Santa Claus: Deluxe Collector's 2023 Edition

"Santa Claus" is perhaps best known as a wonderful season five episode of "Mystery Science Theater 3000," and I certainly do recommend the MST3K version; this is the original dubbed into English. This film is a hilariously campy and surreal look at Christmas that serves to fill in lots of previously unknown facts about the jolly man in red. Did you know, for instance, that Santa's headquarters floats in the clouds above the North Pole? (Who lives in the other two castles we see floating nearby?) Did you know that Santa (José Elías Moreno) employs a multinational group of child laborers in his workshop? (Perhaps the elves' union wanted wages that were simply too high so their jobs got outsourced.) Most importantly, did you know that Santa had a vast intelligence gathering organization that helps him battle the devil and his minions directly? Here Satan sends Pitch (José Luis Aguirre,) the comic relief devil to battle Santa largely over a trio of Mexican boys and a relentlessly cute little girl, Lupita (Lupita Quezadas.) Lupita resists evil by not stealing a doll, but the boys give in to their baser instincts and devise a variety of ridiculous plans to interfere with Santa. There's also a story of the importance of parental love, which Santa is able to induce in the life of a rich boy by impersonating a waiter and making his parents a cocktail that apparently contains dry ice.If all this makes you go "Huh?" you are not alone. Santa's creepy mechanical reindeer (which laugh maniacally and turn to dust if they stay out too late,) the ultra-creepy dance of the two-faced dolls (mostly edited from the MST3K version,) the dance of the devils, and a guest appearance by Merlin the Magician (Armando Arriola) who is allied with Santa in the fight against good and evil will ensure you rapidly progress from "Huh?" to "What the...?!?" All this is secondary to my very favorite feature of the film, and that's the singing. Santa himself sings occasionally, and the scene of him singing as if he was possessed during the sleigh loading procedure is priceless. Despite Santa's badly dubbed songstering, the most entertaining thing in the movie is in the first ten minutes of the film when Santa introduces different nationalities of children helping him in his "international toy factory." The kids sing a song (or do a dance) somehow vaguely connected with their ethnicity or nationality with astounding and mesmerizing effect. I was particularly amused by the entries from China and the U.S.A., but the entry from Japan is in a league by itself for harmonic discord and features a note previously undiscovered by musical historians (you'll see why.)I love this movie: it has horrible production values, is terribly dubbed, features lots of strange gadgets (I particularly like the eyeball on an extendible stalk and the ear on an oscillating fan,) and has one of the most bizarre plots of any movie ever, and is neck-and-neck with "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" (also highly recommended) for weirdest Christmas movie in history. The acting is terrible, the performances are truly over the top (especially from Pitch and Santa,) but this copy has beautiful color (far better than the MST3K print) and could not be more fun to watch. I highly recommend "Santa Claus" for fans of B-movies of any generation. Make watching it a Christmas tradition!

To some people, this is a weird trip that is only entertaining from the Mystery Science Theater 3000 riffing group, or with friends to joke about. To me, this is a Christmas tradition that I watch every year. It brings me a sense of joy that others cannot match. I love this film. Genuinely. Not just as a guilty pleasure, but as a real movie.

This DVD brings back memories

Seriously goofy, whacked-out Spanish language, Mexican made Christmas tale of Santa versus a devil called Pitch. This cracked fairy tale begins with Santa and his workshop in the clouds, not the North Pole. His neighbors on nearby clouds are Merlin the magician and Vulcan the iron forger. Instead of elves as his helpers, Santa has kids from around the globe. Wait till you see the kiddie parade of nations. It is a very poor man's version of Disney's It's a Small World. The African contingent alone could set back race relations a million years. The story is about Santa wanting every child to be good and Pitch the devil trying his worst to make children be bad. The dance number in Pitch's hoary netherworld home has to be seen to not be believed. Great so bad it's good film. The MST3K folks riffed the English-dubbed version and that was great. This VCI release is good quality and the transfer is fine and the color is great. Recommended for fans of bad films

Funny classic Christmas story. More of a cult following type of movie. We have it in English and Spanish.

