The Christmas Martian (French: Le Martien de Noël) is a Canadian children's Christmas comedy film, directed by Bernard Gosselin and released in 1971.[1] The film stars Marcel Sabourin as Poo Flower, an extraterrestrial being from Mars who lands his spaceship near a small town in Northern Quebec during the Christmas season, befriending the local children but alarming their parents.[2]
The film's cast also includes Catherine Leduc, François Gosselin, Guy L'Écuyer, Roland Chenail, Paul Hébert, Louise Poulin-Roy, Paul Berval, Ernest Guimond, Yvan Canuel, Yvon Leroux and Reine Malo, as well as narration by Marc-André Coallier.
It was the first children's film ever made in Canada by a commercial studio independently of either the National Film Board of Canada or the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.[2] After producer Rock Demers launched the Tales for All series of children's films in the 1980s, the film was retroactively incorporated into that series.[3]
Reception
Canuxploitation, a film blog devoted to Canadian B-movies, wrote that the film was "easily the most insane example of Canadian children's cinema ever conceived. Nonsensical and embarrassingly low-budget, Le Martien de Noël wildly bounces from wacky action sequences to unrelated tangents, all highlighted by special effects even the most distracted seven year-old could see through. In other words, it's great!"[4]
Availability
The film has occasionally been rebroadcast on television during the Christmas season, most commonly on science fiction channels.[5] RiffTrax released a version with a mocking audio commentary track on December 15, 2023.[6]
See also
References
- ^ Gerald Pratley, A Century of Canadian Cinema. Lynx Images, 2003. ISBN 1-894073-21-5. p. 42.
- ^ a b "Filmmaker sees young as mischievious". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, October 6, 1971.
- ^ Ralph Lucas, "Canadian Film Remakes". Northern Stars, July 30, 2019.
- ^ "Le Martien de Noël". Canuxploitation.
- ^ Tony Atherton, "It's Christmastime on television". Ottawa Citizen, November 28, 2003.
- ^ The Christmas Martian, 2023-12-14, retrieved 2023-12-16
External links
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