A Christmas Carol (1954)

One of my all time favorites.

How sad is this?

A Masterpiece!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Shower of Stars - 1954. Fredric March as Ebenezer Scrooge. Basil Rathbone as the Ghost of Jacob Marley. Bob Sweeney as Bob Cratchit. What could possibly go wrong ? Where do I begin ?The first three minutes of the program is taken up by Choral Singing. In fact, the program turns out to be a series of mediocre to bad songs interrupted occasionally with an abbreviated telling of "A Christmas Story". There is a way overlong love filled duet by the young Ebenezer and Belle following which she breaks off their engagement. Ummm... wha ? Following this, Ray Middleton goes on and on about Christmas and Santa which has nothing to do with the story. It's like he is supposed to be the "Ghost of Christmas PRESENTS"To make matters worse, March has a distractingly huge and obviously false nose that is not the color of his face. Then there is the final carol by "Tiny" Tim / choir during which we see several minutes of Frederic March making faces. It's just too too odd.I looked forward to seeing Basil Rathbone as Marley's Ghost but found him to be nothing special in the role.If you have made a list of "A Christmas Carols" to watch and need to check this one off .. do so... otherwise skip it.Almost forgot .. there are some cool ads for Chrystler cars !

Back in the day, every great actor had played Ebenezer Scrooge and it was Fredric March's turn. Basil Rathbone played Jacob Marley. But I really wanted to see this episode for an appearance of a young Bonnie Franklin as Martha Cratchit. She and her sister Judy Franklin played sisters in this episode as the Cratchit sisters. Bonnie must have been only 10 years old. Sally Fraser's singing voice was dubbed by the great Marilyn Horne. Bernard Hermann wrote the score. We could argue forever which is the best Scrooge actor and which film is best of all. Every actor like Fredric March takes a different approach and every "Christmas Carol" rendition is worth watching especially with Basil Rathbone as Jacob Marley. This version only lasts about an hour.

To me, this Christmas Carol definitely could have been better considering that it had Fredric March and Basil Rathbone starring and Bernard Hermann as composer and that the story is so timeless. It does have a few big debits but also a lot of things that came off well. The adaptation is too short, from personal opinion this should of if it were allowed been 25 minutes longer, and there are parts especially with Christmas Yet to Come- a scene that came off ridiculously sadly as well- that felt rushed, making Scrooge's change of heart/transformation rushed and less believable too. Some of the story is structurally bare bones, the basic elements are there but things that give Scrooge reason to change and that what made him like he was in the first place were missed out which further led to his transformation from miser rushed and not so believable. The songs are hit and miss here and generally take up too much time of the running time. Some are pleasant, the best being the incredibly touching one sung by Tiny Tim, the most beautiful one melodically and the only song where the lyrics actually resonated with me, and the opening sequence song is the other truly memorable one. But others don't stick in your head very long and some have some corny lyrics, the worst one being Ghost of Christmas Present's which went on forever and didn't serve that much of a point to the story as well as suffering the worst of the lyric writing. The two original carols, outstandingly sung by the Roger Wagner Chorale, are great but don't quite fit within the Victorian/Dickensian setting.However, from a visual standpoint this Christmas Carol looks surprisingly good. It's very well shot throughout, with a big shout out going to the extended shot at the end, and the period detail is evocative and handsomely constructed. The street scenes with the Carollers and Fezziwig's drawing room are agreed the best of the interiors while the snow looks Christmassy and real. While the songs don't quite come over well generally Bernard Hermann's score absolutely does, the chorus writing in the Jacob Marley scene is wonderfully spooky. If there was anything actually that can be singled out as the best thing about this it would definitely be the score. Even with a lot missed out of the story there is no problem at all with understanding the script, which is witty and heart-warming, and while the story is truncated which compromises the pacing and length it still packs a powerful emotional punch(the ending is a tear-jerker) and makes its point effectively. In the acting stakes, nobody is outstanding in the support acting but nobody's disastrous. It was an interesting move to have Belle/Ghost of Christmas Past and Fred/Ghost of Christmas Present doubled up, that has never been done before, and it didn't come off too badly, Sally Fraser's beguiling and Ray Middleton's appealingly hearty(he is better though as Fred, he got the joviality of Ghost of Christmas Present just right but wasn't quite benevolent enough). Wasn't a big fan of the over-sized and rather stereotypical nose but Fredric March really gives his all as Scrooge and is very good, he is great doing the gruff miserable miser but the character's transformation is convincingly acted. His best moment is his facial expressions during the extended shot with the choral singing of Tim's song, a wide mix of emotions beautifully conveyed by March, it was another bold move made here and was most telling. One mustn't forget Basil Rathbone either, who chills the bones as Jacob Marley though in an understated way, a way that not many other actors can do as effectively as Rathbone could.All in all, a pretty decent adaptation of a Christmas classic, thanks to Hermann's score, a couple of good innovations, the visuals and the performances of March and Rathbone but due to it being too short and rushed with a bungled Christmas Yet to Come scene and hit and miss songs it does fall short as well. 6.5/10 Bethany Cox

My wife's uncle gave us this clunker. It is by far the worst video adaptation of the Dickens classic we have ever experienced! From a visual storytelling perspective, there is far too much wasted screen time that advances the story not a whit; vapid songs about the "Spirit of Christmas" contribute only a "spirit of ennui" to the production, which bears little resemblance to the powerful tale of a soul's miraculous conversion and redemption that comes through the printed word and many fine films. If this video vehicle has any value at all, it could only be as a snapshot of the crass, commercialized America at mid-century that mistook drivel like this for high culture.The 1984 TV movie with George C. Scott delivers a far more satisfying experience.