Santa Claus: The Movie
Encyclopedia
Santa Claus: The Movie is a 1985 British/American Christmas film starring Dudley Moore
and John Lithgow
. It is the last major fantasy film
produced by the Paris
-based father-and-son production team of Alexander
and Ilya Salkind
. The film was directed by Jeannot Szwarc
and released in North America
on November 27, 1985 by TriStar Pictures
. The 2005 DVD release was released by Anchor Bay Entertainment, now known as Starz Home Entertainment, under license from the film's current owner, StudioCanal
; however, the current, 25th Anniversary home video release (which also now includes Blu-ray) is by Lionsgate Home Entertainment, again under StudioCanal's license.
Santa Claus: The Movie is a straightforward attempt to explore the mysteries of Santa Claus
with the key objective being to answer some of the basic questions many children have about the Santa Claus mythos
, such as how Santa's reindeer fly, how he and his wife made it to the North Pole
, how Santa ascends chimney
s, among other things.
The film chronicles the origins of Santa Claus (David Huddleston
), who, along with his wife Anya (Judy Cornwell
), goes from being a simple working man to becoming an international icon of Christmas. At the same time, the film also tells a contemporary story in which one of Santa's elves
(alternately referred to as the "Vendequm" onscreen), a visionary
named Patch (Dudley Moore
), sets out to employ Santa's toy
making methods on his own, unaware that he might be ruining the magic of Christmas in the process.
) is a peasant woodcutter in his mid-50s who, with his wife Anya (Judy Cornwell
), delivers his gifts to the children of a certain village. One night, Claus, Anya and their reindeer, Donner and Blitzen, are rescued from certain death in a blizzard
, only to be transported to the vast "ice mountains, way up at the top of the world." Their expected arrival is heralded with the appearance of several elves
, or – as Claus's people call them in their legends – the Vendequm, led by the venerable and wise elf named Dooley (John Barrard).
The Clauses also meet Patch (Dudley Moore
), an inventive elf who has designs for such future items like plumbing
and an alarm clock
, and Puffy (Anthony O'Donnell
). Introduced to the mass workshop where the elves construct endless amounts of toys for the world's children, Claus learns that it is his destiny to distribute those toys on Christmas Eve
. After months of preparation, Christmas Eve arrives and Claus is granted the name "Santa Claus
" by the Ancient One (Burgess Meredith
), the eldest of the elves. Santa's yearly routine of delivering his gifts begins when he uses his modified sleigh and six additional reindeer to accompany Donner and Blitzen.
When all eight deer are joined together, they can fly by eating an otherworldly reindeer feed. Two separate musical montages follow, each depicting Santa delivering toys across the centuries, and demonstrating how a great deal of the mythos around him is established.
Eventually, the film moves to the late 20th century. Santa is becoming increasingly tired by the workload of toys he must deliver, combined with the ever-growing population of the planet. At that point, Anya suggests that Santa should have an assistant. Patch and Puffy are selected as candidates, and both their ideas are compared in a competition. A third musical montage takes us through the competition, which Patch ultimately wins through his invention of an automated manufacturing machine.
Several nights later, on Christmas Eve, Santa meets up with a homeless boy named Joe (Christian Fitzpatrick), with whom he immediately bonds, ultimately inviting the 10-year-old along for the night ride. During the flight, Santa tempts the reindeer into performing an aerial stunt dubbed the "SuperDuper Looper" in which the reindeer attempt to perform a 360° degree circle in midair, but, as often happens each year, the maneuver fails when Donner's aerial dizziness gets the better of him.
Santa and Joe unintentionally awaken a 9-year-old girl named Cornelia (Carrie Kei Heim
), who had secretly spent some days befriending Joe. On Christmas morning, Patch is dismayed when his toys break and are returned to the workshop. Resigning his post as Santa's assistant, the reluctant Patch leaves the North Pole.
Patch goes to New York City
where he meets B.Z. (John Lithgow
), Cornelia's step-uncle (their specific relationship is never explained) – a greedy and scheming toymaking executive who is on the verge of losing his company due to the shoddy products he has made. Patch offers to help him make toys, believing at first that his toys are successful when he witnesses them being removed quickly from shops, although they are actually being recalled.
Patch uses the ingredient from the reindeer feed to create a lollipop
that can make people float in midair, and it soon becomes quite popular among children, making Santa feel unwanted. B.Z. then manufactures candy cane
s using the ingredient, but is horrified to discover that a batch of the stuff will explode when exposed to extreme heat. On discovering this news, B.Z. resolves to keep this information a secret, lest he be possibly arrested. He captures and imprisons Joe when he finds him eavesdropping on him and his head of Research & Development, Dr. Eric Towzer (Jeffrey Kramer).
Patch later finds and frees a bound and gagged Joe and decides to return to the North Pole with him, when he sees a carved toy resembling himself, an "elf-portrait", given to Joe by Santa. The two friends buckle themselves into the incredible Patchmobile, which they have stuffed with loads and loads of the candy canes. The NYPD then go to arrest B.Z. after Cornelia alerts them of her uncle's crimes, but he eats some of the candy canes and finds himself floating in midair, eventually disappearing far, far up into the sky.
Having summoned him with an incomplete letter, Cornelia and Santa now pursue Patch and Joe until the Patchmobile explodes, the result of the candy canes' exposure to heat. Their only hope of saving them now is to attempt the aforementioned "Super Duper Looper". Finally, with Patch reconciled with his fellow elves, Joe is welcomed into the Clauses' family and Cornelia is invited to stay for a year. Dooley reacts to the addition of Joe and Cornelia by commenting: "As if I don't have enough to do! Now, I'm going to have to be a schoolteacher!" To which both children gasp: "School?!"
