There are so many Christmas movies out there, it can be hard to find the pearls among the swine. Here are a couple you might not be aware of, one of which is in rotation this month on AMC, about redemption and romance.

I'll Be Seeing You (1944)
Directed William Dieterle
Written by Charles Martin (play) Marion Parsonnet (writer)

Take two strangers on a train, through in some Christmas sentimentality, and a couple of secrets and you have a forgotten classic.  Ginger Rogers plays Mary Marshall, out of prison on furlough for good behavior.  She grudgingly befriends Zachary Morgen (Joseph Cotton), a soldier whom on leave with his own secret.  Mary's trip home isn't all good cheer, adding some spice into the story, complete with a bratty teenage Shirley Temple.

Remember the Night (1940)
Directed by Mitchell Leisen (and George Cukor - uncredited) 
Written by Preston Sturges

Did you know that Barbara Stanwyck was once the highest paid woman in the United States?  Remember the Night is an example of why.  Stanwyck plays Lee, a shoplifter on trail for her third offense, but Assistant DA John Sargent (Fred MacMurray) gets the trail postponed to avoid too sympathetic a jury.  When he pays her bail because he's feeling guilty about forcing her to spend Christmas in jail, they end up on a road trip to Indiana.  Murray and Stanwyck have great chemistry, but you'll need to catch it on AMC, as it's not on netflix.