Studio: Walt Disney Productions
Distributor: United Artists
Short Synopsis
At the North Pole, Santa's elves wash and polish the sleigh and groom the reindeer, singing as they work, in preparation for Christmas Eve. Inside the workshop, Santa sits at his desk and reads the letters from children aloud, one rhyming request after another, while an elf secretary takes notes. The workshop is in full production: elves paint, assemble and test every kind of toy, from rocking horses and dolls to drums and toy soldiers. Once finished, the toys come to life, line up and march in formation into Santa's sack to Schubert's Marche Militaire. Santa climbs into his sleigh, the elves wave, and he takes off into the sky to begin his journey around the world.
Why It Matters
- The marching toys are a delight of timing and design, an army of tiny, distinct figures moving in step through the workshop, and the factory routines show Disney's animators turning the logic of a production line into a Christmas pageant in full Technicolor.
- It is one of the earliest Christmas cartoons in colour, and it became a seasonal fixture. It is part of From All of Us to All of You (1958), the Disney television special that is still traditionally shown on Christmas Eve in Sweden and Norway, and it led directly to a sequel, The Night Before Christmas (1933).
Notes and Trivia
- One sequence includes caricatured dolls, among them a blackface doll and a Jewish doll. Disney has cut these from modern versions, which has caused public debate in Sweden and Denmark; the 2006 DVD placed the uncut film in its "From the Vault" section.
- When Disney+ launched in 2019 it initially claimed the edited version was presented as originally released; the claim was later removed.
- A Mickey Mouse doll can be spotted peeking out of Santa's sack.
- See also: Flowers and Trees (1932).