Santa Claus

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.

Santa Claus (1898)

*** (out of 4)

This early British film is one of the first to show Santa Claus. The film is pretty simple as a couple kids want to stay up to see Santa but their mom makes them go to bed. We then see how Santa gets into their room without waking them up. This film runs 75-seconds so naturally one shouldn't expect a full story but it's interesting to note that they were at least trying to tell something and this is a full five years before THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY. What's interesting when viewing this film today is the look of Santa as they have him a lot thinner than we are use to see and he's also wearing more of a robe than an actual suit. The special effects used in the film are certainly primitive if you compare them to the stuff of today but for 1898 they're actually pretty good. I thought the effect of the mother turning the light off was something incredibly simple but the visual of it was terrific.

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.

British short film made near the end of the 19th century. Which is very cool to me, by the way, watching something made before my great-grandparents were born. It's a little over a minute long and basically just shows Santa Claus visiting a house on Christmas Eve. Interesting for historical reasons, both for film history and Christmas/Santa history. It's hard to rate a thing like this. For the most part, when I rate a movie or short or TV show, I tend to rate it on a technical level compared to similar pieces of its time or before. I also consider historical importance but ultimately entertainment value trumps all for me. This entertained me as much as a minute and change short from 1898 possibly could, and it has some technical prowess for the time on display. So that's where I'm coming from rating this as high as I did. Others will rate it higher but I just couldn't and I felt like rating it lower would be unfair.

When you look at films from before the 20th century or so, you need to keep them in context to properly enjoy them. First, most all films of the time were less than two minutes long (like this one). Second, a traditional style narrative was unusual...often the films just shows snippets of everyday events. But in "Santa Claus", the filmmakers have done something different...they have a fictionalized story AND it's pretty charming...albeit short.

The story begins with a servant putting two kids to bed. Soon, Santa arrives and he's holding a small Christmas tree. He enters the kids' room, deposits small toys in their stockings and simply disappears.

In 1898, Santa was not the ever-present symbol he later became and Santa's look wasn't so codified. This one looks a bit more like Father Christmas but nevertheless, you will recognize him and what is happening. Rather sweet and charming despite its brevity.