The Christmas Tree (1966 film)

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The Christmas Tree is a 1966 British children's adventure film about getting a Christmas tree to a London hospital for Christmas. It follows their escapades such as the difficulties in getting the tree inside a public bus, on the back of a jeep, and carrying it through villages and rescuing it from a river. Directed by Jim Clark and written by Ed Harper and Michael Barnes, it stars William Burleigh, Kate Nicholls and Anthony Honour, with an early film role for Brian Blessed as a policeman. [1] [2]

Plot

A trio of children are given the task of transporting a Christmas tree to a London hospital for Christmas. They narrowly manage to get it onto a bus, much to the annoyance of other passengers and then it is carried on the back of a jeep while they hitch a ride on a motorcycle. They carry it through rural villages, and accidentally drop it in a river, requiring them to rescue it. They hitch a ride in an American car, which turns out to be driven by robbers. Hearing a description of them over the radio, the children disperse the stolen money out the back door window while travelling through a village, leading to their arrest. The Christmas tree finds itself on a tank on military property, 30 miles from London before finally reaching its destination thanks to an army bus of soldiers and a truck.

The film ends at St Vincent's Hospital with the children and a bespectacled Santa singing carols by the repaired and now well-decorated tree.

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References

  1. "The Christmas Tree". BFI. Archived from the original on 26 October 2016. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  2. Denis Gifford (April 2016). British Film Catalogue Volume 1. Routledge. p. 759. ISBN   9781317740636.