Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town/The Little Drummer Boy
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Description
Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
This 53-minute, 1970 animated film may be the most delightful of those sundry, stop-motion animated Christmas perennials that show up on television during the holidays. The clay animation production, boasting a wonderful musical score and art direction that occasionally underscores the flower-power era in which it was born, tells the story of Santa's origins, in which Kris Kringle decides to get toys into the hands of poor children in gloomy Sombertown. Charmingly narrated by Fred Astaire and featuring voices by Mickey Rooney and Keenan Wynn, Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town presents a nice bridge between two generations of entertainment, the classic and the hip. --Tom Keogh
The Little Drummer Boy
The model animation techniques in this 1968 Rankin and Bass TV chestnut are primitive by today's standards, and picky kids may reject them out of hand. The story, however, which elaborates on the popular Christmas song about a shepherd boy who plays his drum for the baby Jesus and makes the animals dance, is a little more tough-minded than you might expect. The kid begins the story as what we'd now call a neglected child, a surly urchin who says he hates all people. He's pulled back from the brink, first by learning to make music, and then by his encounter with the Christ child. The underlying message alone--that everybody has something worth contributing--qualifies the show for holiday-perennial status. The big-name voice performers, Jose Ferrer and Greer Garson (who narrates), may be a little too ponderous for the occasion, but the familiar cartoony tones of Paul Frees (aka Boris Badenov) and June Forey (aka Rocket J. Squirrel) help liven up the proceedings. It's only 23 minutes long, so it's worth a shot for younger children. --David Chute
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2 out of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A Rankin & Bass Classic!Tuesday, November 09, 2004
I was a bit stunned to see that this first appeard on TV in 1970. I could have sworn I watched it in the 1960's alongside Rudolph and Charlie Brown.
In anycase this is one of those great Rankin & Bass stop motion animated films detailing the life of Santa Claus from the time he was just a baby. The story is told by a friendly postman voiced by Fred Astaire.
Santa is taken in by the Kringles a family of toymakers and once he grows into a young man he begins delivering the toys to the children of Sombertown.
This earns him the status of public enemy #1 from the towns Burgomeister who has outlawed all toys and Kris must think of more secret methods to get the toys to the children.
Along the way we see how Kris gets the name Santa clause, his red suit, flying reindeer, and how the night for delivering toys was chosen.
Mickey rooney voices Kris/Santa and does so with gusto. But Keenan Wynn is the standout as his gruff, but sweet portrayal of the Winter Warlock.
The film also features some great songs such as the title sung by Astaire and "Put one foot in front of the Other".
Over 30 years later I now watch this one with my kids and still enjoy it. But get it on DVD since so much is cut out today to make room for commercials.
wonderful!Tuesday, June 22, 2004
I highly reccomend this for ANYONE and if you liked this you will probably like The Year Without a Santa Clause and the 1964 original Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer.
6 out of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Great!Thursday, December 04, 2003
I watched these Rankin and Bass Christmas productions on TV when I was a child and I loved them, I especially like The Little Drummer Boy which is narrated by Greer Garson and is a beautiful heart-stirring story about the true meaning of Christmas! Santa Claus is Coming to Town is good too about how this boy grew up to became Santa Claus and I highly recommend this DVD set!
7 out of 7 people found the following review helpful:
quite the classicMonday, November 17, 2003
The old, separate, VHS versions of these two holiday movies were what I watched when I was in the single digits, and now they're better than ever on a timeless DVD.
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town is a humorous new twist on the entire life of one Santa Claus, and is worth the viewing for kids and adults alike.
Me, though, I bought the DVD for the Little Drummer Boy, which is what I think is one of the best Christmas movies, EVER. Hands down.
So, come on down, and spend a little money on a couple mini-movies that have already survived for decades and are sure to last for many more to come.
3 out of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Truly Classic ChristmasThursday, May 29, 2003
You remember - you wait every year until that one showing of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and if you miss it? How awful do you feel? Now, you have the opportunity to watch it whenever you want. What a great example of the tremendous work of Rankin Bass. Fantastic story, great music and a great transfer to DVD (considering the age). This is one not to be missed - and of course you won't when you own it!