Santa Claus (1898)

Santa Claus is a short silent movie from 1898 directed by George Albert Smith and starring Laura Bayley, Dorothy and Harold Smith and an unknown actor as Santa Claus.

Plot
It is Christmas Eve and a nurse puts two children to bed and turns off the lights. While they are sleeping, Santa Claus arrives on the house's rooftop, carrying a small Christmas Tree, and proceeds to descends the chimney. Once in the children bedroom, he puts presents in their stockings, blesses them and disappears. As soon as he is gone, the children awaken and proceed to empty their stockings, full of joy.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It is historically relevant, as it currently is the first known Christmas movie and Holiday movie in existance, possibly the actual first one ever.
 * 2) Since it represents a narration of events, it differs greatly from the majority of late-1890s movies, which were documentaries or staged documentaries.
 * 3) It represents the first known example of the technique known as parallel action, which means cross-cutting repeatedly between two or more actions taking place respectively in two or more places in order to give the viewer the feeling that they are taking place simultaneously.
 * 4) It represents one of the earliest examples of double exposure, which means showing two different scenes on screen at the same time by superimposition. This particular technique is used when we see the dark children bedroom and, in a circle in the dark, what Santa is doing on the rooftop at the same time.
 * 5) The implement of special effects is functional and gives the whole movie a magical feeling, like when the nurse turns off the lights and everything except the bed becomes pitch black and Santa Claus disappearing.
 * 6) It is a document in itself since it probably shows us the most common way Santa Claus, which remains an important folkloristic character nowadays, was depicted at the end of the 19th century.
 * 7) Given this movie was filmed in 1898, the mere fact it survived in really decent conditions is an amazing thing in itself.

Reception
While reception from the period the movie was released in are unknown, the movie is nowadays praised for its use of the afore-mentioned techniques and special effects. Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline called it "one of the most visually and conceptually sophisticated British films made up to then."

Video
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