Earlier in the month I reviewed two pieces of entertainment involving Santa Claus. The first was the eponymous 1959 film from Mexico... it was the MST3K version. That was fine as a decade ago I saw it without Mike & the bots. That review first:
I don't typically see Christmas movies even at this time of year; it only manages to be about a few each December. 2020 will likely be the same and considering how it does not feel like the holiday season at all for several different reasons... might as well discuss this weird acidtrip of a motion picture from Mexico where they must have a bizarre interpretation of Old Saint Nick... he lives in outer space, has Earth children work in glorified sweatshops where they are grouped by gross ethnic & cultural stereotypes (the kids from “Africa” have Black youths in leopard-print loincloths, wearing a bone on their heads, and dance around to bongos; that is the worst of all the stereotypes), has Merlin as a buddy he has on speed-dial, and does battle with Satan's main toady-named Pitch-who wishes to ruin Christmas & turn children evil by... trying to convince a few Mexican children to “act bad”?! There was bad acting present...
It is really best to see this w/ comedic riffing; while there's plenty to laugh at due to the bonkers plot, Lucifer and Santa having a long-standing feud, a telescope that is a giant eye, Kris Kringle being able to view the dreams of children, and St. Nick using both a “sleeping powder” (which I can only presume is opium!) and a flower that turns him invisible (LSD?)... this is so badly paced and dreary, it is almost as good as using that “sleeping powder”. In a movie which tries to have some nice messages, too much of what's presented is pure nightmare fuel-who knows what especially the children of America thought when they saw the dubbed version of this oddity.
To think that there were even weirder Mexican children's films of the time which were brought to the United States by K. Gordon Murray; even before I joined Letterboxd I experienced what is known here as Little Red Riding Hood and Tom Thumb vs. the Monsters... it is remembered by me as a surreal experience, so one day that will be revisited & discussed here.
Now, a random 1914 short entitled The Adventure of the Wrong Santa Claus:
Featuring Disco Santa Claus
(Last Sunday) night I had little motivation to watch anything substantial; henceforth, my direction turned towards seeing one of the silent Christmas shorts that Turner Classic Movies played last night. They basically played the contents of a release from Kino known as Christmas Past.
This is not much of an “adventure” at all; from what I understand this was the last in a series of shorts made by Thomas Edison's company starring an amateur detective known as Octavius. He dresses like Santa and visits a family he knows. A burglar also dresses like Santa and steals the family's gifts... what a dick move. Octavius tracks down the jerk in this 14 minute short and as there really is nothing else to state concerning this average short I had no knowledge of until last night, let me mention how lead Barry O'Moore looks like Christoph Waltz w/ an unfortunate hairline. I don't mean to insult anyone who happens to have any issue concerning their hair and the loss of same-it is the best way to describe this random chap.
I've only seen the beginning of the 2011 The Green Hornet-which was enough for me!-and I know some random jamoke referred to Waltz's character as Disco Santa Claus; it makes no sense but that line seemed appropriate for this review. I'll end this review with a random aside: due to how bad things are in the United States health-wise, my customary Christmas vacation to the Midwest won't happen this year. Most of those people I got to see in early August so I can't be too disappointed. Except for probably Christmas Day itself I should be posting reviews regularly. I'll wish everyone a Happy Holidays now even though I won't be going anywhere the next few days.
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