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There are Christmas Classics that have become an indelible part of many people‘s holiday tradition; think of: A Charlie Brown Christmas; Rudolf with Burl Ives; It’s a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stuart.

And A Christmas Story.

I watched it incessantly on cable television in the '80s. I bought the VHS. I bought the laserdisc. I bought the full-frame DVD and then the widescreen DVD. I bought the Blu-ray Disc. I even bought the leg- lamp (sitting proudly centered in my living room window as I type). I don’t think anyone anticipated that this low-budget film from the ‘80s would usher in such a cult following with thousands if not millions of dedicated fans. But once it’s become a part of your established television Christmas Classics repertoire, no Holiday season would be complete without it.

For the unfamiliar, A Christmas Story balances an idyllic Norman Rockwell-worthy picture of the 1940s against off-color satire that’s not afraid to show the rusty fenders and frayed sweaters of an over-romanticized era. The melding of nostalgia with unrepentant humor is a combination that works brilliantly. The story, supremely acted by child-lead Peter Billingsley in the role of Ralphie, serves as a channel to allow any kid or adult viewer to place him or herself into the vicarious memories of this onscreen family. Ralphie’s insatiable desire for his forbidden air-rifle carries us through his medley of experiences with friends, school teachers, neighborhood bullies, and parents unsympathetic to his BB gun plight that finally land him on that fateful Christmas morn.

For those of us who grew up watching it as a holiday ritual, our own Christmas memories are somewhat fused  with those of Ralphie and his friends staring into the department store window stocked full of Christmas toys on display. Anyone with real memories to cherish from the 1940s will enjoy A Christmas Story, and all of its historical details, even more. There aren’t very many laugh-out-loud comedies that are safe for the whole family to enjoy. A Christmas Story is prime among them.

What About This new Blu-ray Disc Release? It’s 100% identical to the version Warner released last year, only with slightly different packaging. If you’ve already got this title on HD DVD or Blu-ray Disc you’ll gain nothing by purchasing this new release (although if you only have the standard definition DVD, you’ll see some modest improvements in the picture on your new HDTV with any of the HD incarnations).

The Video: How Do The Discs Look?

Allowances need to be made given the soft-focus style and low-budget photography of this '80s production. However, that being said, the VC- 1 compressed 1.85:1 picture looks better than its DVD counterpart, but doesn’t look much like high definition outside of a direct A/B comparison. It’s possible that the low bit-rate of the video is partly to blame, or perhaps we really are seeing the 35 mm photography exactly as it appears on the source negative or inter-positive.

Colors are muted and skewed to warm earth tones, but this is per artistic style to give the film the appearance of a 1940s photograph (and it is effective). Contrast is flat, and detail generally soft focus though finely grained textures are much better represented here than on the standard definition DVD. Thankfully, no electronic muddling like excessive DNR noise or edge halos intrude. There’s a fair bit of film grain in many scenes, which amplifies the notion that the video has not been overprocessed at the hands of a misdirected technician.

The Audio: How Do The Discs Sound?

Warner continues to remain the only major studio that seems unable to deliver lossless audio consistently on Blu-ray Disc, and this audio track suffers from the studio’s technical oversight. Whoever is in charge of calling the lossless- audio shots at Warner seems not to understand the benefits of avoiding lossy compression. The titles that get overlooked for lossless audio tend to be vintage stereo or mono mixes even when disc bandwidth and space would have allowed for full lossless quality. What some studio ears don’t understand is that compression algorithms that throw away data in the audio signal degrade every type of soundtrack, whether it be a dated mono optical track from the 1930s or a state-of- the-art 7.1 24-bit mix for Lord Of The Rings. Those (like me) able to enjoy A Christmas Story on laserdisc, and it’s accompanying PCM (lossless) soundtrack, will quickly be able to attest to the hollow and anemic sound on this Blu-ray Disc resulting from the paltry Dolby Digital bit-rate of 192 kbps. Let’s hope that with time Warner will learn not to further-degrade vintage soundtracks by subjecting them to lossy compression.

The English mono mix is dated to be sure, and suffers wow-and-flutter in the musical score of the opening scene that reminds one of a cassette tape left a few months too long in a car’s overheated cassette deck. The dynamic range is constricted, though vocal intelligibility is good. There’s no real bass to speak of and high frequency extension is also curtailed in what sounds like classic TV audio from the era. However let me emphasize that even with these caveats, the soundtrack presented losslessly (as I’m able to enjoy it on laserdisc) would be much more relaxed and airy than the over-compressed signal Warner saw fit to provide on this second Blu-ray Disc edition.

An alternate French mono track is provided along with English, French, and Spanish subtitles.

The Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

We get the same bonus material we’ve had on DVD (and on the previous HD DVD and Blu- ray Disc releases). The premiere feature most fans will covet is the audio commentary by director Bob Clark and a now grown-up Peter Billingsley. It‘s friendly and it‘s fun, and even though it doesn‘t dig too deep, it’s certainly worth the time for any serious fan of the movie looking to glean something new.

Another Christmas Story (20 minutes) is a featurette that might surprise you at first when you see the child actor Peter Billingsley as an adult. There’s some good stuff here and a bit of repeat from the commentary track. The only real criticism is that the feature could have been longer and could have included more cast members.

Also interesting is the featurette Get A Leg Up which details the manufacture and sale of authentic leg lamps like the one featured in the movie, and the Daisy Red Ryder featurette that goes into wonderful detail about the historic BB Gun featured so prominently in the film.

We also get a few script pages (big deal) and a standard definition version of the original theatrical trailer.
 
Final Thoughts

After having already enjoyed A Christmas Story debut in 1080p on HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc, fans were hoping that this new release might right the wrongs of those incarnations by offering optimally mastered picture, lossless audio, and perhaps a few more in-depth bonus items presented in high definition. Sadly, nothing has changed and this new release is identical to the Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD that have come before. Of course, even with its faults it still represents a reasonable upgrade for anyone with an HDTV as the 1080p picture, though not perfect, does improve beyond what the SD DVD delivers. Nevertheless, let’s hope that Warner does right by this film and its fans with a future 1080p release that really pulls out all the stops. Until then, the currently available HD versions are the best way to watch this film.