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*A Christmas Carol*
A Christmas Carol
	1984 poster
Genre	Drama ; Family ; Fantasy
Based on	A Christmas Carol; by Charles Dickens
Screenplay by	Roger O. Hirson
Directed by	Clive Donner
Starring	George C. Scott ; Frank Finlay ; David Warner ; Susannah York ; Edward Woodward ; Roger Rees ; Liz Smith
Music by	Nick Bicât
Country of origin	United Kingdom ; United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producer	Robert E. Fuisz
Producers	George F. Storke ; Alfred R. Kelman
Production locations	Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England
Cinematography	Tony Imi
Editor	Peter Tanner
Running time	100 minutes
Production company	Entertainment Partners Ltd.
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	17 December 1984

A Christmas Carol is a 1984 Christmas fantasy television film adapted from Charles Dickens' novella A Christmas Carol (1843). The film was directed by Clive Donner, who was an editor of the 1951 film Scrooge, and stars George C. Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge. It also features Frank Finlay as Marley's ghost, David Warner as Bob Cratchit, Susannah York as Mrs. Cratchit, Angela Pleasence as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Edward Woodward as the Ghost of Christmas Present and Roger Rees as Scrooge's nephew Fred; Rees also narrates portions of Charles Dickens' words at the beginning and end of the film. It was filmed in the historic medieval county town of Shrewsbury in Shropshire.^[1]

The film received positive reviews, with praise going to the sets, soundtrack, cinematography, and the performances of the cast, particularly Scott's portrayal of Scrooge.

Plot

On Christmas Eve, in Victorian-era London, miserly commodities trader Ebenezer Scrooge disdains the revelry of Christmas. He declines his nephew Fred Hollywell's invitation for Christmas dinner, and reluctantly grants his underpaid employee Bob Cratchit's request to have Christmas off as there will be no business during the day; Scrooge briefly meets Bob’s son Timothy "Tiny Tim" Cratchit, and notes how he will wait for his father in the cold. At the London Stock Exchange, Scrooge charges three businessmen extra for corn, due to failing to meet his demands the previous day, much to their chagrin. Scrooge then declines to give a donation to charity workers Poole and Hacking, believing that the poor are better off dead. That night, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his business partner Jacob Marley, who warns him to repent his miserly ways, lest he be condemned to the same afterlife as that of Marley's: wandering the Earth for eternity while carrying chains forged from his own greed, forced to witness what he could not share in life. Marley says three ghosts will visit him tonight.

At one o'clock, the Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge back in time to his lonely childhood. As a boy, Scrooge is deserted at boarding school by his father Silas who held a grudge against Ebenezer, as the latter's mother died giving birth to him. Silas gets Ebenezer an apprenticeship with the benevolent Mr. Fezziwig, after three days to spend with his loving elder sister Fan, Fred's mother, who has since died. Scrooge is eventually engaged to Belle, someone whom he initially loved, but eventually lost as he became preoccupied with financial security upon Silas' death. The Spirit shows Belle on the Christmas Eve that Marley died as a happily married mother. When Belle expresses pity for Scrooge's loneliness, he angrily extinguishes the spirit with her cap and re-appears in his bedroom.

At two, the Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge the joys of the holiday. At the Cratchit residence, they find Bob's family content with their small dinner. Bob's son Tim is crippled; the spirit explains that he will die if the future remains unaltered. Scrooge is taken to Fred's house for the party which Scrooge declined to attend. Fred explains to his guests he wants to pursue a relationship with Scrooge for the sake of Fan; Ebenezer is touched by this. The spirit then takes Scrooge to a tunnel where homeless families are camped. The ghost berates Scrooge for his beliefs and shows two malnourished children, Ignorance and Want, warning Scrooge to beware of them. The ghost then disappears, abandoning Scrooge.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives and takes Scrooge to the exchange, where the three businessmen discuss the death of a colleague whose funeral they would attend only if lunch is provided. Scrooge is transported to his own bedroom, where a dead man lies under the sheet. Scrooge does not lift the sheet and demands to be shown emotion over the man's death. He is taken to a poor section of town where his possessions are being fenced after having been stolen, with the thief and the fencer mocking the dead owner. Scrooge complains that he was shown only greed and avarice, demanding to see tenderness instead. He is transported to the Cratchit house, where Bob and his family mourn the death of Tim - who has succumbed to his illness. Ebenezer asks to be taken home but is instead taken to a cemetery. When he asks who the dead man was, the ghost points to a neglected grave. Scrooge wipes the snow away to see that the tombstone bears his own name; recognising the repercussions of his heartlessness, Scrooge vows to change his ways and begs to be spared as the ghost’s kind hand trembles. Ebenezer then finds himself alive back in his bedroom and repents before crying himself to sleep.

At daylight, discovering that it is Christmas Day, a gleeful Scrooge anonymously sends the Cratchits a prize-winning turkey for dinner. Offering Christmas wishes among London's citizens, he makes a large donation to Poole and Hacking. At the Hollywell residence, Fred is delighted when Ebenezer accepts the invitation to dinner and reconciles with him. The next day, Scrooge plays a prank on Bob; pretending to be about to fire him for lateness, Ebenezer instead doubles Bob's salary. Scrooge comes to treat everyone around him with kindness and generosity, and becomes a second father to Tim, who recovers and does not die, embodying the Christmas spirit.

