The Timelessness of the Christmas Carol Movie
By Joy J. Fine
The most famous Christmas Carol movie is Scrooge, which was released in 1951 with Alastair Sim playing the title role of Scrooge. This story by Dickens has been repeated over the years in different forms with different actors but many will tell you the 1951 version is the most enduring. The story is about a man who is a miser, never allowing a penny to be spent if it does not have to be. He works his clerk, Bob Crachit, very hard, not allowing him time off even at Christmas, and pays him poorly for his work. Crachit has a young son who is very ill and not expected to live long. Despite this his son, Tiny Tim, he and his family plan for the best Christmas they can have. Scrooge also has a terrible relationship with his nephew, who he resents, because it was the birth of this boy that caused the death of the sister he loved. His nephew, like Crachit, has little yet makes himself a good life based on what he has and the comfort and love of those around him.
The story continues with the visit to Scrooge of three ghosts, one for the past, one for the present and one to show him the future. These visits are designed to show him what he has done, his selfishness and emptiness, and what others will say of him when he is gone. The purpose of showing him these images is to make him change his ways and become a better person, or risk the consequences of staying the same. Of course these images change his ways and he becomes a better man, a better friend to all those around him. He is even able to save Tiny Tim from his fate. This movie, in black and white, is not the first one made. The story was first put on film in 1908 by Thomas Edison. It was short, only fifteen minutes and so a lot of detail was left out, but the essence of the story was there, ghosts and all.
A musical version was done with the Muppets in 1992 with Michael Caine playing the title role. This was the first Muppet production made since the untimely death of their creator Jim Henson in 1990 and it was excellent. The cast is completed by Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo and Rizzo, a worthy cast to retell this classic story. Another modern version is the Christmas Carol movie entitled Scrooged starring Bill Murray. This 1988 tale told in current times is about a television executive, the Scrooge character, and how the visits of the three ghosts changes his way of looking at Christmas. This movie has a particularly amusing performance by Carol Kane as the ghost of Christmas Past.
So popular is the Christmas Carol movie with movie makers that it is being retold again, this time as an animated story directed by Robert Zemeckis with Jim Carrey and Gary Oldman doing the main voices. Carrey will be voicing four characters and Oldman three. Set to be released in 2009 it only goes to show how timeless and endearing this Christmas tale by Charles Dickens truly is.
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