The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow

Ouch, lousy plothole! I should have known there’s always one around. What film did I land next to? Oh good, the first Christmas film! Wait, the title is what?

Well if Twas the Night Before Christmas was the weakest in Rankin Bass animation, then The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow is the weakest in Christmas Stop-motion. My family barely noticed this film when it’s on TV, so no channel change there. Every time I do see it, I always get to the end, but since that day in the late 90’s, it has been aired less and less on TV, and rarely seen on DVD in public. So I watched it entirely on youtube or dailymotion. I question how a film so bad?

A church with nuns including Sister Teresa (voiced by Angela Lanbury) was making Christmas card, when suddenly a shepherd boy named Lucas got struck by lightning and became blind.

Father Thomas (Voiced by Emperor Klockenlocken, Cyril Ritchard) has return to town, as the nuns’ exposit to him Lucas’ condition including being an orphan. Father Thomas has made the deadline that if Lucas doesn’t get better, he’ll be in an orphanage.

The last third of the film is mostly some bullies’ do a joke to hide the herd of sheep from Lucas, and who cares?

This is the first of the Rankin Bass style change for Christmas. It was first used in Easter Bunny Comin’ To Town, and I’m not a fan of this new style. Normally a character with solid black or any other colors would make a dead eye character. However, the effect is reverse here where the more detailed their eyes are, the more flat and dead they are. The mouth problems I covered already with The Little Drummer Boy Book II, so let’s move on. The scenery is and colorings are very dull brown. Not quite sepia, but it’s not as living as the other coloring as other Rankin Bass film. At least it has extent appeal of blue than the visuals of Clash of the Titams remake, the Dark World in Thor 2, etc.

          The best part is Angela Lansbury. She can act well and sing “White Christmas” best on par with Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, and Mr. Sassafras’ Danny Kaye. However, she’s really minor in this film. The runner-up is Cyril Richard, though he lost brownie points with the music, “Savor A Little Christmas” where everyone put away the decoration before Christmas. That felt wrong watching people putting Christmas away early that aren’t Grinch doing that. I know I have to do that this year, but I put the tree away from the apartment in North Carolina to my house in New Jersey to spend Christmas there one last time. However, those positives are minor compare to the negatives.

The kids are boring, and made worst is with Lucas, and he’s the main focus with little to no personality. There have been better blind characters than Lucas, and they’re usually blind fighters such as Toph from Avatar, Master Swoop from Power Rangers Jungle Fury, and maybe Daredevil not played by Ben Affleck. This might be the worst Rankin Bass Christmas film for being boring and forgettable. When their film is bad, they’re at least had something and/or someone, they have actual memories. Maybe this film is the reason why Rankin Bass would result into doing sequels, because they’re low on original films without connecting it to another. Why even give the First Christmas a subtext? If any film that deserve the title, it should be The First Christmas: The Little Drummer Boy.

The First Christmas isn’t much of a film to set my sight onto. May god strike me down if he disagrees with me!

*Lightning strike me down in smokes.*

Help me, Charles Dickens!