TALES FROM DICKENS: A CHRISTMAS CAROL (TV)
Summary
One in this series of television adaptations of classic novels by author Charles Dickens.
This episode presents an adaptation of “A Christmas Carol.” The story begins with Ebenezer Scrooge, a notoriously miserly banker with a hatred for Christmas, as he angrily refuses his nephew Fred, who invites him to Christmas dinner with his family and friends. Scrooge also acts cruelly towards his loyal and meek clerk, Bob Cratchit, berating him for taking Christmas Day off of work. That night, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley, now clad in heavy chains. Marley explains that he is doomed to wander the earth in his current state as a punishment for his callousness and lack of empathy for his fellow man in his life. He says Scrooge will have a chance to escape the same fate as him, and that he will be visited by three ghosts, one after the other. The first appears in the form of a robed, bearded man, introducing himself as the Ghost of Christmas Past. The spirit transports him to a scene from his past, where he sees himself as a boy, left alone at boarding school for Christmas until his sister Fran comes to fetch him. Scrooge sadly recounts that Fran eventually died during Fred’s childbirth. The ghost then shows Scrooge as a young man working in the employ of the shopkeeper Fezziwig, who throws a Christmas party for his employees and friends. There Scrooge meets and falls in love with a young woman named Belle, but the ghost shows Scrooge a later time when his drive for wealth creates a rift between the two of them, and she “releases” him from their engagement. The elder Scrooge cannot bear to see this any longer, and the ghost brings him back to his bedroom in the present time.
Soon Scrooge is approached by another ghost, the Ghost of Christmas Present. Scrooge goes with the spirit as he shows Scrooge the house of the Cratchit family during their Christmas dinner. They are thankful for their meal, however meager, and Scrooge takes interest in Bob’s young crippled son Tiny Tim. The ghost tells Scrooge that if the future remains unaltered, Tiny Tim will not live to see another Christmas. He then takes Scrooge to see Fred and his Christmas party, where they lightheartedly make fun of Scrooge. Suddenly the spirit disappears, and Scrooge finds himself back in his room and face to face with a silent figure in a black robe. Scrooge reasons that the figure is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, and that he is to be shown the future. The ghost shows Scrooge the Cratchit family mourning the death of Tiny Tim. Scrooge is shown his own body being carried away, and the apathy of the townsfolk towards his death. Thieves take Scrooge’s possessions in the wake of his death without a care. Finally the spirit shows Scrooge his own untended grave, striking fear in his heart. He claims that he is now a changed man and that he can alter the future by embracing the spirit of Christmas. Suddenly Scrooge awakens in his own bed and is overjoyed to return to his present. He realizes that it is Christmas morning and immediately sets out to make amends. He purchases a large turkey for the Cratchit family, attends Fred’s Christmas party, and gives Bob Cratchit a substantial pay raise. Scrooge maintains his changed outlook and becomes a better and happier person.
Details
- NETWORK: UK
- DATE: 1959
- RUNNING TIME: 0:25:08
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: 109084
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Desmond Davis … Producer
- Neil McGuire … Director
- Charles Dickens … Based on the novel "A Christmas Carol" by
- Sidney Torch … Music by
- Fredric March … Host, Narrator
- Basil Rathbone … Cast, Ebenezer Scrooge
- Toke Townley … Cast, Bob Cratchit
- Walter Hudd … Cast, Ghost of Christmas Past
- Alexander Gauge … Cast, Ghost of Christmas Present
- Wilfred Fletcher … Cast, Marley's Ghost
- Monica Marlow … Cast, Mrs. Cratchit
- Brian McDermott … Cast, Fred
- Sydney Arnold … Cast, Old Joe
- Patricia Cree … Cast, Fred's Wife
- Kaplan Kaye … Cast, Scrooge as a Boy
- Michael Lewis … Cast, Peter Cratchit
- Michael Logan … Cast, Fat Businessman
- Mark Milleham … Cast, Tiny Tim Cratchit
- Stella Riley … Cast, Fran Scrooge
- Keith Smith … Cast, Thin Businessman
- Gabriel Toyne … Cast, Fezziwig
- Rita Webb … Cast, Charwoman
- Mary Webster … Cast, Belle
- Joey White … Cast, Urchin Boy
- Howard Williams … Cast, Scrooge as a Young Man
- Roberta Woolley … Cast, Belinda Cratchit