This movie really captures the feeling of the "Fever Dream". Not just in its execution, but even in its existence. It's bizarre (not as outlandish as some describe it, but it's still out of the ordinary), unlike most fairy tales for children where a prince heroically struggles to save the princess, here it's the girl who goes on a journey and sacrifices herself to save her prince, which feels like an allusion to Psyche in Metamorphoses. It's a Captivating, mysterious, enthralling, gripping movie. It has some wisdom in it, for both young and old. It's beautiful. I really loved it. One of my all-time favorite stopmotion animations. I watched the original Japanese version, and I admit I like that one more than this. The color correction used here is too overexposed and much more vibrant than the original, where they were more muted, and the dub drowns out a lot of the music for some reason. The names of some characters were also different, Queen Morphia was known as "Madame Mauslynx" for example.
actually according to Wikipedia this is not a Rankin Bass film. it was the first stop-motion project by Sanrio. a Japanese animation company, The film's overall animation style is reminiscent of all the original Rankin/Bass "Animagic" productions, shot at Tadahito Mochinaga's MOM Production (later renamed Video Tokyo Production)...
This was co created by Shintaro Tsuji, who was in the company that made two very adult films aimed at children, but then went on to make hello kitty and became rich as hell lol. During the time that Rankin Bass had become very popular, this was most timely made. NOt bad . R.I.P. CHRISTOPHER LEE! Did the coolest voices for Uncle Drosselmeyer, the Street Singer, The Puppeteer and the Watchmaker!
I'm shocked no one talked about the part where Franz protected Clara from being kissed by the Arabian Wiseman! It was sweet yet hilarious!! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗
I found this movie this year 2021 and this is actually a really good claymation movie. I am surprised this is a foreign movie with English dub. Especially with Melissa Gilbert from Little House on the Praire and Christopher Lee.
This is one of those movies I saw when I was really young (in the 80's) that I thought I dreamt or made up in my head until a random google search. Then I was like, "Wait a minute...it's real!?" Now I have to make my 7 year old watch it and let her be haunted by the sort of vague half memory of a trippy puppet movie about a Christmas decoration. I think I will slip it in between Rudolph and Santa is Coming to Town.
It's been driving me mad trying to remember what this movie was!! Ended up on a "movies that trausmatised us as children" video and the memory of being taken away and turned into a mouse if you were up too late came back to me. I remember having nightmares about it!! 😂
I love the ending because even though fantasy is always lovely and perfect. Real life is a little more complicated but sometimes real life is better than Fantasy.
I stumbled on this by chance, searching Christmas specials from Rankin Bass. I never knew this even existed, but it looks fantastic, and features the voices of Christopher Lee, Melissa Gilbert, JoAnne Worley, and more. Kudos to all the Japanese designers who contributed to this project. And as soon as I hear that lively intro to the Nutcracker ballet, I am instantly in a holiday mood. Can't wait to watch the entire film.
I was quite surprised when I found this, and when I looked up the list of Rankin-bass stop motion films I found out this isn't one of them! as it turns out this was made by a Japanese studio in 1979!
I remember falling in love with this movie watching it in the 80's. Although as an 11 year old story tale lover, I never understood how an adult (Fritz) could be smitten with a young girl (Clara). I guess it's just a fairy tale and taken as is. Thank you for posting this gem!
I think it's a visual exaggeration due to Japanese aesthetics of the time-- Clara is about 12 years old, on the verge of maturing past childish bed time stories and becoming a teenager. Fritz/Franz is probably 16-18, since they mention he is Clara's friend since childhood. The age gap is weird for us irl, but in a fairytale it's not too strange I guess. Makes sense Clara, at least, is crushing on her teenage friend at her age. I think the weirder age gap is in Labyrinth, with Jareth and Sarah lmao (I still thought David Bowie was hot though).
@@joosoo idk, in labyrinth jareth is deffo not intended to be her happily ever after.. in fact, hes the antagonist.. an older male.. imposing his power on a teen.
I wish Clara should have chewed out Princess Mary by telling her what an ungrateful, selfish, spoiled brat she really is and doesn't deserve to marry anybody like Fritz in the first place, now understanding why Morphia cursed her in the first place, revealing her inner ugliness that the King refused to see.
I mean - in the original story, that's part of the reason Princess Perlipat (whom Mary is based on) is turned. There was so much focus on her physical beauty and vanity that the Mouse Queen cursed her to be ugly because that's all she cared about.
1979-AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL AND COMPLICATED WORK OF ART IN STOP-ANIMATION!!-WITH MELISSA GILBERT, RODDY MCDOWELL, CHRISTOPHER LEE, JOANNE WORLEY, AND EVA GABOR. BEAUTIFULLY REMASTERED RESOLUTION! A TRUE MASTERPIECE!
