{"id":35488,"date":"2025-12-18T05:00:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T10:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=35488"},"modified":"2025-12-17T21:43:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T02:43:48","slug":"you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/","title":{"rendered":"You Were Always a Good Friend to Me"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As all who have followed my website know I\u2019m a connoisseur of the various film versions of Dicken\u2019s \u201cA Christmas Carol.\u201d\u00a0 And I\u2019ve opined before that the premiere version of the Ghost of Jacob Marley is Frank Finlay\u2019s portrayal in the 1984 version with George C Scott as Scrooge.<\/p>\n<p>Here is the whole scene:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ghost of Jacob Marley - A Christmas Carol (1984)\" width=\"783\" height=\"587\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1nsyYSjYSuQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Now, why do I say it\u2019s best?\u00a0 Technical presentation?\u00a0 Acting ability?\u00a0 Faithfulness to the book?\u00a0 Emotional impact?\u00a0 Actually, all of the above.\u00a0 In all aspects of the scene this version is head and shoulders above all the rest.<\/p>\n<p>The makeup on the ghost is wonderful as are his costume and the pattern and details of his fetters.\u00a0 Even his eyes appear to be those of a dead man.\u00a0 Finlay\u2019s reading of the lines is masterful and the emotions he provides are wonderfully potent.\u00a0 And the lines selected are the best selection from any of the versions out there.\u00a0 And the climax of his performance is his outrage when Scrooge tells him, \u201cBut you were always a good man of business, Jacob.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marley howls, \u201c<strong>Business!\u201d Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This one speech is easily seen as the reason for the whole story.\u00a0 We see the partners face to face and we see what Scrooge cannot.\u00a0 Marley was what Scrooge is; a terrible human being who cared not at all for his fellow creatures, their pain and suffering.\u00a0 But death and judgement have taught him the error of his ways and in his shame and penitence he wants to save his old partner from himself.<\/p>\n<p>And because he was as Scrooge is, he selects the instruments that have the best chance of reaching into Scrooge\u2019s heart and mind and shaking him out of his evil habits and awaken in him the knowledge that the most precious treasure on this Earth is the chance to use our time to comfort those around us and recognize the kinship we all should have.<\/p>\n<p>So those are the main points.\u00a0 But even small bits contribute to this \u201cMarley.\u201d\u00a0 When the ghost appears Scrooge demands to know what it wants of him.\u00a0 Untying the funeral kerchief from around his head, his bottom jaw drops wide open with a loud clicking noise to indicate that he is a corpse.\u00a0 Only once his mouth is unbound can he answer. \u201cMuch!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So, yes.\u00a0 This is the best Marley.\u00a0 And George C Scott provides a fitting foil for Marley\u2019s mission.\u00a0 He is suitably impenitent and uninterested in Marley\u2019s gift of potential reclamation.\u00a0 When told of the three separate spiritual visits he asks Marley if they could all come at once and save time.\u00a0 All in all, he is completely undeserving of Marley\u2019s gift.\u00a0 But as we shall see the scope of the gift that Marley procured manages to finally break through Scrooge\u2019s shell of callousness.<\/p>\n<p>Well done Jacob Marley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As all who have followed my website know I\u2019m a connoisseur of the various film versions of Dicken\u2019s \u201cA Christmas Carol.\u201d\u00a0 And I\u2019ve opined before<\/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":[2510,239,237,4,243],"tags":[1011,94,5096,2245,2244,43,1176],"class_list":["post-35488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-literature","category-movie-reviews","category-reviews","category-sff","category-sff-movie-reviews","tag-a-christmas-carol","tag-christmas","tag-frank-finlay","tag-george-c-scott","tag-marleys-ghost","tag-movie-review","tag-science-fiction-and-fantasy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>You Were Always a Good Friend to Me - Orion&#039;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\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"You Were Always a Good Friend to Me - Orion&#039;s Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As all who have followed my website know I\u2019m a connoisseur of the various film versions of Dicken\u2019s \u201cA Christmas Carol.\u201d\u00a0 And I\u2019ve opined before\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Orion&#039;s Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-18T10:00:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-18T02:43:48+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\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"photog\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3\"},\"headline\":\"You Were Always a Good Friend to Me\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-18T10:00:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-18T02:43:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/\"},\"wordCount\":530,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"A Christmas Carol\",\"Christmas\",\"Frank Finlay\",\"George C. Scott\",\"Marley's Ghost\",\"movie review\",\"science fiction and fantasy\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Literature\",\"Movie Reviews\",\"Reviews\",\"Science Fiction \/ Fantasy\",\"SF&amp;F Movie Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/\",\"name\":\"You Were Always a Good Friend to Me - Orion&#039;s Cold Fire\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-18T10:00:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-18T02:43:48+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"You Were Always a Good Friend to Me\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\",\"name\":\"Orion&#039;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":"You Were Always a Good Friend to Me - Orion&#039;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\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"You Were Always a Good Friend to Me - Orion&#039;s Cold Fire","og_description":"As all who have followed my website know I\u2019m a connoisseur of the various film versions of Dicken\u2019s \u201cA Christmas Carol.\u201d\u00a0 And I\u2019ve opined before","og_url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/","og_site_name":"Orion&#039;s Cold Fire","article_published_time":"2025-12-18T10:00:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-18T02:43:48+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\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/"},"author":{"name":"photog","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3"},"headline":"You Were Always a Good Friend to Me","datePublished":"2025-12-18T10:00:33+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-18T02:43:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/"},"wordCount":530,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["A Christmas Carol","Christmas","Frank Finlay","George C. Scott","Marley's Ghost","movie review","science fiction and fantasy"],"articleSection":["Literature","Movie Reviews","Reviews","Science Fiction \/ Fantasy","SF&amp;F Movie Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/","name":"You Were Always a Good Friend to Me - Orion&#039;s Cold Fire","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-12-18T10:00:33+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-18T02:43:48+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/you-were-always-a-good-friend-to-me\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"You Were Always a Good Friend to Me"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/","name":"Orion&#039;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\/35488","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=35488"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35490,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35488\/revisions\/35490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}