Weihnachten gibt's nur einmal im Jahr

This is another great entry for christmas cartoons. Fun, and it has got one catchy title tune! The plot: An inventor helps some discouraged children at a funeral home have a merry christmas. I suggest that you buy the Cartoon Christmas collections Amazon.com has, they're great.

One of a group of excellent old cartoons on a DVD called "A Collection of Christmas Classics" that we bought for our four year old grandson who watches it at any time of the year.

A collection of old classics that runs over four hours and is not only enjoyable and safe viewing for the kids but also provides a look at some animation from the thirties and forties with the now ancient sounding music to go along with them. Great family entertainment.

I'm glad I found the title here since I knew they were older cartoons but I was really interested in the actual time period and the DVD box does not provide any additional info.

Christmas Comes But Once a Year (1936)

*** (out of 4)

Fun Max Fleischer cartoon has a bunch of children at an orphanage waking up on Christmas morning and becoming sad because all of their toys are junk and either falling apart or they simply don't work. A happy-go-lucky older man comes by, notices that the kids are unhappy so he decides to take the run down building and turn it into a happy place with brand new toys. Fans of the Fleischer type of animation are going to get a real kick out of this one. As you'd expect, the animation is extremely nice and I really loved the look of the orphanage. It's rather dark and ugly but it's so fitting of the type of place it is before the old man gets there to fix it up. I also thought the look of the children was a good one and there's no question that the Grampy character is very memorable. The overall story probably isn't something that would get made today but that's why watching these older films are so special.

Both Christmas Comes But Once a Year and 1948's Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer have great nostalgic value, and to me still hold up as Christmas classics(as well as classics as cartoons in general) now as a 22-year old. What were especially good in Christmas Comes But Once a Year were the animation and the story. The animation is wonderful and unmistakably Fleischer, not only rich in colour with a real eye for detail and atmosphere but it also looks amazingly real, especially the animation for the inside of the orphanage and the effect of the rotating Christmas tree. The latter was a visual wonder and fairly ahead-of-its-time back then. The characters are cutely drawn too, Grampy comes across quite well in colour. And it is difficult not to like the story too, seeing the children upset over the broken toys was a heart-breaking sight while Grampy's actions are enough to warm up the iciest of hearts, they make for funny stuff and his inventing is quite clever here. It is an adorable story if not quite escaping the inevitable trap of falling into schmaltz and a fun and touching one as well, perfect for Christmas and puts you in a good mood. Grampy- beautifully voiced by Jack Mercer- is a great lead character, he comes across as very kindly and good-humoured and he's also quite lovable. The orphan children are genuinely sweet and not too annoying at all(which is not easy for orphan children in cartoons). The dialogue makes one smile, the pacing is nice and controlled and the music is lusciously orchestrated and lively in tempo. The title song is also irresistible, with a very catchy melody that is easy to sing along to, since viewing the cartoon on Christmas Day I can still sing the song and remember the lyrics. All in all, a Christmas classic that every Fleischer fan should see at least once. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I just happened on a DVD that contained a number of classic cartoons in a local convenience store and I feel like I stumbled onto a gold mine. I was amazed at the technique of Christmas Comes Just Once a Year and I'll See You Somewhere in Dreamland where it looked to me like the characters were animated over a backdrop of photographic backgrounds in the dream sequence. There were other great cartoons on the video, but these two really stuck out in my mind. I am just a spectator and I don't pretend to know anything about animation but anybody that has even a remote interest in animation should at least find these cartoons interesting. Now and again I come across Max and Dave Fleisher(sp?) cartoons and I snatch them up like candy.