I always believed the theory of the Ragman being in league with the evil mouse queen, turning children into mice to bring them back as her new henchmen that they don't ever remember being children.
Meme: The Evil Ragman was actually a friend of the Evil Mouse Queen Morphia, King Goodwin’s wicked wife, and the selfish Princess Mary’s wicked mother!
Oh Sanrio , still giving children nightmares I see XD. As a child I saw other Sanrio films but for some reason I never saw this one. It’s fantastic thanks for putting it up.
If it helps she is twelve but he’s fifteen. So it’s only a three year age difference and according to the original tale, he waits until she’s grown to marry her
I'm a 26 year old Autistic girl that loves sanrio and this film is totally my style dark, cute, the music is amazing i love the song dance of the dolls why i haven't discovered this great nutcraker version earlier? Such a cute version❤❤❤❤❤ i've watched the japanese version of this and it's a charm and it's from the 70s cool. I have to show this to my dad and my family they will love it now it's one of my favorite stop motion films. Ps:I have showed to my dad and he loves it he gives him wizard of oz vives i even dream about it the first night i've watched it.
Omg!!! I've been looking for this for years... It scared me to death as a kid. All I remember is the girl Clara and the clock. I couldn’t remember what it was called.. I'm so glad I've found it. My Daughter will love it 💜
when this first came out I was in high school but I went to see it in the theaters anyway. It was great then and it's still as good as I remember. They really got a great vocal cast for the english version.
This version of the Nutcracker is fascinating due to its original story combined with the classic one; truly a cinematic masterpiece! Thank you so much for posting it!
I can’t thank you enough for the remastered version!!!!! I’ve been obsessed with this movie since my mom taped it off TV to VHS 30 years ago!! I’m aging myself but I was never able to see the real colors!
Same!!! My mom had a full library of recorded movies and shows like this, many of which are completely lost to me now. I remember this used to be SOOO dark! My siblings and I remember it fondly, even the scarier parts, but always remembered it being almost too dark to see many of the scenes. I'm so happy it's been remastered, had to save it! (I'm 36 now, so I remember seeing this when I was a toddler lol)
@@TheMistressMisery This isn't the full version tho; This one is 73 minutes, the original theatrical/VHS English dub is 81 minutes, has more footage, and has live action sequences, which are replaced in this version with animated ones, and the original Japanese version [available here on RU-vid with subtitles] is 96 minutes.
Thanks for sharing this gem. I remember watching this on cable TV as a kid and the rat freaking me out. The end theme was stuck in my head for years. Still brings back great memories.💖
I was so happy when I found this on DVD at an anime convention, I screamed. The guy running the booth laughed and said 'I take it you know this.' I was so offended but realized he was joking. I said my aunt taped it off HBO eons ago and my copy was so worn and frayed... I love it so much. It reminds me of my aunt and many happy Christmases past. Thank you for posting it
What do you mean a precursor? Rankin Bass was around in the 1950s and known for their 1962-4 peoductions. Later early 70s one's too. This is 1979 so at the very end.
I've had a crush on Hermey the elf from "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" for the longest time since I was a little girl, (Also, gosh DANG, if you have a crush on Hermey like I did for so many years, your crush on him will DOUBLE once you look up and discover his voice-actor, Paul Soles, in his younger years, because OMG, he was such a drop dead gorgeous hunk of a man back in the day when the special was being made! >///< Sorry, I know, I'm fangirling. XD Also, R.I.P. Paul
leave it to the 70s to create a slightly weird psychedelic horror movie fairytale..wow this is the second time seeing this first 30 years ago i think..lol ...i have seen ballet several times since and this is must see before or after you take child to a production to understand the ballet. wonderful
@@withnail-and-i bruh, it's from the '70s, bruh. 1979, to be exact, broheim. Watch the credits before commenting next time, dude bro. You won't look quite as stupid. And you'll look even less stupid when you stop calling women "bruh".
What about now and Disneys horror tale they jis came out with. How awful. Hollywood ruins everything and Disney in this age even more. Walt is rolling in his grave.
It has been my holiday tradition to look this up every Christmas season and give it a watch. Wish they made the Clara a bit older looking. The dance scene with her and Fritz is just silly.
Why couldn't AMC show this during Christmas time they showed the other old ones why not this one 🤔🤔🤔🤔 and if you're wondering who was in this movie the voice of Clara is Melissa Gilbert 👸 uncle drosselmeyer was Christopher Lee 👻
I forgot about this memory I had. Of being terrified as a kid of something from some movie where a creepy wretched figure goes through a little town at night, from window to window. This is the movie! The rag man...wow. So I glad I found this 🙂
I remember seeing this on a VHS tape many years ago I have always loved the nutcracker ballet and story and I like this animated version and the people who did the voices Melissa Gilbert, dick van patten, Michelle Lee, rody mc dowel, eva gabor, Joanna Worley the music was upbeat and the puppet animation was very good
I had an old taped from tv vhs version of this as a child. I watched it so much, I wore it out, and have been searching for it forever. Thank you so much!
