Christmas Night

Christmas Night (1933)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The Little King was a very popular comic strip in The New Yorker Magazine and it eventually found its way to the big screen. This short from the Van Beuren Studios starts off with Santa getting people to write down what they want on a piece of paper. Later that night several of the characters are playing around with their toys when chaos follows.

This certainly isn't a great short by any stretch of the imagination but it's a pleasant and charming film that I'm sure kids would enjoy watching on Christmas. As other reviewers have pointed out, there's one stereotype scene that many will object to today but it can also be seen as a learning tool to teach how things once were. I found the animation to be quite good throughout and the B&W images really jump off the screen with their detail at times. There aren't any major laughs but the film will at least keep a smile on your face.

BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. Doesn't matter if its a good or bad review. If they only have reviewed one thing then you can't trust them. I have reviewed over 200 Christmas films & cartoons. You can trust me.

On Christmas Eve, the Little King sneaks two tramps into the castle. The next morning, the three men are thrilled by the presents Santa left behind.

Not very good. Seems to me this film was an experimental animation short. You can always stream this for free & "That's good". It is not worth buying.

Even though I have the title "Christmas Night," it's also known as Pals here on this website. I found this cartoon to be the weakest on my DVD with Scrooge (1935 colorized version) as the main feature. While it may not be seen as offensive during the time it was released in 1933 long before the civil rights movement. Our country was still in the midst of the Great Depression and before World War II took place. This cartoon short may not be intended to be offensive with the black face but it would be seen that way by today's political correctness. I would just accept that it was the time period when this animated short took place long before change for the better took place. I wouldn't try to think too much or too seriously about animated shorts from the time period as offensive. I'm sure the early animators weren't intended to offend it's audience but complying to the time and period of it's history.

FOLLOWING an outstanding beginning as a featured comic panel in THE NEW YORKER Magazine, THE LITTLE KING by Otto E. Soglow began an outstanding 40+ year run in the newspapers via syndication thru Heart's King Features Syndicate. The year was 1934 and the NEW YORKER Panel format was expanded to the comic strip form, or 'sequential art; as it is sometimes called.

MUCH like Carl Anderson's HENRY, mum, or rather 'mime' , was the word; for there was virtually no dialogue, no thought or speech balloons employed, and certainly never for the diminutive monarch.. The story and whatever gags that were inherent to it were brilliantly exposited without words.

ANOTHER hallmark that was always present was an unusually unique and highly stylized illustrative style. All characters were unusually curvy, tall, round, triangular, buxomly, etc. Uniform and clothing fashion in general is most stylish, if not too realistic. But, after all, it is all in a comic page and Mr. Soglow can make his world anyway he chooses.

IN the PALS (aka Christmas NIGHT) we have an entry in the series produced by Van Beuren Studios/RKO RADIO Pictures. This was the outfit that brought us TOM & JERRY (The original Human Duo, a sort of "Mutt & Jeff" team), CUBBY BEAR and the short-lived AMOS & ANDY Cartoons, with their two installments. They also later brought us the "Rainbow Parade" Color Cartoons with The Toonerville Trolley, Molly Moo Cow and a revived Felix the Cat.

WITH the release of this particular 7 minute cartoon short, the Van Beuren Crew displayed a keen sense of bringing us a succession of chuckles and guffaws (no real belly laughs); all the while making allowance for a seemingly tailor made score of incidental music and a coherent storyline to boot. Additionally, the team manages to keep the appearance of the characters, especially the King, his 4 ice skating sedan chair bearers and any other palace personnel, all in a strict conformity to the artistic style of the comic strip.

AS for our finding and having this film to view, it was discovered in one of those discount Toy Stores in a bin with many other cassettes of cartoons that have been copiously strung together; their only common cause being their status of being in Public Domain. This has proved an excellent source of finding some little, previously unknown titles and characters; which well deserves to be employed again and again.

CRITICIZING the cartoon short seems a little bit much of an effort; but we can give some short, thumb-nail sketch of a few impressions.

PALS or Christmas NIGHT, whichever title you prefer, is a straight forward rendering of just what the theatrical animated cartoon short's function was; namely, a sort of warm-up for what was to come on the day's playbill. It was to be pleasant, light and make the viewer feel good about being there in his local neighborhood picture palace; nothing more, nothing less.

WHEN we consider how it did just that; yet still was faithful to Soglow's character, we'd have to say that it has succeeded most readily. It is a great example of what the typical cartoon of the 1930's, early sound era was like.

NOW, Schultz, run out to the shoppin' mall and find it on a DVD or VHS cassette. It should only set you back about $3.98 or so.

POODLE SCHNITZ!!

In general, I find the cartoons from Van Beuren Studio to be awfully saccharine--and a far cry from the quality of rival studios Disney and Fleischer Brothers. However, I was pleasantly surprised with "The Little King"--a sweet little cartoon if I've ever seen one.

The character 'Little King' was a creation of Oscar Soglow and it was so popular in "The New Yorker" that William Randolph Hearst paid handsomely to bring Soglow to his paper and make the strip a daily. And, from the 1930s until his death in the late 1970s, Soglow made a ton of these cute cartoons. And, like "Henry", the Little King didn't speak.

Van Beuren made several Little King cartoons but I only see a couple listed on IMDb. I assume that this is the correct place to review "The Little King: Merry Christmas". It begins with the King going about town just before Christmas. He meets two nice hobos and they become friends. So, in the spirit of Christmas, he invites them home for the holidays and they have a lovely time.

As I said above, this film is awfully sweet--but not to the point of being saccharine. It's more just a very nice little film that made me smile. Not brilliant, but it was worth seeing.