Movie Club Theme for December: Starring Santa Claus

Each month we will be featuring a movie club theme.  Each theme will include four movie suggestions for the month and a link to the discussion on our facebook page.

This month's theme is:

Starring Santa Claus

Santa Claus (1959): Santa Claus is a Mexican made film that cast Santa as a hero from outer space who must defeat a demon sent by Lucifer to ruin Christmas by killing Santa and making children do evil things.  The film was made at a time when Santa was not well established in Mexico so the elements of the story did not seem strange to Mexican audiences.  This film is significant for being one of the first portrayals of Santa Claus on the big screen.  It can be hard to find but it is available thru Amazon and Netflix Instant Watch.

Miracle on 34th Street (1947): A man by the name of Kris Kringle takes the place of the inibriated Santa Claus at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Soon he begins to convince people he may infact be the real thing.  Edmund Gwen won a Best Supporting Actor OSCAR® for his role as Kris.  The Film also stars Maureen O'Hara, John Payne and 9 year old Natalie Wood.  This is one of my favorite Christmas movies and one I try to watch every year.

Santa Claus the Movie (1985):  The father-son producers of The Three Musketeers (1973) and Superman (1978), Alexander & Ilya Salkind created this epic scale Santa Claus origin story starring David Huddleston as Santa, Dudley Moore as an elf named Patch and John Lithgow as B.Z. a toymaker who needs to reapir his company's reputation for shoddy toys.  The first part of the film shows Santa's origins while the second half tells the story of Patch leaving Santa's workshop and going to work for B.Z. where he use the magic reindeer feed ingridient to create candy that makes kids float on air.

The Santa Clause (1994): Tim Allen stars as Scott Calvin a divorced dad who has his son with him for Christmas Eve.  Upon hearing a noise on the roof, he runs outside and startles the man in the red coat. The man falls and disappears leaving behind his suit and card stating that if something happens to him, put on the suit and the reindeer will know what to do.  Scott follows these instructions not realizing that in doing so he has become the new Santa Claus according to the Santa Clause on the card.  This movie was a big hit when it was released, eventualy spawning two sequels, and transitioned Tim Allen from TV star to movie star.  The film has become a modern classic that families watch year after year. 

Watch these films this month and join our discussion on our facebook page to share your thoughts and some of your other favorite movies about Hollywood.

Click here to join the discussion.