My siblings said I was really scared of the Ragman when I was little. I would go to bed when I was supposed to, but one night I didn't, and my brother tricked me and went outside and pretended he was the Ragman. I was so scared and ran up to my bed
Omg- I have been searching for this movie for yearrrrs :0 I always thought it was just a dream but I was wrong :D it scared me so much as a kid I would always go to bed early because of this lmao
You realize Rankin/Bass didn't make this, yes? This is Sanrio's production and the only ties to R-B is mainly the director of this film directed the "Animagic" of the special "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town"
Wow let's split hairs the point of that comment was to appreciate the movie sorry didn't get the right credit too this or that you people have way to much time on your hands if you are going to nit pick everything " find the magick of the season and Get over yourself's for picking. The people who made this are dead bless be to you and yours this festive season and Get over it 🎃🌻🎃🌻🎃🌻🍭
Thank you for uploading this film! I watched the Japanese version when I was very little and totally loved it, had nightmares for a few weeks tho lol. It's still one of my favorite films today.
I like the character design they did, of having all those in the doll kingdom have four fingers. You can tell Clara is the only human with her 5 fingers when she and Mary speak to each other. Same thing with Singer and the Puppeteer-- they are also human (Drosselmeyer in disguise).
Ok- so, am I the only one who thinks that the Ragman and Uncle Drosselmeyer are the same person? They look way too similar to be a coincidence... Also yes: this movie is superior compared to the Nutcracker and Four Realms. Glad I found this years ago! This is probably one of my favorite voice acting performances from Christopher Lee (RIP).
@@dividednations44 if it makes you feel better, Hayao Miyazaki did artwork for a Nutcracker-themed exhibit at the Ghibli museum. The designs are super charming and could definitely scratch that itch for a Ghibli Nutcracker
When I found the DVD or VHS, it was so dark, I couldn't make out where everything was. I guess it was the old DVD version and not the remastered one. The movie was different from the story, but it was interesting that they changed it a lot, like having the Mouse Queen the the main villain instead of the Mouse King. They should do something like that other stories like Alice in Wonderland, instead of hearing reading and watching the same scenes and lines over and over again.
Thank you for uploading this. I have the old vhs somewhere, but it wasn't in the best of shape when I was young, much less now. It's been one of my favorites for ages (I could watch it without being fazed but, Little Nemo used to scare me, go figure).
The Audio starts to get weird and out of sync right about 12:52, after the vase breaks. And this is from what I remember from watching the 1979 version...which I will admit I kept for years on VHS that my dad recorded it from a rental we got when I was a kid.
The original audio has been married with the new remastered Japanese edit, which has some extra footage not seen in the original (and some cut out), so it's not an exact sync of the original English edit.
Wow, I only skipped through a bit of this to take a peek, not spoilery or anything but this looks incredible. Probably far more worth the watch than "Four Realms."
Lets see it was 1979, a Young 15 Year old Melissa Gilbert was the Voice of Clara, She was Still working on Little House, I think it was around the Episodes where Mary goes Blind. Now back to Nutcracker Fantasy Tick Tock T, Minden is in Germany. Which makes sense that it would take place in Germany as the Story is Germanic in Origin. How many of these actors have we lost between 1979 and 2023? Lurene Tuttle Died in 1986 at the Age of 78 going onto 79, Eva Gabor in 1995 Age 76,Roddy McDowall in 1998 Age 70, Gene Moss in 2002 Age 75 going onto 76, Joan Gerber in 2011 Age 76, Ken Sansom in 2012 Age 85, Christopher Lee in 2015 Age 93, Dick Van Patten in 2015 Age 86 going onto 87, Unknown about Mitchel Gardner, Maxine Fisher, and Robin Haffner Maybe, Jack Angel in 2021 Age 90 going onto 91, And of Course Tchaikovsky Died in 1893 at the Age of 53, and Never saw this Version,
Thank you so much I only saw this once when it was new. I never forgot it. I really loved it. I have been looking for it for a long time wanting to see it again.
Wow so happy to find this. I was 5 years old when I watched it. Interesting observation: I don't remember an animation of swans eating a fish and butterflies. I remember a ballet scene 🤔
I love that this has been done! My only gripe is the new credits fail to credit E.T.A. Hoffman as the creator of the Nutcracker story. The original English version does it.
