Here We Come a Caroling

Just days ago, I was praising Scrooged for presenting the story of A Christmas Carol with a wink and a nudge, an awareness that everyone knows the story being told. But that isn't to say that I haven't the patience for a more straight-up telling of the tale. In past years, I've turned most often to the Patrick Stewart version made for cable TV a few years back. This year, however, I'd seen more than a few places giving high marks to the George C. Scott version made for TV in the mid 1980s. I'd seen that version long ago, but didn't really remember the specifics that were making so many critics recall his performance at this time of year.

Having now watched it again for this Christmas, I can say that while the overall production values of this version of A Christmas Carol are in places limited, George C. Scott's performance does indeed make this one to praise among many others. Too often, the character of Ebenezer Scrooge is played as a humorless, get-off-my-lawn brand of curmudgeon, solely to make the end of the story land more forcefully. In his performance, George C. Scott actually shows why such a man as Scrooge could continue to behave in such a manner all his life -- he enjoys it. We see him find glee in telling off his nephew, coercing fellow businessmen, even trying to boss around the spirits who haunt him at first. There's pleasant nuance here.

A few other recognizable faces pop up here and there in the cast, including David Warner as Bob Cratchit, Michael Gough, and Roger Rees (whom you'd recognize if you're a fan of Cheers) as nephew Fred. Still, the real reason to watch any version of A Christmas Carol is probably for the Scrooge, and Scott rightly commands the show here.

I could get into particulars of the tale that this incarnation chooses to include or omit, but it's really all just details. Actually, I've never read the original novel myself (though I've considered it on occasion), so I don't have much of a base from which to know what Dickens put there himself and what is extrapolation.

I'd rate this version a B-. You may well be already falling out of the Christmas mood, but perhaps it's one for you to catch next year.