Cricket on the Hearth
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 You're wrong. John K. did not create the first gross close-up, it was Rankin-Bass.
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Cricket on the Hearth is an Christmas animated film created by Rankin-Bass that adapted from a Charles Dicken's book of the same name.
Synopsis
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.
Qualities That Are Anything But Merry
- Uncredited Trend Setter: This film actually (unintentionally) started the gross close-up trope, not John K. for Ren and Stimpy as all sources claim. But rather John K. popularized the trope. The titular film had the first ever gross close-up, it is a heavily detailed close-up of an old man's face shedding tears, the wrinkles are grotesquely seen.
- The film is very nonsensical and messy as the story is all over the place.
- Insult to the blind: The daughter of the toymaker went blind from depression when her boyfriend, who is in the US Navy got lost sea and was presumed dead. (but, it will be later on be revealed that he's not dead). People do not get blind from depression.
- The main character, Cricket Crocket is described to be "good luck" by both the narrator and himself but that was later proven to be false because throughout the movie, bad things happen to the toymaker and his daughter such as losing their home, job, and money.
- The villain's motivations are petty as he believes Cricket Crocket is ruining his life when that's not the case, he also tries to take drastic measures to get rid of him.
- Unlike all Rankin-Bass Christmas films, all the songs in this movie are mostly forgettable and have nothing to do with Christmas.
- The plot twist of the homeless old man moving into the toy shop being the daughter's boyfriend in disguise is very stupid.
- Things get creepy when the villain proposes to the toymaker's daughter because he's too old to be her husband.
- Just like The Christmas Tree three decades later, it's not Christmas until well into the movie.
- Cricket Crocket can be quite unlikable at times.
- There's this out of nowhere moment where an anthropomorphic cat seduces all the animals in the bar. You know, for kids!
Merry Qualities
- The opening narration was clever.
- Good ending: The toymaker's daughter marries her boyfriend.
Gallery
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The gross close-up from the film and it’s also first gross close-up to appear in media.
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This flirtatious cat was legitimately in this special.
Videos
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Categories:
- Films
- Movies
- Rankin-Bass films
- Bad films from good franchises
- Christmas films
- Obscure films
- Obscure media
- Christmas specials
- Holiday films
- Holiday specials
- 1960s films
- Media that started a trope
- Animated films
- Bad films
- Bad films with good endings
- Bad media
- Films with content inappropriate for their target audiences