Cricket on the Hearth (TV 1967)

A delightful, animated musical version of Charles Dickens' classic tale. A Cricket on the Hearth, tells the story of a poor toymaker and his daughter whom a helpful Cricket named Crocket ... See full summary »

Directors:

Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin Jr.

Writers:

Charles Dickens (story), Romeo Muller,

Stars:

Danny Thomas, Marlo Thomas, Hans Conried

Cast

Credited cast:
Danny Thomas	...	Caleb (voice)
Marlo Thomas	...	Bertha (voice)
Hans Conried	...	Tackleton (voice)
Paul Frees	...	Various Characters (voice)
Roddy McDowall	...	Crocket Cricket (voice)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ed Ames	...	Edward
Abbe Lane	...	Moll
The Norman Luboff Choir	...	Themselves

Storyline

A delightful, animated musical version of Charles Dickens' classic tale. A Cricket on the Hearth, tells the story of a poor toymaker and his daughter whom a helpful Cricket named Crocket befriends on Christmas morning. When tragedy strikes the family, it's Crocket who comes to the rescue and restores peace and happiness.

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Plot Keywords:

christmas | toy maker | father daughter relationship | deception | blindness

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Genres:

Animation | Family

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Details

Official Sites:

Classic Media

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 December 1967 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rankin/Bass Productions, Thomas/Spelling Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min 49 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Real life father and daughter Danny Thomas and Marlo Thomas played father and daughter in this cartoon special.

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Connections

Version of The Cricket on the Hearth (1909)

User Reviews

Not quite as strong as Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer, but it's not that bad

I never heard of this film before, although I do heard that it was made by the same company Rankin Bass who made the timeless classic "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer". So, my father got a DVD copy of this for me and my sibling to watch and we sat through it to see if it would enchant our hearts the same way their later efforts like "Frosty the Snowman", "The Little Drummer Boy", and "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town". Later, we had a decent enough time watching it, but let me remind you all that I do have some problems with it.

The 2D animation is completely standard. It has some beautiful pictures of the Nativity, but it's character animation's kind of awkward with some wonky movements. The characters, though, I thought they were decent. I liked the romance between Bertha and Edward and the main villain Tackelton is very creepy especially his pet raven. The main character Cricket did annoy me in the beginning, but it wasn't Roddy Macdowell's fault. I think he did a fine job voicing him with enough spirit and energy. In fact, the voice acting is pretty decent.

The story isn't that bad at all either, although it does have some depressing moments especially the scene where a sailer captain shoots three animals off-screen which came across as a bit dark for kids. The other problem is that while the songs aren't that bad, there are still too many for me to remember them and slowed the movie down just a bit in some scenes.

Overall, Cricket on the Heart isn't exactly Rankin Bass's strongest work and I haven't read the story from Charles Dickens, but this might be worth watching if all of you can give it a chance.