Toy Tinkers (1949)

Most Disney histories while having a very detailed history of the short cartoons made before the Disney features, skip over many of the animated short films made after the studio's first feature, and this is unfortunate because so many of these cartoons are great films in their own right. One of my favorite of these cartoons is the Donald Duck film Toy Tinkers.

This cartoon was directed by Jack Hannah. At this time there were three main directors for Disney short cartoons. These directors were Jack Kinney, Charles Nicholas, and Jack Hannah. While they directed for other characters as well, each had a character they can be more associated with then others. Jack Kinney worked heavily with Goofy, Charles Nicholas worked most with Pluto and Jack Hannah was associated with Donald Duck. Jack Kinney and Jack Hannah were very important directors who signaled a huge change in the style of Disney shorts. As Warner Brothers and MGM were now making the most popular cartoon shorts (just as Disney made the most popular of the 1930's) Kinney and Hannah were able to add this new fast paced chaotic cartoon style of humor, while still having the cartoons remain pure Disney, something very evident in this film.

Two more characters Jack Hannah grew to be associated with are Chip and Dale. Though these two had first appeared in a 1943 Clyde Geronimi directed cartoon called Private Pluto, most of their films were directed by Hannah. This began with the duo's second cartoon short released 3 years later called Squatter's Rights. Though this cartoon paired the two with Mickey and Pluto, the next year Hannah would team them with Donald in Chip an' Dale. The three characters worked perfectly together, and Hannah would make more films where he pit Donald against Chip and Dale, Toy Tinkers being one of them.

The cartoon begins as Donald unknowingly chops down Chip and Dale's home for his Christmas tree. As they follow Donald in they see Donald enjoying some nuts. Chip and Dale sneak into Donald's house to get some nuts for themselves. This leads to a slapstick battle between the three using toys under the Christmas tree.

This cartoon is laugh out loud funny. The slapstick is spot on and timed perfectly. Every joke works and they are all very funny. The humor is also displayed perfectly through the great character animation one should expect form a Disney cartoon. While Disney cartoons are often called sweet and cute in contrast to the hilarious antics at studios like Warner Brothers and MGM, the Disney studio could make slapstick cartoons as great as the rest of them (this is not an insult to Warner Brothers and MGM as I love there cartoons a lot as well). This stands as one of Disney's funniest shorts (a joke involving a telephone never fails to make me laugh out loud).

The animators on this film were Bob Carlson, Volus Jones and Bill Justice. All three of them worked on many Jack Hannah shorts. Bill Justice and Bob Carson also animated on various Disney animated features as well, such as Peter Pan, Bambi, Alice in Wonderland, Lady and the Tramp, Fantasia and Pinocchio. However Volus Jones only worked on shorts.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used 
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041978/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt


  

A Christmas Tale (2008)

We all have a preconceptions of what a Christmas movie is. We usually think of it as something optimistic, simple and heartwarming. Arnaud Desplechin's A Christmas Tale is none of those things. The characters are not always likable, many points of the film are pretty pessimistic, and the story is not told in a traditional manner. Heck this movie even contains quotes from Neizche's On the Geneaology of Morality. This film is purely a French art film, and far from a Hollywood Christmas movie. However this film has a unique beauty all it's own.

The story involves the Vuillard family. After Junon (played by Catherine Deneuve) the grandmother of the family needs a bone marrow transplant. This happens just in time for the family to get together for Christmas. Two members of the family have the same blood type as Junon. These are the mental ill teenager Paul (played by Emile Berling) and Henri (played by Mathieu Amalric), her son. Paul is afraid that a blood transfer might reveal weather or not Claude (played by Hippolyte Girardot) is his real father. Meanwhile Slyvia (played by Chiara Mastroianna) finds out that along with her husband Ivan (played by Melvil Populaud), Henri and Simon (played by Laurent Capelluto) liked her as well and they decided Ivan should be the one to have her, this leads to an affair between Slyvia and Simon.

