Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (1970)

Directed by

Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin Jr.

Genre

children's film, Christmas film

Country

United States

Runtime

48 min

Rated

G

Rating

7.1 of 10 from 256 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This stop-motion special tells the origin story of Santa Claus. It shows how a young orphan named Kris Kringle became the beloved figure who delivers toys to children. The story is narrated by Fred Astaire and based on the classic Christmas song.

whimsicalnostalgicheartwarminggentlecheerfullightheartedfestivefamily-friendly

What happens

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town is a 1970 American stop-motion Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions in New York. The film is narrated by Fred Astaire and stars the voices of Mickey Rooney, Keenan Wynn, Robie Lester, Joan Gardner and Paul Frees, as well as an assistant song performance by the Westminster Children's Choir. The film tells the story of how Santa Claus and several Claus-related Christmas traditions came to be. It is based on the hit Christmas song "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town", which was written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie for Leo Feist, Inc. and introduced on radio by Eddie Cantor in 1934, and the story of Saint Nicholas. The special was created using Japanese stop-motion animation called "Animagic," in which all the characters are made of wood and plastic and animated via stop-motion photography. The special was originally telecast December 13, 1970, by ABC, which continues to air the special every year, along with its sister network Freeform (as of 2022, commemorating the special's 50th anniversary), although, at times, both networks have edited the special to make room for commercials. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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