A rather charming little film, which starts with Santa feeding hay to his reindeer, before moving back into his workshop to finish toymaking. The scene switches to a middle class house (parents, five children all about 4!, grandpa and maid). They tell the Christmas story, then hang up stockings before the children are packed off to bed (in two beds and one cot). The children get up, are chased back to bed, then have a proper pillow fight with feathers flying everywhere: I wonder how difficult this scene was to film. Santa checks his delivery schedule and inventory, loads up the sleigh and heads off - a superb animated sequence. Arriving at a chimney, he climbs down, fills stocking and otherwise creates a festive air before continuing his deliveries. The children and adults come down and are delighted. As a children's story, the film still works today.

It is the night before Christmas, and an always-busy Saint Nicholas is outside in the snowy fields of the North Pole feeding his beloved reindeer, before returning to his workshop to place the finishing touches on his toys for the children. Meanwhile, the children in their homes are excited about his imminent arrival, carefully hanging their stockings above the fireplace and retreating to bed with no hope of ever falling asleep with such excitement in the air. The children feign sleeping as the nanny passes their bedsides, suddenly springing to their feet as soon as she departs, before ducking back under the covers when she returns to check out what all the commotion is. Observe how the youngest daughter deviously initiates a frenzied pillow fight among all the siblings, before sneaking off to observe the spectacle from safer quarters. Throughout all the action, the intertitles recite extracts from Clement Clarke Moore's beloved 1823 poem, 'A Visit From St. Nicholas,' upon which this film is based.The extended model shot that forms the centrepiece of the film shows Saint Nicholas' reindeer prancing over the mountain tops, before taking off into the open air, and coming to a halt on the rooftop of the children's home. Though perhaps inferior to the stunning model work of George Méliès in his "Le Voyage à travers l'impossible / The Impossible Voyage" (1904), this elaborate shot nonetheless involved a lot of tireless work from all involved, and retains much of its original charm.After descending the chimney, Saint Nicholas empties the contents of his sack onto the floor, waves his arm once, and the room is miraculously transformed, a huge, beautifully-decorated Christmas tree and a multitude of presents now decorating the room. Just as Saint Nicholas disappears into the chimney again, the children and their parents stride into the room, the children's eyes suddenly widening at the sight of all these gifts. To be young again, eh? More than a century after it was originally produced, 'The Night Before Christmas' remains every bit as magical as it must have been in 1905.

This early holiday-themed feature is enjoyable to watch, and it is also a good example of Edwin S. Porter's style in filming special effect or fantasy movies. The story, loosely based on the theme of the poem "The Night Before Christmas", is old-fashioned in a good way that works pretty well. It's also one of the earlier movies to feature the use of cross-cutting or parallel editing.The story alternates between two story lines, with 'Santa Claus' getting everything ready for his December 24 deliveries, while at the same time the children from a large family are having difficulty falling asleep due to their excitement. The 'Santa' portions flesh out the standard legend with Porter's characteristic style, and the family sequences are easy to identify with, for just about anyone who remembers being a child.As director and cinematographer, Porter takes his usual approach with this kind of material. Rather than striving to make the settings and visual effects seem as lifelike as possible, he instead aims to make them interesting and pleasing to look at in their own right. It works well here, and the images seem to fit in well with the story. It's short (less than ten minutes), yet the length seems just about right, and it makes for an entertaining little movie.

'Twas THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...The wonderful old poem by Clement C. Moore comes to life in this little silent film. Looking like a Victorian Christmas card, it has all the charm of a bygone era. The special effects, especially the scenic diorama used for St. Nicholas' ride, are quite effective.Al Kryszak provided the score for the video compilation A Christmas Past, in which this film appears.