The Little Drummer Boy (TV special)
The Little Drummer Boy is a stop motion television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions, based on the song of the same name. It was first televised in Canada on December 19, 1968, on the CTV Television Network, followed four days later by its American nationwide release on NBC. A sequel was broadcast in 1976.[1]
| The Little Drummer Boy | |
|---|---|
Official logo | |
| Genre | Christmas |
| Based on | "The Little Drummer Boy" Katherine Davis Jack Halloran |
| Written by | Romeo Muller |
| Directed by | |
| Starring | |
| Narrated by | Greer Garson |
| Theme music composer | Maury Laws |
| Country of origin |
|
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producers | |
| Cinematography | Takeo Nakamura (uncredited) |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production company | Rankin/Bass Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | CTV Television Network NBC |
| Release | December 19, 1968 |
| Related | |
| The Little Drummer Boy, Book II | |
Plot edit
A Jewish boy named Aaron lives a peaceful life on a farm with his parents and three animals – a donkey named Samson, a lamb named Baba, and a camel named Joshua. Aaron is given a drum on his birthdays, which makes the animals dance with joy when he plays it. One night, bandits attack the farm and kill Aaron's parents. Aaron survives, but is left emotionally scarred and vows to hate all mankind. Aaron's drumming abilities catch the attention of Ben Haramed, who kidnaps him and makes him join the caravan with rather inept performers against his will. When performing in Jerusalem, Aaron becomes infuriated by the townspeople's amusement and lashes out at the townspeople, accusing them of being thieves and knaves.
Some time later, the troupe comes upon the Magi caravan who are following a bright star in the sky. Seizing his chance, Ben greedily attempts to perform for the Magi, but they are uninterested as they try to make haste to get to the star's destination. One of the caravan camels becomes too weak to continue traveling and the Magi has no extra camel, so Ben seizes Aaron and bargains with them that they use Joshua in exchange for some of their gold, but Aaron refuses to take any gold from Ben and leaves for Bethlehem with Samson and Baba. Later Aaron and his two remaining animal companions Samson and Baba escape, climb the tallest hill and join up with the Magi as they follow the star and then journey toward Bethlehem. There, upon recognizing Joshua and trying to reunite with him, Baba is struck by a Roman chariot. Aaron takes the injured lamb to the Magi to be healed, but they insist that maybe the baby can help. Having no gift to give to the baby, Aaron decides that his "gift" to Him and His parents will be his playing his drum for them. As a sign of gratitude, Baba is healed and rushes into Aaron's arms, filling Aaron's heart with joy at last.[2]
Voice cast edit
- Greer Garson as "Our Storyteller"
- Teddy Eccles as Aaron
- Jose Ferrer as Ben Haramad
- Paul Frees as Ali, Aaron's father, Three Kings
- June Foray as Aaron's mother
- The Vienna Boys' Choir singing the title song.
Reception edit
The Little Drummer Boy received an approval rating of 75% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on thirteen reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "The Little Drummer Boy is a mature addition to the Rankin-Bass catalogue, with a powerful conclusion that compensates for the special's dour storytelling and unpolished animation."[3]
50th Anniversary Restoration problems edit
In 2018 the film was to be restored for it's 50th Anniversary but Classic Media discovered that the original 35mm elements were missing. A 16mm print was located, but this print had extra fade outs, sometimes in the middle of a scene, for additional commercial breaks. In addition to this the End Credits were missing. A cheap correction job was done by freezing the last image of 16mm film, which is the Star of Bethlehem, and tacking on a mute Rankin-Bass logo. This version still clocks in at 25:30 which would be the correct running time, so possibly the credit graphics were not superimposed on the 16mm print used.
1976 sequel edit
In 1976, Rankin/Bass produced a sequel, titled The Little Drummer Boy, Book II, again sponsored by the American Gas Association. It premiered on December 13, 1976, on NBC, and like its predecessor, has also aired on Freeform and separately on AMC as of 2018.[4] Warner Bros. is the show's current distributor through their ownership of the post-September 1974 Rankin/Bass Productions library via Telepictures.[5] In this sequel, written by Jules Bass (under the pseudonym Julian P. Gardner), Aaron and his animal friends team up with Melchior, one of the Magi, to protect silver bells, made to ring for Christ's arrival, from a band of greedy Roman soldiers.[6] Warner Archive released The Little Drummer Boy Book II, in a collection called Rankin/Bass TV Holiday Favorites Collection.
Voice cast edit
- Greer Garson as Our Storyteller
- Zero Mostel as Brutus
- David Jay as Aaron
- Bob McFadden as Plato
- Ray Owens as Melchior
- Allen Swift as Simeon and The Soldiers
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 169. ISBN 9781476672939.
- ^ "The Little Drummer Boy". 19 December 1968 – via www.imdb.com.
- ^ "The Little Drummer Boy". Rotten Tomatoes.
- ^ "AMC Presents Its Largest Slate Of Holiday Programming With "AMC Best Christmas Ever"". 8 November 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
- ^ "The Little Drummer Boy Book II". 13 December 1976 – via www.imdb.com.
- ^ "Movie Reviews". The New York Times. 24 December 2017.