Scrooge (1970 Film)

''Scrooge'' is a 1970 musical film adaptation of Charles Dickens' ''A Christmas Carol'' (1843). It was directed by Ronald Neame, and starred Albert Finney as Ebenezer Scrooge. The film's score was composed by Leslie Bricusse and arranged and conducted by Ian Fraser.

The film was a follow-up to another Dickens musical adaptation, 1968's award-winning '' Oliver!''. Both films were shot by Oswald Morris and many of the sets at Shepperton Studios were reused for ''Scrooge''. The posters for ''Scrooge'' included the tagline, "What the dickens have they done to Scrooge?", designed to head off any criticism of an all-singing, all-dancing old skinflint. Finney won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy in 1971, and the film received four Academy Award nominations, including for Best Original Song (for "Thank You Very Much").

Plot

On Christmas Eve 1860, in London, stingy money-lender Ebenezer Scrooge declines his nephew Harry's invitation for Christmas dinner and reluctantly gives his loyal employee Bob Cratchit Christmas Day off. As Scrooge leaves his office, he declines two gentlemen's offer to collect money for charity. Returning home, Scrooge encounters the ghost of his seven-year-dead business partner Jacob Marley. It is revealed that if Scrooge does not repent his miserly ways, he will be condemned in the afterlife as Marley was, carrying a heavy chain forged by his own selfishness and greed. Before leaving, Marley says that three spirits will visit Scrooge that night.

At one o'clock, Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, who takes him back in time to Scrooge's childhood and early adult life. They visit his lonely school days, where he is ultimately taken back home by his beloved sister, and then his time as an employee under Mr. Fezziwig. At a Christmas party held by Fezziwig, Scrooge falls in love with the former's daughter, Isabel. Isabel eventually left Scrooge when he chose money over her. Scrooge asks the spirit to remove him and finds himself back in his bed.

At two o'clock, Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present. Scrooge and the spirit visit Bob's house to observe the family's Christmas dinner. The spirit hints that Tiny Tim, Bob's ill son, might die. They next visit Harry's Christmas party, where he defends his uncle from his guests' snide remarks, hoping to know a better side to Scrooge. Before vanishing, the spirit returns Scrooge home.

At three o'clock, Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, who shows him the future Christmas 1861, with the citizens rejoicing at Scrooge's death. At a cemetery, Bob mourns at Tim's grave. A horrified Scrooge vows to change his ways as he falls through his own grave into the caverns of Hell. There, Marley shows him to his ice-bound "office", where he will be "the only man in Hell who's chilly" to serve as Lucifer's personal clerk, just as Scrooge had forced Bob to work in a cold office. Scrooge is adorned with a large chain by four masked devils. He cries out for help, his shouts of "help" turning into "hell" and "hellelujah" as he starts losing his sanity, before he wakes up in his bedroom.

A gleeful Scrooge then repents. Finding that it is Christmas Day, he decides to bring happiness to London's citizens and goes on a shopping spree, buying food and presents, with the help of children. He runs into Harry and his wife, giving them presents, and accepts their invitation to Christmas dinner. Dressed as " Father Christmas", Scrooge then delivers a giant turkey, presents and toys to the Cratchits and promises to double Bob's salary and that they will work to find the best doctors to make Tim better. Scrooge then frees his clients from their debts and promises to donate to charity. Scrooge returns home and starts preparing for dinner with his family.

Cast

* Albert Finney as Ebenezer Scrooge
* Alec Guinness as Jacob Marley
* Edith Evans as the Ghost of Christmas Past
* Kenneth More as the Ghost of Christmas Present
* Paddy Stone as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
* David Collings as Bob Cratchit
* Frances Cuka as Mrs. Cratchit
* Richard Beaumont as "Tiny Tim" Cratchit
* Karen Scargill as Kathy Cratchit
* Michael Medwin as Harry, Scrooge's nephew
* Mary Peach as Harry's wife
* Gordon Jackson as Tom, Harry's friend
* Anton Rodgers as Tom Jenkins, one of Scrooge's debtors
* Laurence Naismith as Mr. Fezziwig
* Kay Walsh as Mrs. Fezziwig
* Suzanne Neve as Isabel Fezziwig
* Derek Francis as a charity gentleman
* Roy Kinnear as a charity gentleman
* Geoffrey Bayldon as Pringle, the toyshop owner
* Molly Weir as a woman debtor
* Helena Gloag as a woman debtor
* Reg Lever as Miller, the puppeteer
* Keith Marsh as a well-wisher
* Marianne Stone as a party guest

