Check this Out: Christmas Edition

SCROOGE (1970):

There are a lot of variations of "A Christmas Carol" out there but this one is my personal favorite and the one my family watches year after year on Christmas Eve. Simply put, this is the most resonant production I have ever seen, probably thanks in large part to it being a musical. (You know that's my Achilles heel.) Apart from that, from his dusty cold office, to his palatially run-down home and threadbare fashions, this is then only representation of Ebeneezer Scrooge that actually feels like a miser. Wonderfully played by Albert Finney in his prime, he makes himself almost as uncomfortable as everyone around him. He takes and takes, without using, and truly believes himself put-upon and abused by his own "generosity." It's a very good performance.

But let's get back to that music, shall we? Bob Crachit is a tall, gangly man-child, desperately playing the fool for his adoring children, and his song "Christmas is For Children Young and Old" is the truest, most soul-raising representation of what Christmas could be that I have ever heard. I tear up every time. A group of street urchins follow Scrooge around singing the sarcastic and witty "Father Christmas" which is later reprised as a joyous renunciation of his former life. Also funny is Scrooge singing "I Hate People," without the merest hint of sympathy or self-recognition. The Ghost of Christmas Present preaches to Scrooge how easy it is to be happy if you only choose to be so in "I Like Life." And in a darkly comic piece, all of Scrooge's former debtors sing "Thank You Very Much" to Scrooge's coffin. (In fact most of the piece is darkly comic, from Scrooge getting drunk on the "milk of human kindness," to an exhausted Fezziwig and wife singing the exuberant "December the 25th," to the fantastic parody of Scrooge in hell as Lucifer's personal assistant, which very much amuses fellow damned inmate, Marley.)

And lest I forget the melancholy, as Scrooge remembers his lost love, Isobel, the girl he gave up for the pursuit of wealth, he sees her singing "Happiness" across a montage of their most elated moments. And he sings "You," a bitter and mournful lament that includes the lyrics "now you're a dream gone by/oh how could there be/such a fool, as I?" That thread of regret is always running beneath the surface, informing all the later jubilation with relief. If you make it to the end you will be rewarded with a mash-up of an angelic children's choir singing "Christmas Carol" crossed with "Thank You Very Much," and the fact that two such distinctly beautiful songs sound as if they were made to be sung together is what makes me sure this score is genius. (I think I may have overplayed my hand here. Gone a little too far with the hard sell?)

In addition to all the fun and music and comedy, this is also just about the scariest production I've ever seen - though how much of that is informed by my 5 year-old self I couldn't really say. The premonitions Scrooge has leading up to his life-changing night are subtle and spooky, the kinds of things you can almost imagine seeing in real life. And they don't shy away from the ghostly horror. Alec Guinness plays Marley, Scrooge's deceased partner, and at one point in his pleading with the obstinate Scrooge, he floats up to the ceiling and bangs his chains together while wailing, like this:

 

That was terrifying to me as a kid. Now it is only mildy amusing, as it scares the stuffing out of Scrooge and has him on his knees begging, as Marley intended. (In fact, Guiness' entire performance is so dry that what definitely plays as humor to an adult is positively unnerving to a child.) And when Marley takes Scrooge on a little tour of the damned spirits that are his future company, the grusome faces are enough to give a child nightmares. I was quite proud of the year I was able to watch that entire sequence without a parental hand being placed before my eyes. 

If you like Christmas movies, if you like varied productions of "A Christmas Carol," if you like a good musical, you should really give this movie a chance. If you can find it. It took us years to find it on either VHS or DVD. I did see it on blu-ray at Wal-Mart the other day. (I was only there to use the bathroom, I swear. What? Don't believe me?) Snap it up, please.



"The Christmas Toy" (1991):

 

This made for TV special is basically Toy Story meets "The Muppets." A stuffed tiger named Rugby has been Jaime's favorite toy for the entire year, ever since he was opened last Christmas. To his great surprise, his owner will be getting a new toy on Christmas morning and it won't be him. So he decides to trek downstairs, aided by perpetually frightened cat-nip toy Mew, to replace the toy already wrapped for Jaime with himself. Rugby is selfish and arrogant and makes the lives of many of the other toys (including Apple, the doll that had been Jaime's favorite toy the year before Rugby's arrival) difficult and perilous with his reckless actions. In this world, if a human catches you someplace other than where you were last seen, you become frozen permanently, never to awake again. This makes for some very tense sequences - for a toy, the length of a hallway may as well be a trip to the top of Mt. Everest.

The voicework is exceptional, the friendship between Rugby and Mew well-drawn, and the conclusion contains that abundance of goodwill you would expect from any Jim Henson production. But the real hoot for me is that this is the toy Rugby is trying to replace:

She is a doll named is Mediora and she is apparently some kind of galactic space princess, though once she starts talking she is gruff and terrifying. I can't for the life of me imagine a little girl who would follow up Rugby the stuffed tiger with Mediora, a doll who may come to life in the middle of the night and scrape off your face. To convince her to get out of the box  Rugby and Mew sing a song about the wonderful "Mediora" that plays on her vanity (and come to think of it, has sparks of resemblance to Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story). It's worth the price of admission alone.


Anyone have a Christmas gem that is special in their family? One that you're sure know one else really knows about?