Advent Blog Day 26: A Christmas Carol - Traditional

First edition 1843

In October of 1843 Charles Dickens, although a successful writer, was low on money and his wife was pregnant with their fifth child. He began work on a Christmas novella of a miser who is visited by ghosts and six weeks later he finished it. It was published Dec 19 1943 and by Christmas Eve the first edition was sold out. By the following Christmas, it was in its thirteenth edition. Dickens loved Christmas and it wasn't his first Christmas work. He had published Christmas short stories before. He was also influenced by the poor around him. His father had been put in a workhouse for bad debt and Charles as a twelve year old boy had to sell his books, leave school, and go to work. The human condition was a theme that ran throughout his work, and A Christmas Carol is no exception. The story of the man who is hoarding money while his one employee doesn't make enough to get by and has a sickly child, is a story that endures to this day. Dickens took two of his interests together and created a timeless story.

Since that time the book has been made into plays, movies, and tv shows. It has been adapted and changed. It has been played straight and serious and with music. My guess is that there is no other literary work that has had so many forms of existence. I thought it might be fun to do a quick run down of SOME movies. And then I realized that this will make not one but four posts. Yes, four! Why not get more posts out of one subject?

Oh, and before I forget - it's the second day of Christmas. So here's a couple of turtle doves.

Traditional - We're going to take a quick look at the traditional movies first. These are the ones that stay pretty close to the story. No gimmicks. No bells and whistles. Just a good solid telling of the tale. Still, even sticking close to the story offers some variety. Some have scenes that the others don't have. Some show up different aspects of the story. For instance, does Scrooge change out of love or fear? Does Marley come to Scrooge to save Scrooge or to lesson his own pain?

Scrooge 1935 This is a long forgotten movie starting Seymour Hicks. I haven't seen it but I found a copy of it on youtube. So here you go.

A Christmas Carol 1938 Reginald Owen takes the lead role in this one. It does have a delightful scene of Scrooge's nephew sliding purposefully on the icy streets. I've done a review of this movie. You can read it here.

Scrooge (A Christmas Carol) 1951 Alistair Sim is the star. This black and white version is still the one that draws comparisons and is often sited as a favorite. I've reviewed it here. There's a lovely giddiness to Ebeneezer at the end.

A Christmas Carol 1984

George C. Scott gives a convincing performance as Scrooge in this beautifully done version. My only quibble with it I've explained in my review here.

The scenery, the costumes, and the acting are all winners here. A must see version.

A Christmas Carol 1999

Patrick Stewart did one man shows of Scrooge on Broadway and in London after he travelled through space for awhile, so why not play him in a movie. The movie got extremely good reviews. So the man can play a star fleet captain and a 19th century money changer. He plays grumpy pretty good for such a nice man. I watched this Christmas Eve. Beautiful sets and costumes. Stewart was formidable as Scrooge, but lovely as the changed Ebenezer. And this is my measuring stick when it comes to movies. Did they show him changing out of love or fear? In this case, he changed out of love. You could see the development along the way - especially in the present scene at his nephew's house and how he so wanted to be a part of it. One of the most touching moments was when someone asked Fred why he cared about Scrooge, and he replied "Because my mother loved him, so there must be something good in him" (okay, not exactly what he said - but something to the effect.) It was a powerful reminder to Scrooge that someone had loved him, he was worth loving, and there were people waiting for him to love him again. But even before that, in the scenes in the past, where he was with Fran and he remembered how that felt. And at Fezziwig's party and how much fun that was and how much a part of it he was. And watching himself not go after Belle when she released him. The old Scrooge kept shouting at the young one to go after her. This man who thought it was foolish of Fred and Bob to be married, was shouting at the young Ebenezer to go after a woman that he loved. Scrooge is not a bad man. He's a man with a broken heart that he never allowed to heal. His father broke his heart. His beloved sister died. He lost his fiance (that one was his fault). His best friend and business partner died. It is a timeless story that people live. Not the ghost part, but certainly the part where we go through life and we are loved, and rejected, and lose people along the way, and get our hearts broken over and over again. It's how we respond to that broken heart that measures us. It's also a story of redemption. And that's the message. It's not too late. We can be redeemed. I like to think that Marley got some redemption too, by saving Ebenezer.