A Christmas Carol (1984) George C Scott

A Christmas Carol (1984) George C. Scott

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087056/

http://bayimg.com/OaJeDaAcf**UPLOADER’S NOTE** - This is, far and away, the BEST version of this classic ever filmed. The acting is magnificent, the details are accurate, and the language is left as Dickens wrote it. There are no cute muppets, no waste-of-oxygen Jim Carrey, no melodramatic attempts at moralizing. Scrooge is not depicted as a two-dimensional villain, but a loveless man fleshed out in all his wretched detail. The director does not try to make the script his own, but rather presents it as Dickens would have intended. If only ALL directors of classics would adhere to this approach. In short, this version is about as close to perfect as any film could be.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol_%281984_film%29A Christmas Carol is a 1984 television movie adaptation of Charles Dickens' famous 1843 novella. It was directed by Clive Donner (who had been an editor on an earlier film version of the story, 1951's Scrooge) and stars George C. Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge.



Plot



In the Victorian period, Ebenezer Scrooge is a cynical and embittered old man whose greatest concern is money, and who regards compassion as a luxury he cannot afford. On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley, his former business partner, who arranges for Scrooge to be visited by three spirits in an attempt to show him the errors of his ways — the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come. The spirits force Scrooge to examine the failings of his own life, as well as the bravery and optimism of his loyal but ill-treated employee Bob Cratchit. Scrooge reforms, learning to keep the spirit of Christmas alive in his heart, ultimately becoming a well-loved and respected man



Cast



• George C. Scott - Ebenezer Scrooge

• Frank Finlay - Marley's Ghost

• Angela Pleasence - Ghost of Christmas Past

• Edward Woodward - Ghost of Christmas Present

• Michael Carter - Ghost of Christmas Future

• David Warner - Bob Cratchit

• Susannah York - Mrs. Cratchit

• Roger Rees - Fred Hollywell

• Caroline Langrishe - Janet Hollywell

• Lucy Gutteridge - Belle

• Nigel Davenport - Silas Scrooge (Ebenezer's and Fan's father)

• Mark Strickson - Young Ebenezer Scrooge

• Joanne Whalley - Fan Scrooge-Hollywell (Ebenezer's sister and Fred's mother)

• Timothy Bateson - Mr. Fezziwig

• Michael Gough - Mr. Poole

• John Quarmby - Mr. Harking

• Peter Woodthorpe - Old Joe

• Liz Smith - Mrs. DilberProduction



The movie was filmed on location in Shrewsbury, England. It originally aired on CBS on December 17, 1984 in the United States but was released theatrically in Great Britain. The film was marketed with the tagline "A new powerful presentation of the most loved ghost story of all time!" Scott was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special for his portrayal in A Christmas Carol.



The movie has run in syndication on local American channels since it debuted in 1984, earning a loyal fanbase, but was not released to VHS until 1995 and to DVD in 1999. This was due to the fact that Scott himself (and later his estate through Baxter Healthcare, to whom the Scott family donated their copyright) owned the rights to this film. On November 25, 2007 it returned to national television on AMC for the first time since its debut. The network ran the movie throughout the Christmas season. AMC also ran the movie throughout the 2008 Christmas season. In 2009, the Hallmark Channel also began running the movie soon after Thanksgiving and will continue to throughout the holiday season. It remains one of the most beloved adaptations of A Christmas Carol.



Trivia

• Liz Smith who plays Mrs. Dilber played the same role in the 1999 version starring Patrick Stewart.

• Two of Susannah York's real-life children portrayed two of the Cratchit children on-screen.

• This is, perhaps, the only version of A Christmas Carol in which Scrooge wears trousers, shirt and a vest (with a period-correct dressing gown over them) instead of merely his nightgown, slippers and cap. (Rumor has it that George C. Scott openly reeled at the very thought of portraying Scrooge under such conditions...especially in mid-winter England.)[citation needed] Scott's costume agrees with Dickens' description in the novel.

• Several of the actors had appeared in previous adaptations of Dickens, most famously Rees in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Scott had played Fagin in a television version of Oliver Twist two years previously, and Timothy Bateson, who played Fezziwig, had appeared as Mr. Dick in a 1974 television production of David Copperfield.

• Martin Wood, Town crier of Shrewsbury & Atcham and the Worlds Tallest Town Crier, was used as a body double for both the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Future.

• One historical inaccuracy: During Ghost of Christmas Past parts where Scrooge is shown his childhood, the people in his childhood are dressed in the same era clothing as Scrooge the old adult - as if between around the late 1700s(where one can guess chronologically an 1840's senior was a boy)and present dress and fashion was always in the 1840s.