The story is centred around toy manufacturer A.C. Gilbert. A.C. Gilbert is the creator of the Erector set; a popular toy set which not only allows children to play, but also allows them to use their creativity to build and engineer things. A.C. starts creating and selling the Erector sets with help from his wife and brother. His Erector sets don't sell very well initially, and A.C. thinks about giving up on them, but then his wife has an idea. Instead of just leaving everything in boxes, A.C's wife suggests taking the sets out of the boxes and putting them on display; this generates great interest in the Erector sets, and they sell out almost immediately - making A.C. a huge success.
With the toys being so popular, it allows A.C. to open a bigger factory to mass produce them (he was originally producing them at home). A.C. was one of the first business owners to give his employees fair wages, bonuses, and benefits. He essentially believes that happy satisfied workers are more efficient workers. He also has a daycare set up in his factory, knowing most people that work for him have families and have nobody to leave their kids with. Having the kids there also allows A.C. to test market toys, he's able to see first hand which toys the kids enjoy and which ones they don't.
The film takes place during World War I, and although A.C. isn't drafted into the war, his brother is. Adding to A.C's heartbreak of losing his brother to the war is the fact that the government is asking factories like his to convert into munitions factories to help with the war effort. A.C. continues to try to produce both toys and munitions, which causes anger among his employees due to the increased workload. A.C. decides to take the toys out of the factory and produce them from his home, just like he had originally done.
As the movie progresses and 1917 turns into 1918, with the war still going on, A.C. gets news that his brother is missing in action and presumed dead. Already dealing with this tragedy, A.C. gets dealt another blow when the government announces that it wants to cancel Christmas altogether in 1918 to strictly focus on building ammunition for the war. A.C. reluctantly agrees, and he becomes the face of the governments plea to citizens not to participate in Christmas. A.C. has an epiphany though, and he decides Christmas shouldn't be cancelled after all; his argument is that bringing kids joy will help them envision a brighter future instead of focusing on a bleak present. He goes to congress to argue his case, and congress eventually decides to lift the ban on Christmas. In the end though it didn't matter, as on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the war was officially declared over.
Like I previously said, this movie has become one of my favourite Christmas movies, and I recommend it to people whenever I can. It's a tremendous movie which I hope more people will start watching during the Christmas season with the other classic movies. Overall I'd give this movie a 3.5/5 and I suggest checking it out if you get the chance.
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