The Magic Christmas Tree

The Magic Christmas Tree
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Richard C. Parish
Written by	Harold Vaughn Taylor
Produced by	Fred C. Gerrior
Starring	Chris Kroesen Valerie Hobbs Robert 'Big Buck' Maffei Darlene Lohnes Dianne Johnson Dick Parish Blanche Mickelson Willard W. Willingham (as Bill Willingham) Howard Blevins Billy Schaffner Terry Bradshaw Charles Nix
Cinematography	Richard Kendall
Music by	Victor Kirk
Distributed by	Holiday Pictures / Orrin Films
Release date	November 27, 1964 (1964-11-27)
Running time	60 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Magic Christmas Tree is a 1964 American Christmas-themed fantasy-adventure film about a boy who uses a magic ring to bring a Christmas tree to life. The tree then grants the boy three wishes.

Plot

Three boys are walking home from school on the afternoon of Halloween. On the way home, one boy, Mark, agrees to help a strange old woman to get her cat, Lucifer, out of a tree. Mark climbs the tree, but falls and is knocked unconscious. When Mark wakes up, he discovers that the old woman is really a witch. The witch gives Mark a magic ring, and tells him that if he plants the seeds inside along with the wishbone of a Thanksgiving turkey, a magic tree will grow. When Thanksgiving comes, Mark performs the magic spell that the witch taught him, and a magic evergreen tree grows overnight in the back yard. Mark's father tries to cut down the tree, but to no avail. Later, on Christmas Eve, the Magic Tree comes to life, and grants Mark three wishes. The boy first wishes for one hour of absolute power, which he promptly abuses. Mark's second wish is to have Santa Claus all to himself. When Mark sees the unhappiness his selfishness causes after seeing a giant, however, he uses his third wish to return Santa Claus to the children of the world on Christmas Day. Mark wakes up, and realizes that the entire adventure was all a dream...or was it?

Production

In the style of The Wizard of Oz, The Magic Christmas Tree presents a full-color dream sequence bracketed by black-and-white 'reality' sequences. It was filmed in La Verne, California on an extremely low budget.

Home video

The Magic Christmas Tree was released on VHS by Goodtimes in 1992. It has been marketed in a two-pack with the Mexican film Santa Claus. In 2011, the film was parodied by Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett of RiffTrax.

See also

• List of Christmas films
• Santa Claus in film

External links

• The Magic Christmas Tree at IMDb
• Original theatrical trailer
• Cinema Snob's take on the 1964 film
• Available for free on Internet Archive
• The Magic Christmas Tree on Tubi