“The Christmas Candle,” set in 1890s England, melds the intriguing with the hokey in a variation on the standard template of a nonbeliever who changes his outlook amid a holiday miracle.
Instead of a faithless grump, the central character is a wise and kindly minister (Hans Matheson) who stands for modernity and believes that literal miracles like restoring sight to the blind are no longer happening. Instead, he frames Christian grace as the inspiration for people to do good deeds for one another.
He clashes with what he perceives as superstition in a town that believes an angel-blessed Christmas candle that appears every 25 years is responsible for one miracle each quarter of a century. And he scoffs at the local candlemaker whose family shop the angel visits, suggesting electricity heralds a more enlightened future. Samantha Barks (so winsome in last year’s “Les Misérables”) provides able support as a fellow modernist, but reality-show icon Susan Boyle (who gets a chance to sing) is woefully blank as a villager.
Ultimately, this throwback, made-for-TV-style film takes the easy way out in a cheesy climax, but its resolute quaintness may appeal to the kind of viewers who regard electricity as disturbingly newfangled.