I admit publicly that "A Christmas Carol" is the only work of Dickens I've read from cover to cover. I tried getting through a book or two of Mr. Dickens back in high school and never could get past the first few pages. But I promise I will give him a second chance sooner than later.
According to the vast pool of truth and accuracy known as Google, there are "hundreds" of 'A Christmas Carol' movie and TV adaptations, with estimates ranging from over 100 to possibly 400-plus." I believe it.
I wanted to pick out a few older versions between as early as I can find to 1971 that I hadn't seen before and see how they compare. Well, all but one I haven't seen, but I'll explain later.
Méliès's films are a real cavalcade of trick photography that still impress with their special effects. With, perhaps, his most iconic and notable film being "A Trip to the Moon" (1902), he's a true magician when it comes to trick film.
This 1901 adaptation of Dickens's story is directed by British film maker Walter R. Booth. Not only is it the earliest film version of "A Christmas Carol" I could find, but it's one of the first film adaptations of a Dickens story. There is another from 1901 titled "The Death of Poor Joe" which was inspired by the book, "Bleak House." However, I wouldn't say it's a film adaptation of "Bleak House."
A Christmas Carol (1910) - This silent movie, which has a run time of approximately 20 minutes, is directed by J. Searle Dawley and produced through Thomas Edison's Studios. It stars Marc McDermott as Ebenezer Scrooge along with Charles S. Ogle as Bob Cratchit and Harold M. Shaw as Scrooge's nephew, Fred. It's the only other silent film version of "A Christmas Carol" I could find.
Scrooge (1935) - This version of Dicken's story is a short one with a run time of 78 minutes, so it breezes through the story.
Ebenezer Scrooge is played Sir Seymour Hicks. He was no novice when it came to playing Scrooge as he portrayed the famous convert many, many times on stage prior to the film.
Many integral parts of the story are left out. For instance, the film doesn't include the two fellows who visit Scrooge at his lending office seeking money for the poor. When Scrooge is shown his past, we only see him deny an extension to a poor young couple begging for more time to repay their loan. This leads to his fiancé leaving him as she witnesses his cold heartedness and greed in this exchange. However, the Ghost of Christmas Present still uses Scrooge's own words against him when asked whether Tiny Tim will live. "If he is to die, then let him do it and decrease the surplus population." Scrooge doesn't say this line earlier since in the story he says it to those two charity workers seeking donations.
In the present, Scrooge only sees how his clerk, Bob Cratchit, keeps Christmas despite his low salary. While Scrooge is initially visited by the ghost of his old business partner, Jacob Marley, his ghost remains invisible to the audience as Scrooge is the only one who sees him.
Despite the shorter run time, this is a darker version of the story. And Hicks plays Scrooge with heaviness on the anger and disdain for Christmas and those who celebrate it. He's more a heartless grump than he is a conceited miser.
It's not a completely terrible rendition, but with its quick pace, it doesn't grab me emotionally as later versions. And it doesn't bother to inform the audience on why Scrooge has this disdain for Christmas in the first place. The movie just goes through the motions. Every version of the story I've seen seems to add their own little twist or scene in an attempt to stand out among the others. This version, not so much. If the audience knows the story already, then the movie makes sense.
Scrooge (1951) - I intended to watch the 1938 movie "A Christmas Carol" with Reginald Owen as Scrooge, directed by Edwin L. Marin, and produced by MGM.
Scrooge (1970) - "No man is a handy candidate for hell." This musical version of "A Christmas Carol" starring Albert Finney, gets a lot of attention each Christmas season. It's often listed up there with Sim, Scott, and the Muppets. I had never seen it until now.
Albert Finney does make a great Scrooge as far as appearance goes. Otherwise, it's a weird casting call.
I can't really critique this Christmas Carol movie much as only part of it is known to survive. I found it uploaded to YouTube with the subheading, "The Most Complete Version."
The film begins as Ebenezer Scrooge and his clerk, Bob Cratchit, show someone the exit in Scrooge's office.
Just after he leaves, it looks as though Cratchit asks for the day off on Christmas. Scrooge appears annoyed and stunned he would dare ask for the entire day off. But he agrees and Cratchit is clearly thankful for Scrooge's unexpected show of generosity, albeit reluctant.
The story cuts to Scrooge encountering his old business partner's face appearing on his door knocker, followed by his paranormal visit and warning.
The Ghost of Christmas Past shows up for a brief visit to show Scrooge a few quick glimpses of his own past.
The Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge how the Cratchits celebrate Christmas, followed by a visit to his nephew Fred's place to show Scrooge how happy and merry he is along with his wife and friends despite their lack of wealth.
Finally, the Ghost of "Christmas that Might Be" appears. The last shot is Scrooge's tombstone. The entire movie as I watched it is only six minutes long.
When it comes to silent movies, especially earlier ones, the emotion relies entirely on body language, exaggerated actions, and facial expressions.
"Marley's Ghost" certainly lives up to its genre. While the special effects are approaching 125 years, they're still a wonder of motion picture magic. Despite its age, the movie still manages to impress. If I have to gripe about one thing, the movie seems to the same actor dressed in the same bed sheet depicting all three Spirits of Christmas. I won't fault it for that, though.
I don't know how much of the movie is missing aside from the final scene of Scrooge's repentance. Sometimes these lost films find a way of resurfacing if they still exist. It would be fantastic if any missing footage that might still be out there and is hopefully not beyond restoration - old film is rather volatile - will sometime be rediscovered.
As I mentioned, emotion and feeling in silent movies depends on body language and facial expressions. Without words, this silent film nails it in conveying all that through the actors' visible cues, especially when the charity workers (two are normally depicted in Christmas Carol movies, but there are three in this version) ask Scrooge for a donation for the poor and needy before he kicks them out of his office. Their jovial demeanor is quickly exchanged with shock and dismay all clear in their gestures.
When Scrooge's nephew, Fred, pays him a visit, he comes with a small entourage - presumably his wife and friends. They all enter the office clearly filled with happiness and merriment. However, Scrooge gets up, walks past his nephew, bows to the women and opens the door to show them the way they came. They walk out slowly, looking at each other confused at their merry wishing being met with rejection. Their smiles are completely gone.
What I appreciate is Scrooge's demeanor maintaining business-like professionalism - man who still possesses and practices proper English manners while "keeping Christmas in his own way" - instead of flying off the handle like someone who can't control his emotions. That's how I think Scrooge to be. He's a man of business with no time for spending money on passing frivolities. The depiction of a Scrooge irrationally flying off the handle with fits of anger doesn't fit the demeanor of an English businessman.
When Fred and his crew leave, he grabs his cane and raises his hands in frustration since no one but his clerk, Bob Cratchit, is the only one who sees him.
Later, when Scrooge is home sitting in front of his fireplace, keen eyes will notice that Scrooge's fireplace mantel is tiled with scenes of Sacred Scripture. In the novel, Dickens describes Scrooge's fireplace as "an old one, built by some Dutch merchant long ago, and paved all round with quaint Dutch tiles, designed to illustrate the Scriptures. There were Cains and Abels, Pharaoh's daughters, Queens of Sheba, angelic messengers descending through the air on clouds like feather-beds, Abrahams, Belshazzars, Apostles putting off to sea in butter-boats, hundreds of figures to attract his thoughts."
After Scrooge sees Marley's face in the front door knocker when coming home, he sees the face of his dead partner again within these tiles.
"...And yet that face of Marley, seven years dead, came like the ancient Prophet's rod, and swallowed up the whole. If each smooth tile had been a blank at first, with power to shape some picture on its surface from the disjointed fragments of his thoughts, there would have been a copy of old Marley's head on every one."
This detail in Dicken's story I haven't seen attempted in many movie adaptations. The 1984 film with George C. Scott and directed by Clive Donner includes this scene with Scrooge seeing Marley's face in the fireplace tiles.
The movie that captures this particular scene best is the 1999 movie "A Christmas Carol" with Patrick Stewart. It's worth checking out. So, kudos to this early rendition for including this important detail.
The three Spirits of Christmas, who appear in their forms as more-or-less described in the original book show Scrooge those familiar screens like images depicted on a screen rather than throwing Scrooge into the middle of the scenes as is often portrayed in movies. In other words, Scrooge sees all his visions of the past, present, and future without leaving his bedroom. It's a marvel of early special effects.
I'm wouldn't be surprised if Disney's 2009 movie "A Christmas Carol" with Jim Carrey, directed by Robert Zemeckis maybe took a little inspiration from this rendition. As in that film, the Ghost of Christmas Present does show Scrooge what he wants him to see in a similar manner. I'm speculating, though.
For a movie from this era, the details are well done. And the focus is clearly on Scrooge as far as what he's done, what he's lost, and what he can do. It depicts these points wonderfully well without any dialogue. Each part of Scrooge's development into a redeemed man is tied together with Scrooge attempting to make sense of what he just witnessed, and why he witnessed it. Of course, the movie is likely relying on the audience already knowing the story before they watch.
One thing this movie does differently than any other film I've seen is that Scrooge is shown by the Ghost of Christmas Present that his nephew Fred is struggling financially. At the final scene of the film, Scrooge makes Fred his new business partner.
Ebenezer Scrooge is played Sir Seymour Hicks. He was no novice when it came to playing Scrooge as he portrayed the famous convert many, many times on stage prior to the film.
Many integral parts of the story are left out. For instance, the film doesn't include the two fellows who visit Scrooge at his lending office seeking money for the poor. When Scrooge is shown his past, we only see him deny an extension to a poor young couple begging for more time to repay their loan. This leads to his fiancé leaving him as she witnesses his cold heartedness and greed in this exchange. However, the Ghost of Christmas Present still uses Scrooge's own words against him when asked whether Tiny Tim will live. "If he is to die, then let him do it and decrease the surplus population." Scrooge doesn't say this line earlier since in the story he says it to those two charity workers seeking donations.
In the present, Scrooge only sees how his clerk, Bob Cratchit, keeps Christmas despite his low salary. While Scrooge is initially visited by the ghost of his old business partner, Jacob Marley, his ghost remains invisible to the audience as Scrooge is the only one who sees him.
Despite the shorter run time, this is a darker version of the story. And Hicks plays Scrooge with heaviness on the anger and disdain for Christmas and those who celebrate it. He's more a heartless grump than he is a conceited miser.
It's not a completely terrible rendition, but with its quick pace, it doesn't grab me emotionally as later versions. And it doesn't bother to inform the audience on why Scrooge has this disdain for Christmas in the first place. The movie just goes through the motions. Every version of the story I've seen seems to add their own little twist or scene in an attempt to stand out among the others. This version, not so much. If the audience knows the story already, then the movie makes sense.
However, I couldn't access the '38 version without having to pay. I didn't want to do that. So, despite my best efforts, I will just have to wait until it becomes available.
Instead, I'll include this British version from 1951 starring Alastair Sim which I make a point to watch yearly at this festive season of the year. It's generally regarded as one of the best film adaptations among other adaptations. It's also often included on lists and such of the best or most loved Christmas movies out there.
Sim's performance is definitive. He gives Scrooge a transformation that feels a lot more credible, genuine, and emotional. Other depictions are generally cut and dry, just giving the audience what they expect. Other Scrooges are stock images of selfish old miserly men turned jolly.
Sim's Scrooge is tightly reserved and self-contained as the novel describes him. He's proud, and possessing what Dickens says in his book, an "improved opinion of himself."
He treats Christmas with more mockery rather than having actual disdain for the holiday. It's a day that dupes the poorer people into blowing cash on fanciful frivolities rather than on what they need. Why bother?
Scrooge in this movie leans more into sarcasm, cynicism, self-importance, and impatience, rather than angry outbursts at everything Christmas which makes him resemble the everyday difficult man. Scrooge is much too involved in business and wealth. He's a "tight-fisted hand to the grindstone, Scrooge...Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire, secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster." That's his flaw. Based on other films and series I've watched based on other Dickens's books, that seems to be how Dickens generally portrays other wealthy English characters. It's kind of like mudslinging. Again, I haven't read nearly enough of Dickens works to know that with absolute certainty.
