Carol For Another Christmas (1964) written by Rod Serling

Carol For Another Christmas (1964)
directed by Joseph L. Manckiewics for the United Nations
Written by Rod Serling

Partial list of an all-star cast:


Peter Sellers
Sterling Hayden
Britt Ekland
Ben Gazzara
Percy Rodriguez
Eva Marie Saint
Barbara Ann Teer
Steve Lawrence
James Shigeta
Pat Hingle
Robert Shaw

the following is reprinted from the wiki of the film:

Carol for Another Christmas, scripted by Rod Serling as a modernization of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and a plea for global cooperation between nations, was telecast only once—December 28, 1964.[1] The only TV movie ever directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, this was the film in which Peter Sellers gave his first performance after suffering a near-fatal heart attack. Sellers portrayed a demigod in an apocalyptic Christmas. Sterling Hayden, who costarred with Sellers in Dr. Strangelove earlier that year, was also featured.

Film critic Bob Stewart provided some background on the production:

Presented without commercial interruptions, this "United Nations Special" was sponsored by the Xerox Corporation, the first of a series of Xerox specials promoting the UN. Director Joseph Mankiewicz's first work for television, the 90-minute ABC drama was publicized as having an all-star cast (which meant that names of some supporting cast members were not officially released). In Rod Serling's update of Charles Dickens, industrial tycoon Daniel Grudge (Sterling Hayden) has never recovered from the loss of his 22-year-old son Marley (Peter Fonda), killed in action during Christmas Eve of 1944. The embittered Grudge has only scorn for any American involvement in international affairs. But then the Ghost of Christmas Past (Steve Lawrence) takes him back through time to a World War I troopship. Grudge also is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present (Pat Hingle), and the Ghost of Christmas Future (Robert Shaw) gives him a tour across a desolate landscape where he sees the ruins of a once-great civilization. In the final weeks of post-production, Peter Fonda's scenes were deleted, but his image remained in the film, recognizable in a portrait on the wall.[2]

Others in the cast were Percy Rodriguez, Eva Marie Saint, Ben Gazzara, Barbara Ann Teer, James Shigeta and Britt Ekland. Henry Mancini wrote the theme music, which was recorded for his 1966 holiday LP, A Merry Mancini Christmas.

The film is not commercially available, but it can be seen at the Paley Center for Media in New York and Los Angeles and the Film and Television Archive at the University of California, Los Angeles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_for_Another_Christmas


My notes:

I'm listing this as a film because it was made as a television movie and presented as such. After only a brief time as a torrent I could no longer find it to tell others about it and so I have made it a part of my permanent torrent farm. Please seed this and maintain it for others.

Note that the file size should be transferable to a single dvd. More people should know about "Carol For Another Christmas."

In style (as with other works by Serling) there is a debt to radio drama. I am reminded of Arch Oboler in the last scenes of the Apocalyptic future in the language used by the ruler of desolation. Oboler himself had a Christmas story featuring Orson Welles for radio.


notes written December 18th 2012