One of the greatest Christmas short stories of all time is "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry (a.k.a. William Sydney Porter), that all-but-forgotten master of "the twist." If you don't know the story (published in 1906), I won't tell it to you, except that it's about a young couple who dearly wish to get each other something for Christmas but lack the means. But director Henry King very nicely adapted it to film as part of this 1952 five-part anthology film based on five great Henry stories. It's definitely not your typical feel-good Christmas tale, and its heartstring-tugging might be a nice alternative to the usual chirpy, colorful stuff on TV (like The Santa Clause 3, which I accidentally caught the other night).

As great a story as "Magi" is however, it's not even the high point of this film. In Henry Koster's segment "The Cop and the Anthem," we get a great, blustery, scenery-chewing performance by Charles Laughton as a homeless man with a rather unique plan on how to spend the chilly winter. Marilyn Monroe makes one of her early, pre-stardom, scene-stealing appearances.


Best of all is Howard Hawks' "The Ransom of Red Chief," which is probably O. Henry's most famous story. Hawks is unquestionably the finest director of the five hired for this film (the others being King, Koster, Henry Hathaway and Jean Negulesco) and his snappy pacing and dry tone seems to fit perfectly with Henry's ironic story. It's the one in which a pair of kidnappers discover that their latest victim, a vicious, nasty kid, is so horrible that they keep lowering the ransom demand to get rid of him faster. (The 1980s comedy Ruthless People is a loose adaptation of this same story.) The final two stories, "The Clarion Call" and "The Last Leaf" can be a bit maudlin, and overall O. Henry's Full House is a pretty typical "mixed bag" of an anthology film. But three out of five is not bad, and -- as a bonus -- John Steinbeck himself shows up to introduce all the stories!

Visit O. Henry's Full House at SlashControl