We all know Charles Dickens' story of Ebenezer Scrooge and
his visits from the three ghosts on Christmas Eve (four if you count the
initial visit from his former partner, Marley).
A story of redemption—a miserly man whose concept of the Christmas
spirit is "Bah, Humbug!" Then
his life is turned around after Marley tells him about his upcoming visits from
the Christmas ghosts. The first one from his past to remind him of what was and
the promise of what could have been, the second from his present to open his
eyes to what he had become and how others felt about him, and the final visit from
the ghost of the future to show him where he was headed if he didn't change his
ways.
From a writer's perspective, it was the first time a story
had been told from the point-of-view of a character within that story rather
than an omniscient point-of-view of an unidentified narrator. Point-of-view—something vital for today's
writer of fiction.
The novella, first published in London on December 9, 1843,
has been a staple of the Christmas season as a movie, television show, or play
for well over a century.
This year, Hallmark's two cable movie channels started
showing non-stop Christmas movies the first of November. I wondered how many different versions of
Dickens' story there were. So, I did
what I usually do when I want a quick answer to something…I Googled it.
And the results came as quite a surprise. Things I knew, things I had known but
forgotten, and things I never knew.
Twenty-eight films, twenty-three television productions, plus other
miscellaneous offerings such as staged plays.
Live action, animation, a 3D computer generated images version from
Disney in 2009, one set in America during the Great Depression of the 1930s,
and even a couple where the character of Scrooge was portrayed as being female.
The first filming of A CHRISTMAS CAROL was a fifteen minute
silent movie made in 1908 followed by two other silent versions made in 1910
and 1913. There have been the straight
theatrical films, musical versions, and animated versions with favorite and
very familiar cartoon characters taking on the roles of Dickens' famous
characters. Of the twenty-eight movies,
ten were released under Dickens' exact original title of A CHRISTMAS CAROL as
were six of the twenty-three television productions.
Even though all the various productions of A CHRISTMAS CAROL
tell Dickens' story of Scrooge and the visits from the Christmas ghosts, many
had their own unique twist and flavor on the original. I think my favorite is a 1970 theatrical
musical version titled SCROOGE which stars Albert Finney as the miserly
Ebenezer Scrooge who learns the lessons of the spirit of the Christmas season.
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