The film ends with the inhabitants of the North Pole celebrating the triumph with a joyous dance party; the film's final images are of B.Z. floating away into space along with the remains of the Patchmobile. With no way of getting down in spite of his pleas, he was doomed to die in orbit.
in the wake of the apparently waning critical and U.S. box office success of 1983's Superman III
and its immediate follow-up, 1984's Supergirl
, Santa Claus: The Movie was directed by Jeannot Szwarc
, who had directed Supergirl, from a story by David
and Leslie Newman
. David Newman, however, took sole screenplay credit. Pierre Spengler
, Ilya's longtime partner, and the third key element of Team Salkind, joined Alexander's son as the project's producer. John Carpenter
was originally offered the chance to direct, but also wanted a say in the writing, musical score and final cut of the movie. Carpenter's choice for the role of Santa was Brian Dennehy
.
Among the original choices to direct the film other than Carpenter were Lewis Gilbert
, who, despite initial interest, could not agree with the Salkinds over certain aspects of the script. Robert Wise
was also offered the chance to direct, but Wise had a different approach to the story, and doubtless would have made the project an altogether darker experience. Guy Hamilton
, who'd had to withdraw from directing Superman: The Movie in 1976 (because he was a tax exile
, and, as such, could only spend 30 days in England, where the movie would be filming), was very interested in directing and lobbied hard for the chance to do so, but only on the condition that the film be shot either in Los Angeles, Vancouver or Rome. Ultimately, the Salkinds chose Szwarc because of their excellent working relationship on Supergirl
which many executives at TriStar Pictures
believed was a masterpiece and would also become a megahit.
Santa Claus: The Movie was filmed in Buckinghamshire
, England
at Pinewood Studios
, between August and November 1984
. The film was photographed by Arthur Ibbetson
, whose credits, among others, included the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971). Santa Claus: The Movie was his final feature film. Serving as film editor
was Peter Hollywood.
The production was designed by Anthony Pratt, with costume design concepts by Bob Ringwood. The visual effects unit, as well as several of the production staff, were Salkind stalwarts from the Superman films: Derek Meddings
, director of visual and miniature effects; Roy Field, optical visual effects supervisor; and David Lane, flying and second unit
director.
The documentary
, Santa Claus: The Making of The Movie, which chronicles the film's production, is introduced by David Huddleston, speaking straight to the camera in character as Santa, with Dudley Moore serving as on-screen host. The voice over commentary is performed by Ted Maynard, who had also done voice-overs for the film's original UK trailer. The documentary originally aired in the United States on ABC
, on Christmas Eve, 1987. Anchor Bay Entertainment's now-out-of-print 20th anniversary DVD
of the film included this documentary as a bonus feature; the Lionsgate DVD and Blu-ray versions currently feature the 50-minute feature as well. The Blu-ray version, however, also features a brief chronicle of the filming of the " 'Christmas II' Press Conference" sequence, as well as additional deleted scenes cut from the original theatrical version.
Moore had always been the top choice to play the lead Elf in the movie, Ilya Salkind having remembered a scene in Arthur in which Liza Minnelli
's character asks Moore if he is Santa's Little Helper. Moore was attached to the project virtually from the offset, and therefore had a say on both scripting and choice of director. Originally, David Newman's first-draft script called for the character to be named Ollie; but Moore decided instead that the name should be changed to Patch, Patch being the nickname of his own young son, Patrick. Ilya Salkind, from the very beginning, had wanted an American actor to portray Santa Claus because he felt that the movie focused on a primary piece of Americana in much the same way that Superman: The Movie did. Brian Dennehy
was the top choice of John Carpenter when he discussed the possibility of directing the film with the Salkinds. Jeannot Szwarc, however, felt that he needed an actor with more warmth than Dennehy, and toward that end, he had screen-tested such actors as David White
(who, being in his late 60's, was considered too old for the role), and Moore's Arthur co-star Barney Martin. For a while, Ilya Salkind actively pursued Carroll O'Connor
for the role before Szwarc showed him David Huddleston's screen-test, which won Salkind over. For the role of B.Z., the producers wanted a star with a similar stature to Gene Hackman
when he had played Lex Luthor
in Superman: The Movie. To this end, they offered the role to Harrison Ford
who turned them down. They made offers to Dustin Hoffman
, Burt Reynolds
and Johnny Carson
--- all of whom, for one reason or another, turned the part down. Eventually, John Lithgow was settled on after Salkind watched Terms of Endearment
and realised that he had a Grinch-type look to him. The role of the Ancient Elf was written with James Cagney
in mind; however, with Cagney being very weak in his old age, the legendary actor could not adequately assume the role, despite the fact that he liked the film's overall idea. Nonetheless, Cagney had no other choice but to turn the offer down, so Fred Astaire
was considered. When this eventually came to nothing, Dudley Moore suggested his friend Burgess Meredith
for the role, which he in the end won. Finally, it is worth noting that at the time of the movie's announcement in Summer 1983, the British Press carried reports that diminutive actors such as David Jason
, Patrick Troughton
and Norman Wisdom
would be cast alongside Dudley as fellow Elves. This ultimately came to nothing.
written by science fiction
/fantasy novelist Joan D. Vinge
, the elves keep watch over all that happens in the world that borders their own magic
al realm. The Vendequm are described as being extremely fond of children since, after all, only children can see them, due to the innocence of their youth. The elves are fond of making things for children, and so they often journeyed out into the children's world, leaving their newly crafted toys where children would find them. According to the novel, with the passing of each new century
, and as civilization
s continued to rise and fall, it became more and more difficult and dangerous for the elves to venture too far out into the human world. Thus, the vast majority of the toys the elves made could not be given out, and were left to gather dust in their magnificent storeroom, the Toy Tunnel.
