A Christmas Bob and Ted and Alice

(If you truly get the reference in the title, you're old!)

Well, my buddy Lecram stole my idea without knowing it, and he's doing a series of blogs on his favorite holiday movies. Really, I was only going to talk about one, but still, as usual, he goes and makes me look bad. Damn curry-eating Malaysians. That's okay, nobody will ever mistake my arcane, wordy blogs for the charming, creative, sexy, popular musings of Mr. Lecram. I just like to talk about the details, dammit!

This weekend, I completed my yearly viewing of the 1951 British version of A Christmas Carol, featuring Alastair Sim as Scrooge. For some reason, despite the several billion times it's been done, I still never tire of this old chestnut of a story, and the Sim film is widely considered the definitive screen version.

It struck me how pervasive this story has become. In our modern Christmas culture, Scrooge is probably the third most important character along with Christ and Santa (not necessarily in that order). It's actually a bit strange that this, of all stories, is the definitive Christmas tale- it's so incredibly dark, for one thing. I've heard people say that even "It's a Wonderful Life" is too sad and depressing as a Christmas story, but come on! The very first words of "Carol" are, "Marley was dead," and it goes on from there: bitterness, cruelty, poverty, disease, more death, and the message that if you're not generous with your fellow man then you're going to suffer for eternity. Now THAT'S Christmas, baby! But perhaps everything it seems to have going against it is exactly what it has going for it- it's not just a frothy marshmallow-covered candy cane of a story; it's got some meat to it. It's not even really about Christmas when you look at it- it's about 1.The Victorian class system and 2.Dickens feeling guilty about getting rich. Even so, Dickens is sometimes credited with having revived the widespread observance of a holiday that had become mostly a rural tradition. Whether or not that's true, it's a bit amazing that to this day, nothing seems to say "Christmas" like a touch of Victorian/Dickensian ambience.

As for the movie, why is it the definitive version? Well, it's just so damn good. Alastair Sim, while truly being a bit too young for the role, delivers the performance of his career. His Scrooge is cruel but human, sour but funny, and ultimately likable. Most of the other performances (aside from a few melodramatic or syrupy moments that still don't go too over-the-top) are also pitch-perfect, down to the smallest supporting roles. Even the impossibly perfect Cratchit family- the Bradys of the 19th century- are sugary but still believable. It's remarkable how much of this film has stood the test of time, with very few details seeming dated (the very 40s/50s style "wailing spirits" choir arrangement is definitely one of them). The liberties taken with the original story by screenwriter Noel Langley work to enhance the characters nicely, and it all seems genuine- Dickens himself is said to have changed this story around in different retellings, so it's fair. I love certain touches, like we get to see some history of Scrooge and Marley's business association, including them buying out Fezziwig's company. And hey, it's got Patrick Macnee in it, from the original "Avengers", as young Marley! You can't go wrong! (Extra points if you can tell me the seventies sci-fi series Macnee was a voice in, and what character- no fair looking at IMDB) Oh, and this movie MUST be viewed in the original black-and-white. None of that colorized version crap.

Perhaps the only unfortunate thing about the story- and we're not just talking about the movie here- is the lame title. At the time Dickens wrote it, it was probably a perfectly descriptive and enticing title for an unknown story and an audience that wasn't constantly bombarded with things like "The American Chopper Kick-Ass Christmas Special", but now the title is so generic that many people don't know what it is. I can attest to this, because one of my many jobs and tasks in the "real" world is to work part-time in the box office of a theater company where we are currently showing "A Christmas Carol" and next year will be showing the equally-lamely-titled "A Christmas Story". Believe me, our job would be easier if they were called "Scrooge" and "BB Gun". Interestingly enough (okay, I know I'm the only one who finds this stuff interesting), the British title of the 1951 film was "Scrooge", while it was released in the U.S. as "A Christmas Carol". Usually, it's Hollywood that screws with the title.

Anyway, that's enough about that. I have to go take advantage of this day off to go do some shopping- yes, I haven't even started my Christmas shopping yet. Luckily, I don't have that many friends, and the ones I do have are as poor as me, so they understand when I give them a single sock and a handful of unmatched buttons from the Dollar Tree.