It’s the hap-happiest season of all. We bring nature inside as we adorn our living spaces with seasonally appropriate trees, and we light up the longer nights with bright and colourful lights. Music from generations long since passed is re-played and re-contextualised, and centuries old iconography is re-evaluated and repurposed.

There’ll be parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting, and carolling out in the snow. If we’ve been good, we’ll receive gifts (thanks Santa!), and if we’re lucky we’ll eat so much food we can barely move. Almost certainly, we’ll watch a movie. From the Netflix Originals of the current era to the silver screen classics of wartime Hollywood, Christmastime movie watching doesn’t discriminate based on picture quality, colour or the lack thereof, acting powerhouses or barely trained actors – if it works, it works. And if it’s good, we’ll hold onto it forever.

In this Movie List from The Film Magazine, we’ve scoured the annals of Christmas movie history to bring you the very best of the best to watch this holiday season. These films are Christmas classics and beloved cult hits, some culturally significant and others often overlooked. These films are seasonal treats; two advent calendars worth of movie magic from the big-wigs in Hollywood and beyond.

Short films (those with a runtime of under one hour) will not be included here, nor will films that cross multiple seasons but feel like Christmas movies – sorry You’ve Got Mail and Bridget Jones’s Diary. Debatable Christmas movies like Gremlins have also been omitted because of their inclusion in our alternative list “10 Excellent Non-Christmas Films Set at Christmas“. Seasonal classic The Apartment has also been disqualified on the grounds that it covers Christmas and beyond, and is arguably more of a new year’s movie.

These are 50 Unmissable Christmas Movies as chosen by The Film Magazine team members. Entries by Mark Carnochan, Kieran Judge, Martha Lane, Sam Sewell-Peterson and Joseph Wade.

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1. Remember the Night (1940)

Golden Era stars Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray (who would go on to star in The Apartment) spark an unlikely romance when Stanwyck’s Lee Leander steals a bracelet from a jewellery store and MacMurray’s John “Jack” Sargent is assigned to prosecute her over the Christmas holidays.

One of the era’s many beloved studio romantic comedies, Remember the Night features all the elements that would come to define the genre while encompassing some screwball comedy and classic transatlantic accents. The tagline read “When good boy meets bad girl they remember the night”, and it’s likely you’ll remember this seasonal treat too. JW

2. The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Few things signal classic Hollywood Christmases like Jimmy Stewart, and 6 years before arguably his most memorable performance in the iconic Frank Capra Christmas movie It’s a Wonderful Life, he starred in a seasonal favourite that was just as beloved by critics, The Shop Around the Corner.

This holiday romance from Ernst Lubitsch (who also directed Heaven Can Wait) sees Stewart’s Alfred fall in love with his pen pal who, unbeknownst to him, is the colleague he most despises at his gift store job – You’ve Got Mail has got nothing on this. With some hearty moments and all of the circumstantial comedy of the best movies of the era, The Shop Around the Corner will make you laugh and fill your heart in that special way that only the best Christmas movies can. JW

3. Holiday Inn (1942)

Early sound pictures were revolutionised by famed tap dancer Fred Astaire, and by 1942 he was a certified movie musical megastar. In Mark Sandrich’s seasonal musical Holiday Inn, he teams with would-be Christmas icon and man with a voice as sooth as silk, Bing Crosby. The result is one of the most iconic and influential Christmas movies ever made.

The film’s outdated attitude towards race are cringe-inducing and inexcusable in a 21st century context (there’s a whole sequence featuring blackface), but its other dated sensibilities shine bright amongst more modern and commercial Christmas films; its wholesome aura, classic dance scenes, and era-defining songs making for an unmissable experience. To top it all, Bing Crosby sings “White Christmas” for the first time in this film, cementing it in history as a seasonal classic. JW

4. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Widely acknowledged as one of the holiday season’s best-ever films, Vincente Minnelli (An American in Paris) illuminates his would-be wife Judy Garland in arguably her most established performance, bringing Christmas cheer to all without sacrificing any of the harsh realities facing the American people in the first half of the 20th century.

