A Christmas Carol [1999]

Amazon.co.uk Review

Standing out in the crowded field of screen adaptations of the classic Dickens novel A Christmas Carol is hard to do, but this version pulls it off. When a transparent Jacob Marley walks through Ebenezer Scrooge's apartment door, you know you're seeing something both timeless and contemporary. Other strategically placed special effects--a funnel cloud that transports Scrooge and the ghost of Christmas present, the hollow spectre of Christmas future--keep you riveted without slipping into anachronism. But, as good as the technology is, the performances are what really power this 93-minute television interpretation. Patrick Stewart brings a depth to Scrooge that allows the character to go beyond the cartoonish qualities that have made him a Christmas mainstay. That doesn't mean he's any less heartless with his hapless employee Bob Cratchit (Richard E. Grant) or any less dismissive of his well-meaning nephew. A frail-looking Joel Grey makes an excellent ghost of Christmas past, and a superb cast ably fill the remaining roles. Director David Jones, shooting on location in England and at Ealing Studios, has achieved a balance of science and sentiment that will help this version hold up for many years to come. --Kimberly Heinrichs

Customer Reviews:

Full of feeling.......2008-02-01

I remember thinking nine years ago 'What the hell do we need yet another version of A Xmas Carol for' (as great as the story is) and consequently, I avoided watching it. But years roll on quite swiftly, and eventually, I thought I'd give it a go, spurred on mainly by seeing Patrick Stewart on a few chatshows down the years and thinking what a nice bloke he was, completely unshowbizzy. He was without doubt a star in this film version, full of awe at what his ghosts are showing him, and full of humanity when he eventually saw the light.

This is quite a snug and cosy feeling production, with alot of attention paid to little details, and the domestic scenes with Bob Cratchet and family are heartwarming. Stewart plays the character as he should be played, a man suddenly shown how wrong he'd been in his outlook on life, and he just snaps straight into the right and joyous way to live and give, realising instantly that ordinary people are really quite likable and deserving, and he is not at all motivated to change by the fear of damnation or neverending torment that the Ghost of the future presages. Of course the other great Scrooge players did the same, but it was nice to see a slightly less heralded screen actor achieve it. Nice production with a lovely, homely, Christmassy feel to it. Yes, a very fine version, I thought.

Good Adaption.......2006-12-26

This adaption of the story is very good and I think Patrick Stewart does a very good job, but there are a couple of downsides.

The first is that Patrick Stewart is just too nice. I don't think he fully manages to portray the nasty side of Scrooge.

The second, is that the ghost of Christmas future isn't convincing enough. Up until then, the screenplay is quite believable, but when you see the ghost, you just can't help laughing out loud! It's just not scary enough and looks as if it's just stepped out of a Monty Python film! However, if you can manage to put these things aside, I think you'll really enjoy the film.

A "Christmas Carol" for the 21st Century........2004-03-04

Given the enormous potential for failure, it takes either a lot of guts or a big ego to remake a classic and step into a pair of shoes worn so well by the likes of George C. Scott and Alastair Sim - you don't have to have grown up in an English speaking country to take those two names and their portrayal of Dickens's miserly anti-hero for granted as part of your Christmas experience. And I suspect a good part of both guts and ego was at play in this production; but let's face it: after years of bringing Scrooge to the stage in a much-acclaimed one man show and after also having recorded the audio book version of "A Christmas Carol," a movie adaptation starring Patrick Stewart was probably due to come out sooner or later. Yet, while it does sometimes have the feel of another huge star vehicle for Stewart (even without the self-congratulatory trailer and brief "behind the scenes" features included on the DVD), his experience and insight into the character of Scrooge allow him to pull off a remarkable performance, and to make the role his own without letting us forget who originally wrote the tale. From a "humbug" growled out from the very depth of his disdain and his audible desire to boil "every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips" with his own pudding and bury them with a stake of holly through their heart, to the "splendid" and "most illustrious ... father of a long, long line of brilliant laughs," coughed up and spit out after years of having been out of practice, this is the Scrooge that Dickens described; and Stewart obviously has the time of his life playing him.

