Product Details

• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Arts Alliance Amer
• DVD Release Date: October 11, 2005
• Run Time: 30 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000GDH8UQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #87,344 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Arts Alliance America Release Date: 06/21/2006

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Christmas Classis for 1960's East Coasters, November 30, 2006

By 

Moneysaver4u "moneysaver4u" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spirit of Christmas (DVD)

I remember watching "The Spirit of Christmas" around Christmas time in the 1960's while growing up in Philadelphia. We looked forward to watching it each year. When this special was shown, I loved watching the Norelco Electric Razor commercial* of Santa sliding up and down snow covered hills. Especially when we had tons of our own snow right outside of our windows for us to play in the next day.

I've been living on the West coast since 1969 and caught the tail end of this classic in 1995. I saw it was sponsored by The Bell System company and contacted them. They graciously sent me a free copy on VHS that also includes The Nativity story. I received it the day before Thanksgiving. It was a shear joy to see it again after so many years.

I thought it was only shown on the East coast, but a friend said that he remembers seeing it while growing up in California during the 1980s. (?)The VHS tape I have also has an intro from a blind institute showing volunteers making Braille Christmas books with stuffed Santas and reindeers on the pages for blind children.

I would say, buy it for your kids that are younger than six and only show them the classic once a year during Christmas. That way they will anticipate seeing it and will have fond memories of this great and wonderfully simple telling of the story, "The Night Before Christmas." Especially compared to what is available now.

I'm looking forward to receiving this version on DVD. It is mentioned that it was taken from Mabel Beaton's original print.

As another treat, add the DVD Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel: An Opera Fantasy" (1954). It's available on Amazon. It's done with stop action puppetry. It's a great intro to Opera for children and fun to watch around Halloween and even Christmas.

[...]

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Watch it within 1-2 days of Christmas, November 26, 2006

By 

W. Savage (Mechanicsburg, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spirit of Christmas (DVD)

This might be a bit slow for modern audiences, but for those old enough to remember this kind of show, it has a charm that today's digital animation could never duplicate. It's the kind of thing you should only watch on Christmas Eve, or maybe the night before, because it reminds me a lot of the programs they used to show on pre-cable TV the day or two right before Christmas, after a lot of the other stuff had already been aired in previous weeks. My main complaint about the presentation is that they took out the original Bell commercials, which is a shame because the introductions tease you about them and then don't deliver. However, it's fun to see the old Bell logo in the opening credits. (Bell sounds a lot more friendly than today's successors, by the way.) The Mabel Beaton interview is extremely slow -- grainy, with one camera, and she's up in years by the time it was done. But it does give you some insight into the whole puppeting process. I'd watch that once and stick to the Christmas specials yearly after that.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Oddity of Christmas, March 13, 2009

By 

Roy B. Harris II (Fayetteville TN & Palm Beach FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Spirit of Christmas (DVD)

This movie was shown at school on an old reel-to-reel projector when I was in the third and fourth grade (I'm half a century in age). There are two marionette shows: one, The Night Before Christmas and two, The Nativity. The Night Before Christmas is funny as this was produced at a time when marionettes still possessed a jerky type of movement; yet, no one can be blaise about the skill it took to produce a quality film. Surely the producer and the puppeteers were masters of their craft at the time. The Nativity is a sweet film that would be especially good for very young children. I still watch this film with the same intensity that I felt when I was watching it in our school auditorium. This is a cinematic jewel and only a Scrooge would discount the films value in terms of creative and clean entertainment. If you are NOT nostalgic for an old-fashioned Christmas, keep your money; however, if you have children or grandchildren....or, if you are a child at heart, buy this delightful film. It might even become a Christmas tradition in your home and in your heart.