Movie Oubliette

Simon Barber, co-host of the Sodajerker on Songwriting podcast, joins us for our festive finale to 2022: and it's a doozy! The producing team behind the original Superman: The Movie (1978), its first two sequels and the spin-off Supergirl (1984) turned their attention to another origin story for a much-loved supernatural hero in 1985, and brought us Santa Claus: The Movie. Featuring Dudley Moore as a cheery elf determined to modernise the North Pole, David Huddlestone as the titular jolly gift-giver and scenery-munching John Lithgow as the nefarious business tycoon B.Z., the film has everything you could ever want in seasonal family adventure. Highlights include abducting homeless children to take them on flying reindeer joyrides with dangerous manoeuvres near the Twin Towers in Manhattan, John Lithgow screaming "FOR FREE?!!" and turning beetroot red when Dudley Moore attempts to explain the act of giving a gift, and Aled Jones singing on a glorious soundtrack by Henry Mancini. But is it the gift that keeps o