Cast

George C. Scott – Ebenezer Scrooge
- Mark Strickson – Young Ebenezer Scrooge
Frank Finlay – Marley's Ghost
Angela Pleasence – Spirit of Christmas Past
Edward Woodward – Spirit of Christmas Present
Michael Carter – Spirit of Christmas Future
David Warner – Bob Cratchit
Susannah York – Mrs. Cratchit
the Cratchit Offspring:
- Anthony Walters – Timothy "Tiny Tim" Cratchit
- Louise Gasser – Martha Cratchit
- Orlando Wells (Susannah York's real-life son) – Michael Cratchit
- Nancy Dodds – Nancy Cratchit
- Sasha Wells (Susannah York's real-life daughter) – Belinda Cratchit
- Kieran Hughes – Peter Cratchit
Roger Rees – Fred Hollywell/Narrator
Caroline Langrishe – Janet Hollywell, Fred's wife
Lucy Gutteridge – Belle, Scrooge's fiancée
Nigel Davenport – Silas Scrooge, Ebenezer and Fan's father
Joanne Whalley – Fan Hollywell, Ebenezer's sister and Fred's mother
Timothy Bateson – Mr. Fezziwig
Michael Gough – Mr. Poole
John Quarmby – Mr. Hacking
Peter Woodthorpe – Joe the Fence
Liz Smith – Mrs. Dilber
John Sharp – Mr. Tipton
Derek Francis – Mr. Pemberton
Danny Davies – Forbush
Brian Pettifer – Ben (homeless father)
Catherine Hall – Meg (homeless mother)
Cathryn Harrison – Kate
Daniel Chatto - William

Cast notes:

Michael Gough voiced Scrooge in a BBC Radio production, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 22 December 1990, with Timothy Bateson reprising his role as Fezziwig.^[2]
Liz Smith reprised the role of Mrs. Dilber in the 1999 film of A Christmas Carol starring Patrick Stewart, and played Joyce in the 2000 film, which starred Ross Kemp as a modern-day Scrooge.^[3]

Production

Tombstone prop from the graveyard scene still in situ at the churchyard of St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury. The stone was vandalised in November 2024 but was restored for free by local stonemasons "in the spirit of the film."^[4]^[5]

Director Clive Donner was the editor of Scrooge, the 1951 adaptation of A Christmas Carol starring Alastair Sim.^[6] Donner's A Christmas Carol was filmed on location in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, in the English Midlands. It originally aired on the American television network CBS on 17 December 1984, and was released theatrically in Great Britain. The film appeared on TF1 Television in France on Christmas Day.^[6] The U.S. debut was sponsored by IBM, which purchased all of the commercial spots for the two-hour premiere. The film brought in a 20.7/30 rating/share, winning its time slot and ranking No. 10 for the week.^[7] The film was marketed with the tagline "A new powerful presentation of the most loved ghost story of all time!"

Comparison with the source material

Rather than being a simple miser, Scrooge is more of a ruthless businessman who laughs when he mocks Christmas, and even tries to make excuses to defend his actions during his encounters with the Spirits. The interactions of the two charity benefactors, named as Poole and Hacking in this adaptation, occur at the London Stock Exchange, rather than in the office as in the book. A ghostly hearse that Scrooge sees in the book going up his staircase after he sees Marley's face on his doorknocker happens outside on the street and becomes the hearse that carried Marley's body. Marley's ghost, although initially transparent (as in the book), solidifies when he enters the room. Scrooge's mother is established as having died giving birth to him, causing his father to bear him a grudge. His father still resents him as he moves him to Fezziwig's after only three days back.^[6]

Home media

A Christmas Carol has run in syndication on local American channels since its debut in 1984, and was released on VHS in 1989 (in the UK)^[8] and to DVD in 1999. This was because Scott himself (and later his estate through Baxter Healthcare, to whom the Scott family donated their copyright) owned the rights to this film. On 25 November 2007, it returned to national television on AMC for the first time since its original broadcast, and the network continues to show it each December under license from the Scott estate and 20th Century Studios/Walt Disney Television (the latter's distribution rights as the result of their owning the video rights). In 2009, the Hallmark Channel also ran the film soon after Thanksgiving. The same year, the film was re-released on DVD by Fox, with updated box art but the same menu and features as the previous DVD release. Fox released it on Blu-ray in December 2010.

Critical reception

The film remains among the most beloved of the many adaptations of A Christmas Carol.^[9]^[10]^[11] John J. O'Connor of the New York Times gave a positive review, praising the cinematography, production sets and the performances (especially Scott).^[12] Scott was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special for his portrayal of Scrooge.^[13] In 2009, novelist and essayist Louis Bayard, writing for Salon.com, labelled the adaptation "the definitive version of a beloved literary classic", praising its fidelity to Dickens' original story, production sets, the strength of the supporting cast, and especially Scott's performance as Scrooge.^[9]

In 2019, Robert Keeling of Den of Geek praised Scott’s performance the adaptation’s expansions from the book.^[10] He praises the supporting cast but felt Past to be “possibly the most ’80s ghost imaginable” and felt Tiny Tim “incredibly annoying” and noted that for the character “to make look sicker, they have clearly just put dark make-up round his eyes. It makes him look like a bit like a child zombie more than anything. Nevertheless, it’s one of the most comprehensive adaptations of Dickens’ work on offer, and is elevated considerably by Scott’s marvellous performance.”^[10] In 2023, Tom Nichols of The Atlantic wrote, "There are some good adaptations of the Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol, and many bad ones, but only one truly great version, and it is the 1984 made-for-television movie starring George C. Scott." Nichols celebrated Scott's portrayal of Scrooge as "a barrel-chested bully, an imposing and nasty piece of work." He also praised the film's "attention to detail and atmosphere", and the "deeply unsettling apparitions", especially Frank Finlay as Marley's ghost and Edward Woodward as Christmas Present.^[11]