As others have noted, these cartoons are pieces of history and as such require a certain amount of objectivity to be truly appreciated. If you are not willing to discuss them in the historical context with your kids, then maybe you should skip this video collection.

But never, ever should they be allowed to edit or censor these classics. They're too old, and to do so would be to cover-up or deny history. I'm an old cartoon buff, and it frustrates me to no end that so many classic Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry's have been edited for television to the point where you can't even buy a DVD with the uncensored versions. Luckily the films on this collection managed to remain uncut, perhaps due to less television air time over the last 30 years.

Some of the earliest Motion Pictures ever made were animated. They were shown at Vaudeville shows, which were the main form of popular entertainment of the day. Movies in general, and especially classic cartoons, are the direct descendants of Vaudeville. By the same token, the Moving Picture brought about the end of Vaudeville's reign. Cartoons like this are a glimpse at a lost artform, and a window onto a lost world.

We are entering an era where very few people are left who remember when there was no such thing as Moving Pictures, or remember Vaudeville of that time. The pre-video period is now unknowable to us through anything other than written accounts and photographs. Likewise, film is an incredible tool for recording history, because of its ability to transport the viewer to a specific place and time. We now have nearly a century of history documented on moving film, and can look with ease into the faces of another age.Read more ›

I agree with the guy below that says that the animation is stereotypical, I was thinking the same thing when I watched it and saw how they animated the black boy in the cartoon... this dvd was made in the 50's and the world was much different then... however my daughter loves this DVD. I let her watch it on netflicks and I am getting it for her for Christmas because she loves it so much! (She is only 14 months) The classic Rudolph is great, the music is great and it catches her attention. I remember these cartoons when I was little, did no damage to me... I recommend it.

While I do see the other reviewers' points, I watched these when I was little! These cartoons are from the 30's and 40's so of course there using the veiws that were held in that TIME period, so if you are offended easily I suggest you don't watch. However I found Santy's Suprise to be cute. All the different children working together...what's so wrong with that? These used to be my grandmother's cartoons that she bought for me when they were released on VHS. My favorites were always Christmas comes but once a year, Somewhere in dreamland, and Hectors hectic life.

My 4 year old daughter loves this set of old videos, for just entertainment value for little kids I give them 5 stars.

Yes, there is pretty blatant racism in the one story, but (I know I'm going to get flack for this) I actually LIKE that it's there. Since everything else is so dated, it's easy to explain to my kiddos that "white people used to treat people of other colors badly back then. But just like we've learned to do lots of other things better, we've also learned to treat each other better, too." Sometimes people still treat others poorly and that's not ok, and I want my kids to be able to recognize that and be willing to step up and make a difference. I think if you're willing to put forth the effort to make this a teaching moment (age appropriate for wherever your kids are maturity wise) this is a fine video. And that is just one of the many short stories compiled in this video.

Altho if you just tend to let your TV babysit your kids without much involvement then maybe this one would be a good one to skip...

[Later: After several more viewings, I'm still laughing at details I'd missed: each little film bristles with non-stop action and humor--much of it too subtle or quick to be caught the first time around--and that's, to quote the title of one such gem, "Snow Foolin." The humor, moreover, is consistent with the emphasis throughout on "making the most of what you already have"--in other words, on "inventiveness" (in short supply compared to the "creativity" claimed these days on every child's behalf). Kids love "transformer" toys, and this collection offers them in abundance--a continual morphing of the mundane into the magical (e.g. when a choral-director "hen" instructs all of us in the theater to follow the bouncing ball in the singing of "Jingle Bells," then discovers she has no ball. No problem; she quickly produces an unhatched egg--calling it a "chicken's suit"--and hatches arguably the most joyous 'Jingle Bells" on film. And when a coffee-serving turtle asks a shivering little bird why she didn't fly to Florida, she answers: "At these prices, who can afford it?" Yes, the films are educational, spiritual, and funny!}

As a fan of movies, musician, teacher, and a former collector of films--in 16mm and super-8 format, including Castle Films and classic movies from the Blackhawk Film Company in Davenport, Iowa--I'm somewhat shocked, dismayed, and even offended by some of the negative reviews and cursory, indifferent dismissals of this treasury of Christmas films, several of which were drawn by the master himself, the legendary Max Fleischer. Certainly the great director Martin Scorsese (...Read more ›