The Pups' Christmas (1936) User Reviews

Very cute

[CuriosityKilledShawn · 6/10 · 5 December 2012]

This wonderfully-animated, full-color cartoon from 1936 would no doubt have been a pleasure to watch in cinemas back in the day. It's amazing to see color animation from this early period, especially with a style that hasn't really dated at all.

Two pups follow the kids downstairs on Xmas morning and curiously sniff around the presents only to be terrorized when some of them have a mind of their own, for some unexplained reason. That's about it really, but it's quaint seeing what presents kids were satisfied with back then without Galaxy S4s or whatever.

Very cosy. And worth watching.

The Pups' Christmas is another amusing Harmon-Ising cartoon from M-G-M

[tavm · 7/10 · 13 December 2008]

Just watched this Hugh Harmon-Rudolf Ising Happy Harmonies M-G-M cartoon short on YouTube. It's Christmas Day and the kids and their two puppies have woken up and opened the presents. Among them: a train with tracks provided, a doll that says "Momma", a calico dog, a tank, and an airplane. It's the former that "shoots" at the pups and the latter that gets in the former's way. Those scenes provided most of the humor of this short which mainly relied on the cuteness of the pups' actions. Since Harmon-Ising (harmonizing, get it?) got their start with Walt Disney, that cuteness factor was not very surprising to me. With all that said, The Pups' Christmas was another amusing cartoon that I'd say is worth a look for any vintage animation buff out there.

Cute

[utgard14 · 6/10 · 26 December 2013]

Slight but cute Christmas cartoon from Harman-Isling. This is about a couple of puppies who follow the kids down to open presents on Christmas morning. It's basically a series of bits where the pups are frightened by each of the toys and generally make a mess. These kids must have been from a rich family because that's a lot of presents, especially for 1936. Anyway, it's treacly stuff but pleasant and innocent. I would assume it was aimed at pre-schoolers. I'm not sure about the movie-going habits of the 1930s and if people took kids that little to the movies or not. But I can't imagine this was aimed at older kids.

Beautifully Animated by the pro's at MGM

[cinema_universe · 7 January 2005]

A very traditional cartoon for it's time, and in that context it no doubt delighted the theater patrons who saw it on the big screen during the 1936 Christmas season.

I can understand how people who are into "The Simpson's", and/or other contemporary animation, might be easily bored, but the tiresome habit of constantly trying to measure the art and entertainment of a bygone era to today's commonplace output is specious and moot.

True, in it's own day, "The Pups' Christmas" does not have the type of high humor one might see in the great Porky Pig cartoons turned out by Warners, nor does it have the multi-faceted cleverness of Max Fleischer's 1930's Popeye & Betty Boop cartoons. However, it IS a beautifully animated piece, and it captures the mood of Christmas quite nicely.

Recommeded.

Cute Christmas

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 27 May 2023]

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. Rudolf Ising was a bit hit and miss for me, there are cartoons of his that are well worth watching with a lot of charm, well engineered gags and any sentiment not getting too much even when the story is weak. There are also other cartoons of his that are not particularly funny or interesting, dully paced and don't have great characters, despite good animation and music.

'The Pups' Christmas' is in neither extreme completely overall, but it has elements of both (luckily more the former hence the above average rating). Was not expecting an awful lot, as the story didn't sound that inspired and like there would be much funny with too much cutesiness. Having seen cartoons with relatively similar premises that have fallen into those traps. While 'The Pups' Christmas' is an uneven cartoon and may be easy to criticise for some, for me despite finding issues with it a large part of me just couldn't be too hard on it. Of the titular pups' cartoons, 'The Pups' Christmas' is the best and the festive setting has much to do with it, as well as that it is tighter in pace and has more interesting supporting characters.

It isn't perfect, with the biggest criticisms being the wafer thin and predictable story and how abrupt the gear change from the cute to the uneasily and jarringly dark the action becomes.

Also thought it took time to get going.

However, a lot is good. The animation is vibrantly colourful and fluid, with lovingly crafted and detail background art. Nothing looks rushed or static. Even better, and this is probably the best aspect of 'The Pups' Christmas', is the music, it is lushly orchestrated and very characterful in an energetic way.

Furthermore, it is very charming and didn't feel too cute in the first half or too sugary. The titular pups are very loveable and the gags, while never hilarious, are at least well timed and amusing. The festive atmosphere is also well done, with a real heart-warming and sweet feel. The supporting characters/objects are very colourfully done in animation and personalities.

Concluding, uneven but well above average. 7/10.

cute and wholesome

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 30 December 2023]

It is Christmas morning and the kids sneak downstairs. They are followed closely by their two puppies. The kids begin opening their gifts. The pups are confronted by a stuffed dog toy. They continue to be confronted by all the different new toys.

