Discover the First Ever Christmas Movie, ‘Santa Claus,’ Made 126 Years Ago— It’s Only 76 Seconds Long!
Learn about the 1898 film, the groundbreaking techniques it used and where to watch it!
The holidays simply wouldn’t be complete without a cozy Christmas film, whether filled with romance or hilarious comedy. Maybe you enjoy viewing the Hallmark channel nightly, filled with new romance holiday films. From 1947’s Miracle On 34th Street to 2003’s Will Ferrell classic, Elf, and the more recent Hallmark creations, Christmas movies are what the winter season is all about.
But have you ever wondered when the magic of holiday movies began? Look no further, because we have all of the details on the very first Christmas movie ever made nearly 130 years ago!
The story behind the first Christmas movie ever created
In 1898, about 126 years ago, audiences in the United Kingdom received the first Christmas movie ever. Titled Santa Claus, this film is an extremely truncated version of today’s Christmas classics, but a holiday movie, nonetheless. The movie was created by George Albert Smith, only ten years after the very first motion picture was created and released by Louis Le Prince in 1888, which was a 2.1 seconds-long shot featuring a horse running.
Motion pictures continued to increase in length, with another famous one of a train coming towards the camera reaching 50 seconds by the Lumiere Brothers. Santa Claus wasn’t much different, as this motion picture is only a short 76 seconds. See the first-ever Christmas motion picture below:
The story of ‘Santa Claus’
Although many of today’s Christmas and holiday movies feature some of your favorite jolly tunes like “White Christmas” and “We Wish You A Merry Christmas,” Santa Claus was actually created in the era of silent films.
The film plays out the night of Christmas Eve, as two children check the chimney for Santa before heading to bed. Once they fall asleep, Santa appears and enters the home of the two children through their chimney. Thanks to the innovative technology of the time, we see Santa magically appear in the children’s room, where he fills their stockings with presents, and then waves goodbye before they awake on Christmas morning.
The girl in the picture is portrayed by Dorothy Smith, the boy by Harold Smith and the nurse by Laura Bayley, all of whom were related to creator George Albert Smith. Laura was married to Smith, while Dorothy and Harold were their children. Unfortunately, the part of Santa himself was uncredited to keep the magic of the jolly old fellow alive, so it is unknown who portrayed the main role.
Innovative film techniques used in ‘Santa Claus’
Considering Santa Claus is one of the earliest motion pictures ever created, it is no surprise that the director used techniques innovative at the time. In fact, Smith was one of the pioneers of the “parallel action,” which is the ability to show two scenes simultaneously. In Santa Claus, Smith uses this technique to show the children sleeping peacefully in their bedroom while Santa is climbing through the chimney on top of the house at the same time.
Smith also used a double exposure technique, which allowed Santa to “magically” appear and disappear quickly. The double exposure technique takes two images and combines them into one by exposing a single frame of film. Each of these techniques was hardly ever done before, so when they were used simultaneously in Santa Claus, the film became one of the most highly developed motion pictures of the time.
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