A Christmas Carol (1938)

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Movie
Original title A Christmas Carol
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1938
length approx. 69 minutes
Rod
Director Edwin L. Marin
script Hugo Butler
production Joseph L. Mankiewicz for MGM
music Franz Waxman
camera Sidney Wagner ,
John F. Seitz
cut George Boemler
occupation

A Christmas Carol is an American literary film adaptation by Edwin L. Marin from 1938. It was the first American adaptation of Charles Dickens ' story A Christmas Carol and is one of the most famous film versions of A Christmas Carol in the United States to this day .

action

London in the early to mid-19th century: On Christmas Eve, Fred arrives at the office of his grim uncle Ebenezer Scrooge. Scrooge is invited by his nephew to dinner with him, but harshly refuses. Likewise, two benefactors who raise money for the needy are turned away. Scrooge is also tough on his subordinates and customers: although he allows his assistant Bob Cratchit the next day off with payment, he should come earlier the next day. When Bob accidentally damages Scrooge's hat with a snowball, his employer demands a shilling from him and fires him. What little is left of his already low salary, Bob spends on Christmas dinner with his family.

In the evening, Scrooge receives an unexpected visit to his house: the ghost of Jacob Marley, his business partner who died seven years ago, appears and wants to warn him. Marley has to wear a chain as a ghost as punishment for his hard-hearted and selfish actions in his life and explains to Scrooge that he too must wear such a chain in his afterlife if he does not change himself and help others. Before Marley's ghost disappears, he announces the arrival of three more ghosts. The first of these ghosts is the ghost of Christmas past, a beautiful young woman. It shows Scrooge how he almost always had to spend the holiday season alone at boarding school and not, like the other children, was picked up, at least until his - now deceased - sister Fan brought him over for Christmas. Scrooge is also shown his entry into working life at Fezziwig, which goes hand in hand with his gradually increasing greed for money and profit. Annoyed and scared, he no longer wants to see the progress of his development.

The second ghost is the happy present Christmas spirit, which shows Scrooge the current Christmas celebrations with other people. During a visit to church, the ghost tells him that his nephew Fred still cannot marry his fiancée Bess due to financial difficulties and that she may soon lose her as a result. Scrooge is then shown celebrating Christmas with Bob and his family even though Bob is still dejected from his dismissal. Despite their poverty, the family seems happy, but the ghost tells Scrooge that Bob's son Tiny Tim will likely die of an unknown disease if the future doesn't change. Finally, the veiled and mute ghost of Christmas to come appears as the third ghost, showing Scrooge what would happen to him if he did not change: Tiny Tim would die and his family would fall into deep mourning - Scrooge himself would also die, but for him nobody would grieve. After seeing his own tombstone, Scrooge promises to mend himself. The third ghost disappears, the spook is over.

Scrooge is now changing into a good person: He makes a large donation to the men who have come to him who collect for charitable purposes and also appoints his nephew Fred as his new business partner. He won't forget the Cratchits either. He visits her with a big turkey in his luggage, hires Bob again and increases his salary considerably.

background

The film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer should initially be shot with Lionel Barrymore in the role of Scrooge. The actor played the role on the radio every Christmas for decades and achieved great success with both audiences and critics with his interpretation of Scrooge. Barrymore had to cancel because of his increasing arthritis (which in later films forced him to sit in a wheelchair). However, Barrymore acted as the narrator of the film trailer and suggested Reginald Owen as Scrooge to the producer himself. The British Owen was otherwise mainly cast in supporting roles, so that it was one of the few leading roles in his film career. The Cratchit couple are Gene and Kathleen Lockhart, who were also married in real life. Gene and Kathleen's daughter June Lockhart plays the Cratchit daughter Belinda in her film debut. Terry Kilburn plays Tiny Tim in his third film.

For the film, some changes were made to Dickens' original: Scrooge's fiancée Belle was left out entirely, but the roles of Fred and Bess were expanded and a love story was spun around her. Also, many of the darker elements of the original story are missing from the family film. In addition, the temporal arrival of the spirits is different: the first appears at one o'clock at night, as in the book, the second appears at two o'clock and the third at three o'clock. In the original novel, the second appears the next night at one o'clock and the third appears the next night at 12 o'clock. This change from the 1938 version was also adopted by many - if not most - later film adaptations.

Originally the film was not due to open in cinemas until the Christmas season of 1939, but in autumn 1938 the MGM producers made a decision at short notice. Filming began in October 1938, lasted only six weeks, and the film premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York in December of that year .

criticism

A Christmas Carol received good reviews when it was released and was also a huge hit for MGM at the box office. Even today, the film is still largely rated positively, with Rotten Tomatoes all twelve reviews are positive. Emanuel Levy writes that it is an "effective adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel, well played by Reginald Owen and the rest of the cast," and many other critics praise the film's warmth.

In the United States, the film was later popularized again through numerous television broadcasts in the 1960s and 1970s. For many years the film was considered the best-known adaptation of A Christmas Carol in the USA and although it is no longer that, it is still quite well known. In contrast, this version is almost unknown in German-speaking countries.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e A Christmas Carol (1938) Article at TCM - Turner Classic Movies
  2. ↑ A Christmas Carol (1938) official trailer at TCM - Turner Classic Movies
  3. ↑ A Christmas Carol (1938) rottentomatoes.com