Featuring the original (and arguably the best) rendition of Christmas classic “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, and being anchored by some heartbreaking story elements, Meet Me In St. Louis maintains its power and relevance 80 years on. It offers a Christmas movie that will forever mark the height of its sub-genre, as well as the two filmmaking careers (of Minnelli and Garland) that helped to define the era. JW

Recommended for you: There’s No Place Like St. Louis at Christmas

5. Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

Remember the Night star Barbara Stanwyck is once again front and centre for a Golden Era Hollywood Christmas movie, this time playing a city magazine editor whose lies about being a perfect housewife are put to the test when her boss and a returning war hero invite themselves to her house.

This is screwball comedy with all the spirit of the festive season is as romantic as it is funny, and prominently features the shadows of World War II to gift the film a unique emotionality that has ensured it is rewatched year on year. JW

1.The Red Baron (2008)

It is the story of the famous German pilot Manfred Von Richthofen who bravely fought during WWI. The film is loosely based on his true story and it boasts an international cast – including Joseph Fiennes for example – and some great acting. The music composed by Dirk Reichardt and Stefan Hansen is beautiful and it always makes me emotional when I listen to it. Lena Headey gives a remarkable performance as Käte Otersdorf  and her chemistry with Matthias Schweighöfer is undeniable. I really enjoyed watching this film and I hope you will as well.

2. Black Book (2006)

Black Book is a Dutch WW2 drama directed by Paul Verthoeven starring Sebastian Koch, Carice Von Houten, Tom Hoffman, and Halina Reijn. It tells the complex story of Rachel Stein, a Dutch-Jewish woman, from 1944 until 1956.  If you know Carice Von Houten you must watch this film. Her performance was marvellous and she and Sebastian Koch were a very good choice together as the two leads, there’s also a little glimpse of Matthias Schoenaerts as a minor character. Verthoeven here gives us what can truly be considered as a masterpiece. I know it isn’t a German film but I simply couldn’t leave it out.

3. Stalingrad (1993)

It is unlikely that you haven’t heard about this film because it’s a very well known German WW2 drama and I personally think it is actually one of  the best examples of the lives of German soldiers on the Eastern front, and of German Cinema in general. In 1942 a German platoon is leaving Italy to go to the Russian front, their Leutnant (Lieutenant) is Hans von Witzland (Thomas Kretschmann) who is introduced to the platoon just before leaving. He’s a kind-hearted young man whose thoughts are constantly on his fiancée back home. I loved this film and I probably would watch it all over again but it’s a tear-jerker so you’ll have to be in a good mood to watch it. I’m sure you won’t regret it; it’s a must-see film.

4. Joyeux Nöel (2005)

The story is set during the Christmas truce of 1914 and it shows German, French and British soldiers fraternizing amidst the cruelty and tragedy of war. The film inspires reflection on what life on the front was like, on soldiers’ feelings, and on the futility of war. The truce, an event that though much debated is historically correct, makes the resumption of the conflict all the more senseless. The cast is stellar: Benno Fürmann, Daniel Brühl, Diane Kruger, Gary Lewis, Alex Ferns and Guillame Canet. All the actors deliver a brilliant performance and I literally cried during many scenes of the film. Another masterpiece that you can’t miss.

5.Das Boot (1981)

Das Boot is most certainly a film you shouldn’t miss. It is considered a masterpiece and one of  the greatest German films of all time. Empire Magazine ranked it #25 among “The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema” in 2010 and it was critically acclaimed. If that’s not enough to convince you to watch it, then may I mention that the cast was outstanding, I was completely immersed in the story, and it all seemed so real. Among the cast there are many famous German actors like: Jürgen Prochnow as the U-Boot 96 Captain, who also starred in many US films and is internationally known, Herbert Grönemeyer as  Lt. Werner who is also a musician. The story revolves around the Captain and his U-96 crew’s fictional adventures during WW2 and it is an adaptation of  a novel of the same name by Lothar-Günther Buchheim.  I highly recommend it as it’s an acclaimed film and a real masterpiece for its technical achievements and acting performances.