Musical numbers

# "Overture" (removed from current Blu-ray release)
# "A Christmas Carol" – Chorus
# "Christmas Children" – David Collings, Richard Beaumont, & Karen Scargill
# "I Hate People" – Albert Finney
# "Father Christmas" – Urchins
# "See the Phantoms" – Alec Guinness
# "December the 25th" – Laurence Naismith, Kay Walsh & Ensemble
# "Happiness" – Suzanne Neve
# "A Christmas Carol (Reprise)" – Chorus
# "You...You" – Albert Finney
# "I Like Life" – Kenneth More & Albert Finney
# "The Beautiful Day" – Richard Beaumont
# "Happiness (Reprise)" – Suzanne Neve & Albert Finney
# "Thank You Very Much" – Anton Rodgers & Ensemble
# "I'll Begin Again" – Albert Finney
# "I Like Life (Reprise)" – Albert Finney
# Finale: "Father Christmas (Reprise)" / "Thank You Very Much (Reprise)" – All
# "Exit Music" (not included on LP)

A soundtrack album containing all of the songs from the film was issued on Columbia Records in 1970. The album peaked at No. 29 on ''Billboard''s Best Bets For Christmas album chart on 19 December 1970. Due to legal complications, however, the soundtrack has never been re-released in the CD format. The current Paramount Blu-ray release of the film has removed the Overture (which is intact on all VHS and DVD releases).

Production

Filmed in London and on location in Buckinghamshire between January and May 1970, the film sets at Shepperton Studios included fully reconstructed Victorian streets. Finney was in his mid-thirties and wore makeup to look older and was able to draw effectively upon his theatrical training and incorporate various vocal inflections and physical mannerisms as the old miser.

Title sequence

The film features an opening title sequence of numerous hand-painted backgrounds and overlays by British illustrator Ronald Searle. Art of the Title described it, saying, "As is often the case with Searle’s illustrations, the forms jump and squiggle into shape, the strokes loose and sprightly. In each scene, swaths of colour and life pour out, white snowflakes dotting the brush strokes." The illustrations later appeared in the book ''Scrooge'' by Elaine Donaldson, published in 1970 by Cinema Center Films.

Reception

Box office

''Scrooge'' opened on two screens in Los Angeles and Chicago, grossing $36,000 in its opening week. The release expanded two weeks later, including an opening at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, and moved up to second place at the US box office behind '' Lovers and Other Strangers''. The following week it became number one but again fell to second place behind ''Lovers and Other Strangers'' for one week before returning to number one for two weeks before Christmas. In its sixth week at Radio City Music Hall it grossed $375,095 for the week, which '' Variety'' believed to be the biggest ever single week gross for a theatre worldwide surpassing the record set the previous Christmas by '' A Boy Named Charlie Brown''. Over the course of its initial theatrical release, the film earned $3 million in distributor rentals in the United States and Canada.

Critical reception

Gene Siskel of ''The Chicago Tribune'' awarded the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, praising Finney's "masterful performance". Arthur D. Murphy, reviewing for '' Variety'', called ''Scrooge'' "a most delightful film in every way" and praised Finney as "remarkable", and also complimented Bricusse's "unobtrusive complementary music and lyrics; and Ronald Neame's delicately controlled direction which conveys, but does not force, all the inherent warmth, humor and sentimentality." Charles Champlin of the ''Los Angeles Times'' applauded ''Scrooge'' as a "lovely movie, one of the few genuinely family-wide attractions of the whole year, calculated to please equally all those who have loved the Dickens work forever, and all those enviable youngsters who are about to discover it for the first time."

Roger Ebert of the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' gave the film three stars out of four, feeling it "works very nicely on its intended level and the kids sitting near me seemed to be having a good time." However, he was critical of Bricusse's songs, writing that they "fall so far below the level of good musical comedy that you wish Albert Finney would stop singing them, until you realize he isn't really singing". He also criticises the depiction of Hell feeling it "papier-mâché". Reviewing for the ''New York Daily News'', Ann Guarino wrote ''Scrooge'' was "bright with humor and moves along at a lively pace in 19th Century settings." She further praised the cast as "excellent," but described Bricusse's songs as being "pleasant, but unfortunately forgettable with the exception of 'Thank You Very Much'". Vincent Canby of ''The New York Times'' called Finney's performance "absurd, sentimental, pretty, never quite as funny as it intends to be, but quite acceptable, if only as a seasonal ritual." He called the Hell sequence "rather livid and supposedly comic". Overall, Canby felt the adaptation was "surprisingly faithful", and he complemented Ronald Neame for directing "the movie with all of the delicacy possible after a small story has been turned into a comparatively large, conventional musical. The settings—London streets and interiors, circa 1860 (updated from the original 1843)—are very attractive, somewhat spruced-up variations on the original John Leech illustrations."

