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Scrooge on DVD

Scrooge on DVD

Though not a darling of the critics, this British musical adaptation of the classic Dickens tale is a wonderful holiday movie that deserves a lot more attention than it gets.

Albert Finney is outstanding as the old miserly codger Ebenezer Scrooge - and an advantage to his relative youth in comparison with the “present day” Scrooge character is that he could also play the young man Scrooge in the Fezziwig era scenes. This made the transition to miserable old fart even more convincing.

We hadn’t seen Scrooge before, so didn’t know quite what to expect. To us, “A Christmas Carol” meant the old Alastair Sim movie version and since musicals tend to be a tad lighter than straight dramas, with a few exceptions, we were a little scared they’d take this dark, classic tale and turn it into some silly romp.

Well they didn't. In fact, they did it just right, adding songs where they fit and tailoring them to the characters. This means that Scrooge isn’t forced to sing and dance merrily until his heart is singing and dancing first, and while the ghost of Jacob Marley does sing a bit, it’s more of a grumbling than actual song. Whether or not this is due to the singing abilities of the late great Alec Guinness, who plays Marley marvelously, we don’t know; all we know is that it works.

Meanwhile, catchy tunes such as "Father Christmas" and "December the 25th" are performed by cast members who are justifiably celebrating the season, and the numbers fit without getting in the way of the main storyline. And later, when Scrooge has been “un-Scroogified,” the music from throughout the movie reprises and weaves the tunes together, with Scrooge taking his happy part in the festivities of which he has finally learned the meaning and the value.

On the other hand, we were also left wondering (cynically, we admit) how, if Scrooge spent all that money buying gifts, food and drink, doubling Bob Cratchit’s wage, and forgiving all the debts he’s owed, he was going to avoid bankruptcy long enough to continue his newfound generosity. But we digress…

The production values are wonderful, with Dickensian sets and costumes, and the choreography (which is used sparingly, but appropriately) reminds us a bit of “Oliver!” - and that’s not faint praise.

Besides Finney’s tour de force performance, and the always tremendous Guinness, we also get nice performances from Dame Edith Evans as the Ghost of Christmas Past and Kenneth More as the upbeat the Ghost of Christmas Present. And it’s always good to see Laurence Naismith - in this case as Fezziwig, leading one of the best production numbers of the movie.

But it’s Finney who carries Scrooge - and carry it he does. And even though his character is forced tosing while he's still a mean and nasty guy, his “I Hate People” song is delivered not so much as a song but as a muttered curse - entirely appropriate.

Yessirree, you might go “Bah, Humbug!” at the thought of watching “Scrooge,” but we bet you’re drawn into it and by the time you’re watching Scrooge get drawn into a game of “The Minister’s Cat” despite himself you’ll be hooked. We certainly were.

We could have done without the scene in Hell; to us, ‘twould have been better when Scrooge asked what his future was for the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come to point to Scrooge's gravestone, and then the miser sees the happy funeral procession we witnessed earlier (where all those who owed Scrooge money were basically dancing on his grave, but he misunderstood) bringing his bier to the grave. The same lights would have gone off in Scrooge’s head, the same personal growth could have been experienced, and in a much more powerful, human and relevant way.

Perhaps this is why we aren’t movie directors…

The DVD is very sparse so far as extras are concerned (you don’t even get a trailer), but as far as presenting the movie is concerned Paramount has done a very nice job. The film is presented in anamorphic widescreen (16x9 TV compatible), and the picture is very good. The images are sharp, the colors are bright and festive, and overall it’s very easy on the eyes.

Audio is supposedly Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, but we very much doubt the surround part. That said, however, the front three channels are used very well, for music and for dialog, and the overall sound quality is very good - as befits a musical. It ain’t truly digital, but it’s very good analog. Your subwoofer won’t get much of a workout, but you won’t miss it in this case.

And the disc even gives you the overture to enjoy beore the picture kicks off, which is always a nice touch.

As mentioned, we were afraid that turning A Christmas Carol into a musical would dumb down the story and trivialize it; instead, it has taken some of the darkness out of it and added a welcome dose of humanity - in the process creating a Christmas movie that still has the same messages but which also adds a welcome spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down (with apologies to Walt Disney!).

Scrooge, from Paramount Home Entertainment
114 min. anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1, 16x9 TV compatible), Dolby Digital 5.1 surround audio
Starring Albert Finney, Dame Edith Evans, Kenneth More, Alec Guinness, Laurence Naismith
Produced by Robert H. Solo
Written by Leslie Bricusse, Directed by Ronald Neame

 

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