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.

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.

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.

. . . "Rub-a-dub-dub" was a wholesome recounting of a young lad's education regarding the niceties of his future responsibility to select an appropriate spouse to insure that the family farm could be passed down for a few more centuries. This instructive verse tradition did NOT make any references to MEN in a tub! Back in these simpler times, men could not monopolize the process of propagating Humanity. Females were required to take part, so every country fair featured the three basic types of ladies usually around a small town. These subjects were displayed in a natural state of undress, often in an otherwise empty trough or tub, so proper distinctions could be made between those too scrawny, those too padded and those "just right" for the performance of necessary vital farm chores. CHRISTMAS NIGHT plunges viewers into the darker waters of three MEN in a tub, totally destroying the rub-a-dub-dub ritual.

Just rewatched this cartoon from the Van Beuren Studios on YouTube. The version I saw had the title Christmas Night which was the same title I witnessed when I first got this on VHS during the '80s. It stars The Little King, a popular comic strip character who is mute though other characters occasionally speak to him. Here it's Santa Claus who does the honors as he takes the King's request to deliver some presents to his palace for him and a couple of tramps he picks from a sidewalk window as they all look at the toys displayed. What they watch there is a little blackface doll tap dancing which is probably the only scene that would be offensive today in the entire cartoon though there is also a scene where all three are in a bathtub. Not too much in laughs though I was highly amused when one of the tramps revealed he wore a bra underneath his shirt! Best scene is the climax as all three ride in their cars or plane and wreak some stuff in the palace joyfully! So on that note, I guess I'm recommending Pals (or Christmas Night).