The Night Before Christmas

I must first state that I'm biased towards this production. It's fairly close to being my "Rosebud."

I saw this a number of times as a kid growing up and it left a strong impression on me, shaping my images of Santa, reindeer, and Christmas magic as much as any Rankin-Bass special. I remember even an accompanying book, which I relocated years later. I showed this video, first on VHS and then on DVD (it's now on YouTube), to my children every Christmas Eve, feeling it did better justice than I could just reading it. My adult daughter now continues that tradition and it continues to hold a special place in my heart.

The music is great, the colors are wonderful, and the story of how A Visit from St. Nicholas was written, while not true, is still tender and sweet.

Review Date 6/22/2019

I Have Reviewed OVER 500 "Christmas Films and Specials". Please BEWARE Of films and specials with just one review! For instance When "It's a POSITIVE" chances are that the reviewer was involved with the production. "If its Negative" then they may have a grudge against the film for whatever reason. I am fare about these films.

This is a charmer. This is "The Night Before Christmas" story brought to life with a story about how the creation came to be. Well told. Well Made. Bravo!

I love this little piece of animation and it's a favorite of our family. I show it to my kids every year on Christmas Eve as it's become a family tradition.

Technically, the music is fun and memorable, the colors are great, and yes, the animation does suffer from a limited budget, but not by much. Anyone familiar with any amount of animation knowledge would easily be able to peg when it was made. But that doesn't take away from the enjoyment of it at all.

The story of how Clement Moore wrote this poem is fictionalized, but it's still a nice, heartwarming story. However, my kids and my wife always look forward to the actual reading, er, singing of the The Night Before Christmas/A Visit from St. Nicholas itself. It's told and portrayed the way it should - I remember it fondly from my childhood and my children now have those same childhood memories of what it's like the night before Christmas.

And yes Virginia, it is out on DVD. I've gotten 2 copies of it, the superior one put out by the studio in 1996 (you can find these at ebay or Amazon). The other is put out by EastWestDVD.com that's packaged with Santa and the Three Bears.

I remembered this cartoon from when I was very young (8 or 9) and I spent quite a good amount of time looking for it. I FINALLY found a VHS tape of it on Ebay. There probably are not many copies of it left.

Here is some information that MIGHT help you find it:

Playhouse Productions Elba Productions copyright 1968 Released in 1968 by Darco Enterprises

The title is "The Night Before Christmas"

Here's the summary from the VHS case: "The heartwarming true story of how Clement C. Moore came to write the Christmas poem beloved by generations of children, including a joyous retelling of the charming "A Visit from St. Nicholas," done in brilliant animation and sung by the world famous voices of the Norman Luboff Choir.

A festive array of seasonal and original music that evokes the warmth and wonder of Christmas. Brimming with enchanting appeal for the entire family."

I love this cartoon. It's charming....sweet....the musical rendition of the poem is wonderful.

GET IT IF YOU CAN FIND IT!!

This animated TV special, which aired in 1968, is a retelling of The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore, and a bit meta-fictional, as the story depicts the author of this classic Christmas poem as a father looking for the perfect gift for his children, one of whom is a daughter deathly sick who had asked for a book about St. Nick. In his failure to find this sought after present, he instead writes a story for his daughter to coax her out of her sickness, and the poem is thus animated. Well done for the time, but a bit outdated and overly homogeneous in terms of the people depicted.