Despite Scrooge's sins of greed and selfishness, he is still an English man of business from the Victorian era. He still maintains his proper demeanor lest flying off the handle in bouts of anger as Scrooge is often depicted, might hurt business. He thinks highly of himself and less of others. That doesn't necessarily mean he shouts and yells at everyone. He's cynical of others and that's how Sim depicts him.
Scrooge's transformation in this movie is the most genuine compared to other versions I've seen. He goes from defensive and disenchanted, to ashamed and remorseful, and finally undeservingly giddy that he still has time to better himself even in the winter of his life.
Plus, the film best depicts the opposite transformation from Scrooge's youth to his finding love, to his business ventures, to his miserly ways showing the audience how he succumbed to the world's offerings, made his choices, and became the man he was.
I love Sim the best as he reminds the audience that even this "covetous old sinner" is still a human. He doesn't just go through the familiar actions and act as the stock character seen over and over again. His Scrooge is the most genuine and believable.
Thanks to Sim's comedic background, he acts with such vivid expression especially when it comes to the repressed pain and regretful decisions the Ghosts bring back to the surface. His Scrooge often looks away, mutters to himself, laughs at odd moments, glances around the scenes as if he's looking for a reminder on how to be a human being. He faces his shadows of the past with looks of shock and disgust at himself. It all makes his redemption that much more joyous and uplifting, especially when he accepts Fred's invitation to Christmas dinner.
The only other actor who has a genuine and believable transformation is George C. Scott's performance in the 1984 movie. Scott's Scrooge treats Christmas with a similar mockery as though it's a silly holiday that fools all the dimwitted poorer people rather than having grouchy hatred for the holy day.
Albert Finney does make a great Scrooge as far as appearance goes. Otherwise, it's a weird casting call.
His is the stock portrayal of Scrooge I don't particularly care for. There's a sequence in the first act of him going from client to client looking for their payments on Christmas Eve, taking an obvious joy in the presence of his clients at the misery he's causing.
And though he's just depicted as mean and miserly, the movie really puts him through hell. In fact, it even sends him there and back...literally.
The songs, written by Leslie Bricusse, are mediocre to forgettable. They might compliment scenes here and there, but I barely remember most of them. Although Scrooge's rendition of "I Hate People" is certainly comedic whether it's intended to be or not.
The only song that's catchy - a real ear worm - is the final number, "Thank You Very Much." It's sung during a vision of the future before Scrooge realizes he's dead. Yet all of his neighbors gather in the streets to celebrate that his death have relieved them of their debts. And one of those debtors' dances on Scrooge's coffin as it's carted through the streets of his London neighborhood. "Thank you very much! Thank you very much! That's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me," they sing. It's catchy. It's sung again when Scrooge is reformed and forgives those debts.
What I didn't like about this particular scene is that Scrooge doesn't know he's dead when all his debtors first sing this. He thinks they're praising him, and he smiles and dances along. It would have been a much mor sharper scene if he just stood there and forced to take it, watching everyone celebrating his passing.
There's a heavier setup to really convey to the audience who Scrooge is and what his London neighbors think of him even before the song I just mentioned. This is especially seen as young street urchins follow and taunt Scrooge singing, "Father Christmas, Father Christmas!"
Careful precision is made to make this an impactful story. Jacob Marley's
(played by none other than Sir Alec Guinness) introduction is magnificently unsettling.
Marley is not only determined to change Scrooge, but he also takes delight at watching his old and still living business partner struggle and cower when he's inches from his own potential torment that's awaiting him unless he repents. I think I loved this version of Marley's Ghost the best as Guinness depicts the ghost as going through the motions of what being alive is like, but can't honestly enjoy any of it, not even the capability of enjoying a chair. All his actions are mere simulations of basic human actions like walking and maintaining eye contact. It's pretty clever, actually. Marley doesn't hold back in what he presents to Scrooge to start his night of redemption...his dark night of the soul.
The Ghost of Christmas Past is depicted as a proper English woman instead of glowing old man blended with the appearance of a child. When Scrooge first lays his eyes on the spirit, he says, "You don't look like a ghost."
"Thank you," the spirit replies.
It was a liberty the movie made that didn't make sense.
