“Christmas is a poor excuse to pick a man’s pocket every twenty-fifth of December”
I went to the mall today to finish my Christmas shopping and I also picked up a few things for myself such as A Christmas Carol 1951 and A Christmas Carol 1984—like I said in the last review, I love this story!
I wanted to start with some more in depth looking at parts of the story that I did not go over last time. I want to take a moment to further examine the ghosts. I stated in the last review that the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, are represented by an angel, Santa Claus, and the Grim Reaper respectively. However, they also represent a few other concepts. The ghost of Christmas Past represents “thankfulness”, Present represents “giving”, and the future ghost represents “guilt”. These three concepts are important to humanity and to lead a good life according to Dickens and so Scrooge must learn these concepts in order to change. Speaking of change, we all know that the ghosts are there to help Scrooge change but if we break it down the only spirit really important to making him change is that of Present and a bit of past. However, as stated, Scrooge must learn all the lessons to change fully and for good. That is why each spirit has a job to do other than give Scrooge their concepts. The ghost of the past is intended to prepare Scrooge for the change and to tell him he needs to change. The job of Present is to also tell him he needs to change and to cause him to change. Finally, the spirit of the future solidifies this change and makes it permanent—seals the deal, if you will.
Next, I would like to touch briefly on the characters of Bob Cratchit and Fred. These two characters are shown as the most decent human beings out of all the other characters who truly have to spirit of Christmas within them. Both of them take the time to be kind to Scrooge in their own ways despite Scrooge not deserving their kindness. Cratchit asks to bless and pray for Scrooge during their Christmas dinner’s Grace. His whole family (except for Tim) thinks this is stupid and that Scrooge should not be mentioned on Christmas, as he is such a fowl creature. However, Cratchit reminds his family that everyone needs love especially those with none in their hearts. Fred likewise, at his Christmas party, gives a toast to Scrooge. Like Cratchit’s family, the guests all boo at this idea. Fred then explains how they should feel sorrier for Scrooge than disdain even though he is wealthy because he does not utilize any of his wealth, not even for himself and is therefore sadder of a man than a poor one in the end. These actions show us that it is important to care for all of humanity even those jerks that are rude, disrespectful, and obnoxious.
We all know the story so the only kind of review I can do of this movie is to point out differences and the good and bad things.
This version is very focused on Scrooge as a character, which is great because it is after all, all about him. Even the original title of this version was Scrooge. However, unlike th1938 version, it focuses way less on Cratchit and though it was not pertinent to the plot per se, I did enjoy that. This version is widely seen as the greatest primarily for Alastair Sim’s (Scrooge) performance. Here is what I have to say about that. Sim was typically a comedic actor, this was his first serious role, and so he was probably quite nervous. He did the comedic parts really well, such as when he awakes of Christmas morning. In addition, Sim’s reactions to events are more realistic than Owens were for example, compare Scrooge’s reactions during the Marley ghost scene in both the 1938 and 1951 versions. However, that being said, though his reactions are more realistic, they are often over exaggerated as if this was the theatre production of A Christmas Carol. That is not too big of a problem though and many people enjoy a performance like that. Also, as I said, this was his first dramatic role so Sim deserves a bit of grace.
Here are some differences to look out for in the film, some are creative, some are silly, and some do not really matter. These are all at least different from the 1938 version. When the bells ring to announce Marley’s appearance, the bells only ring on the spiritual plain rather than the physical world. The ghost of Marley is preceded by lion roars, which I have never seen before. Fred is already married when he goes to visit Scrooge Christmas Eve rather than being engaged. Scrooge is much more of a bastard in this version than I have ever seen him—he is almost evil in the beginning. Scrooge is usually just meant to be bitter, resentful, judgmental, angry, and rude. The Ghost of Christmas Past in this version is played by a man when I have always seen it played by a young girl. The time travel montage is a bit silly but very creative considering the year this was made. Scrooge and his true love are actually married in this version for a time where in all the other versions I have seen she leaves him before they get married. Finally, Tim is slightly older in this than in the 1938 version.
This version has a slower pace even though it is only seven minutes longer than the 1938 one. However, this a several of the differences are there because this film is really trying to focus on Scrooge the man and on the great deal of character development he goes thru—this film makes it a total polarized character, going from the worst type of human being to the world’s greatest philanthropist and humanitarian. Now that is the story of course but like I said Scrooge usually does not start out as someone nigh evil.
The DVD I picked up is the 60th Anniversary Diamond Edition which means it is backed with special features and so after watching those I may return and add a bit more to this review.
Overall, I did enjoy this version but I personally like the 1938 one better. I can see why this one is considered so great, however. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars for A Christmas Carol adaptation, 4.0 out of 5 as a Christmas movie, and 2.75 as a film in general.
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