Product Details

• Actors: Marlo Thomas, Roddy McDowall
• Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Classic Media
• DVD Release Date: September 5, 2006
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000G6BLE2
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #22,674 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Lost Christmas Classic

A delightful, animated musical version of Charles Dickens’ classic tale, A Cricket on the Hearth, tells the story of a poor toymaker and his daughter whom a helpful Cricket named Crocket befriends on Christmas morning. When tragedy strikes the family, it’s Crocket who comes to the rescue and restores peace and happiness.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Glad this is out on DVD...A RANKIN/BASS TV Special!, October 10, 2006

By	Richard J. Goldschmidt "Rick Goldschmidt" (Oak Lawn, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

The cover looks nice BUT Should say A RANKIN/BASS Classic at the top BUT CLASSIC MEDIA and SONY WONDER continue to package the RANKIN/BASS catalog in a very generic way (NOT sure why, it only hurts sales). Anyway, this was originally a 1967 TV Special, which features a very nice LIVE introduction and closing by DANNY THOMAS. Not one of the better Cel Animated RANKIN/BASS specials BUT not bad either. The soundtrack is enjoyable and it is GREAT to hear MARLO THOMAS work with her dad. For this price, I definitely recommend it to any RANKIN/BASS fan!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Murderous Christmas Special, June 22, 2008

By	Michael Arnold "Arnomation" (East Coast) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Like most people I'd never seen this special (though being a Rankin & Bass fan I knew of it) and as it was included in the collection I was finally able to see it. I have to say though, that it's not difficult to understand why it has rarely been seen since it's release. Unlike the rest of the Rankin & Bass specials, this one somehow looks dated and doesn't quite have the charm of the rest of their efforts. I don't think the character design was the best they'd ever done either. It was good up to a point and had some good music for the kids so I won't give it a zero but I didn't find it all that interesting and what happened next totally turned me off to it forever.

About halfway through, there is a scene (which I can't understand why it wasn't cut or wasn't changed in some way) that I was very, very disappointed to see. At one point the cricket is kidnapped by the typical bad-guy henchman and delivered to a sea captain and when they ask to be paid the sea captain says "I have your payment right here' and pulls out a gun and murders them!!! Bang! Bang! Bang! Are you kidding me??? I couldn't believe what I was seeing!!! They don't actually show it but you see a long shot of the boat and the flashes from the gun muzzle. Unbelievable.

I can't tell you how uncomfortable it is on Christmas Eve trying to explain what just happened to your two young children who were expecting to see a nice Christmas video with their parents. If you like that sort of thing then give it a look but we won't be watching 'The Cricket On The Hearth' in our house anytime soon.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars My child was crying!!!, November 23, 2008

By	Alex G. "Luv Happiness" (San Antonio, Texas) - See all my reviews

I was very dispointed with this video. It had great potential at first being rankin-bass and voiced with Danny and Marlo Thomas, but that was until the gunshot murder scene took place on the ship which made my 4 yr old cry. Never watching it again.