The film seems to gloss over the story starting with the Ghosts of Christmas Present and Future. It reserves it's time for that big song and dance finale, "Thank You Very Much" following the Ghost of Christmas Future sending Scrooge to Hell to be tormented gleefully by Jacob Marley. He appoints Scrooge as Lucifer's clerk just as Cratchit was his clerk. He even gives Scrooge a cold office with his own ponderous chain of restraint.
This would be a great version if it didn't include the songs which aren't very memorable.
Finney's Scrooge goes through the emotions a lot more vigorously - sadness and regret, fear and trepidation, and happiness and merriment.
One thing the movie does which I haven't seen other movies do is show Cratchit in the future visiting the grave of his Tiny Tim. And Scrooge has to watch his clerk sit there at Tim's gravesite. It's an emotional seen indeed, which I appreciate a lot more than having Cratchit talk to his family about visiting the cemetery.
Albert Finney is an odd choice for Scrooge. I loved and hated his performance. I loved it in that even though I obviously know the story, I was still invested in what he was going to go through. And when the ghost of Jacob Marley told Scrooge what he was about to go through whether he liked it or not, I wanted to see him go through that spiritual ringer. The ghosts really hold up his stupidity and callousness for him to see. They're much more forceful than other adaptations. And each ghost lays it on heavier than the last, until the third ghost kicks him down into hell. It's a Styrofoam hell, which makes sense because that's where Styrofoam belongs and was probably born. But his depiction of Scrooge was more generic and typical.
A Christmas Carol (1971) - Alastair Sim returns to the lead role of Scrooge in this animated version of the story. This made-for-TV Christmas special aired on ABC on December 21, 1971.
It even won an Academy Award for best animated short film the following year. And not only does Sim return to voice Scrooge, but actor Michael Hordern reprises the role of the Ghost of Jacob Marley. Hordern plays Marley in the 1951 film starring Sim. Plus, this adaptation is narrated by English actor Michael Redgrave.
Sim gives a very similar performance as he did before. Like his role in the 1951 movie, he portrays a Scrooge that is businesslike and properly English even in his miserly ways. He's more cynical than prone to moments of angry outbursts. He convinced that he's the only one who sees the Christmas season for what it is - a waste of money and a waste of time.
As the novel describes Scrooge "with an improved opinion of himself" after he dismisses the charity workers, Sim depicts that well through voice acting this time.
When called out for being cross by his nephew Fred, Scrooge replies, "What else can I be when I live in a world of fools such as this." That certainly describes perfectly how Scrooge sees himself amidst everyone else. He's better than the rest. Smug and cynical. That's Sim's Scrooge once again.
However, it's the animation that drives the scenes, the emotions, and the tone. There's a dark and expressionistic animation style with sharp angles and a lot of shadow that makes it rather nightmarish.
The animation looks more deliberate rather than fluid. Yet, at the same time, gestures and motion are emphasized with some exaggeration.
The whole experience focuses more on the psychological turmoil of Scrooge rather than making the experience real, even for an animated film. It's Disney-like in that the movie makes it a point to show off its animation style. In fact, the movie is very stylized. That expressionist and traditional style conveys the Scrooge's fear and emotional change much more than the voice acting. It's something different than other movies, and an entertaining experience.
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At this point, with so many adaptations of Dickens's story, I wonder what movie writers and producers are trying to go for with new movies based on Dickens's story. My guess is they want to see who can make the darkest and scariest, or most touching rendition that will outdo the one before. What else? Now, film adaptations of "A Christmas Carol" are so numerous with new adaptions haunting us year after year, each new movie is just another attempted challenge at coming up with slight tweaks for audiences to experience as Scrooge wakes up redeemed, enlightened, and ready to teach us all the exact same lesson we apparently keep forgetting.
Anyways, one of the perks of being a Catholic is that while Christmas shamefully ends on Dec. 26th for the secular world, the Christmas season begins on Dec. 25 and lasts through January.
I've written about some other Christmas movies! Click on the link to read what I got to say about them. https://dontfastforward.blogspot.com/search/label/*Christmas%20Movies
So, Merry Christmas all! "Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will."
