Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July
| Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover |
|
| Developed by | Rankin Bass |
| Composer(s) | Johnny Marks |
| Country of origin |
 Canada |
| Production | |
| Running time | 97 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Rankin/Bass Productions |
| Distributor | Embassy Pictures Warner Bros. Television |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC (1979) ABC Family (present) |
| Original run | 1979 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Rudolph's Shiny New Year (1976) |
| Followed by | Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys (2001) |
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July is a feature-length 1979 Rankin-Bass crossover sequel filmed in stop-motion animation in the style of their 1964 Christmas special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. It was 97 minutes long. Although designed as a theatrical release (it only appeared in theatres overseas), it made its U.S. premiere on television via the ABC network.
Jackie Vernon and Shelley Winters reprised their roles as Frosty the Snowman and his wife Crystal, Billie Mae Richards once again provided the voice of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Mickey Rooney provided the voice of Santa Claus once more. Paul Frees, Red Buttons and Ethel Merman also provide voices. This would be the last special to star Billie Mae Richards and Jackie Vernon as the voices of Rudolph and Frosty respectively, as well as Mickey Rooney as the voice of Santa until 2008's A Miser Brothers' Christmas.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The evil wizard king Winterbolt has caused havoc upon the people who have entered his domain. He is then punished by Lady Boreal when she places a spell on him that puts him in a deep sleep.
Years later, Winterbolt awakens. In her final act of magic, Boreal transfers the last of her power into Rudolph's red nose, which will stop glowing if it is ever used for evil. Winterbolt learns of this through his "genie of the ice scepter" and plans not only to dispose of Rudolph, the only power capable of stopping him, but also to reclaim his territory from Santa Claus. To achieve this, Winterbolt plans to take advantage of Frosty and his family. At the same time, Rudolph's ice cream man friend Milton arrives and tells Rudolph and Frosty that he plans to attract the heart of his girlfriend, the high-wire act Laine Loraine.
Winterbolt offers Frosty magic amulets that will keep his family from melting and enable them to attend a Fourth of July Circus in which Rudolph is to star, but they will only be protected until the end of the event. Santa agrees to pick up Frosty and his wife Crystal before the magic wears off, but Winterbolt has his ice dragons create a blizzard to prevent Santa from arriving on time. Winterbolt also gets some "reinsnakes" and goes to the Cave of Lost Rejections and recruits an unintelligent reindeer named Scratcher (voiced by Alan Sues) to try to get Rudolph to turn, or at least appear, evil in the eyes of his friends. With the blizzard keeping Santa from getting to them, time was not on the side of Frosty and family. When Scratcher arrives, he forms an alliance with Sam Spangles during the parade.
Scratcher, taking advantage of Rudolph's kindness, steals money from the circus and sets up Rudolph to take the blame. Rudolph agrees to appear guilty after making a deal with Winterbolt, to extend the powers of the amulets Frosty's family wears for an infinite time in exchange. Frosty's family, friends, and the circus' owner (and Laine's mother), Lilly Loraine, are upset when Rudolph lies to them about how he stole the money and his nose stops glowing. Only Frosty knows the truth and wants to restore Rudolph's glowing nose. Winterbolt takes advantage of Frosty as well by lying and agreeing to do it in exchange for Frosty's hat, with the intention of using the magic powers of Frosty's hat to create an army of evil snowmen. Rudolph manages to steal back the hat, and his nose regains its glow.
After Rudolph returns to the circus with Frosty's hat, Winterbolt attacks, which ends with him turning into a tree when Lilly throws her guns at his scepter destroying it. Once Winterbolt is vanquished, Scratcher disappears, Sam is arrested, and all the spells he cast are negated and Frosty and his family are in danger of melting once again. However, Jack Frost, the villain from the previous Frosty's Winter Wonderland, arrives on Big Ben, who's Rudolph's whale friend from the previous Rudolph's Shiny New Year, to rescue his former enemy and family as they are whisked back to the North Pole by Santa, but Rudolph stays behind to help the circus out of debt. The special ends with a rendition of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", sung by Ethel Merman.
[edit] Cast
- Red Buttons - Milton
- Shelby Flint - Laine Loraine
- Paul Frees - Jack Frost, Officer Kelly, Winterbolt, Keeper of the Cave
- Ethel Merman - Lilly Loraine
- Don Messick - Sam Spangles
- Harold Peary - Big Ben
- Billie Mae Richards - Rudolph
- Mickey Rooney - Santa Claus
- Alan Sues - Scratcher
- Jackie Vernon - Frosty
- Shelley Winters - Crystal
[edit] Rights issues
The film was released theatrically overseas via Embassy Pictures, and the show's ownership passed on to Telepictures Corporation as part of Rankin/Bass' post-1974 library. Today, full rights stand with Warner Bros. Television, the successor-in-interest to Telepictures. The home video/DVD version is available via Warner Home Video (it was released on VHS in 1992 and on DVD in 2004). The special currently airs on ABC Family annually for its 25 Days of Christmas special.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July at the Internet Movie Database
- Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July at the Big Cartoon DataBase
