mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.
jellopuke A great musical with tremendous use of panavision, excellent choreography and catchy songs. Finney takes a while to get used to as he is super over the top, but it fits the style and you get used to it after a while. A fun movie that even left the kids singing along.
Christmas-Reviewer BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 300 HOLIDAY FILMS & SPECIALS. I HAVE NO AGENDAIn this Charles Dickens classic filled with pathos, hope and redemption, a cold old miser named Scrooge (Albert Finney) is forced by the ghosts of Christmases past, present and future to take a good, long look at his life. What will he become after he faces what hurts most and why does he despise everything that makes people happy? Sir Alec Guinness plays Marley; Robert Neame directs this acclaimed 1972 musical.This film however seems to run at a brisk pace. The short coming in the film (Too many songs) are made up for by the cast. Albert Finney is always enjoyable.The 1st Class Production also co-stars Alec Guinness. Directed by Ronald Neame who would later direct "The Poseidon Adventure".This film is one versions of "A Christmas Carol".
deacon_blues-3 If you enjoy taking the Christ completely out of Christmas, then this is the Scrooge for you! I still think you could do better, though, with one of the non-musical versions, since the music in this film is rather mediocre at best. None of the scenes in this secularized production of the classic story are involving or engaging at all. Everything in it is has a completely staged feel to it. The entire thing is for mere spectators rather than personal involvement and identity.Curiously, there is nothing attempted in this film that would not work on a live stage, so why bother making it into a film? If you savor live theater in all your entertainment, then this silly thing is for you, I guess.While I thoroughly ire Albert Finney in most of his roles, I find this one to be very ill-conceived. All he does is purse his lips and mumble out the side of his face; and that's supposed to be getting into character? It especially does not serve him well once the ?mas transformation is supposed to take place. Did Scrooge have a stroke? Is that why his face is still all "scrooged" up? I find his whole characterization of Scrooge shallow and annoying. Another incongruity is the insistence on portraying Scooge as the most horrible person on earth. This serves only to distance Scrooge's character from those in the audience who may really have personal issues with their own miserliness and selfishness. What is better is for Scrooge to be more of a convicting, identifying example, not someone we can merely dismiss as much worse than anyone else! This film's point is that Scrooge's problem is not a lack of virtue, but rather that he is just not enough of a hedonist!The music is highly unmemorable, to say the least. The lyrics are often contrived and foisted into incongruous rhymes that make little sense in the context of the drama. This is a musical that would be completely barren without the music; the big problem is that the music is so unimpressive! This leaves the audience with nothing really remarkable to appreciate at all.The worst aspect of this un-Christmas Carol is the complete and deliberate secularization of the sacred holiday. I was surprised when the Cratchets were actually allowed to retain their "God bless us" rather than something like "Life bless us!" There are even places in the lyrics that disparage virtues and piety as being only for sour-pusses like Scrooge. The most obvious slam on religion is in the holiday scene when the pious people coming out of church are drowned out by the the secular revelers who are marching down the street led by Scrooge. It is obvious that the message that is intended is that Christmas is not about Christ, religion, or Christian virtue, but about life, revelry, and the pursuit if earthly pleasures first and foremost. Scrooge's transformation excludes his going to church (which is doubtful anyway, since church services are rarely held on Christmas day, but rather on Christmas Eve). All that is needed for redemption is secular generosity and celebration, religion is conspicuously unimportant.Far from being the "best" Christmas Carol film, this one cannot even hold a candle to the lesser versions such as Mr. Magoo's (1962) or Reginald Owen's (1938). Both the George C. Scott version (1984) and The Patrick Stewart version (1999), both made for TV, are dramatically superior to this incongruous hodgepodge of a musical.There are many versions that are more worthwhile than this one, but the ultimate cinematic effort of adapting this story to film still remains the 1951 production with Alistair Sim, Kathleen Harrison, Mervyn Johns, Hermoine Baddeley, and Michael Horndern. This classic British version still outshines all others for endearing charm, genuine emotion, well-timed humor, and authentic redemptive transformation of Scrooge from a self-righteous, self centered, skinflint to an ebullient, warm-hearted, genuinely regenerated benefactor of the needy for the sake of "the Child of Bethlehem."
