Irie212 Further to bluestreak45's comments, this is definitely worth a viewing for Eric Burdon and The Animals as the wolf pack, for Cyril Ritchard as the victimized Big Bad Wolf, for the polished musical score, and, if you're a Liza fan, for her belting out tunes at age 19. Songwriter Jule Styne conceived the idea of telling the Red Riding Hood story from a lupine point of view (and wrote the music with Bob Merrill, who wrote "Mambo Italiano"), and it is an ambitious idea, and even has a few amusing exchanges of dialog, e.g., when RRHood (Liza) asks the wolf (Ritchard dressed as granny) to play something on the piano from "when you were a girl-- maybe something by Bach." Unfortunately the production values are minimal and the videotape from the original ABC broadcast is grainy and washed out. Happily for obscurity lovers, as of this writing it is available in five parts at dailymotion.com/video/xuvlm_4-little-red-ridinghood-xmas_music . The Animals show up in part 2, but don't really get going until their howling song in part 4.

tom-1356 The Dangerous Christmas Of Red Ridding Hood was an extremely big deal at my house, and it had nothing at all to do with the movie content. The show was sponsored by General Electric, and at the time my father was GE's Advertising General Manager.Much of what was written is true in that I can remember the production being somewhat silly, but I guess that really was more of the intent.However, the lasting impression the production made on me was due to the fact that I was fortunate to be present at the shooting. Fortunate in that I was a 14 year old boy getting to meet Liza Minnelli, who was but 19 herself, and probably because my father asked her to, she spent about an hour's time communicating with me, and I have loved her ever since.Unfortunately, for probably the same reason, Eric Burden did the same and I was not at all impressed as I thought him to be...a word I would have used at that time...a jerk.Anyway, when the show finally aired we had family friends over to watch it with us, and from the other comments written here they were probably being nice, but I remember the comments being congratulatory.Tom

Boba_Fett1138 The title sounds as if this is some bad horror but this is a quite charming little Christmas special from 1965, starring the teenager Liza Minnelli in her first leading role.With this movie Minnelli goes into her mother's footsteps. She dances and sings her way through this movie. She of course had a great example and teacher to look up at in the form of her mother Judy Garland, who starred in dozens of musical movies. Also her father Vincente Minnelli was no stranger to the genre and was an acclaimed and well known musical movie director.Yes, Liza Minnelli is good and enjoyable in her role in this movie and shows that she can sign and dance. Something that would eventually even get her an Oscar 8 years later for her role in the movie version of "Cabaret". She is however not the most attractive person within the genre. She is not attractive no and she even wasn't in 1965. It's perhaps a reason why she never became such a big musical star as her mother was, even though she also wasn't among the best looking actresses of her time.The movie is quite cheerful and therefore also charming. It features some good songs and characters that pop up. Cyril Ritchard is really great in his role as the Big Bad Wolf.But how exactly is this a Christmas special? Just because there is a Christmas tree in the back doesn't make the story of Red Riding Hood really feel fitting for a Christmas special. An original attempt to try and re-tell the famous story but also a bit of a silly one.The movie obviously looks as if it was filmed on a stage and it of course most likely also was but this feels sort of fitting for a TV special and actually suits the movie its atmosphere and overall cheerfulness quite well.It's a good watch and basically just a fine simply enjoyable 50 minutes.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

safford99 I was able to see a grainy print of this "movie" at a revival theater. I don't know where they got the print, but it's a real shame that it's not out on video or DVD. It is jaw droppingly awful in a way that makes it hysterically funny.Liza Minnelli gives an early, clunky performance as Red Riding Hood and Cyril Richard is a scream as the wolf/granny. The best moment is when the two of them sing "Ding-a-Ling". Cyril looks ridiculous dressed up and hamming it up as granny, while Liza jumps around the tv set doing some of the worst dance moves ever recorded on film.See this movie if you ever get a chance, it's priceless.