Jose Elias Moreno(El Padrecito, Reportaje) played many tough, tequila-drinking, macho men in Mexican movies. Moreno plays jolly old Saint Nick in Santa Claus(1959), a bizarre, Christmas/family movie from 1950's Mexico. K. Gordon Murray looped the film in English and released it in the United States of America in 1960. The only part of the film that's still in Spanish are the songs! Fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 are familiar with this film!"Don Knotso"! "Los Lobos?"Santa Claus plans on delivering toys to good children in the world. A demonic sprite called Pitch/Precio wants to ruin Christmas by corrupting children! This Mexican film takes liberties with the Santa Claus mythos. He has children as helpers instead of elves and Santa lives in outer space! Also, Merlin the Wizard gives him gadgets for his trip to Earth! Cesareo Quezadas 'Pulgarcito' plays Pedro, one of Santa's helpers. He was a bratty boy in Angelitos Del Trapecio(1959) and Marisol's friend in Ha Llegado un Angel(1961). Antonio Diaz Conde(Quinceanera) does a good job writing music for the film. He adapts many traditional Christmas songs. If you're willing to watch a strange, bizarre Christmas film, this is for you!

Greatest Santa Claus movie ever made.Weird & Wonderful, it wowed me the first time I saw it, and now it's as much a holiday tradition around here, as Rudolph, a Charlie Brown Christmas, and The Grinch.Foreshadows things like Pee Wee's Playhouse by almost 30 years.

I enjoyed the Santa Claus movie. However,I did not noticed when I order the DVD, it was translated to the English language instead of Spanish. I am trying to teach my children Spanish by showing them all of the movies that I saw as a child. My children enjoyed the movie!!!

Excelente película, se ve bien y esta en español!

I saw this Mexican movie (in french, mind you) 3 years consecutive when i was about 6.No need to tell you how crushed i was when they stopped playing it. I tought it has disapeared from existence. The flashback when i saw it for sale was immense.This movie is in the same line as Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. The production is slightly better ( yeah right !) it doesnT seems to having being made so bad on purpose. Their's too many politically incorrect things in this movie to mention them all here.( just a hint... the elves are actually kids. This is wrong in so many ways.)The cover you see is actually the real one, at least the picture is from the movie. When i receved my copy, i was a little puzzled. The cover was just a generic Santa Claus close-up shot of some guy completely unrelated to the movie, I tought it was the wrong movie!If you are a parent, watch it first before sitting your kid in front of the TV, the oppening scene is in HELL ( i'm not making this up!) and a little disturbing. The rest is pretty harmless beside the fact that their's a minion of Satan giving Santa troubles for an hour and a half.Somebody told me that a red devil was common in mexican nativity sets and part of the folklore.Interesting.

Realmente me complació mucho encontrar esta película en BluRay, ya que desde que era niño la veía sin falta cada que pasaba por T.V abierta. Ahora que tengo 27 años sigo disfrutándola con mis sobrinitos, y que mejor que visualizarla con una calidad de audio y video restauradas (se mira muy bien en una pantalla de 65")Viene con audio y subtítulos en español e inglés, y el disco trae algunos extras que aún no he visto. Sin dudarlo les recomiendo esta edición, no se defraudarán de su calidad

Llego antes de lo previsto excelente servicio con Amazon blue ray de colección santa claus tengo más de 20 años que veo este clásico. Excelente calidad de audio y video 100% recomendado. Lo mejor está en idioma español el clásico de tv mexicana. Muchas gracias amazon.

Fsk 12 ??? Kein Kind schaut diesen Film freiwillig,es sei denn sie sind im alter für Kasperltheater. Ansonsten ist der Film nur nervend,vor allem die Stimmen.