StoryMonday: A Christmas Carol

We seem to have a new film version of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" every year.  This one, described as inventive and interesting, is said to be in theaters now, but I'm waiting for a Covid vaccination and have no recommendation to offer.

The origin story, a novella by Charles Dickens, was published in 1843.  It traditionally has been promoted as an antidote to overly commercial Christmas celebrations, but this year it may resonate slightly differently.

The story of course is about Ebenezer Scrooge, an old man who has spent his life building his wealth and who is visited on the night of December 24 by three spirits who show him how much he has missed and how much more he can do if he pays attention to the people in his life.

This is a family movie in two ways.  For children, it gratifies the wish for people to be nice to each other.  For everyone else who has made a mistake or two along the road, it affirms that change is possible and can be rewarding.

So if you have finished wrapping presents and have time on your hands just now, here are some ways to take in "A Christmas Carol."

For Children:

There are various cartoons of the story.   A Bugs Bunny one, if you can find it, and one with Daffy Duck (Bah humduck!)  There is the 1962 Mr Magoos Christmas Carol and, hiding somewhere else, the still-popular 1992 "Muppets Christmas Carol."

This can get out of hand, however.  There are Lego and Smurf productions, and I'm not sure I'd care to see Jim Carrey playing Jim Carrey Scrooge.

For a good introduction, this well-done 25-minute version from 1969 won an Oscar for best animated short.

For All of Us

A film critic with a longer attention span than mine watched and evaluated dozens of Christmas Carol films, worst to best, if you would like to see more.  (My only quibble with his write-up is that it describes Dickens' book as "anti-capitalist" when I think the more appropriate term might be "anti-greed."  Marx's "Das Kapital" was published almost 25 years later.)

And you could always read the book itself.  Dickens' work remains approachable and is available in paper, on Kindle, on Nook and from the fine folks at Gutenberg.  There are also shorter children's stories, including " A Quarantine Christmas Carol" to reassure anxious young ones about pandemic interruptions in traditional festivities.

And then there are radio plays, including a 1965 drama starring the fine English actor Sir Ralph Richardson as Ebenezer Scrooge.

Another Christmas Carol that is quite good and also available on Youtube is the  Leeds' Northern Ballet Theatre performance from 1992, the only ballet version that I have encountered.

If, like me, you have read the book, watched several teleplays and films and seen more than one regional theatrical version, you might enjoy this film that speculates about how Charles Dickens came up with his story:  The Man Who Invented Christmas.

MovieMonday: The Man Who Invented Christmas

Here's a story about Charles Dickens during the the last couple of months of 1843, the period when he wrote "A Christmas Carol," his most loved book.

The source material is a history that has the same title, but the film includes some imaginative bits -- it has been compared to "Shakespeare in Love" -- that reward those  who are familiar with the story.  

The plot is this:  Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens), the superstar author of his day, is strapped for cash after his most recent novel, "Martin Chuzzlewit," has not earned out.  He's overextended financially, and he needs money soon. 

Dickens hears the name Marley, observes his family's Irish maid telling his children a Christmas fantasy story, thinks a little and decides to write a book about a Christmas ghost.  He tells his publishers it will be a comedy.  For this he is all but laughed out of the room.  

Even his boon friend, John Forster (Justin Edwards), is skeptical.  "Why throw everything away over a minor holiday?"  he asks.  (The thesis of the source book is that "A Christmas Carol" changed the way the holiday was viewed, imbuing it with themes of generosity and kindness.) 

With a six-week deadline, Dickens sets to work, drawing inspiration from everything around him.  He meets or imagines his lead character, later named Scrooge (Christopher Plummer), at a dismal funeral and asks the dour man a few questions.

"What do you think of children?" 

"Useless"

"Workhouses?"

"Useful."

"Christmas?"

A pause ensues, and then comes the answer:  "Humbug."

From then on, Dickens' imagined Scrooge walks with him.  Other characters emerge, drawn from and played by the same actors as Dickens' relatives and friends.  (Think of the buddies Dorothy meets on the yellow brick road.)  They join the troupe in Dickens' head and, in the movie's telling, in his office.

As his deadline nears, Dickens is frustrated by family interruptions, consumed by unpleasant childhood memories and puzzled as to how to end his book.  This is not suspenseful because we know how the story ends, but its resolution is enlarged by the suggestion that every one of us may have a bit of an inner Scrooge who could use reforming.

I liked the movie.  Go see it with children over the age of eight who know the the story.  Take your parents too.  You'll all have a good time.  


Notes

Audiences generally like this movie, but there are Ebenezers out there too.  The main critical complaints are that the story is saccharine and too much like a TV movie.  I didn't find the film cloying, and I did like the energy Stevens brought to the Dickens role. (Plummer also does an excellent Scrooge, and the script and directing are crisp.)  To be fair, though, we are  bombarded with months of Christmas promotions every year, and there may be fatigue with the Dickens story and lines like, "God bless us, every one."   


One trailer before the film, about a cartoon or CGI piece called, "Sherlock Gnomes," looked pretty bad. The Sherlock is Sherlock Holmes, and the gnomes are those kitschy garden figures.  The target demo seems to be young viewers, and the result may be a mashup of saccharine and pop-culture cynicism.  Two moments from the preview:  A gnome saying, "No ship, Sherlock," and a gnome twerking in a mankini.  Kids deserve better.