Up till the 1970s many cinemas in the UK had a children's Saturday morning show.This would tend to comprise of a couple of shorts and a feature.Now sometimes this feature would be a western with Roy Rogers or a comedy by Laurel & Hardy.Sometimes it would be a feature by the Children's Film Foundation.This was an organisation which was I recall financed by the National Film Finance Company.The leading roles were always played by children.Some went on to a career as an adult such as Dennis Waterman.The adult actors appeared for scale.Directors at a loose end also worked for scale and included the likes of Michael Powell.Some of these films are now being shown on Talking Pictures and are quite entertaining.
9 Reviews
Another CFF Time Capsule
nigel_hawkes25 December 2022
Hugely enjoyable and brisk-moving this 1966 tale is in the classic B&W CFF tradition-3 resourceful kids-a little 6YO boy being protected by an older girl and boy-having various adventures on a 30-mile trek to London in wintry conditions.
All the roads we see are virtually empty; all adults are friendly and helpful, including a scary sequence where river workers plonk the kids into the jaws of a huge crane to lift them over the water-and they fall off! There's also a dangerous looking weir featured. I assume that there were appropriate "health 'n' safety" precautions in place? I know that we were tough in those days but.....!
The two payroll robbers are typically incompetent once they encounter the kids, though earlier we are shown the victim of their coshing-this seems slightly out of place in what is essentially a feel-good Christmas tale for children.
Well worth a watch.
All the roads we see are virtually empty; all adults are friendly and helpful, including a scary sequence where river workers plonk the kids into the jaws of a huge crane to lift them over the water-and they fall off! There's also a dangerous looking weir featured. I assume that there were appropriate "health 'n' safety" precautions in place? I know that we were tough in those days but.....!
The two payroll robbers are typically incompetent once they encounter the kids, though earlier we are shown the victim of their coshing-this seems slightly out of place in what is essentially a feel-good Christmas tale for children.
Well worth a watch.
Warm-hearted Children's Film Foundation seasonal feature
Leofwine_draca8 January 2016
Although I'm well aware of the Children's Film Foundation, I don't recalling seeing any of their actual movies (although I suppose I watched some when I was at school, but that was a long time ago and I don't remember). Thankfully the excellent Talking Pictures TV channel here in the UK has acquired the rights to a batch, so I can now play catch up.
The Christmas Tree is, unsurprisingly, a Christmas-themed short film, made in black and white and on a low budget which means lots of shooting outdoors. A trio of kids decide to embark on an epic odyssey to transport a large Christmas tree some 30 miles (by hand) to a children's hospital in London. The viewer follows them as they embark on the journey and get involved in various scrapes along the way.
What struck me about this film is just how wholesome and engaging it is. The Christmas Tree takes place in a bygone era where every adult on the street was friendly and kind and willing to help out, and kids were far from bratty but instead spent their time doing stuff for other people. Most likely this world never existed, but this film was made long enough ago for it to feel like a lost world of nostalgia. Technically, the production is proficient, with crisp photography and plenty of humour to keep things moving. The cast is good and includes a pre-fame Brian Blessed in a minor role, and the kids aren't annoying, which makes a big impact. All over, I loved it.
The Christmas Tree is, unsurprisingly, a Christmas-themed short film, made in black and white and on a low budget which means lots of shooting outdoors. A trio of kids decide to embark on an epic odyssey to transport a large Christmas tree some 30 miles (by hand) to a children's hospital in London. The viewer follows them as they embark on the journey and get involved in various scrapes along the way.
What struck me about this film is just how wholesome and engaging it is. The Christmas Tree takes place in a bygone era where every adult on the street was friendly and kind and willing to help out, and kids were far from bratty but instead spent their time doing stuff for other people. Most likely this world never existed, but this film was made long enough ago for it to feel like a lost world of nostalgia. Technically, the production is proficient, with crisp photography and plenty of humour to keep things moving. The cast is good and includes a pre-fame Brian Blessed in a minor role, and the kids aren't annoying, which makes a big impact. All over, I loved it.
Christmas Eve
richardchatten24 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Enhanced by chilly location work by Peter Suschitzky, this CFF presentation is virtually a remake of their earlier production 'The Salvage Gang', in which three cute kids carted a pram full of salvage across London as it looked in 1958. This time it's a trio of cute kids carting a Christmas tree along roads wonderfully free of cars to a children's hospital in time for Christmas in 1966 (encountering the army and a circus along the way).
As usual their paths cross that of some crooks. I don't know if was intended as sign of a coarsening of the times, but this time round it rather takes in its stride a payroll snatch in which a man is coshed; while the greedy reaction to the proceeds of the robbery getting scattered indicates a growing cynicism about how venal law-abiding ordinary folk were becoming.
As usual their paths cross that of some crooks. I don't know if was intended as sign of a coarsening of the times, but this time round it rather takes in its stride a payroll snatch in which a man is coshed; while the greedy reaction to the proceeds of the robbery getting scattered indicates a growing cynicism about how venal law-abiding ordinary folk were becoming.
