Christmas in May

Tonight's TCM Underground lineup is two Christmas movies with a reputation for being a bit odd. First up is an import from Mexico by way of an American producer, Santa Claus at 2:00 AM. That will be followed at 4:00 AM by Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. I had recorded the former the last time it ran in TCM Underground, and as far as I could tell at the time it was out of print on DVD, so I decided to watch it now since it's on the schedule.

The first thing you have to understand is that the movie was originally made in Mexico for domestic audiences, and as such it takes a Mexican look at jolly old St. Nick (who was, after all, a Catholic saint), one which is rather different at times from the American image of Santa. The American rights to the movie were bought by American producer K. Gordon Murray, who had previously brought an edited version of The Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy to America.

This version of Santa lives not at the north pole, but above it in a castle on a cloud, and has child "helpers" instead of elves, although I wondered where he got the helpers from. Santa being a Catholic saint is opposed by Satan, who sends one of his minions Pitch to try to turn all the good little boys and girls naughty. And if that doesn't work, he'll try to prevent Santa from delivering all those gifts. Now, Santa has a lot of tools at his disposal courtesy of the wizard Merlin (seriously), such as a magic key that opens all locks, and a flower that makes him disappear so people don't see him.

The main story revolves around a couple of children, a poor girl who wants only a doll for Christmas, but her parents can't afford even that. There's also a middle-class boy who only wants his parents to be there to spend more time with him. They even dress up to go out on Christmas Eve, and I figured they were going to a midnight Mass, but actually they were going to a restaurant! Late on Christmas Eve, no less. Wouldn't everything be closed down?

The climax of the movie comes when Pitch cuts the pouch containing Santa's flower of invisibility and his sleeping dust, rendering him helpless from being spotted. Pitch sends a mad dog after Santa, treeing him, and then whispers in people's ears to get them to call the cops on an intruder who is of course Santa.

I had heard of the movie and its reputation for being spectacularly strange and bad. In fact, the movie's main sin is being incredibly bland. The idea of Santa vs. Satan, which apparently does have a tradition in Mexico, is actually not a bad one. But the color is washed out, the acting is bad and not helped by the dubbing, and the plot is threadbare and glacial. It's a shame the movie isn't more interesting, either in a good or a bad way.