Pauline Kael, writing in ''The New Yorker'', found ''Scrooge'' to be an "innocuous musical version of ''A Christmas Carol'', starring Albert Finney looking glum. The Leslie Bricusse music is so forgettable that your mind flushes it away while you're hearing it." Jay Cocks'' magazine derided Finney's performance as "drastically disappointing. egrumbles and hobbles through his part, employing mannerism instead of nuance." Cocks was also critical of Bricusse's songs, and summarized the film as "a high-budget holiday spectacular, a musical extracted from Dickens' ''A Christmas Carol'' that turns out to be a curdled cup of holiday cheer ..First frame to last, ''Scrooge'' is a mechanical movie made with indifference to every quality but the box office receipts."

Author Fred Guida called it one of the most underrated adaptions of the book.

In 2019, Robert Keeling of ''Den of Geek'' called ''Scrooge'' "about average". Criticising the film's decision to depict the ghosts in the way they are presented to be "a bit strange". He felt the Hell sequence "really doesn’t work at all, and seems comically out of place for a Dickensian movie…frankly a bit much". He called the Cratchit family "irritatingly chipper" though praised the use of cockneys playing the roles of this working class London family. However, Keeling praised Finney's performance as the "saving grace" of the film."

Accolades

The film was nominated for best original song score, and "Thank You Very Much" for best original song, though it failed to win in either category. It also received nominations, but no oscars, for art direction/set decoration and costume design.

Adaptations

Stage

In 1992, a stage musical adapted from the film, featuring Bricusse's songs and starring Anthony Newley, was mounted in the UK under the title '' Scrooge: The Musical''. "I Hate People" was re-written as "I Hate Christmas", and a cast recording was released.

The stage adaptation was mounted in Melbourne, Australia, in 1993, starring Keith Michell, Max Gillies, Tony Taylor, William Zappa, Dale Burridge, Emma Raciti, Ross Hannaford, Paul Cheyne, and Glenda Walsh.

The show was revived in 2003 on a tour of the UK by British song and dance man Tommy Steele, and he reprised the role at the London Palladium in 2004, making him the performer to have done the most shows at the Palladium. In 2007, Shane Ritchie starred at the Manchester Palace. It was revived once more at the London Palladium from October 2012 to 5 January 2013, with Steele again in the title role.

Animated film

In 2022, following a limited theatrical release in the United States, an animated remake, titled '' Scrooge: A Christmas Carol'', was released by Netflix. Produced by Timeless Films ('' Monster Family''), and written and directed by Stephen Donnelly, the remake incorporates many of Bricusse's songs from the 1970 film, but has a newly-written book. It features the vocal talents of Luke Evans as Scrooge, Johnny Flynn as Bob Cratchit, Fra Fee as Harry, Giles Terera as Tom, Olivia Colman as the Ghost of Christmas Past, James Cosmo as Fezziwig, Jessie Buckley as Isabel, Trevor Dion Nicholas as the Ghost of Christmas Present, and Jonathan Pryce as Jacob Marley.

See also

* List of A Christmas Carol adaptations
* List of Christmas films
* List of ghost films
* ''Pickwick'', a 1963 musical with lyrics by Bricusse, also based on Dickens

References

External links

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1970 films
1970s Christmas films
1970s musical fantasy films
American Christmas films
American musical fantasy films
British Christmas films
British musical fantasy films
Cinema Center Films films
National General Pictures films
Films based on A Christmas Carol
Films directed by Ronald Neame
Compositions by Leslie Bricusse
Films featuring a Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe winning performance
Films set in London
Films set in 1860
Films set in the Victorian era
Films shot at Shepperton Studios
1970s English-language films
1970s American films
1970s British films
English-language musical fantasy films
1970s films about time travel
English-language Christmas films
1970 musical films
Christmas musical films