60s cultural history
shellystaple22 December 2017
A well-made and entertaining little film, its real value is as a glimpse of a Britain almost disappeared. As a child of the 60s I find it fascinating to revisit a world I'd almost forgotten - Zodiak police cars, children wearing anoraks, wide open carriageways and a smaller, simpler world seen through the eyes of Enid Blyton-esque scalliwags with a lot of 'pluck'. Priceless.
Utterly bizarre, to the modern viewer
mmca-231 January 2024
Modern viewers will find it hard to believe their eyes. Three children hitchhiking to London. Their parents, when they find out, look slightly worried, maybe. One of the children, aged about 5, steps in front of a vehicle to persuade ithe driver to stop. They get in a car driven by two men who it turns out are bank robbers. Then they end up on a military firing range, from where they are given a lift in an Army lorry then passed, by Army personnel no less, to a random lorry driver. The 5-year old wanders off. Thus was made after the Brady-Hindkey case. It is unbelievable in its attitude to what even in 1966 must have been real risks to unaccompanied children. Bizarre. Yet reviewers on this page are calling it 'charming', which is also bizarre.
"...he's all talk, that Gary..."
Brucey_D28 December 2018
Some kids promise to get a proper Christmas tree for the patients in the children's ward of a London hospital. This film follows their adventures on the way.
This is a charming little film, not atypical of the CFF's output. It smacks of Enid Blyton, yet is set in more real and believable situations. For anyone of the right age and/or from that part of the world it is something of a nostalgia-fest, with scenes of 1960s Britain that are not quite lost forever.
Locations I recognised were Hambleden weir, Hambleden village, and Round Hill, Aldershot. Hambleden weir and the village are virtually unchanged, and the enormous (30' tall, forty ton) statue of Wellington (which was originally erected on Hyde Park corner) still sits atop round hill in Aldershot. It looks OK in the film but had lapsed into a poor state more recently and was refurbished in 2004. It is no longer mainly surrounded by open heathland. Sadly you can't wander between the horse's legs as the children do. Where I grew up there was lots of heathland used by the Army and for the most part they tolerated the local kids (who treated the whole area as their own playground) rather well.
All rather charming and jolly; 8/10 from me.
This is a charming little film, not atypical of the CFF's output. It smacks of Enid Blyton, yet is set in more real and believable situations. For anyone of the right age and/or from that part of the world it is something of a nostalgia-fest, with scenes of 1960s Britain that are not quite lost forever.
Locations I recognised were Hambleden weir, Hambleden village, and Round Hill, Aldershot. Hambleden weir and the village are virtually unchanged, and the enormous (30' tall, forty ton) statue of Wellington (which was originally erected on Hyde Park corner) still sits atop round hill in Aldershot. It looks OK in the film but had lapsed into a poor state more recently and was refurbished in 2004. It is no longer mainly surrounded by open heathland. Sadly you can't wander between the horse's legs as the children do. Where I grew up there was lots of heathland used by the Army and for the most part they tolerated the local kids (who treated the whole area as their own playground) rather well.
All rather charming and jolly; 8/10 from me.
A Great & Funny Christmas Movie
Christmas-Reviewer10 September 2017
BEWARE OF BOGUS REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW. WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE PRODUCTION. TRUST ME THIS FILM IS TERRIBLE. NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 400 Christmas MOVIES. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM FARE.
In this film a boy promises his friends that he can deliver a huge Christmas Tree to the London's Children Hospital by 6pm on Christmas Eve. So he makes a bet and doesn't want lose. So the next day he steels his family's Christmas Tree and his off to London which happens to be over 30 miles away. So how does a child get there without much money. With the help of his brother & sister he sets off on a journey that brings the viewer huge smiles. Running under an hour you will never be bored.
This film is much better than the average Christmas Movie! I have seen over 300 of them and this is in the top 10!
Buy it! Then loan it out to people. Its a film that everyone should see.
In this film a boy promises his friends that he can deliver a huge Christmas Tree to the London's Children Hospital by 6pm on Christmas Eve. So he makes a bet and doesn't want lose. So the next day he steels his family's Christmas Tree and his off to London which happens to be over 30 miles away. So how does a child get there without much money. With the help of his brother & sister he sets off on a journey that brings the viewer huge smiles. Running under an hour you will never be bored.
This film is much better than the average Christmas Movie! I have seen over 300 of them and this is in the top 10!
Buy it! Then loan it out to people. Its a film that everyone should see.
Endearing escapade
superhoneyginger25 December 2023
I started watching this with no knowledge of it, usually the best stance, and was quite quickly engaged with the simple premise and the quaint charm of the eloquent siblings in the protagonist roles.
The title says it all, it's about a tree, and what that represented to the modest, materially underprivileged or sick children of the time. It's a real shot in the arm of jollity, good-will and good, honest graft.
There's a constant sense of the children really enjoying these roles and the youngest revels in the freedom he has to muck about, it's never stale, short in duration and pretty damn difficult not to be absolutely charmed by nearly every scene.
Pure classic of English filmmaking.
The title says it all, it's about a tree, and what that represented to the modest, materially underprivileged or sick children of the time. It's a real shot in the arm of jollity, good-will and good, honest graft.
There's a constant sense of the children really enjoying these roles and the youngest revels in the freedom he has to muck about, it's never stale, short in duration and pretty damn difficult not to be absolutely charmed by nearly every scene.
Pure classic of English filmmaking.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
