Product Details

• Actors: Tennessee Ernie Ford, Eddie Albert, John Gary, Joanie Sommers, Paul Frees
• Directors: Arthur Rankin Jr., Jules Bass
• Writers: Romeo Muller
• Producers: Arthur Rankin Jr., Jules Bass
• Format: Animated, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Vision Video
• VHS Release Date: August 18, 1998
• Run Time: 25 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0307141985
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,634 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thanksgiving Holiday fun from Rankin/Bass, July 14, 2003

By	microjoe - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This is a Thanksgiving tale that begins with the ship Mayflower being caught up in a big storm. A churchmouse named William tells the story from a mouses viewpoint. He begins with the decision by the pilgrims preacher to move to America, and the packing of the Mayflower. A disaster at sea threatens to sink the ship, but William the pilgrim mouse has an idea to save the ship. The pilgrims land safely and write the Mayflower Compact. They begin to build their new colony and church, but it is already Fall and they do not have enough food stored. The winter is so harsh and food so limited that many pilgrims do not live through the winter. The pilgrims learn to plant crops in the Spring, and in the Fall celebrate with a big feast, the first Thanksgiving. William also scuttles a plan to blame the Indians for an attack on the pilgrims.

Romeo Muller who wrote/adapted the Rudolph special and others wrote this story. Maury Laws who did such a good job with the music on the other specials wrote the music for this one, while Jules Bass wrote the lyrics. The songs include "Elbow Room" about the tight conditions on ship, A song by Priscilla called "When He Looks at Me", a love song between John and Priscilla called "Time Stands Still" which is reprised with the arrival of Spring. The Pilgrims sing "This Land was Meant to be Free", while they are full of hope and building a new church and village. Kids love this film, and it has a wonderful ending.

This 1 hour TV special originally aired on NBC on November 23, 1968. It is done in traditional cel animation. The tale is narrated and sung by Tennessee Ernie Ford, Captain Standish is voiced by Eddie Albert, Priscilla is voiced by Joanie Summers. Four different characters are are performed by the famous voice artist Paul Frees, including Captain Jones, Smiling Buzzard, Quizzler, and Scurv.

This was produced by Rankin/Bass Studios, who were in high demand due to the success of their 1964 stop motion hit, "Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer". After Rudolph their next holiday special was "Cricket on the Hearth" in 1967, a traditional cel animated feature, then the Mouse on the Mayflower the following year. In addition to Rudolph the studio made over 35 TV specials, of which about 19 are holiday specials. Some of the others include Year without a Santa Claus, Nestor the Long Eared Donkey, The Little Drummer Boy, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Coming'to Town, Here Comes Peter Cottontail, Cricket on the Hearth, the Stingiest Man in Town, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, A Christmas Tree, Pinnochio's Christmas, Rudolph's Shiny New Year, the First Easter Bunny, The Easter Bunny is Coming'to Town, Leprechauns Christmas, The First Christmas, and Frosty's Winter Wonderland. They also made non-holiday films such as the Hobbit; Flight of Dragons; Mad Monster Party, & the Last Unicorn. It is incredible that one company is responsible for all those TV specials, which are 95% of the ones broadcast every year. Their studio's work includes standard animation, stop-motion animagic, and live action. They really are a huge part of our pop culture history. I hope this comes out on a restored DVD soon, I have bought all the other Rankin/Bass that has been released on DVD.

The publishing rights to most of the Rankin/Bass catalog of films is currently owned by Little Golden Books, and they have begin the long and expesive process of preserving and restoring the original films, and releasing them on DVD. They have done a great job with the other films, some that look as good as they did when they were made. They even restored missing footage to Rudolph. Theyhave been adding extra features and behind the scenes featurettes to the DVD's as well, and creating some very nice box sets.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Holiday Classic, November 8, 2000

By	Danica Love (Fayetteville, NC USA) - See all my reviews

For as long as I can remember, this movie came on TV every Thanksgiving. A few years ago, they stopped playing it. Unaware of that, I looked for it on TV every Thanksgiving. I was very upset when I was unable to find it. Finding it here was a blessing. It has been a few years since I have seen it, but the feelings it invokes in me are the same as they were when I was a child. There aren't very many Thanksgiving movies out there, and this has become a classic in my household. My sisters love it, I love it, and my 15 month old son loves it. I can't imagine a Thanksgiving without it!!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fun Historical Movie, November 25, 1999

By A Customer

This was a movie I enjoyed watching as a young person. It is a lot of fun with Tennessee Ernie Ford doing the songs and the narration. It helps children to learn about how the Pilgrims came to America & the hard times they had. I gave this video to my niece & nephew & they love the movie.