Wideo Wednesday: The Dickens, You Say

Charles Dickens is credited for ‘re-inventing’ Christmas when it was at a low point during the Industrial Revolution, when materialism and social Darwinism, combined with the move of the population to urban centers in search of work, was making life particularly bleak, especially for the poor. Dickens himself was at a low point in his life; his initial success was fading away, and he needed a hit to restore his popularity. He settled on the already well-established British tradition of telling a ghost story at Christmas, a time when the Seen and Unseen worlds were thought to touch. In the process he produced a tale that has endured – especially, endured innumerable adaptations.

Part of this widespread popularity may be attributed to the fact that, while it is salted here and there with Christian references, it is largely a secular, almost a pagan tale. Scrooge’s ‘redemption’ is accomplished not by faith but by works; indeed, as the Ghost of Christmas Past puts it, their presence is for his reclamation, not from any purely spiritual sin, but simply back into the human race. This makes for a broad, humane appeal, almost Christmas without Christ.

Like I said, there are countless (one calculation puts it at over 300) adaptations of A Christmas Carol. Some of the humor of the book is almost inexplicable without annotations, and so it must be dropped or updated for each new generation. Nearly every long-running TV show has one episode based on it, beside straight-out movie versions and Christmas specials. The story is familiar to everyone and of course it is copyright free. About every ten years there is another major version.

Here are a few of the adaptations that are familiar to me, noteworthy for various reasons. I append the actor who played Scrooge in each.

Scrooge (Alastair Sim) 1951

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPDNKbdW9P0

Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol (Animated, 1962) Jim Backus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY2GB47cabs

A Christmas Carol (Animated) 1969

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArRUOa2LeEw

Scrooge (1970) Albert Finney

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7Pk1jcaLDI  

A Christmas Carol (Animated) 1971 Richard Williams, Chuck Jones, Scrooge voiced by Alastair Sim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN6IMZFwY50

A Christmas Carol (George C. Scott) 1985

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd31WpkEi_8

A Christmas Carol (Patrick Stewart) 1999

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3wVEnohS7Q

There are also a slew on YouTube, but behind a paywall. I note the names of the more significant (to me) here.

Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983) Alan Ladd (voice)

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) Michael Caine

Disney’s A Christmas Carol (2009) Jim Carey

The Stingiest Man in Town (Rankin Bass) 1978 Walter Matthau

An American Christmas Carol (1987) Henry Winkler

Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol has the honor of being the first animated Christmas special. The 1969 and 1972 animated specials confused us later, coming so close on each other’s heels. The ’69 had the distinction of the Fezziwigs’ eccentric dancing, the ’72  the accuracy of the ghosts. In my opinion, the 1999 Patrick Stewart was the closest to the book any live adaptation has ever come. The 2009 Jim Carey vehicle has all the production and elaboration that an early 21st century CGI film could possibly have. That is not a good thing.

And so, as Henry Winkler might have said in 1987, "A vewy Mewwy Chriffmuff" to you all.