This made-for-TV production is sometimes criticized for its use of special effects; I don't find those overly disturbing, though - in fact, they're rather low-key and for the most part used to show nothing more than what Dickens actually described. (This *is* a ghost story, remember?) Scrooge really does see Marley's face in his door knocker; we all know that Marley's ghost does indeed walk through Scrooge's doubly locked door ... and last but not least Dickens himself describes the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come as "shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible save one outstretched hand." (Granted, no gleaming lights for eyes, though.) The script could have spared a modernism here and there, but again, mostly the lines are exactly those that Dickens himself wrote. Even where the characters don't actually speak them, they are part of their reflections - such as Marley being buried and "dead as a door-nail" (which, after all, is the tale's all-important premise) and Scrooge's rather funny musings how the Ghost of Christmas Past might be deterred from taking him for a flight (where citing neither the weather nor the hour nor a head cold nor his inadequate dress would do). Richard E. Grant, known to TV audiences as Sir Percy Blakeney in the recent adaptations of "The Scarlet Pimpernel," moves to the opposite end of the social spectrum in his portrayal of gaunt, downtrodden Bob Cratchit; and he is a very credible caring father and husband, albeit a bit too well-educated - unlike the rest of his family, who speak and come across as decidedly more cockney. Joel Grey, whose Master of Ceremonies in "Cabaret" stands out as one of those "one of a kind" performances that are few and far between in film history, is almost perfectly cast as the Ghost of Christmas Past, combining the spirit's wisdom of an old man with his child-like innocence, frail stature and luminous appearance. A great supporting cast and solid cinematographic and directorial work round out an overall very well done production.

Many actors are remembered either for one career-making role or for a certain type they have cast. No doubt Patrick Stewart, who as a teenager had to face an ultimatum between a steady job and the theater and chose the latter, will go into film history as Captain Jean-Luc Picard of Star Treck's "Next Generation." But I would not be surprised if the other major role he will always be remembered for will be that of Ebenezer Scrooge - on stage, in audio recordings *and* in this movie adaptation, which successfully brings Dickens's timeless tale of bitterness, sorrow, redemption and the true meaning of Christmas to the 21st century, and which before long, I think, will attain the status of a classic in its own right. I know that I, for one, will be watching it again with renewed pleasure next Christmas.

A "Christmas Carol" for the 21st Century........2003-12-28

Patrick Stewart as the thinking man's version of Scrooge.......2003-11-21

Nobody ever prepared for playing Ebenezer Scrooge as much as Patrick Stewart, who for years did a one-man recitation of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens during the Holiday season. Eventually his mesmerizing performance was made available as an audiotape, which was certainly better than nothing, but it was difficult not to be disappointed that Stewart's performance was not captured on video. In 1999 this situation was somewhat rectified when Hallmark put together this made for television version of the classic Dickens tale.

The story begins with the funeral of Jacob Marley, who died on a Christmas Eve, and Ebenezer Scrooge musing on why doornails are particularly to be regarded as "dead." If there is one thing that distinguishes Stewart's performance it is emphasis on how Scrooge was responsible for his own sorry state. This time around there is less of an idea that the fates were not kind to Scrooge than there is that he made choices that he refuses to regret. His disdain for Christmas and its attendant joys and practices comes not so much from anger as it does from a sense of superiority, taking a rather perverse pride in putting the two gentlemen who make the mistake of coming to Scoorge & Marley for funds in their place.

The most insightful scene into the character of this Scrooge is when Marley's Ghost (Bernard Lloyd) appears. Scrooge returns to eating while doing the "more gravy than grave" speech and his inquiries about the meaning of spirits coming to visit him comes across as utterly reasonable, the product of intellectual curiosity more so than fear and trembling, and Marley replies in kind. Scrooge cannot understand why Marley is suffering given how good of a businessman he was in life. Of course, in due time, Marley and the other spirits will educated Scrooge accordingly.

I find the cover shot for the DVD/VHS of this film to be quite appropriate because I believe it represents the moment when Scrooge goes too far and provokes the visit from Marley's ghost and the rest of the spirits. A young boy, obviously symbolic of Tiny Tim, has the nerve to stand in front of Scoorge & Marley singing a Christmas carol ("Good King Wencelas"). Scrooge can endure only a single verse before he opens the door and threatens the child with a raised cane. The boy quickly flees, but the moment stays with us, a new affront in the litany of Scrooge's crimes against Christmas that we know so well. I have to admit, I was sure the young actor (Leagh Conwell) playing the caroller would return at the end as the boy Scrooge sends to fetch the big turkey in the window, but that is not what takes palce.