I
know a lot of you are looking at this induction, one that
has a spiffy 60x70 pixel image with a "NEW!" on
the main inductions page and saying, "Waitaminute, pal
- this isn't a new induction. You've already done this movie!
And for CHRISTMAS, no less, you're rooking us! What a gyp!"
And you'd be right.
Sorta.
This
is a movie I've already written about. In fact, I believe
it was the first ever non-wrestling write-up I did as an induction,
and that started the whole tradition of doing horrible Christmas
movies as inductions every December. As you can imagine, for
that reason alone, this thing holds a special place in my
heart.
And
it's precisely for that reason I am covering it again; because
the original induction, all 400 words or so and a measley
six pictures just didn't do it justice. Every December I repost
that induction, and I get depressed. How can I have treated
such a masterpiece , a film that meant so much to me, WrestleCrap.com
as an entity, and most importantly my fellow Crappers so poorly?
Seriously, the induction for Jack Frost is like 10
times as long as the original induction for Santa Claus.
I
don't care if that movie did have a crazed snowman attempting
to fornicate with Shannon Elizabeth using a carrot penis,
this just won't do. It's time to right some wrongs, and we're
doing it today.
Beyond
getting the shaft for the past several years here at the Crap,
the film has also been disserviced as it pertains to general
public knowledge as well. I dare say that even those who have
"seen" this movie probably haven't seen it in all
its glory. Most of you who have watched this have likely done
so thanks to Mystery Science Theater 3000. That's where I
saw it originally, and it was all kinds of fun laughing along
with Crow, Mike, and Tom Servo as they riffed the flick. Considering
they just re-released it, complete with a fantastic "Santa
Conquers the Devil - a 50-Year Retrospective" documentary,
you could easily assume that was everything you ever wanted
to know about this film. (Oh, and if you really want to help
out this site, you can order that DVD by clicking rightchere .)
It
wasn't until years later when I found the non-MST version
that I realized that even the MST3K crew didn't experience
all the insanity, as there were several parts that were edited
out (likely due to time constraints). So in addition to upgrading
this induction, I'd like to think I'm also providing a service
here for everyone who's not seen the film in all its gooftastic
glory.

So
a bit of backstory on this movie. Originally released in 1959,
the film was directed by a fellow named Rene Cardona, who
had released a movie called Pulgarcito, which was
released in the US as Tom Thumb. The movie was a
hit in Mexico, and thus he figured if that could generate
some cash, he should probably look for other iconic figures
to immortalize in celluloid glory. And thus, a movie based
on Santa Claus was a perfect fit.
This despite the fact that pretty much no one in Mexico even
knew who Santa Claus was because he wasn't a part of the traditions
of Christmas south of the border. I suppose one could even
go so far as to blame this unfamiliarity with exactly who
Kris Kringle is as to a reason why a lot of the movie doesn't
make a lot of sense. Or I suppose you could credit Rene's
lack of St. Nick knowledge for making the movie so delightfully
wacky.
I
choose the latter, by the way.
Just
how different is this Santa from the one you know
and (presumably) love?
Well,
this Santa lives in a castle in the sky, a crystal
castle. Despite being a supposed crystal castle, I
saw no signs of Bentley Bear.
(Why
did I write that? Ain't no way anyone is enough of
a geek to get that reference.) |
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According
to the narrator, Santa's palatial estate is directly
above the North Pole. But it's not like 1,000 feet
above the pole, best I can tell it's about 347 miles
above the North Pole. Jeez, no wonder Santa only
comes to visit us earthlings but once a year. The
mileage alone must cost the guy a fortune.
It appears Santa is sharing neighborhood association
dues with two other crystal castle owners. I'm pretty
sure one of them is Jesus. Santa makes mention of
Him a couple of times throughout the film, so apparently
he knows the reason for the season. It does my heart
good just thinking that Santa and Jesus hang out
together. Why I can just picture them grilling out
in the summer and watching the Super Bowl together
every February.
The question, then, is who owns that third palace?
At one point, I would have sworn the movie mentioned
that's where Merlin lived. Yes, Merlin, as in the
magician.
Now
I am really going out on a limb here that Merlin
is the owner of the third castle, not because he
doesn't appear in the movie (and oh boy will you
know it when he does), but rather because Merlin
is ALWAYS at Santa's place. He has a laboratory
there you know.
