Cricket on the Hearth (1967)

This film, considering it was adapted from a novel into a Christmas cartoon for children, was quite depressing. The first half of the film gave not even the slightest glimmer of hope for Caleb Plummer and his daughter Bertha. The film was full of misfortune and death, until the last few minutes. Bertha found what she wanted in the world and she also turned out to be a terrible person. She simply left her fiancé without letting him know and married someone else. For a film that is meant to cater to children, I feel as if there are so many things in this film that would have gone right over their heads. I thought the songs in this film were odd. Even though I felt the rhythm of each song was weirdly catchy, the lyrics were just beyond strange and made little sense at certain points. I think my favorite part of the film was Roddy McDowall’s Cricket Crocket. The character was funny and witty and really was the only reason that this film was at all enjoyable. This was far from the best Christmas film I’ve seen, however, I can understand the importance of the story and how it may be beneficial to children who have had the chance to watch it.  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387954/?ref_=nv_sr_1