Scrooge is a musical version of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol that follows in the steps of it's predecessor Oliver. Nineteenth century London is faithfully recreated and the actors sing and dance there way through Dickens's haunting Christmas tale. The whole movie is carried by Albert Finney who plays Scrooge. This was a bold casting choice since Finney was very young for the role and not the best singer around. But Finney sing/talks his way through the songs the same way Rex Harrison did in My Fair Lady and with some amazing make up effects he gives a highly acclaimed performance as Scrooge. It is the only version where the same actor plays Scrooge in the present and the past. Despite the addition of songs the script is fairly faithful to the book. There is a comical addition where Scrooge finds himself in hell and includes a second appearance by Jacob Marley, comically played by Alec Guinness.
The music sounds completely English, but some of the lyrics by Leslie Bricusse are a Little much. The rest of the cast, including Dame Edith Evans, Kenneth Moore are a delight as the various characters Scrooge interacts with.
The film, directed by Ronald Neame, received five Academy Award nominations and has since been adapted as a musical in London. It is a holiday classic that sings and dances it's way into your heart.
At The Movie House rating ***1/2 stars.
The movies Scrooge and Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol showed it's possible to adapt Charles Dickens's spooky story of ghosts and redemption into musical comedy. So Alan Menken was working on proven ground when he created the smash Broadway hit A Christmas Carol: The Musical that played annually at Madison Square Garden's for 10 years. So when the musical was adapted for television by director Arthur Allan Seidelman it should have been a slam-dunk success, unfortunately it was not.
The first mistake was casting Kelsey Grammer as Scrooge. He just was not up to playing the cold, miserly Englishman.
The second mistake was playing up the comic aspects of the show, including casting Jason Alexander as Marley. Alexander is a great song and dance man, but the ghost with the message of doom was not an appropriate part for him.
The third mistake was under playing the sentimentality of the Broadway show. Many of the most endearing moments of the musical are lost in the over emphasis on comedy.
And finally many of the songs and lyrics from the musical were re-worked or removed for the TV movie. They should have left Menken's score as is.
What does work is the format of the show. Much like the Mr. Magoo version the film is presented as a theatre piece we are watching. The movie opens with the camera soaring over a CGI created London and stopping at a curtain with the title on it, and then the curtain opens and the camera moves in and the action begins. All the players are seen in the opening acts. The three spirits of Christmas are seen as a lamplighter (Jane Krakowski), a sandwich board man and street performer (Jesse L. Martin) and an old blind woman (Geraldine Chaplin).
Menken's score with lyrics by Lynn Ahrens is wonderful especially the festive "Mr. Fezziwig's Annual Christmas Ball", the sentimental "A Place Called Home", the uplifting "God Bless Us, Everyone", the plaintive "The Lights of Long Ago" and the sentimental "Christmas Together".
I saw the musical in 1995 so I had high hopes for this adaptation, but unfortunately it failed to deliver.
At the Movie House rating ** stars
1 comment:
Gee...i can;t remember the Albert finney musical that well or even if I liked it, though I do remember seeing it with someone who is associated with this blog
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