughes
Stars: Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern
Home Alone 2 follows the (mis)adventures of Kevin McCallister from the first Home and Alone released in 1990. This time he’s alone in New York City with lots of cash for a boy and his father’s credit cards. Kevin once again uses booby traps on the bumbling bandits, also bound for the Big Apple.
5. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
Director: Brian Henson
Screenplay writer: Jerry Juhl, based on the novel by Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
Stars: Michael Caine, Dave Goelz-voice, Steve Whitmire
The characters are Muppets. They tell their own version of Dickens’ classic tale of Scrooge, the old and mean miser and his self-transformation on Christmas Eve.
6. The Christmas Stallion (1992), TV
Director: Peter Edwards
Writer: Paul Matthews
Stars: Daniel J. Travanti, Lynette Davies, Sian MacLean
Gwen Davies, 16 years old, adores the horses she and her grandfather have raised on the beautiful Welsh Mountains. But when her grandfather dies her uncle must either sell the farm to a greedy land developer or allow Gwen to keep the farm, opening wounds of a tragic past.
7. The Nutcracker (1993)
Director: Emile Ardolino
Narration Writer: Susan Cooper
Stars: Macaulay Culkin, Darci Kistler, Damian Woetel, Kyra Nichols
It’s Christmas Eve. A little girl named Marie falls asleep after a party at her home. She dreams she’s in a fantastic world where toys become larger than life. She meets up with the Nutcracker Prince who fights the Mouse King for her.
8. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Animated
Director: Henry Selick
Writers: Tim Burton (story), adapted by Michael McDowell
Stars: Chris Sarandon, Catherine O’Hara, Danny Elfman
King Skellington discovers Christmas Town but does not understand the meaning of Christmas or what it is all about.
9. The Santa Clause (1994)
Director: John Pasquin
Writers: Leo Benvenuti and Steve Rudnick
Stars: Tim Allen, Wendy Crewson, Judge Reinhold
A man finds himself being recruited to take Santa Claus when he inadvertently kills Santa.
10. Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
Director: Les Mayfield
Writers: Valentine Davies (story) and George Seaton (from 1947 screenplay)
Stars: Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan McDermott
It’s a remake of the 1947 film starring Edmund Gwenn. Six year old Susan has doubts about Santa Claus but in the end discovers that dreams can come true if one truly believes. When a good old man claims to be Santa Claus and institutionalized by society as insane, a young lawyer decides to defend him in court and argues that he’s indeed the real Santa.
11. Mixed Nuts (1994)
Director: Nora Ephron
Screenplay writers: Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron
Stars: Steve Martin, Madeline Kahn, Adam Sandler, Robert Klein
The story happens during the Christmas holidays. One crazy night, there is a hotline business crisis.
12. A Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994), TV
Director: Joanna Romersa
Writer: Glenn Leopold, based on Charles Dickens book A Christmas Carol
Stars: Henry Corden, Jean Vander Pyl and Frank Welker
Fred Flintsone is cast as the mean miser Ebenezer Scrooge in an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ famous classic novel, A Christmas Carol.
13. Mrs. Santa Claus (1996), TV
Director: Terry Hughes
Writer: Mark Saltzman
Stars: Angela Lansbury, Charles Durning, Michael Jeter, Terrence Mann
Neglected by her husband during the pre-Christmas rush, Mrs. Santa Claus decides to take the reindeer and sleigh out for a ride, as she feels neglected by her husband. The trouble is that she ends up stranded in the multi-cultural neighborhood of Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
14. Jingle all the Way (1996)
Director: Brian Levant
Writer: Randy Kornfield
Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Phil Hartman, Rita Wilson, Sinbad
Christmas is coming soon. A father who can’t afford the year’s hot toy for his son decides to dream that “impossible dream.”
15. Christmas in My Hometown (1996), TV
Director: Jerry London
Writer: Darrah Cloud
Stars: Tim Matheson, Melissa Gilbert, Travis Tritt, Michelle Trachtenberg
The film is known as the “Holiday for Love.” The story is about an executive who is forced to cut the job of many workers at a small-town tractor factory. He gets a surprise of his life when he is mistaken as the “savior” of the local economy.