The novel also describes how, on a certain long-winter's night, the oldest and wisest elf of all, the Ancient One, foresaw the arrival of a man whose love for children would be equal to that of the elves. The Ancient One believed that this man would be the one to whom the elves would grant full immortality
, along with the ability to deliver the elves' gifts to children all over the world.
In addition to Patch, Dooley, Puffy, Boog, Honka, and Vout, the film's screenplay
and cast listing features three additional elves: Groot, the Elves' Senior Chef
; Goober, the head of the Elves' tailor
ing shop, who crafts Santa's full red robes; and Goobler, who trains several of his fellow elves in the art of painting toys with their own beards.
, from the 17 reviews counted. Box Office Mojo
lists the film's total United States
box office gross as $
23,717,291, less than its $30–50 million production budget.
Chicago Sun-Times
critic Roger Ebert
noted some positive points to the film, writing that the film "does an interesting job of visualizing Santa's workshop" and Santa's elves. He also praised the film's special effects, particularly the New York City fly-over sequence involving Santa. Ebert also had some praise for Lithgow's "nice, hateful performance", but wrote that "the villain is not drawn big enough." He ceded that young children would probably like most of the film, but that older children and adults are "likely to find a lot of it a little thin."
Vincent Canby
of The New York Times
was less positive than Ebert, calling the production "elaborate and tacky". He described the film as having "the manner of a listless musical without any production numbers". Unlike Ebert, he offered little praise for the film's production design. Canby quipped that "Santa's workshop must be the world's largest purchaser of low-grade plywood" and that the flyover sequences with Santa "aren't great." The only praise he had for the film's acting was for John Lithgow, who Canby wrote "(gave) the film's only remotely stylish performance." A more recent review by William Mager on BBC.co.uk
's review section echoed Canby and Ebert's comments.
, composer of the themes from The Pink Panther and Peter Gunn
, with veteran lyricist and screenwriter Leslie Bricusse
contributing five original songs. The song It's Christmas (All Over The World) was written by Bill House and John Hobbs with Freddie Mercury
in mind. While it is known that Mercury recorded a demo for the House/Hobbs song at Pinewood Studios, he was never to make a full commitment to the project, as he and his Queen
bandmates had already committed themselves to the Highlander
soundtrack. In the end, Mercury turned down the project, stating that he felt that Queen had become overcrowded with requests to work on film soundtracks; as a result, Sheena Easton
was ultimately chosen to record the tune. As mentioned on the DVD commentary of the movie by Jeannot Szwarc, Paul McCartney
was asked to compose songs for the film. It is unknown why he did not do so in the end, but his song Once Upon A Long Ago
had been indeed originally composed with the movie in mind.
Track listing
1Sung by Aled Jones
2Performed by the Ambrosian Children's Choir.
3Performed by the Ambrosian Singers
4Produced by Ken Scott and performed by Kaja
5Produced by Keith Olsen for Pogologo Corporation, and performed by Sheena Easton
.
Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
and John Lithgow
John Lithgow
John Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...
. It is the last major fantasy film
Fantasy film
Fantasy films are films with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, make-believe creatures, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered to be distinct from science fiction film and horror film, although the genres do overlap...
produced by the Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
-based father-and-son production team of Alexander
Alexander Salkind
Alexander Salkind was the second of three generations of successful international film producers.-Life and career:...
and Ilya Salkind
Ilya Salkind
Ilya Juan Salkind Dominguez , usually known as Ilya Salkind, is a film and television producer, well known for his contributions to the live-action Superman films of the 1970s and '80s alongside his father, Alexander Salkind....
. The film was directed by Jeannot Szwarc
Jeannot Szwarc
Jeannot Szwarc is a French Film/TV Director.Szwarc was born in Paris. He began working as a director in American television during the 1960s, in particular on Ironside...
and released in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
on November 27, 1985 by TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures, Inc. is an American film production/distribution studio and subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, itself a subdivision of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, which is owned by Sony Pictures...
. The 2005 DVD release was released by Anchor Bay Entertainment, now known as Starz Home Entertainment, under license from the film's current owner, StudioCanal
StudioCanal
StudioCanal is a French-based production and distribution company that owns the third-largest film library in the world...
; however, the current, 25th Anniversary home video release (which also now includes Blu-ray) is by Lionsgate Home Entertainment, again under StudioCanal's license.
Santa Claus: The Movie is a straightforward attempt to explore the mysteries of Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
with the key objective being to answer some of the basic questions many children have about the Santa Claus mythos
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
, such as how Santa's reindeer fly, how he and his wife made it to the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
, how Santa ascends chimney
Chimney
A chimney is a structure for venting hot flue gases or smoke from a boiler, stove, furnace or fireplace to the outside atmosphere. Chimneys are typically vertical, or as near as possible to vertical, to ensure that the gases flow smoothly, drawing air into the combustion in what is known as the...
s, among other things.
The film chronicles the origins of Santa Claus (David Huddleston
David Huddleston
David William Huddleston is an American actor, best known for his roles in Blazing Saddles, Santa Claus: The Movie and The Big Lebowski.-Early life:...
), who, along with his wife Anya (Judy Cornwell
Judy Cornwell
Judy Valerie Cornwell is an English actress best known for her role as Daisy in the British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances.-Biography:...
), goes from being a simple working man to becoming an international icon of Christmas. At the same time, the film also tells a contemporary story in which one of Santa's elves
Christmas elf
A Christmas elf is a diminutive creature that lives with Santa Claus in the North Pole and acts as his helper. Christmas elves are often depicted as green or red clad with pointy ears, long noses, and pointy hats. Santa's elves are often to make the toys in Santa's workshop and take care of...
