A CHRISTMAS CAROL: TALES FROM DICKENS (1959)

Balladeer’s Blog’s Fifteenth Annual Christmas Carol-a-Thon continues! A few days ago I made an encore post about the Susan Lucci version of the Dickens classic.

This time around it’s a Carol version that I’ve never before reviewed.

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FREDERIC MARCH PRESENTS TALES FROM DICKENS: A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1959) – Basil Rathbone IS Edgar Winter as Ebenezer Scrooge! Or at least that’s what he looks like with his incredibly long white hair in this television show.

This was one of the 14 episodes of the Frederic March television series in which he hosted dramatizations of assorted stories written by Charles Dickens. The air date of this particular episode was December 27th, 1959.

March hosted and his fellow veteran of A Christmas Carol productions, Basil Rathbone, was along for the ride. This Tales from Dickens rendition of the Carol was one of those that were limited to a half-hour timeslot with commercials, so unfortunately it never has room to breathe.

The brevity is deeply felt since Rathbone had starred as Scrooge in the terrific feature-length television staging of The Stingiest Man in Town a few years earlier, while he had played Marley’s Ghost to Frederic March’s Scrooge in the Shower of Stars version of A Christmas Carol in 1954.

Both of those productions – especially The Stingiest Man in Town – were more fleshed out and packed more emotion than this Tales from Dickens version. Frederic March greets viewers, then reads a few sentences from the Dickens novel, beginning with the iconic “Marley was dead, to begin with.”

What follows is so rushed that it makes other half-hour adaptations of the Carol seem longer and more detailed. Scenes are so cut down that they don’t even count as highlights.

The dialogue is so spare that some exchanges seem laughably like non-sequiturs because lines that provided context for certain rejoinders are completely absent. There’s no appearance by the Charity Collectors and Nephew Fred’s Visit goes by at such a breakneck pace that it hardly registers.   

NOTE: I genuinely love A Christmas Carol, so rest assured I WILL be getting to versions of the story that I praise as December rolls on.

Back with this production, we get a nod to the “You’ll be wanting all day tomorrow I suppose” moment before Frederic March’s narration resumes with the arrival of Marley’s Ghost. No door knocker with Marley’s face this time around.   

The rushed warning about three ghostly visitors omits so much dialogue that it would make no sense to viewers who are unfamiliar with longer versions of A Christmas Carol, and the Ghost of Christmas Past hurries Scrooge through the scenes of his past at such breakneck speed that it reminded me of the comically rushed graduation ceremony on Happy Days.   

Or for another comparison, picture The Godfather’s opening scene reduced to this: “I believe in America.” “Yeah, so?” “They raped my daughter.” “Whaddaya want me to do about it?” “Kill them.” “No.” “Make them suffer, then.” “Okay but you owe me.”

On a positive note, this production doesn’t embarrass itself by trying to depict flying scenes that it can’t possibly do justice to, so the Ghost of Christmas Past simply guides Ebenezer through heavy mist toward its visions. Minimalist sets are used for Scrooge’s sister taking him home – again with dialogue so chopped up it’s unintentionally hilarious – plus Fezziwig’s Christmas party and Scrooge’s breakup with Belle. 

The Ghost of Christmas Present portion gives us an adequate ghost but jarringly abrupt scenes at the Cratchit house and Nephew Fred’s place. Tiny Tim is nicely depicted but it feels like just a cameo.

Christmas Yet to Come, as always back then, gets short shrift as the cast go for the Guiness Book of Records distinction of briefest looks at Tiny Tim being dead, Old Joe and Scrooge’s grave.

From there, it’s a rushed “Hey boy, buy that turkey and take it to the Cratchits,” then Scrooge and Bob fast-talk their way through Scrooge teasing Cratchit at the office the next morning. Frederic March closes the narration. The End.   

For me and my fellow Christmas Carol geeks every version is worth watching, but for casual viewers this Tales from Dickens presentation may just seem annoying, pointless and emotionless. They’d be better off watching one of the many superior versions.

Remember the brilliant and moving one-man readings of the Carol by Patrick Stewart and others? Sadly, this version goes by so quickly it’s like listening to an auctioneer doing a one-man reading of the story. “DeadasadoornailgraspingemptychairspongeawaythewritingGodblessuseveryone-SOLD!”

FOR DOZENS MORE VERSIONS OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL CLICK HERE:  https://glitternight.com/category/a-christmas-carol-2/