A Year in Shorts Day 45: "The Night Before Christmas"

Folks, I’ve done it. I found a short that, objectively and unambiguously, qualifies as a Christmas film. It has “Christmas” in the title! And as an early Christmas gift to myself, it’s a Tom and Jerry short! (I spoil myself). So let’s celebrate the season by taking a look at The Night Before Christmas.


(via IMDb)

Once again directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, this 1941 short is the third to feature Tom and Jerry (and, coincidentally enough, is the third Tom and Jerry Short we've covered). While the formula had been more or less figured out by this point, it would still be some time before it was perfected, and The Night Before Christmas definitely has some of that early weirdness we saw in Puss Gets the Boot. Tom's design isn't quite finished, Jerry is far less sadistic than he normally is, and the violence doesn't quite reach the levels of mayhem we've come to expect from the pair.


(via TV Tropes)


Nevertheless, it's still a damn entertaining short and well worth a watch. The animation is gorgeous, the jokes are all funny, and as a Christmas bonus there's absolutely no uncomfortable racism! The short also seems to imply that Tom is secretly in love with Jerry, which certainly adds an interesting wrinkle to their relationship.


(via Giphy)

The Night Before Christmas is not the best Tom and Jerry short, admittedly. It takes a little while to get going, with a bit too much of Jerry messing around with Christmas presents before we get to the meat of the story. And I think it gets a bit more sentimental in the end than I'd prefer from my Tom and Jerry cartoons.

But what do we expect? It's Christmas!


Keep up with the Oscar Baiting here on Letterboxd!


"The Night Before Christmas" is available to watch on HBO Max


The Great Oscar Baiter is a not-for-profit work of criticism. All images herein are property of their respective owners and are protected under Fair Use.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Song of the Week #15: "Take My Breath Away"

Image
I’ll put myself on a consistent schedule for these things one day, I promise. In my defense, there are a lot of movies to catch up on, and isn’t that what Oscar Baiting is all about? For instance- until recently, I’d never seen the original Top Gun! But with Top Gun: Maverick holding its spot as the biggest hit of the year (probably only to be dethroned by Black Panther or Avatar ) and even potentially soaring into the obligatory crowd pleaser Best Picture slot, I figured it was time to see where things began. Because while the Oscars Top Gun: Maverick may win have yet to be decided, the first Top Gun only went home with one- for the love theme, “Take My Breath Away.” (via Wikipedia) Love themes for films have gone a bit out of style these days, although for a long time it seemed to be a surefire way to nab a Best Song nomination. Seriously, look through the Wikipedia article and count how many times you see "Title Seemingly Chosen at Random (Love Theme from Movie You Didn...
Read more

Song of the Week #6: "The Ballad of High Noon"

Image
I was finally able to catch Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast this weekend, and I have to say it certainly lived up to the hype. There’s a lot to love about this movie, from the gorgeous black-and-white cinematography, the exquisite performances from both the seasoned veterans and newcomers in the cast, to a script that’s brimming with heart and humor. But one aspect of the film I don’t see a lot of people mention is the way it incorporates footage from other films- most notably Fred Zinnemann’s High Noon, using not only a scene from the movie itself but scoring two pivotal scenes with the film’s theme song, the aptly-named (and Oscar-winning) “The Ballad of High Noon.” It was a bold choice to be sure, but who could blame Branagh? It’s a great movie, and a great song- and the subject for today’s installment in Song of the Week. (via Wikipedia) For those of you haven't seen High Noon... well, you really should get on that, it's a classic! Aside from being a taut, tightly edited thril...
Read more

Song of the Week #14- "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"

Image
I was watching Belfast with my friend last week, and- like all great films- it raised a lot of questions. Questions like, “Hey, remember the last time I watched Belfast and was inspired to write a blog post because of it ?” and “Hey, why haven’t I written anything Oscar Bait related in a while?” Well, luckily for all of us “The Ballad of High Noon” wasn’t the only Oscar-nominated song featured in Belfast. Unluckily for us, that other song just happens to be “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” (via Wikipedia) Readers of this blog will hopefully remember that I love a good movie musical. Sadly, those were few and far between in the 1960s. Oh sure, movie musicals certainly had a brief resurgence in those days. Many of them were big hits, both critically and commercially. Hell, Best Picture went to a musical on four separate occasions in that decade! But how many of them were actually any good? Not a lot. Oh sure, The Music Man is great fun and Mary Poppins is a classic. But far too many mu...
Read more