Christmas Cracker (film)

Christmas Cracker (French: Caprice de Noël) is a 1963 animated short about Christmas, co-directed by Norman McLaren, Gerald Potterton, Grant Munro and Jeff Hale. The film consists of a playful clown who presents three segments: a rendition of "Jingle Bells" in which cutout animation figures dance, a dime-store rodeo of tin toys and a story about decorating the perfect Christmas tree with a Christmas star. Between each segment the clown does a short transition. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, this film without words garnered seven awards including the prize for Best Animated Short at the 1964 San Francisco International Film Festival and a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 37th Academy Awards.[1]

Christmas Cracker
Directed byJeff Hale
Norman McLaren
Grant Munro
Gerald Potterton
Produced byTom Daly
StarringGrant Munro
Music byMaurice Blackburn
Eldon Rathburn
Distributed byNational Film Board of Canada (NFB)
Release date
  • 1963 (1963) (Canada)
  • 1964 (1964) (US)
Running time
9 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Jingle Bells

The first of three segments presented by the clown displays two cutout animation figures dance together while a guitar rendition of Jingle Bells. The figures are wearing trapezoid's as clothing with boots. As the guitar progresses the cutout animation figure's dancing accelerates.

Tin Toys

The second segment is stop-motion animation of toys come to life.[2] In this short film is a tin butterfly, alligator, bird, robot, clown, and cat. The background music is a fast guitar, accompanied with a bass guitar playing jazz. The clown then joins back into the movie following electric music.

Christmas Tree Decoration

The final segment is a little cartoon man decorating the ultimate Christmas tree.[3] The music unlike the two other segments, strays away from guitar and is played by an organ. This adds dramatic effect to the decoration of the Christmas tree. This segment was later expanded into a half-hour special by Gerald Potterton called "George and the Christmas Star", which followed the same basic premise.

References
  1. "Christmas Cracker". Collection. National Film Board of Canada. 1963. Retrieved 2009-10-27.
  2. https://letterboxd.com/film/christmas-cracker/
  3. https://www.allmovie.com/movie/christmas-cracker-v137647
  4. https://www.nfb.ca/film/christmas_cracker/


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