Santa Claus (1959)
Unrated; 94 min.
Written by Adolfo Torres Portillo and René Cardona
Directed by René Cardona
Starring José Elías Moreno, José Luis "Trotsky" Aguirre, Lupita Quezadas, Armando Arriola
(DVD: Westlake Entertainment Group)
As Christmas Day approaches, Santa Claus (Moreno) prepares to brings toys to all the good children of the world with the assistance of his staff of magical helpers. Satan hopes to destroy Santa Claus and sends the demon Pitch (Aguirre) to Earth to create havoc on Christmas Eve. Pitch focuses on three mean little boys, encouraging them to make mischief, and he also tries to convince poor young Lupita (Quezadas) to steal a doll rather than believe that Santa will bring her one. Santa makes a little rich boy’s wishes come true by sending the child’s parents home to spend more time with him—it involves a “cocktail of remembrance,” long story—but Pitch sabotages Santa’s magic sleep powder and the flower that allows him to become invisible. Can Merlin (Arriola) save the day before the sun rises on December 25?
¡Ay, ay, ay! Leave it to the director of Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy to come up with a children’s entertainment this mind-bogglingly bizarre. Santa and Merlin teaming up to battle the devil is just one of Santa Claus’ truly weird qualities—Lupita’s nightmare about giant dancing dolls is the kind of movie moment that scars children for a lifetime—making for one wacky holiday film. Kids who grew up in the southwest in the 1960s and ’70s were subjected to this low-budget production at annual kiddie matinees every December, but Santa Claus became a more widely-known cult favorite after it got the skewering it so richly deserved on the cable series Mystery Science Theater 3000. After your first exposure to Santa Claus, you’ll find yourself going back to it every Christmas, still not quite believing your eyes.
Fun facts:
* Santa Claus was released in the United States by K. Gordon Murray, the infamous “King of the Kiddie Matinee,” who would cheaply acquire rights to European and Mexican fairy-tale movies, dub them into English and repackage them for American audiences. Murray also narrates the English-language version of Santa Claus under the name “Ken Smith.”
* Somehow, Santa Claus won the Golden Gate Award for the Best Family Film at the 1959 San Francisco International Film Festival.
* In a way, Santa Claus is, in many Spanish-speaking countries, the equivalent of It’s a Wonderful Life, in that when the film’s copyright went into the public domain, TV stations aired it over and over again at Christmastime, thus making it a cherished holiday tradition in many nations.
* After the film was shown on Mystery Science Theater 3000, “Pitch” (as played by Paul Chaplin) became a recurring character on the show.
2 comments:
Great blog post! Readers can find out even more information about the history of this film... by watching the documentary short, "SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE DEVIL: A 50 YEAR RETROSPECTIVE", only on the MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 Volume XVI DVD box set. I also set up a blog dedicated to the 50th Anniversary of the film at: http://santaclausconquersthedevil.blogspot.com/
Also, check out our limited edition SANTA CLAUS 50th Anniversary GIFT SET at the BALLYHOO MOTION PICTURES EBAY store at: http://stores.ebay.com/Ballyhoo-Motion-Pictures-Store
Again, great post! It is nice to find another fan of this bizarre holiday film!
Best,
DANIEL GRIFFITH
Sometimes I've seriously wondered if I had simply imagined this incredibly strange film. I'm relieved to see that it does exist on one hand. I'm now 27 and still remember certain scenes from this movie rather vividly. Over the years this movie would pop into my head every so often and no one, I mean NO ONE, has ever gone "Oh! YEAH! I remember that movie too!" Nope. Instead I'd get raised eyebrows and strange looks and comments about why my Mum would've ever let me watch such a thing! Every now & then when I'd remember this movie and would once again get denials that anyone knew what I was talking about I'd try searching the web for it. FINALLY found it! Thank you! Now I have a name to put to the disturbing images haha and proof that such a movie does in fact exist. While I'll never expose my daughter to this one I'm glad to finally have the title.
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