Actually,
you probably don't know that, but rest assured,
you will.
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As I mentioned above, Santa is very fond of why
there is a Christmas; in fact, the movie begins
with the jolly old elf examining his nativity set.
And
it's quite the nativity, as he places feathers in
the baby Jesus' crib. I don't remember that in the
book of Matthew. Maybe it was in Luke, not sure.
But regardless, Santa excuses himself so that he
can go get the presents ready for all the kids.
I have no doubt you think I am making all of this
up, so here's some audio
proof.
I
especially like Santa scatting Silent Night in the
most off-key manner possible.
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Santa
doesn't have elves building toys for him in this
movie. Instead, he plays an organ while children
that I can only guess he has kidnapped from earth
put together crap for him to take down on Christmas
Eve.
Oh,
and they live in what appears to be a prototype
of the It's a Small World ride. I always thought
that they just ripped Uncle Walt off, but it turns
out this movie came out years before the ride came
into existence, so maybe the Imagineers saw this
and decided to do some thievery of their own.
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Bizarre?
Yes. But let's make it patently offensive as well
by plugging in every single stereotype imaginable.
For instance, here's the children from Africa…
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…complete
with bones in their hair and spears.
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Are
you a child from the middle east? Then it's belly
dancers and machine guns for you!
I'd go through every country, but I trust you get
the gist. I should note that all this happens while children
sing even more horrifically than Santa himself.
Maybe
everyone in this film is tone deaf. |
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But
it's not just all horrible singing and ignored child
labor laws. For Santa also has an arch nemesis.
And
that would be Pitch.
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Ah
yes, Pitch.
I've
seen lots of synopsis of this movie on the web, and
they almost invariably get it wrong. Santa isn't fighting
the devil in this film, he's fighting the devil's
go-to guy, Pitch, who is apparently the dance troupe
leader of the seventh circle. |
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See, Satan doesn't really want to mess with St.
Nick himself, so he just tells one of his cronies
to do the dirty work for him, and Pitch is the guy
for the job despite failing repeatedly in the past
apparently. Pitch doesn't even seem to want to do
it, but Lucifer tells him if he doesn't make all
the children in the world do evil, his henchman
will be forced to eat chocolate ice cream. Pitch
is completely against this, as it is bad for his
delicate innards.
Again,
I understand you not believing me, so here
you go.
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Finally,
we get back down to earth. Or up to earth. Whatever.
Time for us to be introduced to the children of
the film.
First
up, we get a small boy whose daddy is quite rich.
We know that because the narrator informs us that
he is a "good little boy whose daddy is quite
rich."
Personally,
I would have expanded on that, with my version being
"here is a good little boy whose daddy is quite
rich…and has a killer pencil thin moustache
that would make John Waters jealous."
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Next
up we meet a mother who is poor. So very, very poor,
as we will discover throughout the film. Her daughter
is the criminally cute Lupita, the child with the
heart of gold that would bring a tear to Robert
Gibson's glass eye.
More
on her later.
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Finally,
we get three rotten little kids whom the devil decides
to recruit in his anti-Santa crusade. He hatches
his nefarious plot by producing three rocks, which
the kids throw at an animatronic Kris Kringle.
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Somehow
this causes a real rock to hit the real Santa in
the head.
Yes, in his spaceship castle above the North Pole.
I'd attempt to explain it, but instead let's just
laugh at Santa's misery. Just puts you in the holiday
spirit, no?
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Santa,
now aware of Pitch's antics, heads to his magic
observatory to do some spying.
And
let it be known that this is, in fact, a VERY magic
observatory which has "some wonderful instruments
such as the Earscope, the Cosmic Telescope, and
the Master Eye!"
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Ok,
all those things are creepy, but nothing can touch
the Teletalker. That looks like some kind of sexual
pleasure device or something.
Maybe
I'll ask Blade about that later this weekend on
the Christmas edition of WrestleCrap Radio. That
looks like something he'd know about.
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Anyhoo,
Santa soon sees Pitch attempting to talk Lupita
into stealing a doll. See, because she's poor and
otherwise wouldn't get one for Christmas. Thankfully,
the narrator, who apparently moonlights as Lupita's
conscience, chimes in and tells her to put the doll
back.
