L'atelier du Père Noël

Just watched this, a Walt Disney Silly Symphony, on YouTube. It's the first of two Disney cartoons that star Santa Claus (the other one was The Night Before Christmas). He checks his list which one of his elves monitor in a book that reveals each child's behavior. When one of the children is revealed to not have "washed behind the ears for seven years", Santa decides to add soap to this boy's long list of presents. Highly musically entertaining with some amusing gags like someone using a spider to scare some of the dolls' hair in an upright position and someone else painting exact checker squares in one fell swoop on a board. There's also one politically incorrect blackface doll that says, "Mammy!" to Claus that may be considered offensive today but was considered a highly amusing reference to then-star Al Jolson. Since it only lasts a few seconds, I don't think any harm is done. This was quite an entertaining animated short that I highly recommend to any animation fan especially Walt Disney completists. Children should enjoy this too.

This is a very good short and the animation is the quality you expect from Disney in this time-period. But it isn't one of the best Disney did in the 1930s, which should give you an idea just how great Disney was in the 1930s. No one else could consistently even come close to them until about 1938 or 1939. Other studios were doing good work, but until Disney started focusing more on features, they were all but alone at the top in terms of animated shorts. Well worth tracking down. Recommended.

This is the sort of Disney film that played very, very well back in the day but today it would certainly not be received so warmly. This short is a snippet of the North Pole and Santa's workshop. It has little in the way of actual plot and mostly consists of singing and cuteness. Today, it would probably be seen as very saccharine and bland. Additionally, there are some unnecessary but typical racial stereotypes that will offend today but were considered perfectly normal back in the day. So, with all this going against it, why do I give this a 9? Well, the animation is simply gorgeous and it's in full Technicolor-- and nothing from any of the rival studios of the day came close when it came to quality. It simply looks great. Worth seeing even today but not up to the standards of many of the other Disney shorts of the day in regard to story.

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.

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.