Blu-ray Review: ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas

Blu-ray Reviews, Reviews

Rankin/Bass studios must have resembled Santa Claus’ workshop. The animation production company run by Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass struck gold with their stop-motion version of Rudolph. While they did other types of stories, the holiday season made them TV staples. They figured out how to turn a sack full of Christmas songs into a network special. Besides the flying reindeer, they brought to life The Little Drummer Boy, Frosty the Snowman and Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town. They didn’t always work with little fuzzy dolls. They had a traditional cell painted animation unit. The Christmas viewing season of 1974 gave kiddies the painted ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. The

It was inevitable that Rankin-Bass would adapt the beloved 1823 poem into ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. It’s colorful, cheerful and public domain. This isn’t a direct adaptation since that tale of a Santa encounter would only last five minutes on the screen. Instead we’re given the classic man and mouse make history epic. The tiny town of Junctionville gets a major shock when all the letters to Santa get returned from the North Pole. Seems a kid’s letter in a newspaper calls the guy an utter fraud. This ticks off the jolly man. Everyone in the town is upset with the fear that Santa Claus will snub the town. What will they do without Santa? Leave presents under the Christmas tree from each other? That would never work!

Joshua Trundle (Cabaret‘s Joel Grey) is in charge of the town clock along with Father Mouse (Hollywood Squares‘ George Gobel). The man and mouse buddies come up with the solution. Trundle gets the town to agree to build a giant clock that will have children singing a song to St. Nick. Since this takes place in the early 20th century there’s no talk radio host daring to question why public money needs to be sunk on an expensive project. Shouldn’t the person who upset Santa have to pay for their social crimes? Turns out the culprit is Father Mouse’s brainy brat. There’s no money coming from rodents. Thus public money must be spent to keep the locals from burning down the town in disgust. There’s a lot of frustration in executing the plan. Even if it works, what are the odds that Santa will hear the tones?

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas does keep coming back to the original poem so the source material isn’t forgotten. What’s interesting is the constant fear of being denied Santa’s love. Of course as a small child there are few greater fears than waking up on Christmas and finding no wrapped boxes. The human-mouse storyline keeps things cute instead of completely traumatic. Ultimately, this story should remind kids that saying stupid stuff in public can get you in trouble.

The video is 1.33:1 full frame. The 1080p transfer looks sharp bringing out the detail of holiday colors. The audio is Dolby Digital mono. The mixing of Gobel and Grey voices is captured fully. The subtitles are in English and French.

Christmas: A Global Holiday (8:49) is an extremely limited animation presentation. A visit to Santa’s shop leads to the names people call Santa around the world. This plays like the storyboards and rough audio for a production.

DVD of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas contains everything on the Blu-ray in a lower resolution.

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas is a ‘70s holiday special about how you can upset Santa by talking trash. No matter if you’re a human or little mouse, simple words can hurt a nice man. Star voices Joel Grey and George Gobel bring warmth to this tale of a massive public works project. The songs will appeal to small ears.

Warner Home Video presents ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. Directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin. Starring: Joel Grey and George Gobel. Running Time: 24 minutes. Released on Blu-ray: October 4, 2011. Available at Amazon.com

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.