Santa Claus: The Movie

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Santa Claus: The Movie

Directed by	Jeannot Szwarc
Produced by	Pierre Spengler, Ilya Salkind
Starring	Dudley Moore, John Lithgow, David Huddleston, Judy Cornwell Burgess Meredith
Distributed by	Tri-Star Pictures
Release date(s)	November 27, 1985
Running time	108 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Santa Claus: The Movie is a 1985 Christmas film starring Dudley Moore and John Lithgow. It is the last major fantasy film produced by the Paris-based father-and-son production team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind. The film was directed by Jeannot Szwarc and released in North America on November 27, 1985 by Tri-Star Pictures.

Santa Claus: The Movie is a straightforward, nondenominational attempt to explore the mysteries of Santa Claus with the key objective being to answer some of the basic questions many children have about Santa. The film explains how Santa's reindeer fly, how he and his wife made it to the North Pole and how Santa ascends chimneys, among other things.

1 Plot
2 Production
3 Santa's elves
4 Reception
5 Soundtrack
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The film chronicles the origins of Santa (David Huddleston), who, along with his wife Anya (Judy Cornwell), goes from being a simple working man to becoming an international icon of Christmas. At the same time, the film also tells a contemporary story in which one of Santa's elves (alternately referred to as the "Vendequm" onscreen), a visionary named Patch, sets out to employ Santa's toymaking methods on his own, unaware that he might be ruining the magic of Christmas in the process.

The film opens sometime in the early or late 14th Century, where Claus is an aging, peasant woodcutter who delivers his gifts with his wife Anya to the children of a certain village. One night, Claus, Anya and their reindeer Donner and Blitzen are rescued from certain death in a blizzard as they are transported to the vast "ice mountains, way up at the top of the world." They find that they were expected, and are accordingly received by a contingent of these same fabled Vendequm, or Elves, led by a wise and venerable old elf named Dooley (John Barrard). They encounter the overzealous elf Patch (Moore), and his trusty companions Boog (Tim Stern), Honka (Peter O'Farrell) and Vout (Christopher Ryan), who soon take charge of the reindeer and sleigh. The kindly couple is then led into the wondrous, wooden elf compound. Dooley soon explains to Claus and Anya that they have been brought here to spend eternity crafting and giving a fantastic array of toys every child on Earth.

Preparations for Santa's very first Christmas Eve are made --- and later that evening, Patch personally introduces Claus to the other reindeer --- Prancer and Dancer, Dasher and Vixen, Comet and Cupid. Santa's first Christmas Eve begins with our hero, resplendent in his full red-suited regalia, greeted by the Ancient One (Burgess Meredith), the oldest and wisest of all the Elves, who explains to Claus that he and Anya represent the fulfillment of a prophecy that a "Chosen One" would be brought into the Elves' world who, "having no child of his own, would love all children everywhere, and that he himself would be an artisan, and a craftsman, and a skilled maker of toys." He charges Santa with his sacred duties and the name by which he will be known throughout the world for all time to come: Santa Claus. Santa then boards his newly recrafted sleigh, while the reindeer are fed with an incredible feed that grants them the power of flight. Santa takes off with a boisterous "YO!", signaling the beginning of his legend, which is detailed through a montage of his voyages over the years.

The film then jumps from the mid-14th century to the late 19th century, till it gets to present-day Manhattan --- where, in a dark and lonely alley, a young boy, Joe (Christian Fitzpatrick) struggles to keep himself warm. Across the street, in an elegant townhouse, a young girl named Cornelia (Carrie Kei Heim) suddenly notices the boy before being scolded by her nanny, Miss Tucker (Dorothea Phillips). Back at the North Pole, after Santa tells both Patch and Puffy (Anthony O'Donnell) that he will choose one of them for the newly-created position of Santa's Official Assistant, the two elves compete for the spot. Patch eventually wins out by mass producing toys using his new Patch-o-Matic Supertoy Constructor, as opposed to Puffy, who chooses slower, more traditional methods of hand-crafting. However, unseen by anyone except the viewer, during operation, the machine malfunctions, screwdrivers snap, and the machine creates toys faster and, admittedly, clumsier (indeed, Boog, noticing that the machine may be speeding up too fast, expresses his doubts concerning the situation, to which Patch responds: "Too fast? Welcome to the 20th century!"). Later, as Santa takes flight on Christmas Eve, he meets Joe who has been searching for food in the trash. Santa's authenticity gets through to the normally cynical Joe, and the two go for a magical ride in Santa's sleigh. This sequence eventually inspired executives at New York's Radio City Music Hall to use footage from it to open the venue's annual Christmas Spectacular. However, on Christmas morning many children find that their toys from Santa made by Patch's Supertoy Constructor prove defective. Ashamed in the company of his fellow elves, blinded by his own distrust of Santa, Patch leaves the North Pole, determined to prove himself to Santa. Puffy is then appointed Santa's Official Assistant.

