{"id":12952,"date":"2020-12-24T19:25:26","date_gmt":"2020-12-25T00:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=12952"},"modified":"2020-12-24T19:25:26","modified_gmt":"2020-12-25T00:25:26","slug":"the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Inside Baseball of Film Versions of \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d \u2013 Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple of years ago, in the first installment of this essay<\/a>, I wrote about the plot devices that were added in the 1951 and 1984 movie versions that weren\u2019t written in Dickens\u2019 novella.\u00a0 And those two versions are my favorites.\u00a0 The actors playing Scrooge in each case do a memorable job with the part.\u00a0 And the productions are very good.<\/p>\n

There are several other versions that I have watched several times.\u00a0 There is a musical version with Albert Finney as Scrooge which has its points.\u00a0 And the 1938 movie with Reginald Owens as Scrooge is acceptable.\u00a0 But I\u2019ve never cared for his acting style in the part.<\/p>\n

But recently a friend told me he regards the 1938 version as his favorite.\u00a0 Well, tastes differ so I just chalked it up to that. \u00a0But when this came up again during a conversation I asked if he thought Owens was the better Scrooge.\u00a0 He said no.\u00a0 What he liked about the 1938 version was the greater screen time given to the Cratchit family.\u00a0 He thought that Gene Lockhart as Bob Cratchit and the rest of the family made the movie.<\/p>\n

Since I had never analyzed the movie in that sense, I decided to give it another viewing.\u00a0 In the 1938 version Gene Lockhart\u2019s wife Kathleen plays Mrs. Cratchit and his daughter June Lockhart played Belinda Cratchit, one of the daughters.\u00a0 Watching the various scenes they are in, it\u2019s apparent that the Cratchit component of the story has been amplified.\u00a0 The Christmas dinner scene is quite long and includes much more detail than any of the other versions.\u00a0 And several other additional scenes involve Bob, Tim or Peter Cratchit interacting with either Scrooge or his nephew Fred.<\/p>\n

And I noticed that Scrooge\u2019s part had also been modified in this version.\u00a0 Instead of the Ghost of Christmas Past bringing Scrooge to see his corruption by money he stops the ghost after the earlier Fezziwig scene.\u00a0 Considered in the sense of time on the screen, the Cratchits are actually a larger part of the movie than Scrooge.\u00a0 I think that is why someone might prefer this version.\u00a0 It minimizes the amount of time spent with Scrooge.\u00a0 So, if you aren\u2019t primarily interested in Scrooge\u2019s transformation then this would be the version that you would be drawn to.<\/p>\n

Looked at in that light I understand the opinion.\u00a0 But even though I will admit that the Cratchit family scenes in this version are attractive and enjoyable I have to go back to the story of Scrooge.\u00a0 That is the center of the story and the reason for the action.<\/p>\n

But it does bring up another trivia question.\u00a0 Which is the best Cratchit family?\u00a0 The most pitiable Tiny Tim is the one in the 1984 version.\u00a0 He looks like he may keel over at any moment.\u00a0 But for the rest of the Cratchit family including Bob I\u2019d pick the ones in the 1951 version.\u00a0 They seem the most authentic.<\/p>\n

One thing that I notice is that no matter how many times I watch the various versions of A Christmas Carol I\u2019m still affected by the emotions.\u00a0 The Cratchits\u2019 sorrow over Tim and Scrooge\u2019s contrition and almost manic joy at being given a second chance always warm my heart.\u00a0 Obviously, I\u2019m over-sentimental and probably associate the feelings I felt when seeing these movies in my youth.\u00a0 But whatever the reason they still work after all these years.\u00a0 This is a tribute to Dickens\u2019 genius but also to the culture that honored the humanity embedded in the Christmas spirit.\u00a0 Peace on Earth, good will to men.\u00a0 Or as Tiny Tim says, \u201cGod bless us all, everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple of years ago, in the first installment of this essay, I wrote about the plot devices that were added in the 1951 and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239,238,237],"tags":[1011,68,94,43,38,1355],"class_list":["post-12952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-classic-movie-reviews","category-reviews","tag-a-christmas-carol","tag-book-review","tag-christmas","tag-movie-review","tag-review","tag-reviews"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Inside Baseball of Film Versions of \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d \u2013 Part 2 - Orion's Cold Fire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Inside Baseball of Film Versions of \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d \u2013 Part 2 - Orion's Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A couple of years ago, in the first installment of this essay, I wrote about the plot devices that were added in the 1951 and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Orion's Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-25T00:25:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"photog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@orionscoldfire\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@orionscoldfire\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"photog\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"photog\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3\"},\"headline\":\"The Inside Baseball of Film Versions of \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d \u2013 Part 2\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-25T00:25:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-25T00:25:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/\"},\"wordCount\":621,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"A Christmas Carol\",\"book review\",\"Christmas\",\"movie review\",\"review\",\"Reviews\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Movie Reviews\",\"OCF Classic Movie Reviews\",\"Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/\",\"name\":\"The Inside Baseball of Film Versions of \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d \u2013 Part 2 - Orion's Cold Fire\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-25T00:25:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-25T00:25:26+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Inside Baseball of Film Versions of \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d \u2013 Part 2\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\",\"name\":\"Orion's Cold Fire\",\"description\":\"All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Orion's Cold Fire\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg\",\"width\":4022,\"height\":1419,\"caption\":\"Orion's Cold Fire\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/orionscoldfire\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3\",\"name\":\"photog\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg\",\"caption\":\"photog\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/author\/photog\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Inside Baseball of Film Versions of \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d \u2013 Part 2 - Orion's Cold Fire","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Inside Baseball of Film Versions of \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d \u2013 Part 2 - Orion's Cold Fire","og_description":"A couple of years ago, in the first installment of this essay, I wrote about the plot devices that were added in the 1951 and","og_url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/","og_site_name":"Orion's Cold Fire","article_published_time":"2020-12-25T00:25:26+00:00","author":"photog","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@orionscoldfire","twitter_site":"@orionscoldfire","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"photog","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/"},"author":{"name":"photog","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3"},"headline":"The Inside Baseball of Film Versions of \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d \u2013 Part 2","datePublished":"2020-12-25T00:25:26+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-25T00:25:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/"},"wordCount":621,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["A Christmas Carol","book review","Christmas","movie review","review","Reviews"],"articleSection":["Movie Reviews","OCF Classic Movie Reviews","Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/","name":"The Inside Baseball of Film Versions of \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d \u2013 Part 2 - Orion's Cold Fire","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-12-25T00:25:26+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-25T00:25:26+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/the-inside-baseball-of-film-versions-of-a-christmas-carol-part-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Inside Baseball of Film Versions of \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d \u2013 Part 2"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/","name":"Orion's Cold Fire","description":"All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization","name":"Orion's Cold Fire","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg","width":4022,"height":1419,"caption":"Orion's Cold Fire"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/orionscoldfire"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3","name":"photog","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg","caption":"photog"},"url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/author\/photog\/"}]}},"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12952"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12953,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12952\/revisions\/12953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}