domain-5
Hello!Though I have visited the IMDb.com site for many years, this is my very first review here, because I felt a strong moral obligation to warn others about this movie.I have seen perhaps 15 movie versions of "A Christmas Carol".Without a doubt, this awful piece of garbage ranks dead last, even after bad half-hour animated versions.Everything is so appallingly bad, that it's difficult to point out anything in particular.Kelsey Grammar, who I have not hated before this movie, turns in one of the most dreadful performances I have ever seen, anywhere, in any movie! I was stunned by the ham ridden, exceptionally poor performance, in what should have been a drama. Don't expect much more from the other "actors", many of whom act as if they are on drugs (I blame this on the director, Arthur Allan Seidelman. SO many actors can't have turned in such bad performances, without the director being hugely at fault!).The script has been dramatically changed from the original story, every time, making this movie worse, and worse, and worse. Now, I understand that most stories or novels can't be translated directly into a movie without alterations, HOWEVER, that doesn't excuse the butchery of the original story that was done in this movie, with no point. AND, "A Christmas Carol", by Charles Dickens, READS almost as a screenplay. Many adaptations have stayed very close to the original source material, with sometimes very great results.The music varies from inane, to horrible. I know that Alan Menken has done decent stuff before, but this certainly has to have been one of his poorest efforts.Rather than continuing to harp on the vast shortcomings of this unwatchable piece of crud, I will list the versions of "A Christmas Carol", that I consider best, in order:1. "A Christmas Carol", George C. Scott, 1984, long version. 10 star movie. Brilliant performance by Scott, probably the best of his entire career, even better than in "Patton". He portrays Scrooge as a textured, real person, rather than the over-the-top performances you see by most actors. ALSO, this version is closest to Dickens original story "A Christmas Carol", of any of the movie versions that I have ever seen (and I sometimes READ the story, along with the movie, while it is going on!) Also, this movie has the strongest supporting cast of any of the movie versions. Particularly memorable, is Edward Woodward as the Ghost of Christmas Present.2. "A Christmas Carol", George C. Scott, 1984, 101 minute version. Almost as good as the longer version.3. "Scrooge", Alastair Sim, 1951. Sims puts in a good performance as Scrooge, but not as good as Scott's.4. "Scrooge", Albert Finney, 1970, UK version, 120 minutes. I consider this the best musical adaptation of "A Christmas Carol". Finney, unfortunately, was too young for this role in 1970. He's probably the right age now, and I would suspect he would put in a better performance, now (2011)!5. "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol", Jim Backus, 1962, animated musical. I consider this the best version for children. The story has been simplified a bit for children, BUT, does not pull any punches. It also focuses on the children in the story a bit more. Good music by Jule Styne, that I understand was originally written for a Broadway show that fell through, but it found a good home here. Better music, I think, than in the Finney "Scrooge".6. "Scrooge", Albert Finney, 1970, US version, 113 minutes. The seven minutes cut from the UK version really butchers the ending.7. "A Christmas Carol", Patrick Stewart, 1999. 2nd best supporting cast out of any version I have seen. Unfortunately, Patrick Stewart was the weak link, here. He really did not seem to understand the character of Scrooge at all, and put in a remarkably flat and dull performance.My 2 cents worth.Hope this was helpful.Karl
