Santa Claus: The Movie [WS] [25th Anniversary] [Blu-ray]

Director: Jeannot Szwarc Jeannot Szwarc

Overview

After introducing how Santa and Mrs. Claus came to the North Pole and began their work delivering toys at Christmas time, this routine children's film segues into a story about an evil corporate magnate (John Lithgow). One of Santa's elves (Dudley Moore) goes to work for the nasty tycoon and invents a wild array of far-out toys. Then there is a little boy who does not believe in Santa Claus and a girl who finds out about the toymaker's plans to defraud his company. Santa's reindeer are a little under the weather, not to mention Santa himself. This labyrinth of subplots quickly draws attention away from the story, wherever it is.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/26/2010
UPC:	0012236111894
Original Release:	1985
Rating:	PG
Source:	LIONSGATE - 600000-AEC LGE
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:49:00
Sales rank:	1,906

Special Features

Santa Claus - The Making of the Movie; Shooting The Press Conference Scene; Deleted Scenes; Theatrical Trailers

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

David Huddleston	Santa Claus
Dudley Moore	Patch
John Lithgow	B.Z. B.Z
Burgess Meredith	Ancient Elf
Judy Cornwell	Anya
Jeffrey Kramer	Towzer
Christian Fitzpatrick	Joe
Carrie Kei Heim	Cornelia
John Barrard	Dooley
Anthony O'Donnell	Puffy
Melvyn Hayes	Goober
Don Estelle	Groot
Tim Stern	Boog
Peter O'Farrell	Honka
Christopher Ryan	Vout
Dickie Arnold	Goobler
Aimee Delamain	Storyteller
Dorothea Phillips	Miss Tucker
John Hallam	Grizzard
Judith Morse	Miss Abruzzi
Jerry Harte	Senate Chairman
Walter Goodman	Street Corner Santa
John Cassady	Wino
Ronald Fernee	Policeman
Michael Ross	Policeman
Jeannot Szwarc	Actor
Paul Aspland	Reporter
Sally Cranfield	Reporter
Michael Drew	Reporter
Henry Mancini	Composer

Technical Credits

Jeannot Szwarc	Director
Alexander Salkind	Producer,Producer
Pierre Spengler	Producer
Graham V. Hartstone	Sound Effects
Archie Ludski	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

Santa Claus: The Movie begins just how you'd expect a movie with that title to begin, exploring the origins of St. Nick, from a beloved avuncular type delivering toys in a wintry Bavarian landscape, to the red-suited, jelly-bellied icon we know today. This first half-hour does a great job convincing us this is "really" how Santa came to exist -- how his reindeer can fly, how he ended up at the North Pole, even how the naughty
ice list was created (it was the brainchild of Ms. Claus sometime in the 18th century). But it wouldn't be a true "Santa biopic" without some form of conflict, and this is where Jeannot Szwarc's film takes a permanent detour from its sweet beginnings. Screenwriter David Newman makes the rest of the movie about the modern-day corruption of Christmas at the hands of an evil toy tycoon, played by John Lithgow, who does a lot of cackling, bugging of his eyes and chomping on cigars. Lithgow's character gets an edge on the competition with the help of an elf named Patch (Dudley Moore), who had been Santa's head assistant, but banished himself after his automated toy-assembly techniques turned out a lot of dangerous, subpar toys. It's a standard Hollywood lesson regarding the evils of technology, but Newman delivers it in a peculiar way, having Patch's hit "toy" not be a toy at all, but a lollipop sprinkled with magic dust. Santa Claus: The Movie gets really off-track in its final act. For starters, the big finale takes place in the middle of January, a cardinal sin for Christmas movies. But worse is that saving the day relies on the reindeer performing a complicated loop-de-loop maneuver they couldn't manage earlier in the film -- when flying straight ahead would have been more useful under the circumstances.

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