Film Review: Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town – 8/10

‘I’m not such a loser after all!’

While they don’t have much cultural cachet over here, I love the Rankin/Bass Christmas cartoons after watching a few of them for this very blog over the years. Many of them are based on pre-existing Christmas songs (Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to name but two) and Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town, originally released in 1970, is no exception…

As with Klaus, this film tells the origin story of jolly old Saint Nick, or Kris Kringle as he is originally referred to here. In this version, a baby is left with the Kringles, a family of toy-making elves, who raise him as their own. The boy (Mickey Rooney) grows up to be kind and generous and soon wants to spread this generosity by providing presents to the children of the nearby village of Sombertown. Unfortunately, Burgermeister Meisterburger (Paul Frees), the town mayor, has other ideas. All of this is beautifully narrated by the dulcet tones of Fred Astaire. Lovely.

As with all the Rankin/Bass productions, the animation is strange and beautiful, the songs are mostly on point and the story is warm and emotionally poignant. These films just get what Christmas is supposed to be about. They ooze cosiness. As a consequence of being made in the ’70s, they are often a little weird, a little dark – one moment here in which the evil mayor rounds up all the toys in front of the crying children and burns them is particularly gloomy. As a kid, I loved anything with a bit of darkness about it, these are often the moments that stay with children, and I’m a firm believer that it’s an important part of any child’s development. Walt Disney certainly knew that, and he knew a thing or two about entertaining children.

While you’ll struggle to find the Rankin/Bass cartoons streaming anywhere in the UK, they are readily available online, and if you do fancy one, this would be a great starting point. The main song is a banger also.