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I saw all of the movies in this collection when they were first broadcast
as a child and then every year until I was an adult. They were shown
from 1962 through 1970. I can now look at them both nostalgically and critically.
The titles contained are the Rankin/Bass animated versions of "Rudolph the Rednosed
Reindeer", "Frosty the Snowman", "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town", "The Little Drummer
Boy", Cricket on the Hearth" and "Frosty Returns". Also included is UPA's "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol". There's a separate CD of some of the songs contained in these
specials.
How do they rate and stand up decades later? Well first of all, none of them have been
digitally 'cleaned up'. What that means is that they don't look any worse then when they
were broadcast but don't look any better either. I screened all of them on a DLP and noticed dust, dirt, scratches, wires and other artifacts on the image. All of them could have been and should have been removed. But these shows were never meant to be exhibited on a large screen and probably weren't noticeable in 16mm on television. But they are now from original 35mm sources.
The best of the lot is "Rudolph". George Pal introduced and made popular the technology
of 'Puppetoons' which are miniature figures which are artifically moved a frame at a time along the lines of Willis O'Brien's "King Kong". Today, they are done via computer but back then it required a great deal of patience and skill to make one work. In the sixties,
the Rankin/Bass company cornered the market for television features. This movie, based on the old Gene Autry song, is a very charming expansion of the theme of a 'misfit' who
saved the day despite his anatomical defect. I could certainly relate to the concept of being a misfit and enjoyed the movie then and now. The songs and voice characterizations are all excellent. However, when watching this version I recalled a song entitled, "Fame and Fortune", which is missing from this disc. For good reason. They offer the original broadcast version from the sixties. Later editions replaced a reprise of "We're a couple of Misfits" with this new song which is not contained here, even as a suppliment.
The second movie that works quite nicely is the Mr. Magoo version of "A Christmas Carol". You wouldn't think it would play as well as is it did considering the source. Magoo was a fifties character created by the animation studio, UPA, in a series of shorts. In the sixties they adapted this character into some classic stories. Jim Backus (Thurston Howell in "Gilligan's Island") provided the voice of the near sighted comical cartoon. It's basically an early musical version of the Dicken's story and does lend itself to this adaptation. The songs are very good and catchy. They utilized a strange structure of pretending Magoo was performing this story on stage on Broadway. In later years, some stations removed the framing device. It's a very good version of the classic depsite the limited animation. The best song is "I'm all Alone in the World" which is touching and gives another dimension to the alienated Ebeneezer Scrooge. It
makes him more sympathetic than any other version.
The remaining films vary in interest. "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" is next in line in
terms of quality and has the voice and simulated Puppetoon of Fred Astaire to carry it.
The story about the lead character is an original one created for this special.
Next are the lesser entries, "Frosty the Snowman" (with the voice of Jimmy Durante),
"The Little Drummer Boy" (Puppetoon) along with "Cricket of the Hearth" and "Frosty
Returns" which are only mediocre and lack the charm of the rest of the series.
None of these films have been 'digitally restored' although they are all 'digitally remastered' which is advertised on the back. Of course everything distributed on DVD was digitally mastered so that's not much of an attribute. So I recommend this box set providing you realise that hopefully someday a much better one will be released of all of these titles either individually or separately.
In Summary: Picture quality B +, Sound B, Voices for the animation A,
Story and Screenplay overall B +
as a child and then every year until I was an adult. They were shown
from 1962 through 1970. I can now look at them both nostalgically and critically.
The titles contained are the Rankin/Bass animated versions of "Rudolph the Rednosed
Reindeer", "Frosty the Snowman", "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town", "The Little Drummer
Boy", Cricket on the Hearth" and "Frosty Returns". Also included is UPA's "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol". There's a separate CD of some of the songs contained in these
specials.
How do they rate and stand up decades later? Well first of all, none of them have been
digitally 'cleaned up'. What that means is that they don't look any worse then when they
were broadcast but don't look any better either. I screened all of them on a DLP and noticed dust, dirt, scratches, wires and other artifacts on the image. All of them could have been and should have been removed. But these shows were never meant to be exhibited on a large screen and probably weren't noticeable in 16mm on television. But they are now from original 35mm sources.
The best of the lot is "Rudolph". George Pal introduced and made popular the technology
of 'Puppetoons' which are miniature figures which are artifically moved a frame at a time along the lines of Willis O'Brien's "King Kong". Today, they are done via computer but back then it required a great deal of patience and skill to make one work. In the sixties,
the Rankin/Bass company cornered the market for television features. This movie, based on the old Gene Autry song, is a very charming expansion of the theme of a 'misfit' who
saved the day despite his anatomical defect. I could certainly relate to the concept of being a misfit and enjoyed the movie then and now. The songs and voice characterizations are all excellent. However, when watching this version I recalled a song entitled, "Fame and Fortune", which is missing from this disc. For good reason. They offer the original broadcast version from the sixties. Later editions replaced a reprise of "We're a couple of Misfits" with this new song which is not contained here, even as a suppliment.
The second movie that works quite nicely is the Mr. Magoo version of "A Christmas Carol". You wouldn't think it would play as well as is it did considering the source. Magoo was a fifties character created by the animation studio, UPA, in a series of shorts. In the sixties they adapted this character into some classic stories. Jim Backus (Thurston Howell in "Gilligan's Island") provided the voice of the near sighted comical cartoon. It's basically an early musical version of the Dicken's story and does lend itself to this adaptation. The songs are very good and catchy. They utilized a strange structure of pretending Magoo was performing this story on stage on Broadway. In later years, some stations removed the framing device. It's a very good version of the classic depsite the limited animation. The best song is "I'm all Alone in the World" which is touching and gives another dimension to the alienated Ebeneezer Scrooge. It
makes him more sympathetic than any other version.
The remaining films vary in interest. "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" is next in line in
terms of quality and has the voice and simulated Puppetoon of Fred Astaire to carry it.
The story about the lead character is an original one created for this special.
Next are the lesser entries, "Frosty the Snowman" (with the voice of Jimmy Durante),
"The Little Drummer Boy" (Puppetoon) along with "Cricket of the Hearth" and "Frosty
Returns" which are only mediocre and lack the charm of the rest of the series.
None of these films have been 'digitally restored' although they are all 'digitally remastered' which is advertised on the back. Of course everything distributed on DVD was digitally mastered so that's not much of an attribute. So I recommend this box set providing you realise that hopefully someday a much better one will be released of all of these titles either individually or separately.
In Summary: Picture quality B +, Sound B, Voices for the animation A,
Story and Screenplay overall B +