El Taller de Santa

Delightful Christmas cartoon from Disney, part of the Silly Symphonies series. The simple story is about Santa Claus and his elves preparing for Christmas, getting all the toys ready. Made in a different era with a different (lost?) kind of magic than we see today. Lovely music and rhyming dialogue throughout the short help keep things lively and bouncing. The animation is very nice for its time. Love that beautiful Technicolor! It's a wonderful, creative Christmas short that is sure to leave a smile on most faces. There's something very innocent about it all. If you're able to still enjoy things like this, I'm sure you'll love it. Try to watch it with little kids and pass the fun on to them before they're too old to even give it a shot.

In 1932 Disney became producing shorts in colour thanks to the three-striped colour process (beginning with FLOWER AND TREES). Among the few other colour shorts from 1932 we have the first of the two Silly Symphonies about Santa Claus (the other being THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS in 1933).

This short gives us a close look on what happens in the North Pole the day before Christmas. The dwarvs are cleaning the sleigh and feed the reindeers, and while Santa checks the list of who is naughty and who is nice, they work on the toys for the children of all world.

With a simple plot, nice colours and catchy music, this is among the best Disney shorts of its era and it's perfect to watch during the Christmas period.

I have always had a soft spot for this cartoon, part of the always hugely enjoyable Silly Symphonies animated shorts. It shows Santa and his helpers working hard on Christmas Eve, and like most commentators have said it is certainly very interesting. Santa himself, and I still confess I still believe in him, is presented as a jolly old man with a hearty laugh that was very pleasurable to the ear. The animation, considering it was made in the 30s is surprisingly good, with a nice quality to it. The short does get a little too silly at times, some of the rhyming dialogue is very inspired but rather absurd; the description of Billy Brown not washing behind his ears for seven years is quite disgusting. But what I loved most about Santa's workshop is its imagination. I adored the toy's march to Schubert's famous Marche Militaire, which is also featured in the short when Chip and Dale give Donald Duck a hard time on Christmas, to be seen on the video, Jiminy Cricket's Christmas. About Marche Militaire, I believe it was originally written for two pianos, but I will say I prefer the orchestral arrangement, it has a certain liveliness to it. Another piece I felt the same about was the Tocatta and Fugue by Bach, used in Fantasia, that was very menacing with an orchestra. Overall, a delightful short, very fun to watch. 9/10 Bethany Cox.

This is quite a nice colorful feature. It takes us to the North Pole where a major workforce is producing toys. Santa is in his office with his clerk, checking letters and checking who is naughty and nice. The reindeer are being fed and prepared. But the highlight is workshop itself, showing the production of the toys. Obviously, there were some elaborate toys in those days, but their portrayal was of a rather simple time with simple tastes. But the clever processes for making the toys are excellent. Of course, they couldn't resist making one doll black, exhibiting the demeaning white view of black children. But the rest is quite good.

As the 1932 Christmas holiday was approaching, Walt Disney provided his fans with the first all-color cartoon of Santa Claus. In December 1932's "Santa's Workshop," the Silly Symphony short became an annual tradition in the nation's theaters during the holiday season. The cartoon was later incorporated into a Disney Production anthology television Christmas 1958 special, 'From All of Us to All of You,' a feature film that is especially embraced by Sweden and Norway, and shown annually in both countries each Christmas Eve.

"Santa's Workshop" shows Santa and his elves preparing for the big night where the gifts in the old man's will be carried by his reindeer to be delivered to all the boys and girls throughout the world. Disney's Santa is a micromanager, taking interest in the quality of all the elves' work, testing them out to make sure everything works properly. As one of cinema's first marketing campaigns, Disney allowed downtown merchants throughout the nation to set up window displays with screenshots from "Santa's Workshop," enticing holiday shoppers to buy Disney toys. A sequel the following year, 1933's 'The Night Before Christmas,' another 'Silly Symphony' installment, gave Disney a one-two punch by expanding the joys of the holiday season to movie goers by having the theaters show back-to-back stunning Christmas-themed Technicolor cartoons.