Sunday, December 7, 2008

Christmas has the best graveyards!


Whether it was the Grinch slithering into your home in the dead of night to steal your presents while you slept, or the malevolent Mr. Heat-Miser threatening to doom the entire season with a supernatural wave of hot weather, it seems the best Christmas specials always had a dark side.

Halloween may be long gone, but the chance to indulge your spooky side lingers on. Still have some Halloween candy left? Put down that egg nog and grab a handful as we take a look at the perfectly creepy graveyard from UPA's Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962).


The Ghost of Christmas Future leads Magoo through the crimson gates.



What's so special about this gravestone?

Magoo struggles to read the epitaph.

Behold...'tis your very own grave!

Merry Christmas! Mwah-haw-haw!

The premise of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol is that Magoo is playing the part of Ebenezer Scrooge in a Broadway theater. Here's an audience-eye view:

The cartoon has been released individually on DVD a few times, and even shows up in a box set called The Original Christmas Classics alongside Rankin-Bass holiday mainstays like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman. If you can find the 2002 debut release from Classic Media, you'll get a bonus short, "Mr. Magoo Meets Gerald McBoing Boing", but unfortunately that edition (pictured below) has gone out of print and is going for outrageous prices.

No comments: