Note: This review may contain very slight spoilers. However, I am sure that even if you haven’t seen the movie, you can already guess these spoilers.
This animated made for TV movie (which originally aired as part of Danny Thomas' TV show) is one of the most unusual of the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials. Because of this it may not appeal to as many people as the studio’s more famous Christmas specials. Yet the movie has a charm that works well on me.
In this film (based on a Charles Dickens story of the same name) a kindly toy maker invites a cricket to live with him and his daughter. He does this because he believes that a cricket on the hearth brings good luck. As Christmas approaches the cricket becomes part of the family, even helping make the toys for the upcoming holiday. However, things take a dark turn, when the daughter’s true love is assumed lost at sea and the shock causes her to lose her sight. This is only the beginning of their troubles. However, the cricket takes it upon himself to make it all better by Christmas Day.
What makes this so different from the other Rankin/Bass Christmas specials is that this is really a sad movie with a very happy ending. While the other Rankin/Bass Christmas specials had unhappy moments, they were often brief, and they were never quite this sad. While in my mind this makes the happy ending all the happier, for some this may be more than they wish to see in this type of movie.
There is a lot I really like about this movie. Like all of these specials, the film benefits from a wonderful voice cast. This wonderful cast includes Danny Thomas, Marlo Thomas (a real-life father and daughter playing father and daughter), Roddy McDowall, Paul Frees (who cartoon fans might know as the voice of Boris Badenov (Rocky and Bullwinkle's archenemy) and Donald Duck's uncle Ludwig Von Drake), Ed Ames and Hans Conried (who Disney fans might know as the voice of Captain Hook). While limited, the animation has a real warm charm to it. Maybe it is partly nostalgia but there is something about this type of limited animation that feels like Christmas to me. The varying art styles during the song numbers are also completely delightful. Also, it is really easy to care about these characters and stand by them as they go through both bad times and good. Because of this the happy moments are happy, and the sad moments are sad.
The songs here are very pleasant to listen to but not especially memorable. Because of this you might enjoy these songs, but they won’t stick with you the way the songs from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (1964) do.
This film does have its flaws though. The humor is rarely that funny here and most of it falls flat. Also, the scene inside the animal filled nightclub feels like it belongs in a completely different movie. The song number in that scene also feels like padding, as it has no purpose in the story and tends to distract from it.
While this may not be Rudolph, it is a charming little made for TV Christmas movie that deserves to be better known.
COTH was an episode of an anthology series, The Danny Thomas Hour, rather than a special in its own right, hence the opening and closing segments by Thomas, which he did on every week's program.
ReplyDeleteOpps. Thanks for pointing that out.
Delete