(alternately referred to as the "Vendequm" onscreen), a visionary
Visionary
Defined broadly, a visionary, is one who can envision the future. For some groups this can involve the supernatural or drugs.The visionary state is achieved via meditation, drugs, lucid dreams, daydreams, or art. One example is Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th century artist/visionary and Catholic saint...
named Patch (Dudley Moore
Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
), sets out to employ Santa's toy
Toy
A toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...
making methods on his own, unaware that he might be ruining the magic of Christmas in the process.
Plot
Somewhere in the 14th century, Claus (David HuddlestonDavid Huddleston
David William Huddleston is an American actor, best known for his roles in Blazing Saddles, Santa Claus: The Movie and The Big Lebowski.-Early life:...
) is a peasant woodcutter in his mid-50s who, with his wife Anya (Judy Cornwell
Judy Cornwell
Judy Valerie Cornwell is an English actress best known for her role as Daisy in the British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances.-Biography:...
), delivers his gifts to the children of a certain village. One night, Claus, Anya and their reindeer, Donner and Blitzen, are rescued from certain death in a blizzard
Blizzard
A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong winds. By definition, the difference between blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind. To be a blizzard, a snow storm must have winds in excess of with blowing or drifting snow which reduces visibility to 400 meters or ¼ mile or...
, only to be transported to the vast "ice mountains, way up at the top of the world." Their expected arrival is heralded with the appearance of several elves
Christmas elf
A Christmas elf is a diminutive creature that lives with Santa Claus in the North Pole and acts as his helper. Christmas elves are often depicted as green or red clad with pointy ears, long noses, and pointy hats. Santa's elves are often to make the toys in Santa's workshop and take care of...
, or – as Claus's people call them in their legends – the Vendequm, led by the venerable and wise elf named Dooley (John Barrard).
The Clauses also meet Patch (Dudley Moore
Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
), an inventive elf who has designs for such future items like plumbing
Plumbing
Plumbing is the system of pipes and drains installed in a building for the distribution of potable drinking water and the removal of waterborne wastes, and the skilled trade of working with pipes, tubing and plumbing fixtures in such systems. A plumber is someone who installs or repairs piping...
and an alarm clock
Alarm clock
An alarm clock is a clock that is designed to make a loud sound at a specific time. The primary use of these clocks is to awaken people from their night's sleep or short naps; they are sometimes used for other reminders as well. To stop the sound, a button or handle on the clock is pressed; but...
, and Puffy (Anthony O'Donnell
Anthony O'Donnell
Anthony O'Donnell is a Welsh actor. In 1982, he was awarded the London Critic's Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Newcomer in the Stratford Season.-Filmography:*Knock for Knock *Nuts in May *The Sweeney...
). Introduced to the mass workshop where the elves construct endless amounts of toys for the world's children, Claus learns that it is his destiny to distribute those toys on Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
. After months of preparation, Christmas Eve arrives and Claus is granted the name "Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
" by the Ancient One (Burgess Meredith
Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director...
), the eldest of the elves. Santa's yearly routine of delivering his gifts begins when he uses his modified sleigh and six additional reindeer to accompany Donner and Blitzen.
When all eight deer are joined together, they can fly by eating an otherworldly reindeer feed. Two separate musical montages follow, each depicting Santa delivering toys across the centuries, and demonstrating how a great deal of the mythos around him is established.
Eventually, the film moves to the late 20th century. Santa is becoming increasingly tired by the workload of toys he must deliver, combined with the ever-growing population of the planet. At that point, Anya suggests that Santa should have an assistant. Patch and Puffy are selected as candidates, and both their ideas are compared in a competition. A third musical montage takes us through the competition, which Patch ultimately wins through his invention of an automated manufacturing machine.
Several nights later, on Christmas Eve, Santa meets up with a homeless boy named Joe (Christian Fitzpatrick), with whom he immediately bonds, ultimately inviting the 10-year-old along for the night ride. During the flight, Santa tempts the reindeer into performing an aerial stunt dubbed the "SuperDuper Looper" in which the reindeer attempt to perform a 360° degree circle in midair, but, as often happens each year, the maneuver fails when Donner's aerial dizziness gets the better of him.
Santa and Joe unintentionally awaken a 9-year-old girl named Cornelia (Carrie Kei Heim
Carrie Kei Heim
Carrie Kei Heim is an attorney and former child actress currently working in Boston.-Acting filmography:-Education:...
), who had secretly spent some days befriending Joe. On Christmas morning, Patch is dismayed when his toys break and are returned to the workshop. Resigning his post as Santa's assistant, the reluctant Patch leaves the North Pole.
Patch goes to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
where he meets B.Z. (John Lithgow
John Lithgow
John Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...
), Cornelia's step-uncle (their specific relationship is never explained) – a greedy and scheming toymaking executive who is on the verge of losing his company due to the shoddy products he has made. Patch offers to help him make toys, believing at first that his toys are successful when he witnesses them being removed quickly from shops, although they are actually being recalled.
Patch uses the ingredient from the reindeer feed to create a lollipop
Lollipop
A lollipop, pop, lolly, sucker, or sticky-pop is a type of confectionery consisting mainly of hardened, flavored sucrose with corn syrup mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. They are available in many flavors and shapes.- Types :Lollipops are available in a number of colors and...
that can make people float in midair, and it soon becomes quite popular among children, making Santa feel unwanted. B.Z. then manufactures candy cane
Candy cane
A candy cane is a hard cane-shaped candy stick. It is traditionally white with red stripes and flavored with peppermint or cinnamon; however, it is also made in a variety of other flavors and may be decorated with stripes of different colors and thicknesses...
s using the ingredient, but is horrified to discover that a batch of the stuff will explode when exposed to extreme heat. On discovering this news, B.Z. resolves to keep this information a secret, lest he be possibly arrested. He captures and imprisons Joe when he finds him eavesdropping on him and his head of Research & Development, Dr. Eric Towzer (Jeffrey Kramer).
