santa claus [1959]

we are in fully holiday mode.  plus working at demanding day jobs means that when anna and i get home from the frenetic activities we call our lives we hit the hay like two punch-drunk boxers still standing in the 92nd round.

life moves on, right, and keeps on going.  i introduced nick a couple of weeks ago to my box set of mystery science theater 3000 movies.  included in the set is the mexican kids movie santa claus directed by exploitation veteran rene cardona.  later the film impresario k. murray gordon dubbed the movie into english and imported it to theaters and to innocent unsuspecting kids in the united states.

bizarre is an understatement.  the devil no like santa so he sends his worst demon, pitch, to fuck things up for the jolly guy.  santa may not be smarter than pitch but he is a nicer man and in the end good always triumphs over evil.  the sets appear to be designed by the strung out denizens of the disco era NYC club studio 54.  or maybe by a designer who thought the surrealist films of joseph cornell were too adorable and so tried to ape that style.  the direction is non-existent and you would find better photography in ancient 1960s polaroids left out in the sun on the dashboard of grandma's station wagon and sizzled beyond hope.

what more do you want from a holiday movie.  jolly, hearty and seriously stoopid this movie will warm your heart till it exploids.

happy christmas