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She
listens, which causes Pitch to go into hysterics,
complete with gibberish-laden babbling. You'd think
the devil would be throwing out profanity, but that's
not the case here unless somehow "bahabbaabbababaaahhhCURSES!" is a four letter word.
Before I go any further, I need to make mention
that Pitch can appear and disappear at will. That
in and of itself wouldn't be strange, but his materializations
are always accompanied with the world's most annoying
piano strike.
Sounds
like this.
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The
plotline of the rich boy is next, as we learn that
for Christmas he wants his parents…wrapped
up in a giant box. All I can say is that if I were
a spoiled brat and my parents wrapped themselves
up for me to open on Christmas morning, I'd be mighty
disappointed.
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Maybe
that's why when he opens the boxes mom and dad look
like they're laying inside coffins.
Coffins
with spotlights, mind you, but coffins nonetheless. |
Time
to head over to Lupita's house. Remember when I
mentioned that her parents were very poor? Let me
explain how poverty stricken they are. Not only
do they live in a one-room shanty, the only wall
decor they have is old newspapers and crowbars.
If
you're ever bemoaning the fact your wallet is empty,
take a look at your wall. If you've got something
up there other than a CROWBAR, you're Donald Trump
next to these folks.
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Into
Lupita's dreams we go, as giant ragdolls dance about
and chastise her for not stealing the doll from
that street vendor. Even without them belittling
the poor girl for her honesty, I'd know this dream
was the work of the devil…the 45 minute sequence
of those ''toys" is the most frightening thing
I've seen since...well, I guess since the Teletalker.
It's
really a toss up as to which is more traumatic.
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So
we get more scenes of Santa looking into kids' dreams
and eavesdropping on their conversations and him
reading his mail and telling the stork that he needs
a little brother for a kid and using an antique
belt exercising machine and then going off on a
diatribe about how the devil is centuries older
than he is but he hasn't been well lately and then
barks like a dog.
How did Clement Clarke Moore leave all that stuff
out of the Night Before Christmas?
So all this stuff happens and then suddenly Santa
realizes that it's Christmas Eve and he needs to
get a move on. But before he can head to earth,
he has to visit his old pal, Mr. Merlin the wizard
in a scene that goes on FOREVER.
I
originally couldn't believe they cut this out on
the MST3K version, until I watched it again for
this write up, and saw the sun rising and setting
and then rising and setting again before it finally
ended. It goes on and on and on, with the running
joke being that Merlin keeps forgetting to carry
an urn over to the table where he mixes the ingredients.
He forgets the thing like 20 times and each time
Santa laughs harder and harder as I just keep reaching
for the fast forward button.
Merlin finally outfits Santa with all he'll need
for his trip, namely the flower to disappear, the
powder that makes kids fall asleep, which he formulates
using, no joke, MORPHEUM.
NOW I get why Santa was laughing.
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Before
Santa can leave, he has one more stop, and to get
the key that opens all doors from his blacksmith.
His big, brawny, SHIRTLESS blacksmith, who apparently
lives in the castle with him.
If you thought those dancing dolls in Lupita's dream
were disturbing, they've got nothing on the shirtless
blacksmith, who puffs up and flexes his unkempt
red chest hair as Santa looks on approvingly in
a VERY distressing manner.
You know, I always thought Santa hanging out with
elves was somewhat questionable, but after seeing
his lustful glances at the shirtless blacksmith,
I am totally fine with it.
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Time
to load up the sleigh and get down to earth. The
slave kids toss box after box into Santa's magic
bag as the old guy sings a song in which no lyrics
come even close to rhyming.
If ever there was a Christmas song Celine Dion needed
to cover, it's
this one.
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With
all the presents onboard, Santa cranks up the reindeer
and gets them ready to go. You may recall in my
original write up, I found these mechanical reindeer
exceedingly creepy, what with their
bizarre laugh and all. Don't get me wrong, they
are still rather unsettling, well…
…I've seen the shirtless blacksmith.
In
comparison, these things look like Bambi.
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So
off Santa goes, nearly running into the moon on his
path to earth.
