Dudley Moore

John Lithgow

David Huddleston

Burgess Meredith

Judy Cornwell

Jeffrey Kramer

Christian Fitzpatrick

Carrie Kei Heim

John Barrard

Anthony O'Donnell

Melvyn Hayes

Don Estelle

Tim Stern

Christopher Ryan

Peter O'Farrell

Dickie Arnold

Aimée Delamain

Dorothea Phillips

John Hallam

Judith Morse

Jerry Harte

Paul Aspland

Sally Cranfield

Michael Drew

Walter Goodman

John Cassady

Ronald Fernee

Michael A. Ross

Morgan Deare

Roy Evans

Caroline John

Jill Goldston

Barrie Holland

Stuart Milligan

Nicole Appleton

Shannon Spruill

Jeannot Szwarc

Henry Mancini

David Lane

Pauline Coutelenq

John Trehy

Derek Cracknell

Vincent Winter

Pat Garrett

Don Sharpe

Robert Hathaway

Tim Hutchinson

Don Dossett

John Hoesli

Malcolm Stone

Wally Byatt

David Worley

Trevor Coop

Jeff Paynter

John Morgan

Chris Coles

Paul Engelen

Stuart Freeborn

Penny Shawyer

Colin Jamison

Jan Jamison

Elaine Bowerbank

John Paterson

Eddie Fowlie

Patrick Wheatley

Archie Ludski

Rocky Phelan

Les Healey

Margaret Thompson

Beverley Lamb

David Newman

Leslie Newman

Stephenie McMillan

Anthony Pratt

Bob Ringwood

Peter Hollywood

Arthur Ibbetson

Robert Simmonds

Pierre Spengler

Ilya Salkind

Lynn Stalmaster

Anne Henderson

Pamela Carlton

Bob Penn

David Crozier

Family

Fantasy

Adventure

Santa Claus: The Movie

TriStar Pictures

Calash Corporation

Santa Claus Ltd.

United States of America

United Kingdom

Netherlands

English

holiday

christmas

Nice film, I found enough enjoyment with it.

Probably not as deep or creative as it could've been, but I do like the plot of <em>'Santa Claus: The Movie'</em> as it starts off at the embryonic stages of Santa. It ends up turning into a run-of-the-mill good v. bad thing, but that cause is helped by the casting of John Lithgow - who is entertaining.

Lithgow isn't the only positive cast, as Dudley Moore and David Huddleston do solid things too. It's interesting to see that Lithgow doesn't rate this, as well as the fact that it's apparently popular in the UK; though I, as a Englishman, had never heard about this before this year to be honest.

There are, at least in my opinion, many better festive films out there, but this 1985 flick is a satisfying Xmas watch. It's cheesy and features some questionable special effects, but does have pleasant-looking reindeer and has charm.

CinemaSerf

I didn't love the start of this film. There's this local carpenter who crafts intricately sculpted little toys for kids at Christmas but makes his poor reindeers - "Donner" and "Blitzen" race through the most atrocious snow storm so he (David Huddleston) and his kindly wife (Judy Cornwell) can deliver them! Anyway, that weather overwhelms them and things look distinctly hypothermic until a great star arrives in the heavens and next thing they are being fêted by "Dooley" (John Barrard) in the most beautiful toy factory in the world. He is now to be called "Santa" and his job will be to deliver these presents to children all over the planet. Luckily they have a sprinkling of magic dust to doctor the food of not just his own reindeers, but of a few others too and decades now pass uneventfully. As more and more people learn to write, though, the demands on him become increasingly onerous, indeed the poor soul is frankly a bit knackered. An assistant! That's the answer. Two of his elves vie for the position but it's "Patch" (Dudley Moore) who develops and automated production line and emerges victorious. Thing is, his products are cheap and cheerful - they break and soon he is out on his pointy ear and working with disgraced toy manufacturer "BZ" (a well over-the-top John Lithgow). The naive "Patch" is only trying to regain the affection of "Santa". His new business partner is looking to make a mint. Has "Patch" got his priorities right? Perhaps "Santa" has some growing up to do, too? This is a gently entertaining Christmas tale that allows Moore to showcase a little of his comedy acting skills, but generally the rest of it is all a rather thinly-veiled swipe at the rise of commercialism and the throw-away culture. Christian Fitzpatrick is quite engaging as the urchin "Joe" and those with eagle eyes might spot Melvyn Hayes and Don Estelle (famed for the BBC sitcom "Ain't Half Hot Mum") but I found the narrative to be just a little too repetitive and it certainly made me glad I never liked candy cane. It's still fun, but like the gifts he made themselves, I wonder how many kids nowadays would get anything from the charming simplicity of this film?

Santa Claus: The Movie( 1985)

You'd better watch out! This year he REALLY IS coming to town.

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A review by r96sk

Written by r96sk on Sat Dec 26 2020

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