Santa's Whiskers

Prancer

Directed by John D. Hancock

Prancer. Rebecca Harrell plays a 9-year-old farm girl who still believes in Santa despite the remonstrations of her parents and the taunts of her peers. When she stumbles across a reindeer in a remote part of the forest she thinks it is Prancer from Santa’s team. But no one will believe her. Later on, her no-nonsense down-on-his-luck father Sam Elliot comes across a wounded reindeer and feels it his duty to put the suffering animal out of his misery. 

   The deer, of course, is Prancer, and it magically vanishes before Elliot's startled eyes. Harrell finds the reindeer and nurses it back to health in secret, with the help of kindly doctor Abe Vigoda and her troublesome older brother John Joseph Duda.She’s determined to bring Prancer back to health in time for Christmas. So she needs to contact Santa and let him know where Prancer is, but her efforts only result in public humiliation for her father. 
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​   However, the spirit of goodwill is contagious by fadeout time, even transforming town-recluse Cloris Leachman into a warm-hearted social animal.