Product Details

• Actors: Ann Altieri, Chris Doran, Sally Dryer, Bill Melendez, Karen Mendelson
• Directors: Bill Melendez
• Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: September 17, 1996
• Run Time: 25 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (197 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304209266
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #978 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #23 in	Video > Kids & Family > Holidays & Festivals > Christmas
  #24 in	Video > Classics > Kids & Family - Classics -
  #36 in	Video > Kids & Family > 10-12 Years

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This television classic features the Peanuts characters in the story of Charlie Brown's problematic efforts to mount a school Christmas pageant. Everybody's on board: Lucy, Snoopy, Schroeder, Pig-Pen, but the biggest impression is surely made by Linus, who stops the show with his recitation from the gospels of the story of Christ's birth. --Tom Keogh

From the Back Cover

What does it all mean, Charlie Brown? A scrawny tree thrives on a little love, helping that round-headed kid rediscover the Christmas message.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

91 of 102 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gunuine Christmas Classic For All Ages, November 14, 2001

By	T. W. Fuller (Wheeling, IL. USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Charlie Brown Christmas (DVD)

Perhaps the most endearing of all the Charlie Brown specials is "A Charlie Brown Christmas", the first in a long series of made for t.v. half hour films portraying the famous Peanuts Gang.

For almost forty years, watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas" has been an eagerly anticipated event for millions of households. I recall watching it as far back as twenty-two years ago, and have watched it every Christmas since.

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" was made in a time when commercialism was running rampant all over the country. Stores advertising to shoppers what they ought to buy, long before Thanksgiving had come and gone. Unfortunately, we still see this blatant commercialism today, which makes this short film so very poignant and all the more special.

Charlie Brown is assigned to direct the school Christmas pageant, much to his glee; for he feels accepted and worthy. When Lucy tells him to go out and get an alumminum tree, he takes Linus along with him. What Charlie Brown ultimately gets is a small, sickly looking tree, which is rapidly loosing its needles. But, Charlie can see how much the tree "needs him", somebody; something which he can identity with.

When he returns, he finds the gang dancing to un-Christmas like music, instead of rehearsing their lines. They stop to take a look at the tree he brought, immediately burtsing out in mocking laughter. Apparently Charlie Brown has failed again. In disgust and humiliation he flees, taking the tree with him. And when he comes upon Snoopy's dog house, all decked out in Christmas lights, not to celebrate the joyous holiday, but to win money in a contest, Charlie Brown has had enough, and almost loses all faith in Christmas.

Linus saves the day, somehow able to bring the tree back to life, and make it look much healthier and stronger. But it is when he explains the meaning of Christmas that the "gang" gets the point of Christmas, and what Charlie Brown was trying to do.

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" ends with newfound meaning for Christmas, hopefully not soon forgotten by either the Peanuts Gang, or, more importantly ... us.

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite Christmas special, January 14, 2004

By	Joe Sherry (Minnesota) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Charlie Brown Christmas (DVD)

I realize that I am writing this several weeks after Christmas, and this is a Christmas DVD, but this is the first year that I missed watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on television, so I rented the DVD. Ever since I was a little boy, this has been my favorite Christmas special, and one that I always looked forward to watching every year. I grew up reading the Peanuts comic strips and I grew up watching the Peanuts Christmas special.

Charlie Brown is depressed. He can't seem to get himself into the Christmas spirit. He doesn't like the commercialism of Christmas and scarcely knows the true meaning of Christmas. Lucy selects Charlie Brown to be the director of their Christmas play and he decides to get a Christmas tree for the production. The other kids tell him to get a "nice shiny aluminum tree, maybe a pink one", but Charlie Brown and Linus bring back a sad looking real tree. Charlie Brown is almost laughed out of the auditorium, but when he asks if anyone knows what Christmas is all about, Linus has the answer. Linus recites a passage from the Bible telling of the birth of Jesus. Charlie Brown is cheered and leaves with the tree. He tries to decorate the little tree, but even that is ruined. Linus and the gang follow behind, fix up the tree, and at the end, they show the true spirit of Christmas.

It is a sweet little Christmas special, filled with memorable moments that will always make me smile. The one thing that amazes me is that Charles Schulz was able to include Linus's speech near the end about the birth of Jesus. I don't imagine that would have been able to be included today, but I think the special is all the stronger for it. I have a hard time imagining that any new Christmas show will ever hold as special a place in my heart as "A Charlie Brown Christmas".

This DVD also includes "It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown" (1992). This Christmas feature is lacking the overall charm and emotion of the older special, but it has a lot more humor. It is also different from the first Christmas special in that this one is more a series of vignettes (perhaps based on Schulz's comic strips) than a complete story. There are sequences with Charlie Brown trying to sell Christmas wreaths before Thanksgiving, and of Sally rehearsing for a Christmas play. Sally's sole line is "Hark!", though I think she missed the rest of her lines where the herald angels sing. It is a cute cartoon, but ultimately it does not quite live up to "A Charlie Brown Christmas", but it my mind, nothing can live up to that one.

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remember aluminum Christmas trees from the '60s and '70s?, December 1, 2000

By	zeni "zenithomas" (Tennessee) - See all my reviews

There really were aluminum Christmas trees back then. There were also pink frosted trees with some really psychedelic decorations, too.

I've watched this every year since I was a child. I used to stare up at the TV while CBS played that "SPECIAL" graphic and music and then . . . there it was: The Charlie Brown Christmas special!

Now that I'm an adult, my schedule has almost made me miss the show each Christmas season. But now that I have the video, I will never miss it! A friend of mine even gave me the cassette of Vince Guaraldi's musical score to go along with it. Hooray!

I'm always touched by the message in the story. Christmas is too commercial. It pains me to see Christmas stuff in the stores before school starts, or to see commercials pandering to children so their parents can buy more stuff. But watching Charlie Brown and the gang reminds me of a simpler time.

Snoopy, with his gaudily decorated dog house, represents all that's commercial and greedy about Christmas. Charlie Brown tries to overcome that with his involvement in the school play and his search for the right Christmas tree to set the mood for the play cast members.

I love this show. I heard that ABC bought the rights away from CBS for all the Charlie Brown specials. But I'm glad I have my video copy so now I don't have to worry about whether it airs or not.