I wanted to but couldn't!

How sad is this?

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

When IMDb was in its youth, before there was an I Need to Know Board, they had "Ask the Experts" they tried but failed to answer a question my wife wanted answered. It's been 20 years but the gist was: "It was live action, but there was a character who looked something like Jiminy Cricket and at the end the children brought money and saved Christmas." When the boards started at IMDb, this was one of the first questions asked - it was on the half page of posts that had been submitted - but again, no one knew what it was. Thank goodness MST3K had it in the revival! As soon as I saw the evil landlord setup and the lawyer who one could see as looking like Jiminy Cricket, I was 99% sure this was it. When the kids came through - 100%. She has since passed and I have remarried, but I'm glad I finally figured out the movie that she liked.

My parents always had me watch this when I was little. My mom had seen it at the local movie theater back in the early 60's when she was a kid, and had loved it very much. Needless to say, I always did too. My entire family did. Everyone's experience of a movie is different, but for me I will say this is touching and sweet that has a lot of heart and happiness. Sounds a little cheesy but yeah, it's true. You can't say it has amazing special effects, but who cares. And you can't say that it isn't a little odd, but again, who cares? It has, for me, been at the heart of every Christmas. The actors in it are fabulous. The man playing Santa Claus. Well.If I believed in the man, it would be him. And the most touching part is at the very end. Wait and see. It's really a special film. P.S. Lovely soundtrack too.

Back when HBO was in it's infacy, every year at Christmas they would show this wonderful film, I just saw it again recently and it hasn't lost any of it's charm after all these years.You know the basic storyline: Phineous T. Prune hates Santa for some reason and wishes to stop Christmas, and he has the way and the means to do so, for he holds the deed to the North Pole, so in other words: he's Santa's landlord! And if Prune can evict Santa for non payment of rent, Christmas will be no more!!! But Santa gets help from the one source he knows he can count on: Sam Whipple, an attourney who always says "Why can't every day be Christmas?" and the two team up to try to stop Prune. Will Sam and Santa find the way to pay the rent, or will Prune win, thus ending Christmas altogether? The one thing that has remained with me through the years of seeing CTAW was not only the songs, or the sentimentality of the film, or even the effect of Santa's sleigh (these days, it looks cheap but brings back memories) is that Santa is human, and therefore has human traits. This will become apparent in the last few minutes of the film, and that anyone can forgive another person, for any reason.If you have never seen this film, go out and seek a copy and see it. It's 90 minutes of Christmas joy you could make a yearly tradition.

I remember seeing this film for the first time when I was a kid on cable many years ago....I just loved it! Younger children will especially enjoy the plot of Santa needing money to pay the rent (altho we're never told how much), "tightwad" Phineas T. Prune (Mr. Whipple, to Mr. Prune: "The "T" stands for "tightwad!"") and the wonderful ending! It was on Showtime a few years ago but that's the last I saw of it. If you can, catch it and enjoy! For those who watched it as a kid as I did, it's a real treat!