L'atelier du Père Noël

It's crazy to think that this short is from the early '30s. Like a lot of Silly Symphony shorts, unless you are big into Disney, you wouldn't automatically assume this was a Disney production. Once you take a closer look at the film and the jokes within it, you can see the quality of production and, if you're like me, find it hard to believe that the film was created in the 1930s. The gags are funny, the animation is good, and this image of Santa is used quite a bit, even today within the Disney world.

As the 1932 Christmas holiday was approaching, Walt Disney provided his fans with the first all-color cartoon of Santa Claus. In December 1932's "Santa's Workshop," the Silly Symphony short became an annual tradition in the nation's theaters during the holiday season. The cartoon was later incorporated into a Disney Production anthology television Christmas 1958 special, 'From All of Us to All of You,' a feature film that is especially embraced by Sweden and Norway, and shown annually in both countries each Christmas Eve.

"Santa's Workshop" shows Santa and his elves preparing for the big night where the gifts in the old man's will be carried by his reindeer to be delivered to all the boys and girls throughout the world. Disney's Santa is a micromanager, taking interest in the quality of all the elves' work, testing them out to make sure everything works properly. As one of cinema's first marketing campaigns, Disney allowed downtown merchants throughout the nation to set up window displays with screenshots from "Santa's Workshop," enticing holiday shoppers to buy Disney toys. A sequel the following year, 1933's 'The Night Before Christmas,' another 'Silly Symphony' installment, gave Disney a one-two punch by expanding the joys of the holiday season to movie goers by having the theaters show back-to-back stunning Christmas-themed Technicolor cartoons.

This is quite a nice colorful feature. It takes us to the North Pole where a major workforce is producing toys. Santa is in his office with his clerk, checking letters and checking who is naughty and nice. The reindeer are being fed and prepared. But the highlight is workshop itself, showing the production of the toys. Obviously, there were some elaborate toys in those days, but their portrayal was of a rather simple time with simple tastes. But the clever processes for making the toys are excellent. Of course, they couldn't resist making one doll black, exhibiting the demeaning white view of black children. But the rest is quite good.

This is the sort of Disney film that played very, very well back in the day but today it would certainly not be received so warmly. This short is a snippet of the North Pole and Santa's workshop. It has little in the way of actual plot and mostly consists of singing and cuteness. Today, it would probably be seen as very saccharine and bland. Additionally, there are some unnecessary but typical racial stereotypes that will offend today but were considered perfectly normal back in the day. So, with all this going against it, why do I give this a 9? Well, the animation is simply gorgeous and it's in full Technicolor-- and nothing from any of the rival studios of the day came close when it came to quality. It simply looks great. Worth seeing even today but not up to the standards of many of the other Disney shorts of the day in regard to story.

Delightful Christmas cartoon from Disney, part of the Silly Symphonies series. The simple story is about Santa Claus and his elves preparing for Christmas, getting all the toys ready. Made in a different era with a different (lost?) kind of magic than we see today. Lovely music and rhyming dialogue throughout the short help keep things lively and bouncing. The animation is very nice for its time. Love that beautiful Technicolor! It's a wonderful, creative Christmas short that is sure to leave a smile on most faces. There's something very innocent about it all. If you're able to still enjoy things like this, I'm sure you'll love it. Try to watch it with little kids and pass the fun on to them before they're too old to even give it a shot.