First-ever Christmas movie is 126 years old and free to watch on YouTube-Tori Brazier-Entertainment – Metro

The first known Christmas film is a lot older than you think (Picture: YouTube/ BFI National Archive/Getty)

Christmas movies have become a staple of the festive season alongside decorating trees, singing carols and gift giving – but prepare to be surprised just how far back this particular tradition goes.

We’d excuse you for assuming that the earliest films set in or around December 25 cropped up in the 1940s or 50s with the likes of the still-popular Meet Me in St Louis, It’s A Wonderful Life and White Christmas.

These are often considered the golden oldies when slotted in among more recent popular Christmas film fare such as Home Alone, The Grinch and various versions of A Christmas Carol (obviously the Muppets’ one from 1992 is the best).

Perhaps you’d then assume they were first made in the late 1920s, when sound was being phased in and Hollywood was starting to hit its true heights as a movie-making titan.

But the first acknowledged Christmas film goes back years – decades – prior, in fact 126 years to be precise.

Yes, the first movie centred around the season was made all the way back in 1898 and focused on a magical visit from Father Christmas – and it’s nothing to do with Hollywood.

Festive favourite movies like Meet Me in St Louis from the 1940s are now 80 years old, but still a lot more recent than the first one (Picture: FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images)

It was made by former magic lanternist and hypnotist George Albert Smith in the UK, while he was corresponding with the French pioneer Georges Méliès (known for 1902’s astonishing A Trip to the Moon, among other films).

Despite being a British film though, it went with the Americanised, popular version of St Nick’s name in the title Santa Claus.

Lasting one minute and 16 seconds, the silent production is praised for its ‘considerable technical ambition and accomplishment for its period’ by the BFI.

Santa Claus, from 1898, is understood to be the oldest Christmas movie (Picture: BFI National Archive/YouTube)

The silent short film was made in the UK by pioneer G.A. Smith and can be watched for free (Picture: BFI National Archive/YouTube)

Santa Claus’s pioneering visual effects include showing him coming down the chimney in the same shot as the children asleep in their bed and vanishing into thin air at the end of his visit.

It’s believed to include cinema’s earliest known example of parallel action, according to Michael Brooke, writing for the BFI.

And even better, this groundbreaking British film is actually free to watch on YouTube as part of the BFI National Archive.

It’s pretty incredible too to realise that this short film was put together just a decade after Roundhay Garden Scene, which is believed to be the oldest surviving film and one of the first motion pictures ever recorded, in 1898.

So this Christmas while you’re pursuing the latest offerings on Netflix – be it a hot snowman or a festive stripping troupe – take a look at where it all began.

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