This Christmas film, created as a special for television broadcast throughout the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania viewing region, was produced by puppeteer Mabel Beaton and her husband Les for Bell Telephone Company and first aired in 1953. Following a short live-action opening portion, featured are two extended marionette segments, the first dramatizing Clement Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas", the second reverently telling the Nativity story; the two stories are staged in classic, traditional style. From 1953 onward, for several years, The Spirit of Christmas was broadcast in the intended region multiple times per holiday season. It was also available as a 16mm film licensed to schools for showings to students. This film often is misstated to have originally been broadcast in 1950.
Clement Moore / 'Nativity' Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
21 Nov 1991
Based on one of Iwadate Mariko's short stories appearing in the shoujo manga monthly magazine Margaret. This is a character study of a rather traumatized young woman who develops a crush on a man who lives next door to her.
17 Dec 1964
Mr Banks is looking for a nanny for his two mischievous children and comes across Mary Poppins, an angelic nanny. She not only brings a change in their lives but also spreads happiness.
13 Mar 2011
A vengeful Easter bunny plots to steal Santa’s sack, and in the process, learns something about himself that will change Christmas forever.
02 Dec 2012
When Nicki finds two horses stranded deep in the Rocky Mountain snow, she makes it her mission to find a way to get them to safety. With no other options, she picks up a shovel and starts to dig out the mile-long path, inspiring her father, Matt, and the rest of the community to join together and save the horses in the spirit of Christmas.
13 Jan 2022
In the interweaving of five stories, the New Year's magician himself ceases to believe in miracles, because burdened with life and immersed in work, people completely forget about the holiday. He takes serious action and sells his suit to a simple guy who has long since lost his sense of "New Year's magic". By leaving his position as a magician, Santa deprives people not only of a festive mood, but also of snow that could contribute to this. But contrary to his views on the hopelessness of the modern generation, people notice the changes and become the creators of a real New Year's miracle on their own.
21 Aug 2023
Santa Claus is suffering from a mysterious disease. He lies in bed and only repeats one word: Lebanna. The elves are desperate and don't know what to do anymore. Christmas seems lost when Santa's assistant Annabel uses magic and summons the greatest detective on earth to the castle. The man who appears in front of her doesn't seem very smart but she claims to be the great-great grandson of the great Sherlock Holmes. Annabel entrusts him with the case and an assistant to her, her son Sam. Will the two be able to solve the Lebanna mystery despite Sherlock being allergic to Christmas? Maybe the solution lies in some Arctic Friends cartoons that Santa watched as a child?
Santa Claus went on vacation, and this year his replacement is a girl: Santa Belle. It is she who welcomes the two best children in the world who are given the opportunity to visit the kingdom of Santa Claus. By mistake, the machine teleports Tony and Frank a couple of middle-aged thieves into the castle. Elves who live hundreds of years don't realize the difference. Only Sam, Belle's assistant suspects something is wrong. Meanwhile, the two funny thieves take it into their heads to steal the elves' gold, but to open the safe that contains it they will have to find the clues contained within the Puffins cartoons and face Johnny Puff.
01 Dec 1963
One of the cheapest Santa films ever produced. Shot in Pittsburgh, with blurry home movie footage of Santa parades (on one float he sticks out of a giant chimney, on another he stands in the cockpit of a rocket ship). Santa sits in a vinylite Laz-E-Boy as he orders his elves (kids dressed in leotards) around. Features a trip to a department store and endless footage of a large toy train setup. (archive.org)
28 Nov 1944
Young love and childish fears highlight a year in the life of a turn-of-the-century family up to the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.
18 Nov 1983
The comic mishaps and adventures of a young boy named Ralph, trying to convince his parents, teachers, and Santa that a Red Ryder B.B. gun really is the perfect Christmas gift for the 1940s.
07 Sep 2010
Each year, the Christmas concert presented by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square is seen by more than 85,000 people live and by millions more via television broadcast. This year the Choir was joined by none other than multiple Grammy-award winner Natalie Cole and Pulitzer prize-winning author David McCullough.
04 Oct 2013
When a family visits Grandma's house on Christmas Eve, they leave their dog at home alone. And when burglars try to take the presents from under the tree, the dog must use every trick it knows to stop them.
01 Jan 2012
Do you remember when...Santa asked Rudolph to guide his sleigh, Frosty magically came to life on Christmas Eve, and Kris Kringle became Santa Claus? Share the magic of The Original Christmas Classics! Featuring 4 additional holiday favorites! The Little Drummer Boy, Cricket on the Hearth, Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, Frosty Returns
03 Dec 2013
A thousand years ago the world completely collapsed. War, famine, and greed killed off the human race. Not much remains except for the mutants, scum, and robo-people. Humanity is a long-lost notion. Everyone must kill to survive. Even Santa.
30 Nov 2013
A resort executive is sent to a newly purchased lodge in Maine with instructions to turn it in to an ultra-modern resort, and finds a charming, successful lodge loaded with holiday spirit. Will she stick with her boss’s plans to tear everything down or find a way to save what she has come to love? Stars Candace Cameron-Bure and Alan Thicke.
24 Nov 2013
Kris Kringle, aka Santa Claus, goes on trial for mental competency in Small Town U.S.A.
29 Nov 2013
A young, single mother, Jen, begins to lose her faith in the magic of Christmas. However, when she takes her son Eric to see the local mall Santa, Jen immediately feels an attraction and connection with Chris, the young, attractive man filling the suit. As they begin spending time together, she begins to rediscover her belief in Christmas.
14 Apr 1996
Trouble brews as Charlie Horse's campaign for class president leads him to invite the whole class to Shari's for Passover... a fact he conveniently forgets to pass on to Shari until the eleventh hour. Meanwhile, everyone else is getting in on the action... Dom Deluise gets an education on the Seder plate and the significance of each item it holds, and neighbor Robert Guillaume delivers a song and dance explanation of the history of Passover.
08 Dec 2002
Tis the season for the cheer and charm of the Peanuts kids - and this delight special offers five segments full of unforgettable moments. Snoopy works as a bell-ringer to raise money and tries making peace with the ferocious cat next door. Linus strives to strike the right tone in his letter to Santa - and his friendship with an indecisive girl at school. Sally's idea about gift giving and the identity of Santa may be unusual - but her strange notion about how to obtain a Christmas tree surprisingly does the job. Lucy tries awfully hard to be nice...and still coax everyone around her to buy her presents. Charlie Brown and Sally wait up for Santa (a surprisingly short man), who spreads Christmas gift cheer further than they had thought. Make merry!
25 Dec 2004
A Chicago sports radio shock jock is changed by a Christmas season encounter with a 15-year-old fan who is dying of cancer who forces him to be nice for a day.