It is a MGM Happy Harmonies cartoon. The kids look weird with their two pink circle cheeks. It looks like bad makeup. I guess that is the style of animation back in the day. The puppies are only cuteness. It's all very wholesome and very Christmas. It's a Harman-Ising cartoon. The big names in this one are Rudolf Ising, William Hanna, and James Tyer.

Mild kiddie fare with a dash of poison

[AnnieLola · 5/10 · 24 November 2018]

It's MGM with puppies, so you can be pretty sure of saccharine cuteness throughout-- and yet this rather unfocused piece turns uneasily dark... Two realistic small boys and their sister come downstairs on Christmas Eve to see what Santa's brought, followed by Black Pup and Brown Pup. Santa seems to have brought enough to stock an entire toy store and half a pet store as well! The pups react quite naturally when encountering all these new objects, and I thought Black Pup's bristling at a large stuffed dog particularly amusing in a mild way. The little girl exclaims over the new doll that says 'Mama', while the boys wind up a train, ride a trike, and then --fatefully-- wind up a toy tank, which brings it to conscious and malevolent life. At this point the cartoon seems to have been taken over by someone new; the children disappear, presumably having returned to bed, and leaving the pups in possession of the field. Brown Pup is discovered to have dismembered the 'Mama' doll, and manages to swallow the 'Mama' device, with consequent schtick. The vicious toy tank pursues and attacks anything that moves, murdering two other live toys-- where will it all end?

If you want a cartoon that will be enjoyable without being offensive

[stoutfam · 10/10 · 26 September 2009]

for your kids to watch, Harman and Ising can be an excellent choice. There is an innocence and humor in Pup's Christmas, Alias St. Nick, Peachy Cobbler that I don't see matched by anything on TV today. My grandchild asks me to put it in to play when she comes to visit and enjoys it very much. And wherever Peace on Earth is on this website, I cannot recommend it highly enough. Harman and Isisng appeal to a child's imagination. Compared to what is considered suitable cartoon fare(usually boorish, violent, and/or notable mostly for adult content aimed at children) today, this is far better in content, imagination, and artistry.

Looks like a much better formula than it eventually turns out to be

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 20 December 2018]

"The Pups' Christmas" is an American cartoon from 1936, so this one is already over 80 years old and it was directed by Rudolf Ising, perhaps already enough information for the hardcore film nerd to know that here we have a really old MGM movie. Voice actress Bernice Hansen was also among the stars of her generation in terms of non-visual acting. Well I said in the title of my review that the formula sound sgood, but then again it is up to you to decide if you think puppies and Christmas fit together. Certainly not as gifts. But maybe as those destroying all the gifts in their unlimited will for fun and running around. Sadly, while the animation was decent, I was not too impressed with everything else. It's basically the two puppies being undecided between barking at and running from toys that attract their attention and occasionally scare them even, like the little toy with more firepower than you'd expect. That one sure felt repetitive, I mean it had enough fun potential for one scene max, 10 seconds or so, but it was included oh so much during these eight minutes that the noise (more than the looks) became a bit irritating soon. A bit of a pity as I wanted to like this little film more than I eventually did and the puppies honestly also did not serve as well as I hoped they would in the cuteness department. All in all, not a film that will get you in the spirit really, mostly for really young audiences and I agree with the other reviewer that it is an innocent movie (although some hopeless people will find racism or so in here too), but innocent alone is not enough if the quality isn't there in terms of the comedic impact it is going to make for you. Watch something other instead.

It's Christmas, So Let's Be Charitable In Our Reviews

[boblipton · 5/10 · 30 December 2023]

Two puppies explore the house in the aftermath of gift-giving on Christmas in this Harman-Ising cartoon.

I have a great deal of trouble with the MGM cartoons of these two animators. They're usually highly moral fables about how you should always listen to mama, and the cuteness factor is amped up so high, I can't take it. My taste is for jokes and a lot of sarcasm, so I greatly prefer Warner Brothers cartoons from about 1937 through 1960, pre-Code Fleischer cartons, and Tex Avery cartoons. Here it's all cuteness, and that doesn't entertain me much.

Nonetheless, there's no arguing with the technical excellence of this cartoon, with its fine background art, excellent color design. And Scott Brady's spot-on score, quoting amiably from well-known songs to make its point. If you're looking for cuteness, how can you do better than a couple of flop-eared puppies? So it certainly succeeds in doing what it sets out to, even if it makes me think I should see about getting a prescription for insulin.

Have yourself a boring little Christmas

[Squonk · 31 March 1999]

"The Pups' Christmas" is one of those animated Christmas shorts that is low on humor, depending on cuteness to sustain it. The story concerns a bunch of kids and their puppies who sneak downstairs on Christmas Eve to see what Santa brought them. About midway through, it seems that the film makers couldn't decide whether to do a Christmas film with puppies or a toys come alive story. Both elements are used and neither works. A sequence involving an out of control toy tank shows promise, but it quickly fizzles out yet refuses to go away. The quality of the animation is about average. All around a pretty boring short.