(Santa also refuses to get up out of his chair, which gives the impression of Kris Kringle being an invalid.) But Santa refused to give Mark toys – after all, he only brings presents to good kiddies, not brats. Air Force looking for missing fat guy in the red suit. This means Jolly Ol’ Saint Nick cannot take deliveries on Christmas worldwide, which causes a global panic resulting in an emergency United Nations session and the U.S. The second wish finds Mark hijacking Santa Claus as his personal toy provider. This leads to a lengthy and grueling sequence where a delivery truck takes off while its driver chases it, a police car takes off while its patrolman chases it, a baker chases a customer who hits him with a pie, and an antique firetruck with silly firemen zooms recklessly through the town. The tree gives Mark three wishes, and his first wish is to have one hour where he has absolute power over his community. It also starts talking in a snippy, effeminate male voice. (Huh?) Old Daddy-O tries to chop down the tree, but it cannot be destroyed with tools, so Mark’s father inexplicably accepts the new addition to the back yard.Īt Christmastime, the tree uproots and decorates itself, taking a place in Mark’s living room. A tree suddenly shows up in his back yard, much to the confusion of Mark’s father, who only realizes the tree’s presence when he crashes his lawnmower into it. Well, Thanksgiving finally comes and Mark goes through with this routine. Remember, the film opens around Halloween, so Chris has to wait a month to perform this action. She gives him a ring that contains a magic seed, and instructs him to plant it in the ground beneath a Thanksgiving turkey wishbone and utter some mumbo-jumbo – this will enable a magic tree to appear, and it will then grant Mark three wishes. Mark awakens in what appears to be a different property and finds Miss Finch wearing a witch’s hat. Mark falls out of the tree and is knocked out, at which point the film switches to color. Miss Finch’s black cat, named Lucifer (what else?), is stuck up a tree and the old bag insists Mark climb up to retrieve the feline. Mark ventures further inside the property and is caught by the old woman, who has a physical and vocal resemblance to a cartoon witch. The boys decide to trespass on the grounds, but Mark’s pals turn chicken and run. The most gregarious of the trio, a bratty kid named Mark, bullies his pal into sneaking onto the property of a decrepit house occupied by a weird old woman named Miss Finch that the school crowd insists is a witch. Three elementary school boys – two white and one black (hey, it was a 1964 film, after all) – are bickering over trading each other’s unappetizing lunches and bitching about the chores they have to undertake on Halloween night that prevents them from partying with friends. The film’s action begins in black-and-white, which is odd since its opening credits are in color. However, since belated efforts to right cinematic wrongs with that fiery mistake-eraser is not an option, this tortured writer has no choice but to recount the production’s too-many flaws. In fairness, there is nothing wrong with “The Magic Christmas Tree” that couldn’t be fixed with a blowtorch. Instead, it needs to be shoved into the category of “so bad they’re terrible.” Some crummy movies are so cluelessly terrible that they’ve earned the designation of being “so bad they’re good.” The 1964 atrocity “The Magic Christmas Tree” doesn’t fall into that genre. REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: No copyright on the film opens it to endless duping.ĬHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Who the hell would want to offer a 4K restored version of this thing? There are all sorts of other festive bits and bobs on offer too to spread the ultimate Christmas cheer! More details here.BOOTLEG FILES 752: “The Magic Christmas Tree” (1964 holiday season fiasco).ĪMERICAN HOME VIDEO: On public domain labels. You can get your seasonal foliage on with Big Wave Dave’s across Southern California with fresh-cut noble, grand, Fraser, Nordmann and Douglas fir silver tip trees available. Big Wave Dave’s Christmas Trees Photo courtesy of Big Wave Daves □27000 Bouquet Canyon Road Saugus, CA 91350 □28900 Roadside Drive, Agoura Hills, CA 91301 For decades not only can Angelenos get theirselves fresh tree here, but you can even get your own fresh wreath and garlands! For being in the business for 44 years, it’s fair to say he knows what he’s doing when it comes to trees. Bennett’s Best Christmas Trees via Instagramĭoug Bennett of Bennett’s Best Christmas Trees has been in the Christmas tree industry since he was just 15 years young in 1978.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |