Santa Claus vs. Cupid

This holiday-themed melodrama has an interesting combination of story elements. To some degree, they reflect ideas that were familiar at the time, and in another respect they provide an example of the ways that the era's film-makers were attempting to move beyond the kinds of simple stories characteristic of one-reel features. In this case, the story is a bit too ambitious for the running time, and it would have worked better at about twice the length. But it's an interesting effort.

The story sets up two parallel story lines: first, a romantic rivalry between two well-to-do young men, and second, the increasing despair of a working man over his wife's illness and his family's poverty. These two situations then intersect in a relatively lengthy party sequence that brings everyone together. To a large degree, the settings and subplots simply combine ideas that are familiar from many other movies of the time. What is different is the attempt to take an earnest but light-hearted romantic plot, and interweave it with a serious piece of social commentary.

There are a lot of characters, and one of the drawbacks of packing so much into a mere fifteen minutes or so is that some of the characters are never clearly distinguished from one another, nor are most of them given enough of an identity to make you feel that you know them. The only character who is well-defined is the desperate chauffeur, and that is accomplished by rather overt means. Through the mid-1910s and early 1920s, film-makers learned a great deal more about ways of better developing their characters before plunging them into the events of a complex story.

This collection is a nice assembly of period silent shorts. They are arranged by date of release so they show how the stories and acting progressed through the first two decades of the 20th century.

Dick Norwood and Edward Beck are roommates and rivals for Helen Bower's attention. The two boys battle for her affections over the Christmas holidays. Binks Mulligan is down-on-his-luck and turns to robbery.

I don't know the opening special effects scene. It looks weird with her floating up and down. This is an Edison film and I am sure he is trying different camera tricks. Instead of putting her in the mirror, they could just put her anywhere in between the two guys as a floating head. They aren't moving much anyways. This story has one too many elements. The rivalry is plenty enough especially for a short.

The soundtrack consists of violins, at times ok, but at other times it's like cats fighting.

"Santa Claus vs. Cupid" is a lengthy and complex film by 1915's standards. It's a bit confusing at times, but is also well made and interesting...and worth seeing if you love silents.

The story has two parallel stories going on at the same time. The happy story is about a wealthier family who is having a lovely Christmas....with folks dressing up as Santa and children all happy and full of life. At the same time, a poor family is struggling. The mother is ill and needs medicine and there is nothing for the children for Christmas. What's next? See the film.

The film features some fine sets, good acting for the time and an interesting story. Sadly, it's included with a group of silent Christmas tales in "A Christmas Past". Why? Because although I enjoyed the film, I often had to turn off the music because it was so completely wrong for the tone of the movies....and it was especially true with this one.