Scrooge (1970) Review

Title: Scrooge
Director: Ronald Neame
Genre: Musical
Year: 1970
Cast: Albert Finney (Ebenezer Scrooge), Edith Evans (Ghost of Christmas Past), Kenneth More (Ghost of Christmas Present), David Collings (Bob Cratchit)

If one thing is for certain, it is that there is an abundance of Christmas movies. The best thing about it is that it provides different kinds of movies for different kinds of people. If you like movies that are big production, musicals, family films, Christmas-y and classic, then you will enjoy Scrooge (1970), starring Albert Finney as the old miser himself and Alec Guiness as his chain-dragging, former partner, Jacob Marley.

I'm sure I don't need to tell you the plot, since we all know Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol by heart. Scrooge follows closely to the original story, having only minor differences. For example, Scrooge's fiancée Isabelle, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig is the movie, when she has no relation to them in the original book. Also, there is an interesting elaboration on the Christmas future sequence where Scrooge learns that there are worse things than death. None of the differences, however, take away from the essence of the Dickens' story, and it even has a few songs thrown in.

Now, here's the part where I tell you what I didn't like.

1) The songs:
Like anyone, I enjoy a good musical. There's a few that I enjoy listening to often enough. But Scrooge has too few songs that I actually cared about. They had great rhyming, lyrics and rhythm, but were lacking in notable tunes. There were, though, one or two that actually did have melodies and get right stuck in your head. Particularly (my favorite) "Thank You Very Much".

2) Albert Finney as Ebenezer Scrooge:
I haven't seen Albert Finney in enough films to fairly gauge his acting skills, but as Ebenezer Scrooge, I thought they made a mistake. His acting in the part was great, I'm not blaming him here. Rather, I would blame the makeup artist. In this movie, Finney is only 34, and we all know that Scrooge is supposed to be an old decrepit jerk. Sure, they did thin out his hair with a sort of bald cap, and Finney obviously gave it his all to act old by screwing his face and walking at an angle with stiff gestures. But, I think he would have looked much more like a Scrooge if they would have given him something as simple as bushy eyebrows, or gray hair, or slight wrinkles.

3) Electronics and Light bulbs?
The story is set in the 1860s. Yet, in the film, the children are shown looking through toy store windows at robotic toy displays. Like the kind you would see at the mall. There were also modern Christmas lights. In Victorian London. I understand that the makers of this movie were trying to create a Yule-Tidy atmosphere for us modern movie goers, but I'm a nitpicker when it comes to mixing historical with contemporary.

Other than that, though, I really enjoyed the movie and I'm willing to put aside my personal pet peeves to give this film two thumbs up. The sets of old London were fantastic, the three spirits were fun, and the costuming was spot on for the different eras they represented. I think, if you like musicals, the movie would be a perfect addition to your holiday collecting.