This story doesn't sound like your typical Christmas movie and it isn't. However what it is is a beautiful and thought provoking portirit of the type of family you don't see often in movies center around thid time of year. It is also a study of life and death. Well this may sound like  movie that has a lot of art but little entertainment that is not completely true. Moments such as the kids' play and a very akward giving of grace are actaully quite funny and add a nice contrast with the more serious and philosphical scenes. However this does not make the philosphical scenes any less profound or moving. It is clear that screenwriters Arnaud Desplechin (also the film's director) and Emmanuel Bourdieu (who also cowrote My Sex Life...or How I Got Into an Argument with Desplechin (Desplechian also directed that film) really were passionate about what they were writing. Add to this a great score by Mike Kourtzer, outstanding cinematography by Eric Gautier and great performances by the whole cast and you have got an amazing film.

This film is an incredible experince and one of the best Christmas movies and recent years.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Yogi's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper (1982)

I have stated before how much I love Hanna-Barbera cartoons and because of this just seeing all the characters together just gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. This is completely true of Yogi's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper (long title isn't it). This made for TV short film includes more characters in it that most of the Hanna-Barbera feature films that combined characters, and it does it in a charming way. Of course this film revolving around my favorite time of year doesn't hurt at all.

The story of this film begins when Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, Hokey Wolf, Snooper, Blabber, Augie Doggie and Augie Daddy decide to visit Jellystone to spend Christmas with their good friends Yogi Bear and Boo Boo. However once they arrive they discover Yogi and Boo Boo have gone to the big city to see them. While in the big city Yogi and Boo Boo meet a little girl who is running away from home. Her rich father loves her but has always been to busy to spend time with her. Yogi and Boo Boo befriend the little girl, but also want to bring her back home. After finding out her name is Judy Jones, they think they simply have to find where the Joneses live in town. They happen to quickly find out that there are many many Joneses in town. Their friends find the trio and help Yogi and Boo Boo find out which Joneses she belongs to.

The story may sound cliché and it is. However this cartoon works very well because the characters are so likable they make it work. Also the humor is often quite good and there aren't any jokes that fall flat (a laugh out loud moment involving a cameo by Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble that is fantastic). The sentiment is never too sugary as it easy could be, and this is again because the characters and the humor are so good. 

This film was directed by Steve Lumley, who also directed two other Hanna-Barbera made for TV films (both features), The Secret World of Og and The Bunjee Venture. He had been working at Hanna-Barbera as a layout supervisor since 1972. The writer was Mark Evanier, who may be better known for being one of the main writers for Garfield and Friends. The animators on this film were Sue Beak, Chris Dawson, Chris Codington, Dick Dunn, Peter Gardiner, Greg Ingram, John Martin, Henry Nevilleand Mike Stapleton. These were mostly a new wave of animators for the studio, none of them had worked with the studio since the beginning. The furthest back any of them worked for Hanna-Barbera was 1970 (Chris Cuddinton and Peter Gardiner (both started on the made for TV movie A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court).

-Michael J. Ruhland        

Santa's Workshop (1932)

Anyone who reads my blogs, probably knows how much I love Disney features. After all I write a blog called The Feature Films of Walt Disney. However my passion for Disney is by no means just for the features. I love the short films just as much. This is especially true of the short cartoons from the 1930's. And since this is Walt's 115th birthday what better time to write about one of these great shorts. Since it is also the Christmas season, why not write about a Santa's Workshop, one of my favorite Silly Symphonies.

This film was the fourth color Silly Symphony. The first was Flowers and Trees released earlier the same year. That cartoon became such a huge hit that afterwards all Silly Symphonies would be in color.

This film was directed by Wilfred Jackson one of the best Disney directors at this time. He had directed such previous Disney shorts as The Fox Hunt, The Ugly Duckling, The Whoopee Party, The Spider and the Fly and Mickey's Follies.

This cartoon went through the assembly line very quickly. The story was completed in September 1932, and by October animation had already begun. The film was released on December 10th of the same year. Despite this the cartoon maintained a high quality. The animation was fantastic, the story was sweet and simple, and the humor was really good. On top of this the film just has a great sense of energy that is a joy to watch.