Patch later finds and frees a bound and gagged Joe and decides to return to the North Pole with him, when he sees a carved toy resembling himself, an "elf-portrait", given to Joe by Santa. The two friends buckle themselves into the incredible Patchmobile, which they have stuffed with loads and loads of the candy canes. The NYPD then go to arrest B.Z. after Cornelia alerts them of her uncle's crimes, but he eats some of the candy canes and finds himself floating in midair, eventually disappearing far, far up into the sky.
Having summoned him with an incomplete letter, Cornelia and Santa now pursue Patch and Joe until the Patchmobile explodes, the result of the candy canes' exposure to heat. Their only hope of saving them now is to attempt the aforementioned "Super Duper Looper". Finally, with Patch reconciled with his fellow elves, Joe is welcomed into the Clauses' family and Cornelia is invited to stay for a year. Dooley reacts to the addition of Joe and Cornelia by commenting: "As if I don't have enough to do! Now, I'm going to have to be a schoolteacher!" To which both children gasp: "School?!"
The film ends with the inhabitants of the North Pole celebrating the triumph with a joyous dance party; the film's final images are of B.Z. floating away into space along with the remains of the Patchmobile. With no way of getting down in spite of his pleas, he was doomed to die in orbit.
Cast
- Dudley MooreDudley MooreDudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
as Patch, a creative, inventive elf whose passion for and faith in the 20th Century is put to the test throughout the story. - John LithgowJohn LithgowJohn Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...
as B.Z., the main antagonistAntagonistAn antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
- an unscrupulous toy manufacturer who uses Patch in a larger scheme to take over Christmas. - David HuddlestonDavid HuddlestonDavid William Huddleston is an American actor, best known for his roles in Blazing Saddles, Santa Claus: The Movie and The Big Lebowski.-Early life:...
as Santa ClausSanta ClausSanta Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
, the Christmas figure who delivers presents to every child in the world on Christmas Eve. - Judy CornwellJudy CornwellJudy Valerie Cornwell is an English actress best known for her role as Daisy in the British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances.-Biography:...
as Anya ClausMrs. ClausMrs. Claus is the wife of Santa Claus, the Christmas gift-bringer in North American Christmas tradition.While Santa Claus himself emerged from the 1820s from a number of traditions of European folklore, Mrs...
, Santa's caring and supportive wife. - Burgess MeredithBurgess MeredithOliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director...
as the Ancient One, the oldest and wisest of the elves. - Jeffrey KramerJeffrey KramerJeffrey Kramer is an American film and television actor and film producer.-Life and career:Kramer was born in New York City and grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, graduating from Teaneck High School with the Class of 1963. He made his first appearance on the TV series Barney Miller starring in the...
as Dr. Eric Towzer, B.Z.'s head of Research & Development. - Christian Fitzpatrick as Joe, a homeless 10-year-old boy living on the hard streets of New York who befriends Santa.
- Carrie Kei HeimCarrie Kei HeimCarrie Kei Heim is an attorney and former child actress currently working in Boston.-Acting filmography:-Education:...
as Cornelia, B.Z.'s 9-year-old stepniece, who becomes Joe's conscience and best friend. - John Barrard as Dooley, Santa's #2 at the North Pole.
- Anthony O'DonnellAnthony O'DonnellAnthony O'Donnell is a Welsh actor. In 1982, he was awarded the London Critic's Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Newcomer in the Stratford Season.-Filmography:*Knock for Knock *Nuts in May *The Sweeney...
as Puffy, a bearded elf. - Melvyn HayesMelvyn HayesMelvyn Hayes is an English actor probably best known for playing the effeminate Gunner "Gloria" Beaumont in the 1970s BBC sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum,-Early life and career:...
as Goober, head of the Sewing Department. - Don EstelleDon EstelleDon Estelle was a British actor and singer.Born Donald Edwards in Crumpsall, Manchester, he was brought up in a house on Russell Street, Crumpsall. During World War II, at the age of eight, he was evacuated to Darwen, Lancashire, twenty miles away from his home town, to escape the German bombing...
as Groot, the elves' Senior Chef. - Tim Stern as Boog, first of Patch's three best friends.
- Peter O'Farrell as Honka, second of Patch's three best friends.
- Christopher RyanChristopher RyanChristopher Ryan is an English actor. Ryan is perhaps best known for his role as Mike "The Cool Person" in the BBC comedy series The Young Ones.-Early life:...
as Vout, third of Patch's three best friends.
Production
Conceived by Ilya SalkindIlya Salkind
Ilya Juan Salkind Dominguez , usually known as Ilya Salkind, is a film and television producer, well known for his contributions to the live-action Superman films of the 1970s and '80s alongside his father, Alexander Salkind....
in the wake of the apparently waning critical and U.S. box office success of 1983's Superman III
Superman III
Superman III is a 1983 superhero film and the third film in the Superman film series based upon the long-running DC Comics superhero. Christopher Reeve, Jackie Cooper, Marc McClure and Margot Kidder are joined by new cast members Annette O'Toole, Annie Ross, Pamela Stephenson, Robert Vaughn and...
and its immediate follow-up, 1984's Supergirl
Supergirl (film)
Supergirl is a 1984 superhero film directed by Jeannot Szwarc, and stars Helen Slater in her first motion picture role in the title role of the DC Comics superheroine Supergirl. Faye Dunaway played the primary villain, Selena. The film was a spin-off from the Salkinds' Superman film series which...
