Cheap Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town/The Little Drummer Boy (DVD) (Fred Astaire, Mickey Rooney) (Arthur Rankin Jr., Jules Bass) Price
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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
| ACTORS: | Fred Astaire, Mickey Rooney |
| CATEGORY: | DVD |
| DIRECTOR: | Arthur Rankin Jr., Jules Bass |
| THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: | 14 December, 1970 |
| MANUFACTURER: | Sony Music (Video) |
| MPAA RATING: | NR (Not Rated) |
| FEATURES: | Color |
| TYPE: | Christmas |
| MEDIA: | DVD |
| # OF MEDIA: | 1 |
| UPC: | 074645440293 |
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Customer Reviews of Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town/The Little Drummer Boy
Classic Rankin and Bass Christmas Specials! I grew up watching a lot of these Rankin and Bass Christmas Specials and Santa Claus is Coming to Town and The Little Drummer Boy were two of the specials I liked to watch and was disappointed when both specials were not shown on TV for years! My favorite is The Little Drummer Boy, it is narrated by classic movie actress Greer Garson and is a very excellent and heartwarming story that mentions the true meaning of Christmas and includes a wonderful scene of Baby Jesus and Aaron the Little Drummer Boy. I also liked Santa Claus is Coming to Town, it is of course about the legend of Santa Claus and is a good story with some nice songs and features the voices of Mickey Rooney and Keenan Wynn and is narrated by Fred Astaire and both Santa Claus is Coming to Down and The Little Drummer boy have those stop-motion puppets that are so adorable and much nicer than some of the CGI created images used today!
Yipee!! Two favorite Rankin/Bass Christmas specials on DVD
I am so pleased to see these two Christmas specials packaged on one disk. What a great holiday treat.
"Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" is an animagic classic. Fred Astaire pulls up the holiday express to narrate the story of young Kris Kringle (Mickey Rooney)and the children of Sombertown, and the story of how Kris became known as Santa Claus. Kris meets the evil Winter Warlock and melts his icy heart. The Burgermeister Meisterburger will not be so easy. This is a true holiday treat, and covers all of the familiar ground. Why do reindeer fly? Why does Santa climb down chimneys and leave toys in stockings? Why does he wear a beard and red clothing? How does he know if you've are sleeping, know if your awake? And what is Mrs.. Claus name, anyways? Find out in this DVD.
"The Little Drummer Boy" is based on one of my favorite holiday tunes. Aaron, the little drummer boy, is filled with hatred for all people. His parents have been murdered and his home burned to the ground. However, his gift for drumming enchants the animals and they dance about when he plays. Based on this talent, he falls in with a bad crowd when he meets Ben Haramed, the King of the Desert Showmen. How do things turn out for Aaron? Listen to the song, and watch the DVD. Bah-rump-bum-bum-bummmm.
wonderful!
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.