Holiday DVD Warning

Since we were on the subject of DVDs...I was so excited last year when they released the Rankin-Bass special Santa Claus is Comin' to Town on DVD, particularly since they included another R-B classic, The Little Drummer Boy on the disk. In fact, to be honest, I bought the DVD for the latter, which I love, although I enjoy the former, too, and it's a Christmas favorite.

If you love Santa but have never cared for Drummer Boy, or if you love Santa but have no uncut copy of Drummer Boy, by all means buy the DVD. Santa is absolutely gorgeous--restored, the songs and sound sharp. But for heaven's sake, if you bought this because you also love Drummer Boy and were going to toss your videotape of it--don't!!!!! Especially if you have the Broadway Video/FHE version of the story, which wasn't a bad transfer.

Why? Because the Drummer Boy DVD sequence is, in a word, horrible. I can't believe the Rankin-Bass folks allowed such a hideous copy released. I inquired why of someone associated with R-B and was told that the R-B people had to work with the master they had--and that they thought the transfer had been "great." This was a person whose opinion I trusted and I was aghast. Good heavens, it would have come out better had the FHE version simply been copied to the DVD.

First of all the quality of the DVD transfer is terrible. It's muddy in places, and is strewn with flecks of white dust. Even worse, in places parts of the soundtrack is completely absent. For instance, there is the sequence where Aaron plays his drum for the crowds in Bethlehem. The sequence begins with Aaron beating his drum, the music then cuts in and he then sings "Why Can't the Animals Smile?" When the song is finished, the music also fades and Aaron is left beating his drum.

On the DVD all the sound except Aaron singing is completely missing. He enters the scene beating the drum but there is no sound on the soundtrack, nor does the music ever come in, and the concluding drumbeats are gone as well! This isn't the only time it happens, either. Later on one line of Greer Garson's narration is read by a man.

One of the first things I intend to do if I get a DVD recorder is commit my FHE version of The Little Drummer Boy to DVD--because the DVD "professional" version is rated "D" at best.