So, this is about two very different, though technically similar, short Christmas films about the Nativity.
Both are vintage curiosities from the seasonal archives, and both utilise similar techniques. But the respective results are markedly different.
First up, a fact: puppets are scary.
Or at least certain types of puppets are scary: the older, the scarier, I think.
Maybe I’ve seen too many eerie puppet or doll based clips in those ‘scary compilations’ you find on YouTube.
But no, I think puppets are just genuinely unsettling. I’ve never got the appeal.
And nothing highlights that more for me than when I first watched this very old Christmas animation.
The ‘puppetoon’ feature from the Castle Films collection (1959) tells the story of the Nativity using antique-looking puppets… and good God, is it unintentionally the stuff of nightmares.
Considering ‘The First Christmas’ is supposed to have been for kids, I can’t imagine children enjoying this offbeat slice of visual weirdness, even in 1958.
The Nativity story has never been so uncomfortably surreal: nor this close to qualifying as a horror film.
If off-kilter and slightly unsettling is your thing, then give this baffling depiction of Jesus’s birth a try.
But don’t blame me if you have nightmares.
Far more effective, and much more endearing is the short 1968 stop-motion animation, ‘Little Drummer Boy’.
Also set around the event of the Nativity narrative, though tangentially this time: the story follows the world-weary and down-on-his-luck shepherd boy navigating the animated milieu of the first century Middle East, culminating finally in him stumbling into the famous manger scene.
Genuinely cute and not unsettling or scary at all, this short film also features the voice of renowned screen actor Jose Ferrer.
The film has come in for some criticism for its allegedly unflattering depiction of Arab characters, though I’m not sure it’s that much of an issue that it’s noticeable. Let’s just say it’s very much its era.
The whole film is on YouTube here for anyone who wants to watch it.
Happy Christmas, everyone. And fingers crossed, maybe a little unrealistically, for a Happy New Year.
And never turn your back on a puppet.
