The Christmas Martian
(aka LE MARTIEN DE NOËL)
With: Marcel Sabourin (The Visitor), Catherine Leduc (Cathy), Francois
Gosselin (Frankie), Roland Chenail (Police Chief), Paul Berval (Uncle Henry), Ernest Guimond (“Le père Bonneville”), Paul Hébert (Father), Guy L'Ecuyer (“Laframboise”), Louise Poulin-Roy (Mother)
***
SYNOPSIS: Two young kids, Frankie and Cathy, run through the snowy Canadian countryside on the first day of their winter vacation. They reach their local grocer and pick up supplies. Suddenly, a tall, strange figure enters the store, grabs some food, and runs out. The horrified grocer calls the police.
Frankie and Cathy hitch a ride home with Mr. Kramer and his horse-drawn sleigh.
Meanwhile, the grocer tries to convince the local men that he wasn't seeing
things when the odd giant rampaged through his store. Meanwhile, our strange visitor ducks into a phone booth and turns himself into an old dowager. The local cabby drives up and asks the "woman" if she needs a ride, but the creature replies by flying straight up into the sky!
Frankie and Cathy walk through vast fields of snowy dunes, towards the edge of
the woods, where they are assigned to chop down a tree for Christmas. As they
walk amongst the desolate landscape, they ruminate on whether there might be
life on other planets. Unbeknownst to them, at that very minute, our strange
visitor sits high in a tree, watching them!
The kids reach the desired tree, cut it down, and begin to drag it back home. They stumble upon a trail of giant green footprints; they follow it to a giant
evergreen tree, which seems to run off by itself. The kids finally spot the
Martian, who then runs off, leaving behind a strange, flare-like object. Cathy
picks up the flare, which goes off, and lifts her up into the air! Cathy cries
for Frankie to help her; he suggests that she drop the flare, which she does.
Cathy returns to earth safely, none the worse for wear.
Back at the grocers, the village men gather to share their odd tales. One man
tells of witnessing a giant egg-like craft landing at a farm next door in the
middle of the night.
Meanwhile, Frankie and Cathy make a startling discovery: a flying saucer! The
glowing red spaceship sits on the snow near the old gravel works. The kids
decide to investigate. They enter the spaceship.
Once inside, the kids are overwhelmed by the appearance of the odd-looking
Martian, who proceeds to cover the kids in a mountain of candy! The kids are
thrilled that their friend has turned out to be so kind, and play in the mounds
of confection. Soon, the Martian "vacuums" up the candy.
The Martian tries to communicate with the kids, with limited success. He
records the children's voices into a machine, and then inserts the item into a
beaker of bubbling liquid. After drinking the resultant formula, the Martian is
able to communicate to the kids in English.
He tells Frankie and Cathy that he is from a planet called "KuRuKu", and has
landed here due to a mechanical emergency. The kids run back home to fetch some tools with which to fix the spaceship, and manage to sneak the tools out of the workshed without their parents knowing.
Frankie, Cathy and the Martian trek across the snowy fields toward the
spaceship. The Martian has difficulty walking in the earth snow, so the kids
give him some skiis to try, but he fares little better with those. Finally,
they happen upon Mr. Talbot, who gives the trio a ride on his horse-drawn sled.
However, this mode of transportation is still too slow for the impatient
extraterrestrial, who produces one of his "flying flares", and escorts the kids
quickly back to the space ship.
Once back, the Martian fixes the faulty motor and tests it, but another unit
malfunctions. Frankie and Cathy take the defective unit to their Uncle Henry, a
local welder. Henry repairs the bad welds, and the kids and the Martian return
to the space ship using Henry's snowmobile.
The trio happen upon a group of kids playing ice hockey. The Martian attempts
to join the fun by sliding onto the ice on his belly, but he causes more
mischief than desired.
Back at the space ship, the Martian replaces the unit, and tries to engage the
motor once again. This time it works. Meanwhile, at Henry's shop, a cop comes
along to find the snowmobile, which he thought was stolen, but it has
mysteriously returned, but now his snowplow is missing!
It turns out that Frankie has "borrowed" the snowplow, to clear a launch area
for the Martian spaceship. Cathy inadvertently starts the launch sequence
before Frankie and the Martian are inside, and they take a hair-raising ride on
the top of the saucer before Cathy figures out how to land the thing!
The Martian then takes Frankie and Cathy on a real ride in the space ship. The
red saucer rises majestically, and soon the trio are riding around in the
heavens, eating a turkey the Martian spirited away from a neighboring kitchen.
The Martian then gives the kids a slideshow educating them regarding his home
planet. The Martian also reveals his name to be "Pooflower".
Meanwhile, the cops are adding up all the mysterious goings-on as some form of
crime spree. They decide to form a posse, and hunt down the mysterious
stranger!
Elsewhere, the Martian takes the kids on a tour of the Sahara desert.
Then, the Martian entertains the kids by turning into various earth heroes,
such as Fireman, Knight, and Indian Chief.
Soon, the spaceship flies over the North Pole, and starts to head back home.
The saucer lands back near the gravel pit, just as the posse begins to search
for the invader from space.
The Martian tells Frankie and Cathy that he must return home, and he bids them
a sad farewell. The kids leave the spaceship, and says their goodbyes. The
Martian replies, "Adieu!"
