Cricket on
the Hearth
Told by
Roddy McDowall
Original
Airdate: December 18, 1967
Rarely airs
on TV
Available on DVD
Despite being one of the early Rankin/Bass Christmas
specials, which are mostly the best-known, this special is the first of many
obscure ones. It only airs on TV in
certain given years, on PBS of all channels, and on DVD, you’re more likely to
find it in a box set than separately.
While this isn’t the best crafted special Rankin/Bass and does have a
lot of problems, there’s enough good factors to show that it doesn’t completely
deserve to be as forgotten as it is.
The basic story of this special is harmless enough and even a bit dramatic. A talking cricket
named Crocket is invited to live with a kind toymaker, Caleb Plummer, who
believes crickets bring good luck to families when they reside on a hearth. Caleb’s daughter, Bertha, is engaged to a
young man named Edward, who is enlisted to serve in the navy. While he’s away, Crocket lives happily with
the Plummer family, but that’s when the drama comes in. One night, Edward is reported lost
at sea, and the shock of the news causes Bertha to go blind. Ignoring the un-believability that something
so common can cause something as drastic as blindness, it effectively starts
the family’s hardships. Because Caleb
spends all his earnings on failed efforts to cure Bertha’s blindness, they
become poor and have to live in the toy factory of Mr. Tackleton. He's a total
cheapskate who doesn’t pay them, gives them poor living conditions, and doesn’t
allow Caleb to make the toys look their best. These can't be sound business practices.
Anyway, the story’s biggest strength is the likable main characters. Crocket himself mostly tags along with the
Plummers, comments on what goes on, gets up to animal hijinks, and studies
whatever hearth he’s residing on.
However, he proves useful to the plot by showing devotion to the family
taking him in, and by the end, he proves himself lucky despite all bad things happening since he arrived. There’s also a sincere father-daughter
relationship between Caleb and Bertha all throughout. It's made better by the fact that their voice
actors, Danny and Marlo Thomas, are a real-life father and daughter. As an interesting aside, Danny Thomas himself even hosts the bookends to this special in live-action. Caleb is a talented toymaker, but knows his
daughter’s turmoil is more important.
Even when her condition can’t be cured, he strives to do what he can do
to keep her happy. That said, Caleb’s
tactics are incredibly questionable, and that’s where we come to the major
detracting parts of this special.
While the overall story is good in concept, there are issues
with its execution. First of all, the special’s
morality is very botched. While his
intentions are good, Caleb keeps Bertha happy by lying about how great their
life is, when in fact it’s not, taking advantage of her blindness. Plus, as you watch the special, you’ll question
how Bertha is so easily fooled by this charade given that Mr. Tackleton only
feeds them table scraps and gives minimal pay.
This wouldn’t be that big of an issue if not for what happens
later. Close to Christmas, Edward
arrives disguised as an old man for some reason, even though it’s honestly easy
to tell it’s a façade. Crocket
eventually uncovers Edward and berates him for his lies, leading him to show
Bertha that he is alive. Aside from that
nice gesture from the cricket bringing the couple together just
as Bertha is about to marry Mr. Tackleton, this moment is pretty concerning. Since
Edward was called out for his lies despite good intentions, why not Caleb? The questionable morality also applies to how
Mr. Tackleton is characterized. He spends the whole special mercilessly making
life harder for the Plummers , shows no care for Christmas,
and wants to marry Bertha for his own gain.
Yet, he becomes friendly at the end because Bertha compliments him,
which is unsettling since it’s unclear whether or not her sight comes back
when she learns Edward is alive. As for
Mr. Tackleton, this sudden change in character has little prompting to
exist.
Speaking of sudden, another issue with the story is how it
tends to go off on abrupt tangents that add very little. The biggest offender is in the songs where only
a few serve a point. There are some strong ones, but most of them just pop out of nowhere and stall the story for topics
that were elaborated enough with small bits of dialog. Aside from the songs, there’s also a lot of
bizarre moments that appear near the end that could be cut out without losing
much, and it’s hard to suspend disbelief towards them. A singing cat performs a random number about fish and chips in a bar. A sea captain
suddenly makes the special darker for a second by shooting animals who kidnap Crocket.
There's an escape scene with sea creatures conveniently around to get Crocket back
to land in spite of miles of sea to cover. Finally the Plummers’ toys come to
life to reveal the old man’s identity for one scene. On their own, these tangents are fine, but in the context of the story, they don’t fit well. They make the tone darker (the shooting) or
lighter (the toys coming to life) without proper build-up, and don’t make any
sense (Crocket’s escape and, again, the toys).
These decisions make the storytelling very sloppy and difficult to get
behind. Thankfully, the likable
qualities of the special remain apparent, so it’s still possible to get some
enjoyment out.
This is one of the most haphazardly-crafted specials
Rankin/Bass has made. It's filled with moments only existing to pad things out, the tone is unbalanced, some morals are questionable, and ideas with creative intentions have
haphazard execution. Still, it’s easy
to give the special credit for the heart of some of the characters, a few of the songs, and the spirit
of Christmas shining through. Even if
you only watch it once, you’ll end up with a hearth of crazy Christmas memories
you’ll never forget.
Worth a Look
The Ranking
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- Cricket on the Hearth
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next special, the most popular Rankin/Bass special that focuses on Christmas' religious origins, The Little Drummer Boy.
If you would like to check out other Rankin/Bass special reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
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