Eventually, Patch meets up with B.Z. (John Lithgow), a businessman who is under investigation by the United States Senate for shoddy manufacturing processing at his toy company; later, Patch also meets B.Z.'s Head of Research and Development, Dr. Eric Towzer (Jeffrey Kramer), along with their chauffeur, Grizzard (John Hallam), and B.Z.'s secretary, Ms. Abruzzi (Judith Morse). B.Z. convinces Patch to work with him and B.Z. airs a television commercial that is broadcast on every major television network on Earth. Among those watching the commercial are Joe, his new friend Cornelia (see above) (B.Z.'s step-niece) and Santa himself. Patch eventually takes flight on Christmas Eve just like Santa, in his own vehicle called the "Patchmobile", as he drops his own lollipops to all the houses on Santa's route. Patch's outing turns out to be a large success, with his worldwide popularity now rivaling that of Santa's, a fact which Santa is quick to note as he drops off presents to households that already have Patch's lollipops. His well-received lollipops result in B.Z. making Patch exclusive to his company at a press conference. After this success, the ever-reluctant Patch considers himself ready to return to the North Pole, but after revealing to B.Z. that the magic lollipops can make children fly, B.Z. is quick to capitalize on this and suggests using the same magic for candy canes in an effort he plans to market as "Christmas II". Joe and Cornelia catch wind of the plan from B.Z. and Towzer a few nights later, resulting in Joe being captured and taken to B.Z.'s factory.

Towzer then reveals that the candy canes in production overreact when exposed to extreme heat, rendering them volatile. B.Z. dismisses this news as a reckless afterthought, and proposes to Towzer that the two of them escape to Brazil, thus leaving Patch to take the blame for all the possible chaos. The next morning, Cornelia writes to Santa about Joe's capture; once he learns of this, Santa wastes little time in taking off for Cornelia's place, regardless of the fact that he must make do with only six reindeer, as a result of Comet and Cupid both having come down with the flu. Back at B.Z.'s factory, Patch rescues the captured Joe. Though Joe is initially angry at Patch for ruining Christmas, Patch discovers that Joe is carrying a wooden likeness of Patch crafted by Santa, suggesting to Patch that Santa might like him after all. The two now resolve to deliver all the candy canes to Santa as a present in the Patchmobile, unaware of the canes' lethal side effects. At the same time, in B.Z.'s office, B.Z. finds himself surrounded by the New York City Police Department, in response to Cornelia having called them to turn him in. As Towzer and Grizzard are restrained, B.Z. eats an entire handful of the magic candy canes --- only to find himself floating higher and higher, disappearing into the stratosphere. Meanwhile, Patch and Joe continue on their journey, until they find themselves in need of rescue, as the Patchmobile's continuing speed causes the candy canes to heat up, in turn causing certain unprotected wiring to violently self-activate. Santa, in pursuit, manages to rescue them from the exploding Patchmobile after a tense moment where ultimately, he must execute the one move he has never been able to properly execute: the "Super Duper Looper".

The film ends with a joyous celebration with Santa, Anya and the other elves .... and it seems that Cornelia and Joe will stay with Santa at the North Pole from now on. Old Dooley reacts to this news with a slight joke: "As if I don't have enough to do! Now, I'm going to have to be a schoolteacher!"

To which the two children utter in surprise: "School?!?"

[edit] Production

Conceived by Ilya Salkind in the wake of the apparently waning critical and U.S. box office success of 1983's Superman III and its immediate follow-up, 1984's Supergirl, the film was directed by veteran film and television director Jeannot Szwarc (Jaws 2 and Somewhere in Time) from a story by David and Leslie Newman, who had written the three previous Superman films, but were not involved in the production of Supergirl. David Newman, however, took sole screenplay credit. Pierre Spengler, Ilya's longtime partner, and the third key element of Team Salkind, joined Alexander's son as the project's producer.

Santa Claus: The Movie was filmed in Buckinghamshire, England at Pinewood Studios (known as the home of the James Bond films), between August and November 1984. The film was photographed by the late Arthur Ibbetson (known for his work as cinematographer on 1971's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory); in fact, this would be his last feature film. The film was edited by Peter Hollywood.

The production was designed by Anthony Pratt, with costume design concepts by Bob Ringwood. The visual effects unit, as well as several of the production staff, were comprised of Salkind stalwarts from the Superman films: Derek Meddings, director of visual and miniature effects, Roy Field, optical visual effects supervisor and David Lane, flying and second unit director.

