Sexylocher Masterful Movie

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

DipitySkillful an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Abegail Noëlle While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

SimonJack "Mrs. Santa Claus" is an enjoyable Christmas film that actually centers on Christmas. As a musical, it provides some entertaining songs by Jerry Herman. And it has a couple of good dance scenes. Especially good is the song, "We Don't Go Together." Of course, any musical to be great has to have very good or great singers - if not in the cast, then dubbed. While Angela Lansbury (as Mrs. Santa Claus) is a very good actress who can sing, she is far from a great singer. Several others in this film are just passable as vocalists. Only one person has a great voice - Debra Wiseman, who plays Sadie Lowenstein. The staging, costumes, and all technical aspects of this TV movie are superb. The plot is a good one, but it goes overboard in trying to cover all the big social issues in the U.S. of 1910. Women's suffrage, child labor laws, the great American melting pot and others have long histories. So, this plot plays with history and puts a sugar coating on the culture and mores of the time and place. For instance, women's suffrage began long before 1910. It's official birth was the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. And, it was ratified as the 19th amendment to the U.S. constitution in 1920. By 1910 it would not have been so strange or out of place to see Sadie Lowenstein on a soap box for women's rights - even (or especially) in Manhattan's East Village. One glaring error that caught my attention right away was in the suffrage parade. Several marchers held an unfurled U.S. flag above their heads. It had clear rows of six by eight stars, for a total of 48. But, the U.S. had just 46 states in 1910. The 47th and 48th states (New Mexico and Arizona) would become part of the Union in 2012. In its portrayal of the great melting pot of the U.S. and New York, especially, the film transposes 21st century American idealism on the 1910 culture. Yes, people in many neighborhoods of mixed backgrounds - ethnic and religious especially, lived together and got along. But many more of the time were segregated by neighborhoods and distinct ethnic communities. The song, "Avenue A," narrowed the location in Manhattan to the 13-block street in Manhattan's East Village.Without great singers and superb music, I won't rate any musical higher than eight stars. This is not a "West Side Story," or "The Sound of Music," or "Funny Girl," or "Show Boat, " or "Porgy and Bess," or "Easter Parade." But for the overcrowding of social issues and juggling of history in the screenplay, it would have earned those eight stars. It is an enjoyable Christmas musical.Here are a couple favorite lines from the film. Mrs. Santa Claus in the opening scenes says, "Oh, team, we've done it - 1910 is a record year."Santa Claus (Charles Durning), as he places a letter in an outbox marked "Naughty," says, "There's always the naughty ones with the bad handwriting."

capone666 Mrs. Santa Claus Mrs. Claus is childless because she was made from spare doll parts by Santa's elves.Nonetheless, this fantasy maintains she is much more than Santa's sex-doll.After a fight with her husband (Charles Durning) over new flight paths for Christmas 1910, Anna Claus (Angela Lansbury) steals his magic sleigh and heads to NYC. But when Cupid gets hurt, she is laid over in the Big Apple and must lodge with a poor family. While slumming it, Anna involves herself in important social issues of the time, including child labour laws and a woman's right to vote.Although this is a Hallmark television movie from 1996, it does, in some wacky way, deal with real world woes head-on. As well, it manages to finally give Santa's silently doting housewife a voice, and it's a dissenting one at that. Furthermore, if Santa were a woman she would knock before entering your house. Yellow Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

Mama-C Mrs. Santa Claus is absolutely delightful. It's styled like an old time Broadway Musical and perfect for all ages. My 90 year old mother-in-law and my 2.5 year old granddaughter adored it. It was actually written by a Jewish guy and the words & music were written by another Jewish guy (Jerry Herman who wrote the scores to Mame, Hello Dolly and La Cage aux folles). In addition to the wonderful score, it has Rob Marshall's choreography. The guy who plays the stable keeper is now playing Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys. It also features a young version of the daughter from Grounded For Life who has a fantastic voice. If you have kids, you may recognize Michael Jeter (Arvo) who plays Mr. Noodle on Elmo's World. Angela Lansbury plays Mrs. Santa Claus. There's a lot of talent and good entertainment there. It's now on my list of Christmas movies to watch each year. However, my granddaughter won't let me put it away just yet.

zbornak I, like so many people, never knew for the longest time that Angela Lansbury could do anymore than show up at dinner parties where people would soon be killed. But this delightful Christmas flick, scored by Jerry Herman, who wrote music for two of Lansbury's Tony-winning roles, has everything a terrific holiday classic needs. First of all, Lansbury's portrayal of the bored Mrs. Claus reeks of charm as we see the type of woman we all wish was our grandmother. There is never a dull moment with her on the screen, and her renditions of the very catchy songs Herman so vividly wrote are superb! The rest of the cast is likewise wonderful, complimenting the "Almost Young" La Lansbury's every move. Of course, they never get a scene on her, but they add a nice background for a presence like herself. The only disappointment is the waste of Charles Durning's talents as Santa Claus. He appears very bland as the allegedly Jolly Old Saint Nick and seems to make Santa depressing. But, luckily, this movie is about his wife and he has maybe 10 minutes total of film time. If you like Christmas and you like musicals, you will adore and treasure this movie for years to come.