Search - A Christmas Without Snow on DVD

Ephraim Adams: "There is no higher reason for singing than t

Annie Van Auken | Planet Earth | 12/26/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Gray market discs such as this offer no commentary, deleted scenes or other bonus features. Dubs are "best available source" and can vary from very good to only fair.


In the most interesting made-for-TVer A CHRISTMAS WITHOUT SNOW, a divorcee from Nebraska relocates to San Francisco, where she rediscovers the spirit of Christmas through her inner-city church's choir. Their plans to perform Handel's Messiah are disrupted by vandalism.

Zoe Jensen (Learned) temporarily leaves her young son with his worried grandma and heads west to seek a teaching job. With no positions available, Zoe does clerical work at a number of offices. She joins a choir led by taskmaster Ephraim Adams (Houseman). As they rehearse a challenging Christmas concert program, tensions arise within the group.

Classically-trained Muriel (Curtin) bristles when she's passed over as solo soprano in favor of an amateur with a much softer voice. Elderly Inez (Nelson), a member for decades, can no longer carry a tune. Mr. Adams deftly handles both these issues, but little can be done when the church's pipe organ is severely damaged by an unknown attacker.

A young African-American baritone is arrested by police after being wrongly accused of the crime by another member. Worse, the cheesy electronic organ on 60 days trial keeps receiving police radio calls during mass! With no repair company available in time and their substitute organ malfunctioning, things look pretty bleak. And then, Mr. Adams suffers a stroke...


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 imdb viewer poll rating.

(6.6) A Christmas Without Snow (TV-1980) - Michael Learned/John Houseman/James Cromwell/Valerie Curtin/Calvin Levels/Ruth Nelson/Ed Bogas"