A Christmas Carol

George C. Scott’s version of A Christmas Carol is considered by many to be the definitive version of Dickens’ tale. It is by far the most popular and most often shown of Donner’s three classic films produced for CBS TV’s “Read More About It” series. Carol was first shown during the Christmas season of 1984, and it was shown as an annual holiday event for at least six years afterward. And an event it was. I still have the movie I taped in 1986, complete with the holiday-themed IBM commercials that came with it. A Christmas Carol was broadcast as a CBS Special Presentation, not just a “movie of the week", and it remained so for many seasons, until sometime in the early nineties, when it fell to “movie of the week” status, with some of the lesser scenes pruned and the special commercials gone. Oliver Twist, too, was originally broadcast as rousing "Special Presentation," and was sponsored by ITT theater, but lost its “special” format the second (and I believe only) time CBS elected to rebroadcast it, with some unfortunately pruned snippets. While Carol has long ceased to be shown regularly on CBS (though you can catch at least SOME station showing it during the season), it remains a classic it is widely available on DVD in the U.S. as well as abroad. I watch this movie every year, complete with its well-worn commercials, along with other holidays favorites from the same era, The Box of Delights, and A Gift of Love: A Christmas Story.

Although it sported no cast of hundreds, or any complex, labyrinthine plot, and was published as thin volume one week before Christmas day (it sold out in short order) Dickens' original novella instantly became his most popular and celebrated classic, as it remains so to this day. Carol has an absolutely unique storyline, and simultaneously carries the classic theme of Fall and Redemption that probes deep into the collective human psyche. It is the same mythic theme which occurs throughout pagan folklore and is represented so strongly in the Christian story. Carol has been filmed countless times, both in life-action and animated form (most recently in CGI).

Compared with his previous outing as Fagin, Scott’s interpretation of Ebenezer Scrooge is tons better. With Scrooge, Scott is dealing this time with an even more complex individual, but without the troublesome anti-Semetic baggage. Scott does not hold back this time, and pours all of his vast talent into the role. Scott already has sort of a “Scroogish” cast to his face, and this only adds to his believability in this role. Scott manages to be equally believable as the flint-hearted miser at the beginning of the tale, and as the reformed man he becomes by end. Through Scott, we are able to recognize and even identify with the lonely and tormented man that Scrooge is. It is made clear that the man Scrooge is at the story's opening has been created by a tragic past. It is a lesser known fact that Dickens wrote part of himself into the character, not Scrooge the selfish, unfeeling adult, but Scrooge the sensitive child who seeks refuge in reading. A point is made of Scrooge's stern and overbearing father,whom we learn unjustly blamed young Ebenezer for his mother’s death (“she died in childbirth, his birth). Scrooge is at first resistant to change his outlook on life, but gradually through revisiting his tragically marred past, he develops second thoughts.

In the scenes that belong to the Ghost of Christmas Present, Scrooge begins to consider more than himself and begins to open up to the cares and drudgery of others. It becomes plain that he is a formerly sensitive and caring individual who has shut himself out from all human sympathy, which he neither gives nor asks for. According to Dr. Paul Davis,author of The Life and Times of Ebenezer Scrooge, Scott’s character is a man who, because of his past, “has to decided to take on the world in his own terms.” We see the formerly sensitive person, long buried beneath years of bitterness, begin to assert himself once again while Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present observe the Crachit’s meager Christmas feast. Scrooge mutters a barely audible “Amen” at the end of the family prayer. Though he quickly denies it, his obvious concern over the possible fate of Tiny Tim Crachit speaks louder than words. When the Ghost later shows him a scene of wretched Victorian underclass squalor, including a homeless family living under a bridge and forced to survive on scraps, Scrooge visibly reacts in abject horror, in particularly in light of his former words “if they would rather die, then perhaps they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population!” An even more harrowing scene occurs immediately following, when Scrooge recoils in horror at the sight of the wretched twin waifs Ignorance and Want.



By the time the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come appears, Scrooge is ready and willing to change. The Reaper-like Ghost of the Future is by far the most terrifying of any of the spirits, including Marley. The wraith-like phantom appears to represent Death, and embodies humankind’s collective fear of the future and the unknown. Little wonder Scrooge fears him most of all! Scrooge’s own future becomes well apparent to him to the end, and he is truly shaken to the depths of his soul. Metaphorically, he has descended into the depths of a Plutonian underworld (in some versions, this is more literal, with the miser experiencing the taste of a hellish afterlife). Scrooge sobs out his heart to the spirit, and though he is clearly shaken to his core from fear, the remorse over the life he has led until this moment is heart-wrenchingly genuine. “I will keep Christmas in my heart, and the spirits of all three will strive within me!” Scrooge tearfully recounts upon waking up to find himself safely back in his own room. You can practically taste the swelling joy the reformed Scrooge experiences when Christmas morning arrives. Scott manages to be almost comically jubilant as, bursting with joy, he kicks off his shoes and bounces on his bed like schoolboy.

This version remains the most faithful to Dickens’ original tale shown up until the time it was made. The only alteration that is of note at all, in fact, is Scrooge’s visit to the stock exchange, where he shows his ruthless nature as a business man, and where he encounters the two charity-workers. In the book, the two gentlemen visit Scrooge at his counting house. Scrooge does not visit the Crachit house, as he does in some versions, allowing him to give Bob Crachit the surprise of his life when he arrives late the next day.


Frank Finnly is harrowing as Marely, wrapped in ponderous chains and covered in bluish, corpse-like makeup. Edward Woodward, better known for his role as The Equalizer, is flamboyantly righteous is the Spirit of Christmas Present. Angela Plesence plays the Ghost of Christmas past as an elderly woman, though the book describes a more childlike spirit. David Warner, who had more of a reputation for acting the parts of villains at the time, fits well into the role of Bob Crachit. As young Timothy Crachit, Anthony Walters is heart-achingly feeble and pathetic. Scrooge’s nephew Fred is played by Roger Rees, famous for his role as Nicholas Nichelby, in the celebrated Royal Shakespeare Company production of that novel, which was in fact shown on ABC two years before.
The music for Carol was written by Nick Bicat, who also wrote the scores for the two other Donner productions, the rousing score for Pimpernel, and the melancholy theme for Twist. This included "God Bless Us Everyone," written by Nick and Anthony Bicat, a freshly invented Christmas carol composed specially for this production. It is a wonderful holiday number, which, as one other writer online has observed, could stand with some of the finest Victorian Carols—and that’s no mean compliment! This is not to be confused with another also very good carol with the same title, composed and performed by Andrea Bocelli for the CGI version starring Jim Carry.

One other thing--IBM came out with A Christmas Carol Christmas Book, with glossy photos from the movie, a year after the movie aired. I was hopin' they'd do an edition for the film at the time, and voila! I was annoyed at first that they charged extra for it, on account of there being so many extras in the book itself, such as Victorian holiday recipes, games and customs, along with a history of the British Christmas, including Cromwellian times, and more. But all of these are as good as they sound and very interesting, so the money my parents paid for it for my Christmas gift was well worth it. The first section is an abreviated version of Dickens' Carol, with photos from Scott's movie. The last section is Dickens' Carol in its original and complete form. The book is crammed with such goodies as a recepie for Dickens homemade punch, and details on the origianl publishing history of Carol. I still have my copy, though the jacket is worn at the edges. You can still find copies on ebay and elsewhere.