The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood

The Dangerous Christmas Of Red Ridding Hood was an extremely big deal at my house, and it had nothing at all to do with the movie content. The show was sponsored by General Electric, and at the time my father was GE's Advertising General Manager.

Much of what was written is true in that I can remember the production being somewhat silly, but I guess that really was more of the intent.

However, the lasting impression the production made on me was due to the fact that I was fortunate to be present at the shooting. Fortunate in that I was a 14 year old boy getting to meet Liza Minnelli, who was but 19 herself, and probably because my father asked her to, she spent about an hour's time communicating with me, and I have loved her ever since.

Unfortunately, for probably the same reason, Eric Burden did the same and I was not at all impressed as I thought him to be...a word I would have used at that time...a jerk.

Anyway, when the show finally aired we had family friends over to watch it with us, and from the other comments written here they were probably being nice, but I remember the comments being congratulatory.

Tom

Further to bluestreak45's comments, this is definitely worth a viewing for Eric Burdon and The Animals as the wolf pack, for Cyril Ritchard as the victimized Big Bad Wolf, for the polished musical score, and, if you're a Liza fan, for her belting out tunes at age 19.

Songwriter Jule Styne conceived the idea of telling the Red Riding Hood story from a lupine point of view (and wrote the music with Bob Merrill, who wrote "Mambo Italiano"), and it is an ambitious idea, and even has a few amusing exchanges of dialog, e.g., when RRHood (Liza) asks the wolf (Ritchard dressed as granny) to play something on the piano from "when you were a girl-- maybe something by Bach."

Unfortunately the production values are minimal and the videotape from the original ABC broadcast is grainy and washed out. Happily for obscurity lovers, as of this writing it is available in five parts at dailymotion.com/video/xuvlm_4-little-red-ridinghood-xmas_music . The Animals show up in part 2, but don't really get going until their howling song in part 4.

I would be in heaven if someone would release this 1965 ABC TV special " The Dangerious Christmas of Red Riddinghood" on DVD. This is worthy of a DVD reissue. Christmas special on DVD. I hope I'm not 90 by the time SOMEONE decides to release this JEWEL on DVD Given that this was a score by Broadway Greats Jule Styne and Bob Merril and with an equally stealer cast in Liza Minnelli and Cyril Ritchard, and Vic Damone, you just can't go wrong. Eevry time about this year, I wish WISH WISH that this TV special would come out. We can only continue to PRAY. Originally the ABC TV network released this on November 28 1965. The special got glowing reviews in TV guide and the New York Times. Jule Styne was at his PEAK having just finished doing "Funny Girl" also with Bob Merrill as well. UPDATE: On October 30, 2007, the above title was FINALLY released on DVD ( YIIIPPPPEEEEE ). Fans of this Christmas classic REJOICE !( PLEASE SEE BELOW UPDATE ).

UPDATE: "The Dangerous Christmas Of Red Riddinghood" was released on DVD October 30, 2007. The DVD also includes the TV soundtrack released originally on abc records in 1965. The film print is not very good but at leaset it's on DVD now.

agog over Timmy Everett

The wolf pack being The Animals. I found this in a greeting card store about 10 years ago in the discount video rack for about 2 bucks so, yes it does exist on video. You end up hitting the fast forward button till you reach Eric Burdon & the boys (they are featured doing one or two songs) unless you are a Vic Damone or Liza fan. I was hoping someone would post the Animals bits on Youtube so the whole world could enjoy it for free. I would not recommend anyone paying more than a couple dollars for this. As other reviews have said, the story is really thin. Why the Xmas theme is beyond me. It has been pointed out that the reason ABC did this was so they could link it with the holiday season so they could show it again & again every year, but something has to be really special & strike a chord with people for that to happen. Boy were they wrong. Cyril Ritchard is great though.

I read all of the previous reviews of this Made for TV Movie and IMO only a few folks "got it". This is not going to be as much of a review as it is "background" information.

First, it was not seen LIVE. It was pre-recorded in a Studio in Brooklyn, NYC. I was there during the shooting.

At the time my dad was "General Manager of Institutional Advertizing" for General Electric, and this was a GE Theater Production.

I'm not going to refute any of the individual criticisms, such as the effeminate Ritchard...he was effeminate, but I didn't see this as the negative that the reviewer did. "Female" wolves also eat.

Liza was brilliant! Not only is she extremely talented, coming from Minelli/Garland genes, but I got a chance to meet her at the shooting and spend quite a bit of time with her...so I AM somewhat biased. I fell in love with her.

Being a son of a GE Marketing Bigwig did have its benefits back during that time period. As one of the Managers of the GE Pavilion at the NY World's fair in '64-'65 I was treated as a VIP not only at the GE Pavilion, but everywhere else as well getting back-door passes to all other Pavilions. Another benefit was being invited to the TDCoRRH shooting. I was 15 at the time, old enough to appreciate meeting Liza and Burden. From that experience I became a life-ling Minelli fan and never played another Burden or "The Animals" record again. Unfortunately, I also spent some time with Burden, and I learned that he will never experience a time where he is not loved, and he is loved best while he's alone.

Fortunately I was able to get a hold of the DVD, however unfortunately it was never remastered. It is still the grainy quality of the original SD release. Yet, occasionally I still pop it in the player and enjoy it just as much with each viewing. I only wish that my father was still around to enjoy it with me.