The story is very simple. Here Santa and his elves get ready for the Christmas Eve flight.

The animators on this cartoon include Les Clark, Art Babbitt, Norm Ferguson, Tom Palmer, Ben Sharpsteen, Jack King, Fred Moore, Eddie Donnelly, Jack Kinney, Ed Love, Clyde Germoni, Nick George, Jack Cutting, Joe D'Igalo, Marvin Woodward, Dick Williams, Harry Reeves, Louie Schmidt, Paul Fennel, George Drake, and Chuck Couch. The animators were not yet assigned specifically to characters as would be common in later Disney animation. For instance Santa is animated by Norm Ferguson when he is reading his list, by Jack King when checking the dolls, by Clyde Germoni when marching out the door, by Eddie Donnell when saying goodbye and by Louie Schmidt when flying off into the night. The only character to be handled by one animator was the bookkeeping elf, who was animated by Tom Palmer. Art Babbitt's scenes of the elves taking care of the reindeer are great examples of the animator at his best. In fact Art Babbitt and Norm Ferguson are probably the two animators whose work in this film would be most recognizable to Disney buffs familiar with their animators as both are completely in their element here and their work looks like them. Despite this every animator does a fantastic job in this cartoon and the whole film is lovely to look at.

Overall this is a fantastic cartoon, showing the Disney studio was at the top of their game before they ever made a feature. By the way listen to hear an elf voiced by Walt himself.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin
http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/disneys-santa-workshop-1932/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023422/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
    

The Shop Around The Corner (1940)

Enrst Lubitsch, is a name that will probably be recognized by any classic movie fans reading this. Lubitsch is best known as the master of sophisticated comedy, and is considered by many to be one of the greatest comedy directors of all time. However he was just as great at sentiment as he was at comedy. One of the best examples of this is The Shop Around the Corner, which is a extremely lovely movie. In fact Jimmy Stewart remembered it as one his favorite movies he ever worked on (which considering his filmography was saying a lot).

In 1939 Lubitsch had singed with MGM to make Ninotchkia and one more film. That one more film turned out to be The Shop Around the Corner. Lubitsch had owned the rights to a play called Parfumerie. He would sell the rights of this play to MGM for $62,500 and then began work with writer Samson Raphaelson to make this into a movie. Lubitsch based much of the film off of his years as a child in his father's tailor shop in Berlin. Lubitsch wanted to be sure this film was not like the movies he was known for. The way this film would be different would be by being much less glamorous than those movies. He went to such great lengths to achieve this that he left a dress that Margret Sullivan (the film's leading lady) would wear in the movie out in the sun, and later even had it altered to make it fit her worse. Margret Sullivan had in fact before this bought a dress she thought worked perfectly for her part, but Lubitsch said it looked too good.

The film centers around a man named Alfred (played by Jimmy Stewart) and a woman named Klara (played by Margret Sullivan) who have been writing each other anonymous love letters (ahem... cultural discussions through the mail). They both end up working at a little shop owned by a man named Hugo Matuschek (played by Frank Morgan). They meet and grow hate each other, while still unaware that they have been writing each other. To make matters worse Mr. Matuschek seems to be growing colder towards Alfred, leading Alfred to get fired and Klara to blame this on herself. This all leads to a Christmas Eve that will change everything for both of them.

The film rightfully became a huge hit when it was released, which surpised the whole MGM studio, who felt that this was just an assuming little film. Luckily for us, this film is just as charming today as it was when it was originally released in 1940. This beautiful little film remains one of Lubitsch's best films.

This film is so charming in fact it was later remade as a movie musical in 1949, another great film (and big hit) called In the Good Old Summertime. Charles Smith who played Rudi in The Shop on the Corner would also appear in In the Good Old Summertime in a small uncredited role. It was later remade again as You Got Mail in 1998.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/413/The-Shop-Around-the-Corner/articles.html 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033045/?ref_=rvi_tt

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer (1964)

It's almost hard to explain why this movie has become such a classic. Yet I would be the first to agree that this film is a classic. The more I think about it the more I think the beauty comes from the simplicity. The story is very simple and non-cynical. This type of feeling works perfectly for Christmas time. It brings us back to the Christmas of our childhoods where we thrived on such simple and non-cynical tales. And at Christmas time naturally we are more open to these child-like feelings which this film captures perfectly. This 52 year old special stands as the longest running Christmas TV special.

