Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer & Friends
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Features
• Animated
• Color
• DVD-Video
• NTSC |
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Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer & Friends Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥ |
Enough classics to make it worthwhile!
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Back in the days of VHS, one of the cheapest things you could buy was a low-quality cartoon compilation of obscure shorts and public domain classics. Some were watchable and some were not, some gave you a ton of cartoons while others presented only a few, and the Christmas compilations were often the most fascinating. Now, we have DVD, and the same such compilations can be found. Being a huge fan of both Christmas AND cartoons, I finally picked up my first such disc a year or so ago, and this is it: "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Friends," from Front Row Features.
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Friends," released on DVD in 2001 by Front Row Features, includes the following cartoon shorts:
1. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" - This is the 1948 Fleischer Studios classic you may have seen on television during the Disney Channel's better, earlier days; a magical interpretation of the song's story with that magical Fleischer Studios look. (color)
2. "Santa's Surprise" - From Famous Studios in 1947, this was the first ever Little Audrey cartoon. It's a very cute and charming little short about children of the world gathering together to give Santa Claus a Christmas gift for a change. (color)
3. "Ginger Nutt's Christmas Circus" - This 1949 short is one of the classic "Animaland" cartoons by former Disney animator David Hand! In this story, Ginger Nutt the squirrel puts on a Christmas-time Circus, and a heckling parrot sneaks his way in at a weasel's expense. (color)
4. "Christmas Comes But Once a Year" - From 1936, this Fleischer cartoon features that ol' Betty Boop character, Grampy, as he uses his inventiveness to cheer up the inhabitants of a rundown orphanage on Christmas morning. This is another old fave from Disney Channel airings years ago! (color)
5. "Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives" - This Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies cartoon from 1933 is the musical story of a poor little boy who gets to take a ride with Santa to his toy shop full of lively toys. (black and white)
6. "Hector's Hectic Life" - Missing the title card and mislabeled on the DVD case as "Christmas Pups," this 1948 Famous Studios short is a sweet story of a messy dog who has to keep things neat on Christmas Eve to avoid being thrown out in the cold. When three puppies show up on his door, his job becomes more than a little difficult. (color)
7. "Snow Foolin'" - This 1949 Famous Studios short is a "funny animals" type film, and the majority of it is a bouncing ball sing-a-long of "Jingle All the Way." Cute and enjoyable, especially for nostalgic reasons. (color)
8. "Little Tin Soldier" - This cartoon, taken from the UK's "Mr. Piper" TV show of the 1960s, opens and closes with the live-action Mr. Piper (a Canadian opera singer named Alan Crofoot) and is a limited animation version of "The Steadfast Tin Soldier." Nice little cartoon. (color)
9. Tweety in "Gift Wrapped" - In this enjoyable 1952 Tweety classic, Sylvester is overjoyed when Santa leaves Granny a tweety bird as a present, but Granny and an interfering bulldog won't allow him to enjoy the gift. Sadly, this cartoon is among the lowest in picture quality on the disc. (color)
10. "The Christmas Visitor" - A 1959 British cartoon from Halas and Batchelor, this film presents itself as a rendition of "The Night Before Christmas," but takes a break from the classic poem to tell a story of a toy sailor, a musical statuette shepherd girl, and a jealous villain as Santa enjoys cookies and a cigar. (red and white?)
11. "Star of Bethlehem"- From Cathedral Films in 1959, this is a lovely presentation of animated silhouettes on colorful backgrounds telling the narrated story of the birth of Christ and the shepherds and wise men who came to worship him. (color silhouette)
The eleven shorts that make up the disc's programming are, as I said, not presented in very good quality, but they are watchable for the most part and some are much better than that. Also, the classic Fleischer "Rudolph" is complete, while I've read that other discs cut off the beginning and end. You also get "Christmas Comes but Once a Year," another Fleischer classic that gained fame through Disney Channel airings in the 80s. Some of the other toons are from Famous Studios, such as "Santa's Surprise," starring Little Audrey. However, be forewarned that some of the shorts, such as that Little Audrey one, contain racial stereotyping of the time. There's some great animation here, obviously (considering the studios I've mentioned so far). The "Star of Bethlehem" is enchanting, and you even get one of David Hand's Animaland shorts. Of course, this is not the source to go to if you are seeking definitive copies of these cartoons. This is simply a good disc to pop in while wrapping gifts or winding down after a night of holiday shopping. The runtime of the disc is stated as 90 minutes on the snap-case, which is an attractive one compared to some I have seen lately. I'm giving this disc 4 stars because some of the cartoons are outstanding, even if the quality presented isn't the best. I've seen much worse, and these range from watchable to more than watchable and are all enjoyable shorts. Recommended mainly for Christmas and animation fanatics. |
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Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer dvd movie.