CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT

This remake of the 1945 film CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT marks Arnold Schwarzenegger’s directorial debut. In the film, Elizabeth Blane has a TV series on cooking, broadcast from her Connecticut home, in which she refers often to her husband, children and grandchildren. However, in truth: there is no family; the broadcast originates from a TV studio; and, she can’t cook. Her producer, Alexander Yardley, sees a newscast about Jefferson Jones, a forest ranger who rescued a boy only to find his home burned to the ground. His only remaining possession is Blane’s cookbook! Alex conceives of a live Christmas show, with the hero as Elizabeth’s guest, and sets Elizabeth up in a rented estate, complete with people posing as her “family.” However, Elizabeth falls in love with Jones and can no longer perpetuate the deceit.

The moral of this story, that love triumphs over deceit, is a good one, though Christians recognize that only God’s Love can transform the deceitful hearts of fallen men. Regrettably, the direction is very stagey, and the script is weak. Of course, it is interesting that Arnold Schwarzenegger directed CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT, but it is also clear that he has a long way to go before he perfects the art.