However this is not saying there is nothing truly outstanding about this movie, as the soundtrack is truly fantastic. All the songs were written by Johnny Marks, who had written the original song Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in 1949 (based on a 1939 book called Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer). There were 8 songs in this film and they are all beyond excellent and very catchy. In this about an hour long film, 16 minutes are spent with singing songs. For the soundtrack album, 21 minutes of instrumental versions of the song were added to make the album 37 minutes.

The story centers around a Reindeer with a red nose named Rudolph. Rudolph is made fun of for his red nose by the other Reindeer, and even Santa doesn't think he can use the poor young deer. Rudolph runs away with another misfit Herbie an elf that wants to be a dentist. They soon met another friend a miner named Yukon Cornelius. However Rudolph's red nose attracts a fearsome monster, and Rudolph runs away from them to spare his friends. Upon returning home he discovers his family got in trouble as they went out to find him. He goes out to save them, where he meets his friends Herbie and Yukon again. After his family is safe Santa finds that he can't do Christmas this year because he can't see though a storm. He then sees Rudolph's nose and knows that that bright nose can help him see, and Rudolph becomes the leader of the sleigh.

The scene at the end of the film involving Santa delivering the misfit toys to children's homes was not originally in the movie. However Rakin/Bass studios got letters asking what happened to the misfit toys. Because of this the studio animated a new sequence for future airings and that sequence sit airs today.

This is one of the only three films to be directed by Larry Roemer. The others were Return to Oz (1964) and The Ballad of Smokey the Bear. This two films were also done for the Rakin/Bass studio.

This movie is a must for all cartoon lovers and Christmas lovers. It is really charming.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used
http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/rankinbass-rudolph-on-records/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0736392/?ref_=tt_ov_dr

A Pink Christmas (1978)

While it is easy to say that the DePatie-Freling cartoons of the mid and late 1970's were not on par with the studio's cartoons of the 1960's and early 70's without any sense of doubt, A Pink Christmas is a huge exception. This made for TV short film is about as good a cartoon as the studio ever made.

This dialog-less story somewhat based on O. Henry's The Cop and the Anthem begins with the Pink Panther, poor and hungry, simply looking for some food at Christmas time. His attempts to find food lead him on one humorous adventure after another. (Spoilers ahead, scroll down to the next paragraph now if you don't want to read them) When our old Pink buddy finally gets a hold of a doughnut, after pursuing food rather selfishly for the entire film so far, he finds a poor hungry dog. The Panther shares this doughnut with the dog and the two become close friends. When the Pink Panther rest on a park bench for the night, he finds himself surrounded by food. Looking up he sees Santa's sled passing by.

The Pink Panther has often been compared to Charlie Chaplin, mostly because he is a pantomime character. This though is probably the most Chaplin-esque film the cartoon cat ever stared in. It beautifully combines comedy and pathos, and the idea of a poor tramp like character looking for food of course has roots in Chaplin as well. In fact this film borrows a gag from Chaplin's The Gold Rush (involving shoveling snow). It successeds very well. It is both very funny and very moving.

This is one of the only two films directed by Bill Perez (the other was another TV short called The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat). My fellow Hanna-Barbera buffs might like to know that Bill Perez also worked as a layout artist and a storyboard artist on various Hanna-Barbera projects including TV shows like The Jetsons, The Secret Squirrel Show, Johnny Quest, The Hurculoids, and The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan and feature films like Charlotte's Web, A Flintstones Christmas, Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose, The Good, the Bad and the Huckleberry Hound and Rockin' With Judy Jetson. The writing was written by animation legend (and studio co-founder) Friz Freling and John Dunn (one of the studio's main writers and a writer who had worked with Friz dating back to his days with Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies).

-Michael J. Ruhland