Santa's Workshop (1932)

Admirable film.

A different way of telling a story

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

"Santa's Workshop" is another really old Silly Symphony from Walt Disney. The master himself appears as voice actor in here and so does the legendary Pinto Colvig. Director is Wilfred Jackson, who also made many many of these 7-minute short films. Some of the action takes place in the snow here, especially towards the end, but the toy shop sequence is when this movie really shines. The music is very good too from start to finish. Wild, but not over-the-top and perfectly adjusted to what we see. The animation is of course not too mind-blowing, but keep in mind that this is over 80 years ago. For the early 1930s, it's actually really good. And there is no denying its traditional charm. I enjoyed the watch. It is not among Disney most or least famous short film works, but definitely worth checking out, especially now with Christmas approaching. May get you in the spirit. Thumbs up.

This is the sort of Disney film that played very, very well back in the day but today it would certainly not be received so warmly. This short is a snippet of the North Pole and Santa's workshop. It has little in the way of actual plot and mostly consists of singing and cuteness. Today, it would probably be seen as very saccharine and bland. Additionally, there are some unnecessary but typical racial stereotypes that will offend today but were considered perfectly normal back in the day. So, with all this going against it, why do I give this a 9? Well, the animation is simply gorgeous and it's in full Technicolor-- and nothing from any of the rival studios of the day came close when it came to quality. It simply looks great. Worth seeing even today but not up to the standards of many of the other Disney shorts of the day in regard to story.

I have always had a soft spot for this cartoon, part of the always hugely enjoyable Silly Symphonies animated shorts. It shows Santa and his helpers working hard on Christmas Eve, and like most commentators have said it is certainly very interesting. Santa himself, and I still confess I still believe in him, is presented as a jolly old man with a hearty laugh that was very pleasurable to the ear. The animation, considering it was made in the 30s is surprisingly good, with a nice quality to it. The short does get a little too silly at times, some of the rhyming dialogue is very inspired but rather absurd; the description of Billy Brown not washing behind his ears for seven years is quite disgusting. But what I loved most about Santa's workshop is its imagination. I adored the toy's march to Schubert's famous Marche Militaire, which is also featured in the short when Chip and Dale give Donald Duck a hard time on Christmas, to be seen on the video, Jiminy Cricket's Christmas. About Marche Militaire, I believe it was originally written for two pianos, but I will say I prefer the orchestral arrangement, it has a certain liveliness to it. Another piece I felt the same about was the Tocatta and Fugue by Bach, used in Fantasia, that was very menacing with an orchestra. Overall, a delightful short, very fun to watch. 9/10 Bethany Cox.

Just watched this, a Walt Disney Silly Symphony, on YouTube. It's the first of two Disney cartoons that star Santa Claus (the other one was The Night Before Christmas). He checks his list which one of his elves monitor in a book that reveals each child's behavior. When one of the children is revealed to not have "washed behind the ears for seven years", Santa decides to add soap to this boy's long list of presents. Highly musically entertaining with some amusing gags like someone using a spider to scare some of the dolls' hair in an upright position and someone else painting exact checker squares in one fell swoop on a board. There's also one politically incorrect blackface doll that says, "Mammy!" to Claus that may be considered offensive today but was considered a highly amusing reference to then-star Al Jolson. Since it only lasts a few seconds, I don't think any harm is done. This was quite an entertaining animated short that I highly recommend to any animation fan especially Walt Disney completists. Children should enjoy this too.