Frankie and Cathy head for home in the dark. Meanwhile, the posse, on
snowmobiles, is hot on the heels of the Martian. The kids' mom serves them
dinner, but Frankie and Cathy are depressed, and have lost their appetite. The Martian begins lift-off sequence just as the posse arrives at the saucer;
he spies the army of snowmobiles approaching, and naively believes they come in
peace!
The hostile mob surround the saucer; the Martian runs outside to greet them.
The cops demand the Martian surrender; the playful space creature leads them on
a wild goose chase. The Martian disappears, then rematerializes, and keeps the earthmen on the run. Soon, however, the men surround the "Martian", who turns out to be the Police Chief! The real Martian uses a "flying flare" to rise up in the sky.
Back at the house, Frankie and Cathy asks their father if they were successful
in capturing the Martian, but Dad puts off their inquiries and tells them to go
to bed. After they retire, Dad puts on a Santa Claus suit, and gives out
presents, for it is Christmas Eve! Suddenly, another Santa Claus appears, with more gifts; it is the Martian in disguise! The cops arrive, and fret over who is the real Santa, aka the Martian!
The cops decide to bring both Santas to the station; the Martian Santa,
however, disappears and returns to his space ship, which promptly lifts off,
heading back home. On his way, the Martian stops by the kids house, to say a
final goodbye to Frankie and Cathy.
***
THE CHRISTMAS MARTIAN is a quirky, innovative and wildly imaginative
independent feature, with some arty fotog and a magical music score. One
wonders why this wholly engaging fantasy did not receive wider distribution or
garner a better reputation.
Falling under the rare category of "sci-fi for kids", THE CHRISTMAS MARTIAN
takes a light-hearted approach to the 1950's drive-in motif of an alien from
the stars invading a local community, and thus offering a dramatic microcosm of
the dominant culture. In THE CHRISTMAS MARTIAN, we take a somewhat sardonic
look at a small town, and its well-meaning but befuddled inhabitants. Parents
are humorless and lack imagination, and the cops are idiots. The two kids are
the hero of the piece, and possess the courage and innate wisdom to unravel the
mystery of their attack from without.
Visually, the film is gripping, shot entirely in the lush, snowy fields of Sainte-Melanie, Quebec. Some of the great vistas of rolling snow dunes look shockingly like an alien landscape. THE CHRISTMAS MARTIAN also makes use of crosscutting, quick editing and other avant-garde camera tricks, including prismatic lens and Godardian jump cuts, giving the film a brisk, refreshing pace. There is also some amazing optical-montage work, especially in scenes inside the space ship.
The film looks to have been shot silent, with the voices overdubbed (although perhaps it was originally filmed in the French language, for Canadian audiences). A most unusual music score by Jacques Perron contains both avant-garde electronic and choral passages which make you wish the score made it to a soundtrack album. In addition, twice in the film, we hear a somewhat goofy theme song.
The Martian itself is a self-consciously low-tech creation, intended probably
both as a parody of the low-budget monster genre, and an attempt to rewrite
some of the rules for creature design. All of the Martian's props look like easily-identifiable household items, making the resultant creature look like
something pretty much any imaginative child could fabricate. This makes the
creature both harmless-looking, and oddly endearing. It is a radical departure
from traditional movie-alien design, and quite refreshing.
The special effects, although threadbare, are engaging and for the most part
effective. There are some interesting props, such as the spaceship, which is a
glorious, full-scale saucer hung by a cable. There are also some amusing flying
scenes, reminiscent of those in MARY POPPINS (1964).
Yet THE CHRISTMAS MARTIAN is more than just kid sci-fi; the film also takes
time to meditate gloriously on everyday activities, turning simple scenes like
the kids' playing in the snow, or cutting down of their Xmas tree, into
succinct depictions of common rituals made sacred by mere emphasis. This is
also part of THE CHRISTMAS MARTIAN's discreet and curious charm.
Unlike the typical sci-fi story, heroes Frankie and Cathy are fearless and
curious creatures, and greet our otherworldly visitor with an altruistic fervor
quite rare nowadays. The kids, in fact, are a catalyst for progress in their
community, utilizing all the resources in their small town to further their
joyous goal, that of helping the Martian return safely home, to his family.
When it is made clear, towards film's end, that this entire adventure has
transpired on Christmas Eve, we understand that the Martian's timely visit was
intended by forces unseen to be an example of how folks can work together to
bring goodwill and harmony to their loved ones and neighbors, and to perhaps
even impart a little joy.
Indeed, the whole film is quite playful, and looks as if it was a lot of fun to
have made, and to be in; a great deal of time is spent just playing and goofing
around and having fun. There is a light-hearted spirit to this little adventure
which is quite infectious. For our money, THE CHRISTMAS MARTIAN is a little
fantasy gem waiting to be rediscovered.
Video/DVD availability: VHS (oop)
Links of related interest:
A terrific review with information about the film’s genesis
(1971, Canada) color 65 minutes
Faroun Films / Les Cinéastes Associés
Screenplay: Roch Carrier
Music by Jacques Perron
Cinematography: Alain Dostie
Editing: André Corriveau
Directed by Bernard Gosselin
Another review