, Santa Claus: The Movie was directed by Jeannot Szwarc
Jeannot Szwarc
Jeannot Szwarc is a French Film/TV Director.Szwarc was born in Paris. He began working as a director in American television during the 1960s, in particular on Ironside...
, who had directed Supergirl, from a story by David
David Newman (filmmaker)
David Newman was an American filmmaker. From the late 1960s through the early 1980s he frequently collaborated with Robert Benton. He was married to fellow writer Leslie Newman, with whom he had two children, until the time of his death...
and Leslie Newman
Leslie Newman
Leslie Newman is a screenwriter who co-wrote the first three Superman films with husband David Newman, who died in 2003. They had two children together...
. David Newman, however, took sole screenplay credit. Pierre Spengler
Pierre Spengler
Pierre Spengler is a French film producer. Among many international hits, he is best known for initiating the first three Superman movies, and producing them with Ilya Salkind.-Overview:...
, Ilya's longtime partner, and the third key element of Team Salkind, joined Alexander's son as the project's producer. John Carpenter
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...
was originally offered the chance to direct, but also wanted a say in the writing, musical score and final cut of the movie. Carpenter's choice for the role of Santa was Brian Dennehy
Brian Dennehy
Brian Mannion Dennehy is an American actor of film, stage and screen.-Early years:Dennehy was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Hannah and Edward Dennehy, who was a wire service editor for the Associated Press; he has two brothers, Michael and Edward. Dennehy is of Irish ancestry and was...
.
Among the original choices to direct the film other than Carpenter were Lewis Gilbert
Lewis Gilbert
Lewis Gilbert CBE is an English film director, producer and screenwriter.-Early life:He was the son of music hall performers, and spent his early years travelling with his parents, and watching the shows from the side of the stage. He first performed on-stage at the age of 5, when asked to drive a...
, who, despite initial interest, could not agree with the Salkinds over certain aspects of the script. Robert Wise
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...
was also offered the chance to direct, but Wise had a different approach to the story, and doubtless would have made the project an altogether darker experience. Guy Hamilton
Guy Hamilton
Guy Hamilton is an English film director.Hamilton was born in Paris, France where his English parents were living. Remaining in France during the Nazi occupation, he was active in the French Resistance...
, who'd had to withdraw from directing Superman: The Movie in 1976 (because he was a tax exile
Tax exile
A tax exile is one who chooses to leave a country with a high tax burden and instead to reside in a foreign nation or jurisdiction which takes a lower portion of earnings. Going into tax exile is a means of tax mitigation or avoidance.-Legal status:...
, and, as such, could only spend 30 days in England, where the movie would be filming), was very interested in directing and lobbied hard for the chance to do so, but only on the condition that the film be shot either in Los Angeles, Vancouver or Rome. Ultimately, the Salkinds chose Szwarc because of their excellent working relationship on Supergirl
Supergirl
Supergirl is a female counterpart to the DC Comics Superman. As his cousin, she shares his super powers and vulnerability to Kryptonite. She was created by writer Otto Binder and designed by artist Al Plastino in 1959. She first appeared in the Action Comics comic book series and later branched out...
which many executives at TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures, Inc. is an American film production/distribution studio and subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, itself a subdivision of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, which is owned by Sony Pictures...
believed was a masterpiece and would also become a megahit.
Santa Claus: The Movie was filmed in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
at Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...
, between August and November 1984
1984 in film
-Events:* The Walt Disney Company founds Touchstone Pictures to release movies with subject matter deemed inappropriate for the Disney name.* Tri-Star Pictures, a joint venture of Columbia Pictures, HBO, and CBS, releases its first film....
. The film was photographed by Arthur Ibbetson
Arthur Ibbetson
Arthur Ibbetson BSC was a British cinematographer.His best-known projects were films with or for children, including Whistle Down the Wind , The Railway Children and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory .-Selected filmography:*The Horse's Mouth *The Angry Silence *The League of Gentlemen...
, whose credits, among others, included the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971). Santa Claus: The Movie was his final feature film. Serving as film editor
Film editing
Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...
was Peter Hollywood.
The production was designed by Anthony Pratt, with costume design concepts by Bob Ringwood. The visual effects unit, as well as several of the production staff, were Salkind stalwarts from the Superman films: Derek Meddings
Derek Meddings
Derek Meddings was a British television and cinema special effects expert, initially noted for his work on the "Supermarionation" television puppet series produced by Gerry Anderson, and later for the 1970s James Bond films and the Superman film series.-Early years:Both Meddings' parents had...
, director of visual and miniature effects; Roy Field, optical visual effects supervisor; and David Lane, flying and second unit
Second unit
In film, the second unit is a team that shoots subsidiary footage for a motion picture. Its work is distinct from that of the first unit, which shoots all scenes involving principal actors...
director.
The documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, Santa Claus: The Making of The Movie, which chronicles the film's production, is introduced by David Huddleston, speaking straight to the camera in character as Santa, with Dudley Moore serving as on-screen host. The voice over commentary is performed by Ted Maynard, who had also done voice-overs for the film's original UK trailer. The documentary originally aired in the United States on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, on Christmas Eve, 1987. Anchor Bay Entertainment's now-out-of-print 20th anniversary DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
of the film included this documentary as a bonus feature; the Lionsgate DVD and Blu-ray versions currently feature the 50-minute feature as well. The Blu-ray version, however, also features a brief chronicle of the filming of the " 'Christmas II' Press Conference" sequence, as well as additional deleted scenes cut from the original theatrical version.
