Santa Claus Is Comin to Town (Full) Sale
Buy Santa Claus Is Comin to Town (Full). Where does Santa’s suit come from? Why does he slide down the chimney? Why does he live at the North Pole? The answers to all these questions and the origins of our favorite holiday traditions are revealed in this delightful classic about Kris Kringle, the world’s most famous gift giver.
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 Coming to Town presents a nice bridge between two generations of entertainment, the classic and the hip. --Tom Keogh
Santa Claus Is Comin to Town (Full) Review
I love how all of these Rankin/Bass classics from the 60s and 70s get classic old Hollywood and Broadway stars to provide voice talents; lends a certain seriousness to the occasion. Here we have Fred Astaire narrating and singing a couple of songs in this 1970 stop-motion retelling of the origins of Santa Claus. Fred's a mailman delivering letters from kids to Santa, and he stops to answer some questions in the charming opening credits sequence which quotes most of the musical themes from the 50 minute TV special, first broadcast when I was 5. Santa was an orphan left on the doorstep of the mean Burgermeister Meisterburger (I still love that name) in Sombretown (ok that's a little corny) with merely the word "Claus" on a chain around his neck. The Burgermeister is a mean old dude and doesn't want him, and through mysterious, fortuitous circumstances he ends up with the Kringle elves in the Mountains of the Whispering Winds. He grows up learning to make toys, befriends all the animals of the forest, and goes back to Sombretown to give toys to the kids - but is met by the Burgermeister's opposition. Along the way the reasons for the red suit, the flying reindeer, the belly laugh, etc, are all explained, with the voices of kids breaking into Astaire's narration at times to ask him to verify that this was, in fact, how it happened. Kinda cool even for this adult.
This was along with RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER my favorite holiday special as a kid, though it has faded for me somewhat over the years; I guess I remember the romance between Santa and schoolteacher Jessica (Mrs Claus eventually, of course) as more mawkish and sappy than it was, and I'd forgotten that the fairly dreadful "My World is Beginning Today" is full of cool 60s hippie/flower people imagery. The early parts of the story are really fairly dark and bleak, and it's interesting that, though the Burgermeister has a moment where he harks back to childhood, he never reforms and we leave him still villainous, like Potter in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. The story - original to this film I think - seems a bit influenced by L. Frank Baum's "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus" in the pagan/natural nature of Santa as we see him early on; but at the end a specifically Christian element enters the picture. Apart from the love song I already mentioned, the rest of the music is pretty good, with "Put One Foot In Front of the Other" probably the most memorable; it still gives me a lump in my throat.
In addition to Astaire, the voice talents include Keenan Wynn as Winter, the magician who rules the mountains and tries to stop Claus but is quickly befriended by him; professional voice actor Paul Frees as the Burgermeister and others; and Mickey Rooney as Kringle/Santa Claus, a role he would repeat in THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS. All are very solid, especially Wynn, an underrated actor and a great vocal talent. Overall this was definitely more fun than I remembered it from my last viewing, probably a decade ago - though RUDOLPH I suspect will always rule my inner child's heart. You can buy Cheap Santa Claus Is Comin to Town (Full) online fast and easy, Shop Today!.
Read More Reviews & Buy the Best Price Online! >>>
0 Responses to "Santa Claus Is Comin to Town (Full)" (Leave A Comment)
Post a Comment