The Thanksgiving Treasure

The same cast that had previously appeared in the made for TV movie THE HOUSE WITHOUT A Christmas TREE was reunited for this Thanksgiving movie. They seemed to have picked up without a hitch.

This one focuses on the feud between two incredibly stubborn old farts--Jason Robards and Barnard Hughes. Apparently, Robards had dug a pond for Hughes and had never been paid and they'd been arguing back and forth about it for some time.

Robards' daughter, Addie, has her curiosity peaked by all this and bicycles by Hughes farm after school one day. There, she discovers he has a horse in need of care. Despite the NO TRESPASSING signs and his repeated threats, she approaches him and offers to take care of the horse if he lets her ride it. All this is done WITHOUT telling her father.

Later, she feels sorry for Hughes as he is all alone and the holidays are approaching. When she asks her father if Hughes can come for Thanksgiving, she is told a loud and firm NO! So, she has her dinner and sneaks a plate to her new friend.

What happens next is best for you to see for yourself. The movie is so real and poignant, you can't help but fall under its spell.

"The Thanksgiving Treasure" is the second holiday film based on stories by Gail Rock. Around 1972, the then-CBS film and TV critic related her childhood experience to fellow workers on a holiday outing, about growing up in a small town in Nebraska and not having had a Christmas tree for the first years of her youth. That led to CBS making a throw-away film for the Christmas season that year. Well, it turned out to be such a hit that it repeated for years on TV. And, right away, Rock's compatriots wanted a sequel or something more.

So, she then wrote a book that told the whole story about "The House Without a Christmas Tree" and then wrote also about a Thanksgiving experience one year. That resulted in this CBS TV film for the 1973 holidays, with all of the same main characters.

Another person wrote the screenplay based on Rock's story which mixed some fiction with actual events and experiences. This too, is a very good and moving story, filmed in a sort of storybook fashion. It has some narration at the start and finish - by Patricia Hamilton who portrays Addie (Gail Rock) as an adult. And, it has scene breaks with segues from live action to storybook paintings of the respective scenes. The same techniques were used in the first film. They are very good and add to both films and the impression that they are real life stories.

While this film is also very good, the plot isn't as engrossing as that of "The House Without a Christmas Tree." That is a more gripping story for the reason behind Addie's father not getting a Christmas tree. And then, all of the shenanigans and clever ways that Addie tries to get a tree only then to show her care and charity for a poor classmate by taking the tree she won by lottery at school, to that girls' home at night.

Two more stories based on Gail Rock's small-town upbringing would follow. In 1975, CBS TV made and aired "The Easter Promise," and in 1976, the last of her four books was made into a film, "Addie and the King of Hearts." The three main leads were all on hand for those films as well. The last film won an Emmy for and it won an Emmy for graphic design of the montages created by Norman Sunshine for the segues from live scenes to stills and back. These all make good films for viewing by the whole family over the Thanksgiving holiday and Christmas seasons.

Here are some favorite lines from this film.

Addie Mills, "What is heavier - a pound of gold or a pound of feathers?" Cora Sue, "A pound of gold, naturally." Addie, "Uh uh, neither. A pound is a pound the world round, no matter what it consists of."

Addie, "What word is pronounced wrong by the best scholars?" Cora Sue, "I give up." Addie, "W-R-O-N-G, wrong, dodo."

James Mills, "Tell Miss Thompson to have him (Walter Renquist) for dinner - boiled."

Addie, "I think you better come too, Grandma." Grandma, "Yeah, I think I better had."

Addie, "How many soft-boiled eggs could a giant eat on an empty stomach? Give up? One. After that his stomach would no longer be empty."

Addie, "What's the best material for kites?" Cora Sue, "Flypaper."

Addie, "What did the mother turkey say to the baby turkey?" Cora Sue, "Uh, what?" Addie, "Shame on you, you bad little turkey. If your father saw what you did, he'd roll over in his gravy."

Addie, "What did one kangaroo say to the other? Isn't it terrible when the children have to play inside?"

This is a heartwarming holiday classic created by the same folks that gave us The House Without A Christmas Tree. It is the touching story of a little girl's unlikely friendship with a lonely old man during the holidays. It stars Lisa Lucas, Jason Robards and, the late, Mildred Natwick. The setting is a small town in Nebraska in the late 40s. It gives us some true insight about human kindness. This was released as a movie for television in 1973 after the success of The House Without A Christmas Tree.

I watched this movie as a kid and sure would like my kids to see it. Why isnt it on anymore? Very touching! Cast played great roles.I Also enjoyed the movie "The House without A Christmas Tree". Same Cast..same great performances.

The Holiday Treasure (1973), The House Without a Christmas Tree (1972), The Easter Promise (1975) and Addie and the King of Hearts (1976) are the four CBS TV stories about Addie Mills based on books by Gail Rock. Set in post-World War II Clear River, Nebraska. On the Platte River, I guess. In The Holiday Treasure, Addie's dad Jamie, played by Jason Robards, is an earthmoving contractor. He once dug a stock pond (called a "dugout" in the Northern Plains, a "tank" in Texas) with his dragline for a Mr. Walter Rehnquist, who refused to pay for the pond because it never filled with water. Jamie claimed that he dug it where Rehnquist wanted it and that Rehnquist should pay. However, Addie befriends Rehnquist's horse named Treasure, and eventually befriends the cranky old codger who lives alone on a rundown farm, even taking him food for Thanksgiving dinner. I remember that Addie had a bratty little boy relative at Thanksgiving whose suit coat pockets she filled with mashed potatoes. The four stories cover Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and Valentine's Day and grief, grudges, alcoholism and teenage crushes.