A christmas carol 19847/2/2023 ![]() ![]() They could have even had Laurence Olivier do it. It’s a little puzzling when they had any number of British actors they could have selected. He must have just not been able to do a convincing British accent. Everyone around him is British including his young self so it is very distracting. He makes no attempt at a British accent and sounds like he should be leading Americans to war as Patton not giving orders at the stock exchange in London. Even though Scott is very good he is a very American Scrooge. Weaknesses- Well, there are two big weaknesses. It’s a different and interesting take on the story. I always saw Scrooge as being more motivated by that fear but in this one it is more a love of business, being smarter than everyone else, and a lack of courage (he says that to Fred) that leads him to his unhappy lot. This is a Scrooge that is more misapplying his energy than a covetous sinner who is frightened by poverty. ![]() When Present leaves him he justifies his behavior for a few lines and then realizes he has been left alone and it seems to be the first time he has recognized his loneliness and it frightens him. Scott is very good in the ending, both the penitence and the Crazy Scrooge segments. It feels like an actual family and Mrs Cratchit and Tiny Tim are wonderful. The scenes with the Cratchit’s are particularly good and warm. Past, Present, and Future don’t really do anything new or take any risks with the story but it’s a great story so it isn’t needed. And like I said with such likable performances it is easy to be engaged throughout. I like traditional telling’s and more creative so this is great with me. So if you are a purist you will enjoy it. It is also very strict to the book as far as the plot. This attention to detail is particularly impressive considering it was made for TV (we saw in my last post the quality of made for TV nowdays…). Every detail from the turkeys and geese that go as high as the building at the poulters to the street lamps and carolers. David Warner is great and warm as Cratchit and Frank Finlay is very scary and effective as Marley. Strengths- All the performances are good. I realize he was smiling about the wrong things but it does seem to weaken his repentance at the end when he isn’t as bad to begin with. Here’s a screencap I took of the beginning of the movie when he is talking to Fred. The laughter is certainly mocking in tone so it is still wicked but in a lighter more subtle way than other versions. ![]() I mean he has thin lips and rooms get colder when he enters them. He carried his own low temperature always about with him he iced his office in the dog-days and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas.” A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait made his eyes red, his thin lips blue and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. ” Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. As I shared in my Disney review Dickens describes Scrooge in very harsh terms: He laughs a lot more than other Scrooge’s I’ve seen. The biggest difference is Scott is a very light hearted Scrooge. As I like the book I don’t have a problem with that. It keeps it pretty close to the book with no backstory or delving more into Scrooge’s choices and why he became the way he was (aside from the normal past stuff in the book). Differences- This version is very good but it doesn’t take any risk. ![]()
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