Review of The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974) by Nicole T — 29 Dec 2011

Nothing says Christmas quite like a Rankin/Bass holiday special. These things have a feel all their own. I love the look of them, because they really make me nostalgic for my childhood when we used to watch them every year without fail. Year Without a Santa is probably my favorite of them all, too. The concept is so silly, Santa works one day a year and then decides he wants that one day off? But it makes for an endearing tale of what lengths people will go to preserve Christmas.

The problem with this special is the fact that there are several obvious glaring errors in the movie. One persons voice coming out of another person's mouth, and particularly the Misers reacting to the wrong part of Mother Nature's orders. Of course I would never have the patience for this stop-motion stuff so it's hard to really criticize. Although it feels like some simple editing with the vocals could have fixed the issues. The plot is also a little strange. I'm still not sure whether the whole thing supposedly was a dream as Santa sings about at the end. And having Santa singing about believing in Santa, well that's just odd.

However all missteps are forgiven when you have a movie that contains the Miser brothers and the superb "I'm Mr. Heat/Snow Miser" song. I don't know why, but that song and the characters are so endearing that they catapult this movie from Average to Good. It's honestly one of the most addictive Christmas songs out there, even just typing it here has it stuck in my head again. So, while Year Without a Santa Claus has a few flaws, it is a must watch every Christmas season if for no other reason than the amazing Misers.