Their version of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas isn’t quite in the same league with those illustrious examples, but definitely worth repeated holiday viewing.  Filmed in traditional cell animation (ala Frosty) and not in their trademark stop motion, this special is loosely based on the traditional Clement Moore poem.  The familiar tale plays as the prologue and epilogue to the story of a town where people live side by side with mice (taken from the “not a creature was stirring” cue).  The town has been getting all their cards to Santa returned back due to derogatory statements published in the local paper by the son of the main mouse character.  In response, the town’s clockmaker proposes to build a large clock with a song that will show how much they still believe in Santa, convincing him to visit them on Christmas.  But then the same mouse kid accidentally wrecks the clock and all hope of appeasing Santa seems lost.  Not to spoil the plot here, but this being a kid’s Christmas special, it all ends well.  There are also a couple of memorable original Rankin/Bass songs in this one too; including “Christmas is Calling” and “Even a Miracle Needs a Hand.”  Overall this is a pretty good special, but probably got way overshadowed by The Year Without a Santa Claus, which also came out in 1974.  Hard to compete against those Miser brothers.  

 

The main problem some would have with this release is the abundance of prior reissues containing the very same program.  You could purchase this single “deluxe edition” of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas or spend about $8 less and get it as a double pack with Frosty’s Winter Wonderland.  Or spend about $8 more and get it as part of the 4 disc set of Classic Christmas Favorites with about 12 different holiday specials.  And the bonus features on this disc are horribly LAME.  The animated “comic book” looks more like a lazy, last minute, slapped together flash animation to fill space and make consumers think there’s more to this release than there is.  The folks at Warner Home Video should be ashamed at themselves for releasing such a bare bones product at such a high price point for only about 1/2 hour worth of content.

 

Bottom line, if you don’t already have a version of this show then you should probably own a copy.  And if you already have one of the prior editions, then there is no need for you to invest any further.  And since there are more cost effective versions with this special on it, you should just skip this one unless it goes on major discount on those after Christmas sales.