Moore had always been the top choice to play the lead Elf in the movie, Ilya Salkind having remembered a scene in Arthur in which Liza Minnelli
Liza Minnelli
Liza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
's character asks Moore if he is Santa's Little Helper. Moore was attached to the project virtually from the offset, and therefore had a say on both scripting and choice of director. Originally, David Newman's first-draft script called for the character to be named Ollie; but Moore decided instead that the name should be changed to Patch, Patch being the nickname of his own young son, Patrick. Ilya Salkind, from the very beginning, had wanted an American actor to portray Santa Claus because he felt that the movie focused on a primary piece of Americana in much the same way that Superman: The Movie did. Brian Dennehy
Brian Dennehy
Brian Mannion Dennehy is an American actor of film, stage and screen.-Early years:Dennehy was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Hannah and Edward Dennehy, who was a wire service editor for the Associated Press; he has two brothers, Michael and Edward. Dennehy is of Irish ancestry and was...
was the top choice of John Carpenter when he discussed the possibility of directing the film with the Salkinds. Jeannot Szwarc, however, felt that he needed an actor with more warmth than Dennehy, and toward that end, he had screen-tested such actors as David White
David White
David White or Dave White may refer to:*Dave White , Derringer Award–winning mystery writer*Dave White , U.S. journalist*Dave White , U.S. Navy submarine skipper*David A.R...
(who, being in his late 60's, was considered too old for the role), and Moore's Arthur co-star Barney Martin. For a while, Ilya Salkind actively pursued Carroll O'Connor
Carroll O'Connor
John Carroll O'Connor best known as Carroll O'Connor, was an American actor, producer and director whose television career spanned four decades...
for the role before Szwarc showed him David Huddleston's screen-test, which won Salkind over. For the role of B.Z., the producers wanted a star with a similar stature to Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman
Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...
when he had played Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and the archenemy of Superman, although given his high status as a supervillain, he has also come into conflict with Batman and other superheroes in the DC Universe. Created by Jerry Siegel and...
in Superman: The Movie. To this end, they offered the role to Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...
who turned them down. They made offers to Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
, Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
and Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
--- all of whom, for one reason or another, turned the part down. Eventually, John Lithgow was settled on after Salkind watched Terms of Endearment
Terms of Endearment
Terms of Endearment is a 1983 romantic comedy-drama film adapted by James L. Brooks from the novel by Larry McMurtry and starring Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, and Jack Nicholson...
and realised that he had a Grinch-type look to him. The role of the Ancient Elf was written with James Cagney
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
in mind; however, with Cagney being very weak in his old age, the legendary actor could not adequately assume the role, despite the fact that he liked the film's overall idea. Nonetheless, Cagney had no other choice but to turn the offer down, so Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
was considered. When this eventually came to nothing, Dudley Moore suggested his friend Burgess Meredith
Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director...
for the role, which he in the end won. Finally, it is worth noting that at the time of the movie's announcement in Summer 1983, the British Press carried reports that diminutive actors such as David Jason
David Jason
Sir David John White, OBE , better known by his stage name David Jason, is an English BAFTA award-winning actor. He is best known as the main character Derek "Del Boy" Trotter on the BBC sit-com Only Fools and Horses from 1981, the voice of Mr Toad in The Wind In The Willows and as detective Jack...
, Patrick Troughton
Patrick Troughton
Patrick George Troughton was an English actor most widely known for his roles in fantasy, science fiction and horror films, particularly in his role as the second incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which he played from 1966 to 1969,...
and Norman Wisdom
Norman Wisdom
Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, OBE was an English actor, comedian and singer-songwriter best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring his hapless onscreen character Norman Pitkin...
would be cast alongside Dudley as fellow Elves. This ultimately came to nothing.
Santa's elves
The elves in the film are portrayed as legendary beings known as the Vendequm. According to the Santa Claus: The Movie novelizationNovelization
A novelization is a novel that is written based on some other media story form rather than as an original work.Novelizations of films usually add background material not found in the original work to flesh out the story, because novels are generally longer than screenplays...
written by science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
/fantasy novelist Joan D. Vinge
Joan D. Vinge
Joan D. Vinge is an American science fiction author. She is known for such works as her Hugo Award-winning novel The Snow Queen and its sequels, her series about the telepath named Cat, and her Heaven's Chronicles books.-Biography:...
, the elves keep watch over all that happens in the world that borders their own magic
Magic (fantasy)
Magic in fiction is the endowing of fictional characters or objects with magical powers.Such magic often serves as a plot device, the source of magical artifacts and their quests...
al realm. The Vendequm are described as being extremely fond of children since, after all, only children can see them, due to the innocence of their youth. The elves are fond of making things for children, and so they often journeyed out into the children's world, leaving their newly crafted toys where children would find them. According to the novel, with the passing of each new century
Century
A century is one hundred consecutive years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages .-Start and end in the Gregorian Calendar:...
, and as civilization
Civilization
Civilization is a sometimes controversial term that has been used in several related ways. Primarily, the term has been used to refer to the material and instrumental side of human cultures that are complex in terms of technology, science, and division of labor. Such civilizations are generally...
s continued to rise and fall, it became more and more difficult and dangerous for the elves to venture too far out into the human world. Thus, the vast majority of the toys the elves made could not be given out, and were left to gather dust in their magnificent storeroom, the Toy Tunnel.
The novel also describes how, on a certain long-winter's night, the oldest and wisest elf of all, the Ancient One, foresaw the arrival of a man whose love for children would be equal to that of the elves. The Ancient One believed that this man would be the one to whom the elves would grant full immortality
Immortality
Immortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...
, along with the ability to deliver the elves' gifts to children all over the world.
In addition to Patch, Dooley, Puffy, Boog, Honka, and Vout, the film's screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
and cast listing features three additional elves: Groot, the Elves' Senior Chef
Chef
A chef is a person who cooks professionally for other people. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who cooks for a living, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation.-Etymology:The word "chef" is borrowed ...
