"The Night Before Christmas (1968)" Review

 Today, December 23, marks the 200th anniversary of the first time that the poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas" (better known as " The Night Before Christmas", allegedly written by Clement Clark Moore, was published in the Troy Sentinel. To celebrate the milestone, I thought I would review an animated Christmas special that provides a fictional account of how Moore came to write his famous poem-the 1968 special "The Night Before Christmas".

We open in the month of December 1822, a few days before Christmas and one year before "A Visit From St. Nicholas" was first published.

We then cut to the Moore's house, where the three Moore Children (Clement, Emily and Charity), housekeeper Gretchen and the family dog Clyde are busy baking Christmas treats as the special's opening song "Savory Serenade" plays in the background.

The older Clement Moore is preparing to go out of town for a few days and promises to bring each of his kids and his wife a present when he returns. While Clement Jr. wants candy and Emily wants a doll, Charity asks for a book about Santa Claus. Clement promises her he will get her the book.

Clement Sr. then says goodbye to his wife and kids, as well as the family's handyman Peter, before departing. 

With Clement now gone, Peter and Clyde go out into the woods to chop down a Christmas tree as the special's second song "Winter Time", plays.

As the family is decorating the tree, Mrs. Moore notices that Charity is beginning to cough and asks her what the matter is. Charity tells her mother that she doesn't feel good and that she's cold. Her mother suggests that she and the other kids go to sleep. After tucking her kids in bed, she sings our special's third song, "Lullaby Time".

Meanwhile, Clement Clark Moore has just finished his last lecture and goes to the toy store to buy his kids their Christmas presents but while he is able to get Clement Jr. and Emily the presents they want, he discovers that there are no books available about St. Nicholas. The shopkeeper offers him a music box for Charity, which he reluctantly accepts. 

As Clement is leaving the store, Peter suddenly rushes to him to tell him that Charity is sick and that he must rush home to her. Clement and Peter then proceed to rush home, making it there by nightfall.

When Clement gets home, he learns that Charity has pneumonia and unable to say anything besides talking about the Santa Claus story that he had promised her. When his attempt to cheer up Charity with the music box fail, his wife suggests that he tell her a story about Santa instead. This inspires Clement to write the poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas".

After finishing the poem, Clement then reads it to Charity. The poem is brought to life by a stunning dream sequence and the musical accompaniment of the Norman Luboff Choir, who perform "The Night Before Christmas".

When the sequence ends, Charity tells her father that his story was so beautiful. The family's doctor, Dr. Sawyer, tells them that the crisis has passed and that the Moores will have a merry Christmas after all.

The next morning, the Moores celebrate Christmas as the special's fifth and final song "The Morning Of Christmas" plays.

The special ends at the North Pole, as Santa prepares for a "long winter's nap".

We then ends the special with a dedication to "All The Children Of The World".

Some extra tidbits about this special.

1. It originally premiered in syndication in 1968. That means that instead of airing on a single broadcast network, it aired across multiple stations, each of whom may have been affiliated with a different one of the then "Big Three" broadcast networks (ABC, CBS and NBC).

2. The special was produced by Elba Productions and Playhouse Pictures. While the former has no other credits listed on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), the latter has 36 credits listed, most notably the 1993 film "Last Action Hero" and the 1984 series "The Duck Factory".

3. The version of the special I watched was on a video produced by Dirco Enterprises. The videotape claims that the video was produced in 1974, but I have my doubts about this as the video ends with a preview for "A Chipmunk Christmas", which did not premiere until 1981. 

4. The special aired on Disney Channel several times in December 1986.

5. Based on the fact that it has not aired on television in quite some time, the special is most likely in the public domain. 

6. The special currently has a page on the official "Turner Classic Movies" website, but there's no evidence (at least as far I can tell) that it has ever aired on TCM.

If you want to see this special for yourself, your best bet would be to EBay for a used copy.

Sources

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0760178/companycredits/?ref_=tt_ql_dts_2

https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?companies=co0027661&sort=user_rating,desc

https://dcba.fandom.com/wiki/The_Night_Before_Christmas?so=search

https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/474150/the-night-before-christmas#overview