16. Christmas Every Day (1996), TV
Director: Larry Peerce
Story and teleplay: Stephen Alix
Stars: Robert Hays, Erik von Detten, Bess Armstrong
Billy Jackson got a basketball for Christmas but can’t make a jump shot. His Uncle David is coming to town to open a Valu-Mall, which will put his Dad’s store out of business. When he tells his little sister Sarah that there is no Santa she makes a wish that Christmas happens every day. Billy is in for a surprise.
17. A Christmas Memory (1997), TV
Director: Glenn Jordan
Writers: Truman Capote (story) and Jeffrey DeMunn (teleplay)
Stars: Patty Duke, Piper Laurie, Jeffrey DeMunn
Buddy’s parents have separated. His mother, an actress in New York, has been dumped at the small-town home of some older cousins in the south. His older cousins are unmarried. Buddy brings life to the house and develops a close friendship with Sook, one of the older ladies. They undertake adventures together, including baking of 31 fruit-cakes which they give as Christmas presents.
18. An All Dogs Christmas Carol (1998), Animated
Directors: Paul Sabella and Gary Selvaggio
Writer: Jymn Magon
Starts: Ernest Bornine, Dom DeLuise and Sheena Easton
Voices of Steven Weber, Dom DeLuise
Charlie B. Barker and Itchy Ford are back with Sasha and the gang as they have the time of their lives trying to save Christmas from Carface and an evil spirit that wishes to use all the dogs in the world to ruin Christmas forever.
19. Jack Frost (1998)
Director: Troy Miller
Story and screenplay writer: Mark Steven Johnson
Stars: Michael Keaton, Kelly Preston, Joseph Cross
A father can’t seem to put things right with his son, including broken promises. He dies in a car accident. A year later, he returns as a snowman and finally able to fulfil his duty as a father.
20. I’ll Be Home for Christmas (1998)
Director: Arlene Sanford
Writers: Michael Allin (story) and Tom Nursall (Screenplay)
Stars: Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Jessica Biel, Adam LaVorgna
While struggling to get home in time for Christmas, a college student learns more about himself and the true meaning of the season.
21. The Christmas Wish (1998), TV
Director: Ian Barry
TV Story Writer: Beth Polson, based on a book by Richard Harris
Stars: Debbie Reynolds, Neil Patrick Harris, Naomi Watts
Slick Will Martin, a Wall Street trader, was raised by his grandfather. When the old man died, Will returns to his home town and simply feels out of place.
22. A Christmas Carol (1999), TV
Director: David Hugh Jones
Writer: Peter Barnes (for television), based on the novel by Charles Dickens
Stars: Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant, Joel Grey
An adaptation of the famous classic novel by Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, about miser Ebenezer Scrooge and his self-transformation.
These Christmas films and television adaptations are considered best in Hollywood, from 1991 to 1999. They are timely for the festive season entertainment. DVDs can be rented out at video rental stores or online video rentals.
Resources of Best Christmas Films, 1991-1999
The Internet Movie Database (IMDB)
Other Christmas and Holiday Links
11 Greatest Christmas Films (1935-1950)
16 Best Christmas Films and TV Adaptation 1951-1974
18 Best Christmas Films and TV Adaptations 1977-1985
14 Best Christmas Films and TV Adaptations 1986-1990
16 Best Christmas Films and TV Adaptations 2000-2005
Traditional Christmas Cookie Recipes: The History of Cookies and Three Christmas Cookie Recipes
What to Serve for Christmas Dinner: Recipes and Entrees to Serve for Christmas Meals
History of Christmas: Facts, Information, Resources
Christmas Trivia Questions, Lesson Plans, and Recipes
Tel Asiado is a writer, author, and business consultant, previously, IT manager & consultant. Her articles reflect her interests, from small business, biographies & histories, to classical music especially Mozart, art & literature, biographies, and Christian writings. Tel has produced non-fictions, e-books and anthologies. Her education is MBA in Computer Management, BSc Chemistry, Diploma in Small Business & Internet Mktg, and Cert IV Training and Assessment (TAA). Her small office/home site is homebizideasnow.com, and numerous information of Mozart and classical music, mozartandclassicalmusic.com.
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