; Goober, the head of the Elves' tailor
Tailor
A tailor is a person who makes, repairs, or alters clothing professionally, especially suits and men's clothing.Although the term dates to the thirteenth century, tailor took on its modern sense in the late eighteenth century, and now refers to makers of men's and women's suits, coats, trousers,...
ing shop, who crafts Santa's full red robes; and Goobler, who trains several of his fellow elves in the art of painting toys with their own beards.
Reception
Reaction to Santa Claus: The Movie has generally been negative, with a rating of 18% on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, from the 17 reviews counted. Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is a website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. Brandon Gray started the site in 1999. In 2002, Gray partnered with Sean Saulsbury and they grew the site to nearly two million readers when, in July 2008, the company was purchased by Amazon.com through...
lists the film's total United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
box office gross as $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
23,717,291, less than its $30–50 million production budget.
Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
noted some positive points to the film, writing that the film "does an interesting job of visualizing Santa's workshop" and Santa's elves. He also praised the film's special effects, particularly the New York City fly-over sequence involving Santa. Ebert also had some praise for Lithgow's "nice, hateful performance", but wrote that "the villain is not drawn big enough." He ceded that young children would probably like most of the film, but that older children and adults are "likely to find a lot of it a little thin."
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
was less positive than Ebert, calling the production "elaborate and tacky". He described the film as having "the manner of a listless musical without any production numbers". Unlike Ebert, he offered little praise for the film's production design. Canby quipped that "Santa's workshop must be the world's largest purchaser of low-grade plywood" and that the flyover sequences with Santa "aren't great." The only praise he had for the film's acting was for John Lithgow, who Canby wrote "(gave) the film's only remotely stylish performance." A more recent review by William Mager on BBC.co.uk
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's review section echoed Canby and Ebert's comments.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed and conducted by Henry ManciniHenry Mancini
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
, composer of the themes from The Pink Panther and Peter Gunn
Peter Gunn
Peter Gunn is an American private eye television series which aired on the NBC and later ABC television networks from 1958 to 1961. The show's creator was Blake Edwards...
, with veteran lyricist and screenwriter Leslie Bricusse
Leslie Bricusse
Leslie Bricusse is an English composer, lyricist, and playwright.Although best known for his partnership with Anthony Newley, Bricusse has worked with many other composers. He was educated at University College School in London and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge...
contributing five original songs. The song It's Christmas (All Over The World) was written by Bill House and John Hobbs with Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range...
in mind. While it is known that Mercury recorded a demo for the House/Hobbs song at Pinewood Studios, he was never to make a full commitment to the project, as he and his Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
bandmates had already committed themselves to the Highlander
Highlander (film)
Highlander is a 1986 fantasy action film directed by Russell Mulcahy and based on a story by Gregory Widen. It stars Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, Clancy Brown, and Roxanne Hart. The film depicts the climax of an ages-old battle between immortal warriors, depicted through interwoven past and...
soundtrack. In the end, Mercury turned down the project, stating that he felt that Queen had become overcrowded with requests to work on film soundtracks; as a result, Sheena Easton
Sheena Easton
Sheena Easton is a Scottish recording artist. Easton became famous for being the focus of an episode in the British television programme The Big Time, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract and her eventual signing with EMI Records.Easton rose to fame in the early 1980s with the pop...
was ultimately chosen to record the tune. As mentioned on the DVD commentary of the movie by Jeannot Szwarc, Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
was asked to compose songs for the film. It is unknown why he did not do so in the end, but his song Once Upon A Long Ago
Once Upon A Long Ago
"Once Upon a Long Ago" is a Paul McCartney song, released as his fortieth single on November 1987, as part of his compilation All the Best!, released two weeks before the single. The track was produced by Phil Ramone and mixed by George Martin, and features violin by Nigel Kennedy.The single...
had been indeed originally composed with the movie in mind.
Track listing
- "Main Title: Every Christmas Eve 1 and Santa's Theme (Giving)" (Mancini/Bricusse)
- "Arrival of the Elves" (Mancini)
- "Making Toys" (Mancini/Bricusse)2
- "Christmas Rhapsody: Deck the Halls/Joy to the World/Hark! The Herald Angels Sing/12 Days of Christmas/O Tannenbaum/The First Noel/Silent Night"
- "It's Christmas Again" (Mancini/Bricusse)2
- "March of the Elves" (Mancini)
- "Patch, Natch!" (Mancini/Bricusse) 3
- "It's Christmas (All Over The World)It's Christmas (All Over the World)"It's Christmas " is a song written by Bill House and John Hobbs. The recording of the song was produced by Keith Olsen for Pogologo Corporation, and sung by Sheena Easton....
" (Bill House, John Hobbs)5 - "Shouldn't Do That" (Nick Beggs, Stuart Croxford, Neal Askew, Steve Askew) 4
- "Sleigh Ride over Manhattan" (Mancini)
- "Sad Patch" (Mancini)
- "Patch Versus Santa" (Mancini)
- "Thank You, Santa" (Mancini/Bricusse) 2
1Sung by Aled Jones
Aled Jones
Aled Jones is a Welsh singer and television/radio personality, broadcaster and television presenter who first came to fame as a treble...
2Performed by the Ambrosian Children's Choir.
3Performed by the Ambrosian Singers
4Produced by Ken Scott and performed by Kaja
5Produced by Keith Olsen for Pogologo Corporation, and performed by Sheena Easton
Sheena Easton
Sheena Easton is a Scottish recording artist. Easton became famous for being the focus of an episode in the British television programme The Big Time, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract and her eventual signing with EMI Records.Easton rose to fame in the early 1980s with the pop...
.