Santa Claus

This interesting look at a vision of Santa Claus from the late nineteenth century is notable for a number of reasons. First is obviously its age. I think it's the first piece of movie-making from the nineteenth century that I've ever seen, and the quality and clarity was quite surprising, given that age. There's some decent enough use of special effects (extremely primitive by today's standards, but surprisingly effective when placed in their historical context.) The image of Santa Claus gives us a bit of a picture of how the jolly old man has evolved over the years. In this vignette, he has the traditional white beard but his clothing appears to be more of a robe than a suit, and he's very thin compared to the image of Santa we have today. In a little over a minute, filmmaker G.A. Smith was able to tell us the story of a Christmas Eve when two young children are put to bed. It seems to me that the first appearance of Santa is meant to be a dream that the children are having, as Santa appears hovering over them in the corner of the screen. As the children dream of Santa, he then comes through the darkness and into their bedroom to leave them with candy. It's really a delightful little film, fascinating from a historical point of view. I find it difficult to rate, because I really have nothing to compare it to from that era, but I'd say somewhere around 8/10 seems right.

You can't call this early Smith films' special effects outstanding for the time period, considering that exact same year Georges Melies made a film called "The Four Troublesome Heads" which has even more creative camera tricks. In terms of plot, however, this is pretty sophisticated considering most films at the time were plot-less and merely documented everyday life. In fact, considering its Christmas-y theme, you could call this the first holiday movie. I can imagine children being delighted back in 1898, and it's still a charming little gem even now.

Some children want to stay up on Christmas Eve but a maid tucks them into bed. By the clever use of a matte shot, we see Santa go down the chimney. He then enters the room and fills the children's stockings, disappears, and the children wake up. That's all there is in this movie but you have to admit for 1898 it's really quite good compared to other movies of the era.

A precise sketch about Christmas Eve. Innovative, giving the feeling to see a full - length film , proposing the fair story, in right manner. Short, good chance to discover the art of George Albert Smith . And great recreation of atmosphere in one minute film.

Although D.W. Griffith is usually honored as the inventor of modern film grammar, most of the groundwork was laid down a decade earlier by George Smith of England. This is one of his early films.

But even this particular Athena did not spring fully born from the mind of Zeus, and we can see that Smith is using a lot of magic lantern grammar -- the children dream of Santa and he appears in a small circular image in the upper right corner, straight out of the preceding technology's grammar. This particular technique would not vanish for another decade and a half -- and arguably is still in occasional use in such peculiarities as SHERLOCK JUNIOR and its successor THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO as well as Jeunet's UN LONG DIMANCHE DE FIANCAILLES.

Another point of interest is the title of this movie. Although Clement Clarke Moore's poem, 'A Visit from Saint Nick' was well known and popular, it's a Dutch and New York and hence American phenomenon. What was an Englishman, with their Father Christmas, doing playing with the idea? It seems to me that Smith may have been a far more important figure in popular culture than even I thought.

Santa brings a pack of goodies to the little kiddos and all are delighted in the holiday of the year. Admirable special effects for the time and the sheer vintage quality of the film offer undeniable appeal in this minute-sized glimpse from the distant past.

Merry Christmas to all. :-)