The Christmas Tree

Although I'm well aware of the Children's Film Foundation, I don't recalling seeing any of their actual movies (although I suppose I watched some when I was at school, but that was a long time ago and I don't remember). Thankfully the excellent Talking Pictures TV channel here in the UK has acquired the rights to a batch, so I can now play catch up.

The Christmas Tree is, unsurprisingly, a Christmas-themed short film, made in black and white and on a low budget which means lots of shooting outdoors. A trio of kids decide to embark on an epic odyssey to transport a large Christmas tree some 30 miles (by hand) to a children's hospital in London. The viewer follows them as they embark on the journey and get involved in various scrapes along the way.

What struck me about this film is just how wholesome and engaging it is. The Christmas Tree takes place in a bygone era where every adult on the street was friendly and kind and willing to help out, and kids were far from bratty but instead spent their time doing stuff for other people. Most likely this world never existed, but this film was made long enough ago for it to feel like a lost world of nostalgia. Technically, the production is proficient, with crisp photography and plenty of humour to keep things moving. The cast is good and includes a pre-fame Brian Blessed in a minor role, and the kids aren't annoying, which makes a big impact. All over, I loved it.

A well-made and entertaining little film, its real value is as a glimpse of a Britain almost disappeared. As a child of the 60s I find it fascinating to revisit a world I'd almost forgotten - Zodiak police cars, children wearing anoraks, wide open carriageways and a smaller, simpler world seen through the eyes of Enid Blyton-esque scalliwags with a lot of 'pluck'. Priceless.

Hugely enjoyable and brisk-moving this 1966 tale is in the classic B&W CFF tradition-3 resourceful kids-a little 6YO boy being protected by an older girl and boy-having various adventures on a 30-mile trek to London in wintry conditions.

All the roads we see are virtually empty; all adults are friendly and helpful, including a scary sequence where river workers plonk the kids into the jaws of a huge crane to lift them over the water-and they fall off! There's also a dangerous looking weir featured. I assume that there were appropriate "health 'n' safety" precautions in place? I know that we were tough in those days but.....!

The two payroll robbers are typically incompetent once they encounter the kids, though earlier we are shown the victim of their coshing-this seems slightly out of place in what is essentially a feel-good Christmas tale for children.

Well worth a watch.

Modern viewers will find it hard to believe their eyes. Three children hitchhiking to London. Their parents, when they find out, look slightly worried, maybe. One of the children, aged about 5, steps in front of a vehicle to persuade ithe driver to stop. They get in a car driven by two men who it turns out are bank robbers. Then they end up on a military firing range, from where they are given a lift in an Army lorry then passed, by Army personnel no less, to a random lorry driver. The 5-year old wanders off. Thus was made after the Brady-Hindkey case. It is unbelievable in its attitude to what even in 1966 must have been real risks to unaccompanied children. Bizarre. Yet reviewers on this page are calling it 'charming', which is also bizarre.

Up till the 1970s many cinemas in the UK had a children's Saturday morning show.This would tend to comprise of a couple of shorts and a feature.Now sometimes this feature would be a western with Roy Rogers or a comedy by Laurel & Hardy.Sometimes it would be a feature by the Children's Film Foundation.This was an organisation which was I recall financed by the National Film Finance Company.The leading roles were always played by children.Some went on to a career as an adult such as Dennis Waterman.The adult actors appeared for scale.Directors at a loose end also worked for scale and included the likes of Michael Powell.Some of these films are now being shown on Talking Pictures and are quite entertaining.