Merry Christmas to all from the management of Orion\u2019s Cold Fire.\u00a0 Now the title of this post is admittedly a stretch.\u00a0 But it is a ghost story and it does take place in an urban center.\u00a0 I guess it would be adding insult to injury to claim steampunk status too, so I won\u2019t.\u00a0 I gladly confess I\u2019m a huge fan of this tale.\u00a0 I first remember running into it as a boy when my older cousin played Mr. Fezziwig in a grammar school production.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember much about that production other than the fact that Fezziwig was actually wearing a gray wig.\u00a0 Since then I\u2019ve read the short book and attended several professional and amateur stage productions.\u00a0 But the most substantial proportion of my involvement with this story is the hundreds of viewings of the various film versions that have been made over the decades.\u00a0 Discounting such travesties as the episode made as part of the old television series \u201cThe Odd Couple\u201d and the one starring the cartoon character Mr. Magoo, I have watched at least seven separate films.<\/p>\n
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Among the few versions that I still watch, the oddest one is the musical from 1970 starring Albert Finney.\u00a0 With Alec Guinness as Jacob Marley it includes a scene of Scrooge being installed in Hell by his long dead partner.\u00a0 I\u2019m not particularly fond of musicals and Finney hasn\u2019t really got a singing voice so there any number of painful moments in this film but the comical aspect of Scrooge is highlighted and allows this version to serve when children are present and might otherwise become bored.<\/p>\n
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Until recently I was of the opinion that the best version was the 1951 edition starring Alistair Sim.\u00a0 It had a good British cast and possessed a script that amplified the meager details of the novel with some dramatic details of the back story between Scrooge and his sister on her death bed.\u00a0 It also fills out the history of Scrooge as a businessman and shows us some details of Marley\u2019s death.\u00a0 It remains in my reckoning a very good film.<\/p>\n
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But as with all other things in life, age alters our opinions and our point of view even about Dickens\u2019 masterpiece.\u00a0 Of late, I have come to favor the 1984 television version starring George C. Scott.\u00a0 The balance of the cast is British with Scott the only American.\u00a0 The script is relatively close to the novel although there are a few touches having to do with Scrooge\u2019s nephew and wife that are innovative.\u00a0 But in several aspects I find this later version to be the best.\u00a0 First is the character of Marley.\u00a0 The actor portraying this ghost is the best of any that have acted the role.\u00a0 The feeling and meaning he puts into his lines is perfect for that part.\u00a0 Next is the child playing Tiny Tim.\u00a0 He is without a doubt the most diminutive and fragile looking child imaginable.\u00a0 He enhances the reality of what we know is Tiny Tim\u2019s probable fate.\u00a0 And finally, there is Scott\u2019s part.\u00a0 He is a powerful man who displays his ruthlessness openly.\u00a0 George C. Scott was a very good actor and it shows.\u00a0 He interacts with the spirits as an equal.\u00a0 He defends his point of view as you might imagine a rational egoist would.\u00a0 You feel his gradual awakening to the error of his world view as a visceral experience and not just a logical progression.\u00a0 He captures the transformation that Dickens was portraying.\u00a0 It\u2019s well done.<\/p>\n
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So, now why do I enjoy this story?\u00a0 I believe that Dickens\u2019 story captures some essential truth about what it means to be human.\u00a0 He is trying to show us that in order to save ourselves we have to save those around us.\u00a0 And not through some social construct (\u201care there no prisons, are there no workhouses\u201d), but by touching the lives of those around us and lending a hand to the weak.\u00a0 As a right wing fanatic this is an important lesson to remember.\u00a0 If you object to the idea of the socialist state then you must instead reach out to the people around you and make things better yourself.<\/p>\n
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So for me this story is a cautionary tale.\u00a0 Don’t forget that the people out there are real and they are someone’s children.\u00a0 And they can hurt.\u00a0 Watch out for them.<\/p>\n
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I\u2019ll end this on a happy note.\u00a0 As Tiny Tim said, \u201cGod bless us, every one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Merry Christmas to all from the management of Orion\u2019s Cold Fire.\u00a0 Now the title of this post is admittedly a stretch.\u00a0 But it is a<\/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":[241,5,239,238,237,4],"tags":[68,94,84,96,43],"class_list":["post-720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-current-events","category-movie-reviews","category-classic-movie-reviews","category-reviews","category-sff","tag-book-review","tag-christmas","tag-holidays","tag-literature","tag-movie-review"],"yoast_head":"\n