I'm trying
something different to get in the holiday spirit this year. Every
day, from now through Christmas, I will be watching a different
Christmas movie or television special. I have compiled the list of
features ahead of time and am drawing one, at random, from my
Christmas stocking everyday to determine what gets watched. Thank
you for joining me in this endeavor. Time for number twenty-three.
Let's find out what it is.
Santa Claus is
Comin' to Town (1970)
At last, we have hit another
Rankin-Bass Christmas special. I can finally wash the taste of
Nestor, The Long-eared Christmas Donkey out of my mouth. This
special is far more of the classic type that you think of when you
think of Rankin-Bass's output. While not as memorable or popular as
Rudolph, it is a good story and has aired for years on either ABC or
one of its cable offshoots. I know that I have seen this special
multiple times over the years, but it has been a while since I last
saw it and my memories of it are foggier than I would like them to
be. So I'm going to quit stalling and get to this.
Synopsis
Like
most Rankin-Bass specials, the first character we are introduced to
acts as a narrator for the story. In this case, it is S.D. Kluger, a
mail man on his way to bring letters to Santa. His truck has
mechanical difficulties and he proceeds to tell the story of Santa's
origin. The story
begins in the city of Sombertown, in the office of Burgermeister
Meisterburger. His assistant Grimsley enters with a baby that has
been left on the doorstep. The baby has a metal tag that reads has
Claus and a note asking that the Burgermeister look
after the child. The Burgermeister will do no such thing and orders
Grimsley to take the baby to the orphanage. However, en route, a
strong wind blows the sled carrying the baby away and brings it perilously close to the
domain of the Winter Warlock. Forest animals hide the child from the
Warlock and then spirit him to the Kringles, an elvish family that
they know will look after him.
The Kringles are all toy makers but,
due to the presence of the Winter Warlock between them and
Sombertown, they have no one to give their toys to. The child, now
an adult and with the adopted name Kris Kringle, decides to brave the
danger and bring the toys to Sombertown. Kris ends up with a lost
penguin that he names Topper joining him along the way. When he does reach
Sombertown, things seem to be going well. But, he soon find out from
Miss Jessica, a school teacher, that the Burgermeister has made toys
illegal. Kris is forced to flee from the Burgermeister's troops.
 |
| Any special with a scarf-wearing penguin is alright in my book. |
On the way back to the Kingles, Kris is
waylaid by the Winter Warlock. However, Kris gives him one of the
toys as a present and the Warlock soften immediately. No one has
ever been so nice to him before. He teaches Kris how to use magic to
remote view through crystal snow balls. Shortly after this, Kris
meets back up with Jessica who informs him that the Burgermeister has
destroyed all the toys he brought and that the children are requesting
more. Kris does bring more and what follows is a game of cat and mouse where
the Burgermeister keeps making it harder for Kris to bring toys and
Kris keeps figuring a way around the new impediment. By the end of
these he is going down chimneys and putting toys in stockings.
The Burgermeister finally succeeds in
capturing Kris, Topper and Winter. Jessica is unsuccessful in trying
to convince the Burgermeister to let them go. She then talks to
Winter through the bars of his jail cell window and asks him to use
his magic to extricate himself and the others. Alas, he says that he
has little magic left other than corn that can make reindeer fly.
Jessica uses the corn and soon Kris and his friends are saved by
eight flying reindeer. They find the Kringle house destroyed by the
Burgermeister's men so Kris goes in to the woods as an outlaw, grows a
disguise beard, and begins to go by the name of Claus. Eventually
they flee all the way to the North Pole and build a new toy
factory/castle. Kris and Jessica marry. Due to demand, Kris is unable to fulfill toy requests year round so
he focuses his efforts on December 24th. Over the years, the legend of Kris, now known almost exclusively as Santa, grows and he begins delivering toys the world
over while the line of the Meisterburgers is broken and his anti-toy laws fade
away.
 |
| The Ice King from Adventure Time resembles The Winter Warlock during his evil phase. I'm guessing this is on purpose. |
Final Thoughts
This is so much better than Nestor.
The story, while cheesy, is much more fun and less emotionally
manipulative. Also, even though Santa Claus is Comin' to Town is the
older of the two Rankin-Bass specials we've looked at so far, it is
better animated. I can understand why this special doesn't get
yearly broadcast network airtime the way Rudolph does, it simply doesn't have the same level of pop culture currency. But, it is
definitely worth a watch. The music is well integrated and not
overly repetitive. The protagonists are likable and you want to see
them succeed. The Burgermeister is a good, if mostly incompetent
antagonist. All of the pieces of a great special are there they just
fail to click quite as well as they do in Rudolph. However, they do
come very close to clicking and, objectively, the message of Santa
Claus is Comin' to Town is a better one than Rudolph has upon analysis. Overall, a good
special that holds up well even after 46 years. I hope to see you
all back here tomorrow. Twenty-three down and only seven left.
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