Charles Dickens' Christmas story
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Charles Dickens' Christmas story |
| Original title | A Christmas Carol |
| Country of production | United Kingdom , United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1984 |
| length | 101 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Clive Donner |
| script | Roger O. Hirson |
| production |
Robert E. Fuisz , Alfred R. Kelman , William F. Storke |
| music | Nick Bicât |
| camera | Tony Imi |
| cut | Peter Tanner |
| occupation | |
| |
Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol (Alternate title: A Christmas Carol , original title: A Christmas Carol ) is for the British television produced Christmas fantasy movie from 20th Century Fox from the year 1984 and is based on the short story by Charles Dickens . The lead role was played by George C. Scott and directed by Clive Donner .
action
Old Ebenezer Scrooge is a hard-hearted miser the likes of which you will hardly find a second time in venerable London . He regularly threatens his underpaid employee Bob Cratchit with dismissal if he even dares to take a look at the coal box, perhaps to heat up the bitterly cold office, he has only disregard for his needy fellow men and he thinks Christmas is money- and time- wasting humbug .
On the night of December 25th, however, he received an unexpected visitor. The ghost of his business partner Jacob Marley, who died seven years ago, comes to him to warn him of a terrible fate. The gruesome appearance is tied to a long, heavy iron chain. That chain he forged himself with his hard-heartedness, his greed and his greed in life. Marley now offers Scrooge a chance to mend himself and shed his own, now invisible, chain. For this purpose, three spirits will visit him.
At one o'clock in the morning Scrooge actually appears the ghost of Christmas past and takes him on a journey into his own past, where he sees himself as a lonely and abandoned boy, as his father could not forgive him for having his mother in his birth Child bed had died. The spirit also shows him his sister Fan, who loved him above all else. In addition, the ghost reminds him of his happy apprenticeship years with old Mr. Fezziwig, who gave a lavish Christmas party every year for his employees and their loved ones; and Scrooge sees his long-lost love Belle again. But the ghost not only shows him pleasant things, Scrooge also has to watch the disengagement of his engagement, since his young self has now succumbed to greed and his feelings for Belle have subsided.
Scrooge returns to his bedroom, touched and confused, and falls into a restless sleep. But at the stroke of two o'clock the second announced visitor appears, the spirit of the present Christmas . The gigantic journeyman leads Scrooge through Christmas Day directly to the modest home of his employee Bob Cratchit and his family. There Scrooge notices Cratchits' youngest son, Tiny Tim, who is very weak and needs a crutch. When he asks the ghost if the poor boy will survive, the ghost replies that the boy will probably die if the shadows of the future do not change. He also confronts Scrooge with his own reckless words that if he was going to die, do it soon to reduce overpopulation. Then they pay a visit to Scrooge's nephew, Fred. The friendly young man invites his uncle to have dinner with him every Christmas, but he has always refused. Fred and his wife celebrate in pleasant company and enjoy fun board games in which Scrooge even takes part, although he is actually invisible to the people around him. Finally the spirit leads him to a slum with poor families who lack even the bare essentials. When Scrooge asks the ghost if there are no charities these people can turn to, it has to hear its own words again, if there are no prisons or workhouses .
With these words the ghost was gone and Scrooge is left alone in the darkness. Shortly afterwards, however, the spirit of Christmas to come appears , a gloomy apparition hidden by a black hooded cloak. The ghost leads him to the London Stock Exchange , where some businessmen make fun of a colleague who has recently passed away. Then he leads the confused Scrooge into the shop of a rag dealer who is negotiating with a cleaning woman about the price of some items that she has stolen from the same dead man. Even his bed curtain and sheets are among the items. When Scrooge calls for an example of compassion in the death of a person, his shadowy guide takes him again to the house of the Cratchits, who mourn the late Tiny Tim.
Dejected, Scrooge asks the ghost to bring him home. Instead, however, they suddenly find themselves in a cemetery, where the apparition demands that Scrooge look at a certain tombstone. When he sweeps the snow from the simple stone slab and deciphered the inscription “Ebenezer Scrooge”, he has to realize that the unloved lonely dead was himself. Scrooge collapses and on his knees vows to reform himself and keep Christmas past, present and future in his heart.
Suddenly, on the morning of December 25th, Scrooge is back in his bedroom as if he had never been away. Relieved beyond measure, he leaps across the room, full of good resolutions for his "new life". And Scrooge more than lives up to his oath before the spirits. First he sends Bob Cratchit as an anonymous patron a huge turkey as a holiday roast and also doubles his salary and two gentlemen who collect money for charitable purposes and whom he gave a rude rebuff the day before, he now gives a more than generous donation.
He also makes up with his nephew and becomes like a second father for Tiny Tim, who is getting well again thanks to his generous help.
Reviews
“Fine-tuned, soulful and imaginative remake of the Christmas story by Charles Dickens by Clive Donner, the editor of the 1951 version. [...] Solid family entertainment, a bit scary as a parable with some dark scenes for smaller children. "
"Solid remake of the well-known story."
“Charles Dickens' classic 'A Christmas Story' has already been filmed umpteen times. In 1984, Clive Donner directed another version for British television with George C. Scott in the lead role. Donner, who already worked as an editor for the film version from 1951, succeeded with this remake of the Dickensian material as a sensitive and imaginative TV fairy tale for the whole family. "
DVD release
- A Christmas Carol (English Original Version) / November 6, 2006 / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
- Charles Dickens' - A Christmas Story (German version) / November 26, 2010 / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Others
- Originally, Leo McKern was supposed to play the spirit of the present Christmas . However, he was replaced by Edward Woodward .
- Charles Dickens' Christmas story is the only film adaptation of the material so far in which Ebenezer Scrooge does not wear his nightgown under his dressing gown and the obligatory sleeping cap on his head, but simply shirt, pants and vest. Rumor has it that George C. Scott refused to play in only his nightdress and dressing gown in the middle of the English winter.
- The entire film was shot on locations in the historic British city of Shrewsbury .
- Actress Liz Smith also played the role of Mrs. Dilber in the 1999 remake, A Christmas Carol , with Patrick Stewart in the lead role.
- Two of Susannah York's biological children played two of the Cratchit children in the film.
- Angela Pleasence , who played the Ghost of Christmas Past , is the daughter of actor Donald Pleasence .
Web links
- Charles Dickens' Christmas story in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Certificate of Release for Charles Dickens' Christmas Story . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , September 2010 (PDF; test number: 124 495 V).
- ^ A b Charles Dickens' Christmas story. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed July 11, 2015 .
- ↑ Internet portal video.de in the course of the DVD release of the film at the end of November 2010 ( Memento of the original from December 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
