How the Toys Saved Christmas

How the Toys Saved Christmas
How the Toys Saved Christmas
	Original theatrical poster
Directed by	Enzo D'Alò
Written by	Enzo D'Alò; Umberto Marino
Based on	La freccia azzurra; by Gianni Rodari
Produced by	Maria Fares
Music by	Paolo Conte
Production; companies	Alpha-Film; Lanterna Magica; Monipoly Productions
Distributed by	Mikado Film
Release date	5 December 1996 (Germany);
Running time	83 minutes
Countries	Italy; Switzerland; Germany; Luxembourg
Languages	Italian; German; Swiss; Luxembourgish; English

How the Toys Saved Christmas (Italian: La freccia azzurra) is a 1996 Italian animated film directed by Enzo D'Alò, based on a tale by Gianni Rodari.^[1]

In the original version, the story took place during the Epiphany Eve, because in the Folklore of Italy the Befana is a good witch that gives presents and candies to the children during the night between 5 and 6 January.

Plot

On the Epiphany Eve, La Befana falls ill and must take off for a night, recruiting Scarafoni to help deliver all the toys that must go to the Italian children. No one but the toys knows that Scarafoni plans to auction off the toys to the highest bidder, which means that the toys won't make it to the children who have been good all year and therefore deserve them. The toys decide to deliver themselves: the story follows them as they struggle to avoid the heartless Scarafoni and to find their true homes.

Meanwhile, a young boy named Francesco wishes to receive as an Epiphany present the model of the Freccia Azzurra (Blue Arrow), the train where his late father used to work on. While Scarafoni is out looking for the escaping toys, a couple of burglars, Lesto and Scarpa, kidnaps Francesco and force him to sneak inside the Befana's shop and taking away all the money. Francesco, instead, uses the telephone inside the shop to call the police who arrest the burglars; Befana understands that Francesco is not involved in the attempted robbery and, with much gratitude, exonerates Francesco.

Of all the toys, the plush dog Spicciola wishes to be given to Francesco. During the evening, after a fight against Scarafoni that splits him from the group, Spicciola turns into a real dog. The next morning, Spicciola finds Francesco and the two bonds immediately.

In the end, all the toys manage to deliver themselves to the children in their homes, but Scarafoni still has the money. However, everyone rushes to the toy shop and find Scarafoni with the money and the people manage to get it back from him as he is arrested. Befana, after having found that her illness was provoked by Scarafoni himself, who gave her a light poison instead of medicine, hires Francesco as her new helper, joined by Spicciola.

U.S. version

In 1997, the film was imported to the U.S. and released direct-to-video by Buena Vista Home Video, under the title How the Toys Saved Christmas (although, as shown in the previews, it was originally going to be titled The Toys Who Saved Christmas).

The film featured Mary Tyler Moore as the voice for the Befana, renamed "Granny Rose" and described as Santa Claus' helper; Tony Randall as Scarafoni, renamed "Mr. Grimm"; Michael Caloz as Francesco, renamed "Christopher Winter"; and Sonja Ball as Spicciola the dog, renamed Jingles. Instead of being set during the Epiphany Eve, the film is set on Christmas Eve.

The plot is otherwise very similar to the original Italian version, with some minor alterations. Rather than desiring the Blue Arrow for himself, Christopher Winter writes to Santa on behalf of his friend Charlie, a fellow orphan and the one who ultimately receives the train as his gift. For himself, Christopher asks for "one special friend", making his adoption of Jingles a fulfillment of his actual wish in this version.

The film also had some scenes from the original Italian release deleted or placed before other scenes, along with some music scores taken out and new music added in.

Cast

Character	Italian name	Original Italian V.O.	English dub (Miramax version)
Mr. Grimm	Scarafoni	Dario Fo	Tony Randall
Granny Rose	La Befana	Lella Costa	Mary Tyler Moore
Christopher Winter	Francesco	Alida Milana	Michael Caloz
Jingles the Dog	Spicciola	Monica Bertolotti	Sonja Ball
The Indian Chief	Penna d'Argento	Rino Bolognesi	Terrence Scammell
Skipper the Boat Captain	Capitano Mezzabarba	Vittorio Amandola	Richard Dumont
Holly and Polly the Dollies	Carlotta and Barbara	Ilaria Latini	Holly Gauthier-Frankel (Holly) Maggie Castle (Polly)
General Lajoie	Generale	Rodolfo Bianchi	Rick Jones
The Stubborn Wizard	Mago Testardo	Carlo Reali	Garry Jewell
Theodore the Wind-Up Teddy Bear	Orso Giallo	Roberto Stocchi	Michael Rudder
The Plane Pilot	Pilota D'Aereo	Marco Bresciani	Thor Bishopric
The Toy Crane Foreman	Caposquadra della Gru	Unknown Voice Actor	Mark Camacho
The Blue Arrow Train Crew	Il personale del treno della Freccia Azzurra	Oliviero Dinelli (Conductor) Christian Iansante (Train Driver) Unknown Voice Actor (Trainman)	Richard Dumont (Conductor) Arthur Holden (Train Driver) Michael Rudder (Trainman)
The Colored Pencils	Pastelli	Sergio Luzi (red and black) Pino Ammendola (green and blue) Neri Marcorè (yellow) Gaetano Varcasia (white and brown)	Bruce Dinsmore (red pencil) Rick Jones (yellow pencil) Terrence Scammell (green pencil) Arthur Holden (blue pencil) Richard Dumont (black pencil) Garry Jewell (brown pencil) Mark Camacho (white pencil)
The Wooden Duck	Anatra di Legno	Unknown Voice Actor	Rick Jones
Swifty and Rocko the Burglars	Lesto and Scarpa	Fabio Boccanera (Lesto) Roberto Pedicini (Scarpa)	Richard Dumont (Swifty) Mark Camacho (Rocko)
Mr. Tinker the Toy Maker	Mastro Romualdo	Nello Riviè	Walter Massey
Mr. Potter the Night Watchman	Arturo	Giorgio Borghetti	Bruce Dinsmore
Milford and Alfred the Twins	Carlo Alberto and Filippo Maria	Davide Perino (Carlo Alberto) Alessio de Filippis (Filippo Maria)	Jane Woods (Milford) Susan Glover (Alfred)
Jonesy the Twins' Maid	Domestica	Unknown Voice Actor	Joanna Noyes
The Chief of Police	Capo della Polizia	Pino Ferrara	Walter Massey
The Police Constable	Agente	Unknown Voice Actor	Terrence Scammell
The Ticket Seller	Venditore di Biglietti	Laura Cosenza	Joanna Noyes
The Coach Driver	Autista di Pullman	Unknown Voice Actor	Michael Rudder
Charlie	Unknown Name	Unknown Voice Actor	Michael Carloz
Uncle Hank	Unknown Name	Unknown Voice Actor	Mark Camacho
Samantha	Unknown Name	Unknown Voice Actor	Maggie Castle
The Town Stature	Statura	Michele Kalamera	Garry Jewell
Rascal the Stray Dog	Nerone	Unknown Voice Actor	Mark Camacho
Christopher's Dad	Papa	Unknown Voice Actor	Neil Shee
Santa Claus	Babbo Natale	Renzo Stacchi	Neil Shee

Home media

Buena Vista Home Video released the film in its English-dubbed version on DVD in 2003. Echo Bridge Home Entertainment re-released the film on DVD in 2011. It was also re-released on DVD by Lionsgate in 2014 and Paramount Home Entertainment in 2020.

References

^ Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-4766-7293-9.

External links

How the Toys Saved Christmas at IMDb

[1] Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-4766-7293-9.

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