The documentary Santa Claus: The Making of The Movie chronicles the film's production. The documentary is introduced by David Huddleston, in character as Santa, with Dudley Moore serving as on-screen host. The voice over commentary is done by Ted Maynard, who had also done voice overs for the film's original UK trailer. The documentary originally aired in the United States on ABC, on Christmas Eve, 1987. Anchor Bay Entertainment's 20th anniversary DVD of the film includes this documentary as a bonus feature.

[edit] Santa's elves

The elves in the film are portrayed as legendary beings known as the Vendequm. According to the Santa Claus: The Movie novelization written by science fiction/fantasy novelist Joan D. Vinge, the elves keep watch over all that happens in the world that borders their own magical realm. The Vendequm are described as being extremely fond of children since only children can see them due the innocence of their youth. The elves are fond of making things for children, and so they often journeyed out into the children's world, leaving their newly crafted toys where children would find them. According to the novel, with the passing of each new century, and as civilizations continued to rise and fall, it became more and more difficult and dangerous for the elves to venture too far out into the human world. Thus the vast majority of the toys the elves made could not be given out, and were left to gather dust in their magnificent storeroom, the Toy Tunnel.

The novel also describes how, on a certain long-winter's night, the oldest and wisest elf of all, the Ancient One, foresaw the arrival of a man whose love for children would be equal to that of the elves. The Ancient One believed that this man would be the one to whom the elves would grant full immortality, along the ability to deliver the elves' gifts to children all over the world.

In addition to Patch, Dooley, Puffy, Boog, Honka and Vout, the film's screenplay and cast listing features three additional elves: Groot, the Elves' Senior Chef; Goober, the head of the Elves' tailoring shop, who crafts Santa's full red robes; and Goobler, who trains several of his fellow elves in the art of painting toys with their own beards.

[edit] Reception

Reaction to Santa Claus: The Movie has generally been negative, with a rating of 18% on Rotten Tomatoes, from the 17 reviews counted. ^[1]Box Office Mojo lists the film's total United States box office gross as $23,717,291, less than half the film's listed $50 million production budget. ^[2]

Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert noted some positive points to the film, writing that the film "does an interesting job of visualizing Santa's workshop" and Santa's elves. He also praised the film's special effects, particularly the New York City flyover sequence involving Santa. Ebert also had some praise for Lithgow's "nice hateful performance" but wrote that "the villain is not drawn big enough." He ceded that young children would probably like most of the film, but that older children and adults are "likely to find a lot of it a little thin." ^[3]

Vincent Canby of the New York Times was less positive than Ebert, calling the production "elaborate and tacky". He described the film as having "the manner of a listless musical without any production numbers". Unlike Ebert, he offered little praise for the film's production design. Canby quipped that "Santa's workshop must be the world's largest purchaser of low-grade plywood" and that the flyover sequences with Santa "aren't great." The only praise he had for the film's acting was for John Lithgow, who Canby wrote "(gave) the film's only remotely stylish performance." ^[4]

A more recent review by William Mager on BBC.co.uk's review section echoed Canby and Ebert's comments. ^[5]

[edit] Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed and conducted by the late Henry Mancini, composer of the themes from The Pink Panther and Peter Gunn, with veteran lyricist and screenwriter Leslie Bricusse contributing five original songs.

"Main Title: Every Christmas Eve ¹ and Santa's Theme (Giving)" (Mancini/Bricusse)
"Arrival of the Elves" (Mancini)
"Making Toys" (Mancini/Bricusse)²
"Christmas Rhapsody: Deck the Halls/Joy to the World/Hark! The Herald Angels Sing/12 Days of Christmas/O Tannenbaum/The First Noel/Silent Night"
"It's Christmas Again" (Mancini/Bricusse)²
"March of the Elves" (Mancini)
"Patch, Natch!" (Mancini/Bricusse) ³
"It's Christmas (All over the World)" (Bill House, John Hobbs)⁵
"Shouldn't Do That" (Nick Beggs, Stuart Croxford, Neal Askew, Steve Askew) ⁴
"Sleigh Ride over Manhattan" (Mancini)
"Sad Patch" (Mancini)
"Patch Versus Santa" (Mancini)
"Thank You, Santa" (Mancini/Bricusse) ²

¹Sung by Aled Jones
²Performed by the Ambrosian Children's Choir.
³Performed by the Ambrosian Singers
⁴Produced by Ken Scott and performed by Kaja
⁵Produced by Keith Olsen for Pogologo Corporation, and performed by Sheena Easton.