The Christmas Carol (1949)

"The Christmas Carol" is a 25-minute (very essential version at that brief runtime), black-and-white, live-action film from over 65 years ago and writer and director Arthur Pierson adapted the popular Charles Dickens story for the small screen here. The most famous cast member is probably Jill St. John, even if she only plays a very minor character. You have to really mess things up in order to come up with a bad film because the base material is just so good. And Pierson definitely succeeded with his work here. This was mostly due to Taylor Holmes who played the lead character very convincingly. The narration comes from Vincent Price, who is of course also a really famous cast member. I liked how they switched between him reading to us from the book and the action. It gave the film a somewhat cozy look. And with the films he appears in otherwise, it's also fitting that he is a part in this film, one of the spookiest Christmas tales, despite its wonderful message. Occasionally, I was a bit surprised how little Scrooge was scared by all these ghosts appearing out of nowhere, but that's just a minor criticism. My favorite adaptation of Dickens' work here is still Disney's old animated take on the story, but I thought this one here was pretty good too and I certainly recommend it. Thumbs up.

This half-hour digest telling of Charles Dickens' Christmas CAROL from 1949 is one of the earliest American television programs to survive. Taylor Holmes (a character actor perhaps best known for as Henry Spoffard Sr. in Marilyn Monroe's GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES) is well cast as the sour Mr. Scrooge. Although he is a bit over the top in a few of his early scenes, he is very good otherwise and there is a unusual touch of poignancy in his performance that often is not in other actors as Scrooge, possibly due to Mr. Holmes' having lost two of his sons (including the well-known actor Phillip Holmes) within the previous five years, thus giving him perhaps an emotional link to Scrooge's inner sadness that some actors couldn't quite reach. This little drama is moves quickly of course given the time frame and the cast of mostly unknowns does very well (although the ghosts are fairly ridiculously costumed, particularly the ghost of Christmas present who resembles some actor in a king costume for a 1960's cereal commercial). It's an effective little piece of television and Christmas nostalgia. It won't be anyone's favorite rendition of the classic story but it's worth seeing and rather endearing.

It is interesting to compare this version with the Frederic March/basil Rathbone version. Granted, Vincent Price's version is less star-studded, but it is interesting to see how different adaptations occur. Vincent as narrator reads from the book, much as Frederic March did. Vincent seems to be enjoying himself, though. It is great to hear him say (Marley was dead." Mind you, this film was shot before Vincent became a horror star.There are many liberties taken with the script, but when you have limited time, cuts are necessary. Fezziwig is cut out, as are the scenes with Fan. The ghosts are interesting if uninspired compared to other versions.All in all, it's hard to ruin Dickens, and while this version is very abridged, it moves.

This condensed version of the Dickens story was shown on CBN one December in the mid-1980s. I taped it, and our family has enjoyed watching it each Christmas since then. The production is simple, but certain of the elements evoke unintended laughs. Only about half of the actors use British accents. Taylor Holmes' portrayal of Scrooge is very melodramatic, and we laugh at some of his delivered lines. The effect of Marley breaking through Scrooge's door is also very funny: a shot of the door is superimposed with Marley walking through a large sheet of paper and accompanied by a big "boom" sound effect. However, the program is very charming, despite the mediocre production values. I hope it is made available someday, even as a bargain-bin DVD.