No joke. |
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One
last look at all the primary kids sees the three
naughty kids preparing some sort of trap to catch
Santa (which consists solely of a rope on which
they hope he trips); the rich boy's parents hitting
the bar and telling him that if he gets bored, he
can always practice the piano; and Lupita and her
mom discussing the true meaning of Christmas and
them praying for Santa to bring her a dolly.
I'd mock them for this, but since Lupita promises
that if
she gets two dolls, she'll give one to little Jesus,
I really can't.
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Meanwhile,
Pitch is camped out, ready to go to war with Santa.
His cunning battleplan sees him moving a chimney so
that Santa can't go down it. |
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You'd
think there would be a big gaping hole there for the
guy to go down, but apparently not. |
Instead,
Santa uses his MAGIC PARASOL (and the worst special
effects this side of Santa Buddies) to
float down to the ground floor of the house and
just goes in the front door.
I know Santa has years of experience doing this
Christmas thing so I almost hate to question his
standard operating procedure, but wouldn't it always
be easier to go in the door instead of shoe horning
himself down a chimney?
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Pitch
may have been foiled with his chimney move plot, but
he one ups Santa by getting to the next house first.
As the devil's top dog laughs at this brilliant scheme,
Santa looks in through the window and sees him and
sneaks up on him from behind… |
…and
pulls a cannon out of his bag… |
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…with
which he fires a dart into Pitch's anal cavity… |
...the
net result of which is Pitch dryhumping a pole.
Don't
ask me, I'm just reporting the facts. |
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To
the rich boy's house we go, as Santa leaves him
some presents under the tree that he acknowledges
the child won't like. Why not give them to some
other poor kid then? Anyway, the kid wakes up and
begs Santa to love him, to which Santa replies that
the kids parents are the ones who loves him. The
kid doesn't particularly buy into this since his
parents are always gone; I mean, this is Christmas
Eve and they're out boozing it up, so I can't say
I blame the kid for being a bit skeptical.
So Santa heads out to the bar, becomes a waiter
(?) and gives them his specially made "Cocktail
of Remembrence" which causes the parents to
remember they do have a kid, it's Christmas, and
yeah, maybe we should spend a couple minutes with
him.
Sadly,
Pitch doesn't show up to counter drug them with
a "Cocktail of Your Kid Sucks, So Stay Here
and Get Smashed Instead of Going Home."
But
I guess then the little rich boy wouldn't have been
very happy, so everything turns out ok.
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Seventy-five
minutes into the film, Pitch finally - FINALLY -
comes up with a good idea, as he cuts open the bag
that contains the dreaming powders and the flower
to disappear, causing them to fall to the ground.
Even better, Santa is oblivious to Pitch's actions.
Yep,
it's all coming Pitch's way now!
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So
Santa lands, and heads to the next house…and
is immediately run up a tree by Pitch's dog!
Please
don't ask why Pitch had a dog...just nod your head
and say, "Well, if Pitch WERE going to have
a dog in this film, at least his name is Dante,
so I'll buy that" and we can move on.
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Meanwhile,
Pitch is running around causing all kinds of chaos,
lighting phones on fire and convincing people that
Santa is a prowler who needs to be shot.
That's
a pretty elaborate plot for a guy who's original idea
was to push a chimney out of the way. |
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Unable
to disappear, unable to make the dog fall asleep,
Santa does the only thing he can do…start
screaming for help to Mr. Merlin.
Yes, Mr. Merlin who is in outer space over the North
Pole.
Thanks
to the Tele Talke…no, I can no longer call
it that….thanks to the PLEASURE MOUTH, Merlin
hears Santa's cries.
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Merlin's
solution involves Santa winding up a toy cat which
runs away, which in turns causes the dog to run away
as well.
I think that was a solution in a Monkey Island game
I played back in the day. |

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So
the dog runs away, Santa runs away, and Pitch gets
sprayed with water, which is the last we see of
him.
Can't
believe Lucifer's going to be too happy about that.
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Oh,
and yes, on his way back to outer space, Santa stops
by and drops off a giant doll to Lupita.
What,
you didn't think this would have a happy ending?
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And
it's a happy ending for me too. Finally, I can rest this Christmas,
knowing that this wonderfully wacky film has been given it's
just desserts.
Merry
Christmas, everyone! And may God bless you all in the year
to come!
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