Tag Archives: Christmas

December 11, 2019 · 10:30 pm

THE GUTHRIE THEATER PRESENTS A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1982)

Balladeer’s Blog’s TENTH Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues with this review.

Guthrie Theater Christmas CarolTHE GUTHRIE THEATER PRESENTS A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1982) – Stage performances of any story getting filmed for video are pretty hit and miss, but this production is much more of a hit than a miss. The Guthrie Theater Presents A Christmas Carol was filmed at the famed Minnesota theater of the title and aired on The Entertainment Channel in 1982 before being released on VHS.

This presentation of the Dickens classic uses the framing device of Charles Dickens (Marshall Borden) himself being persuaded by Christmas party guests to treat them to his most famous Yuletide ghost story. Dickens is at first reluctant since he’s feeling a bit harried and stressed out, so he huffily clears the room.

Needless to say the act of recounting A Christmas Carol to us viewers winds up restoring his holiday cheer. By the time he closes the framing device at the end of the play he’s as jovial and hearty as Nephew Fred and delivers the whole “good old city, town or boro in the good old world” speech with memorable panache. Continue reading →

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December 10, 2019 · 9:30 am

BARBIE IN A CHRISTMAS CAROL: (2008)

Balladeer’s Blog’s TENTH Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues! Yes, it’s the Christmas Carol adaptation NOBODY asked for … not even KEN!

Barbie in a Christmas CarolBARBIE IN A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2008) – Mattel provides us with a plastic version of the Carol in a plastic cartoon about its plastic creation Barbie. Just as Mr Magoo was an actor portraying Scrooge in Mr Magoo’s Christmas Carol, Barbie is the story-teller relating the tale to her younger sister Kelly.  

As in A Diva’s Christmas Carol the Scrooge stand-in here is a female singing star – Eden Starling. Eden’s mean-spirited Aunt Marie has spent a lifetime molding the young songstress into an equally unpleasant figure complete with Aunt Marie’s credo: “In a selfish world, the selfish succeed.” Continue reading →

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December 7, 2019 · 7:44 pm

THE MERCURY THEATER’S CHRISTMAS CAROL (1938)

Balladeer’s Blog’s TENTH Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues!

Mercury Theater Christmas Carol 1938THE MERCURY THEATER PRESENTS A CHRISTMAS CAROL – In 1938, the same year as the Mercury Theater’s legendary War of the Worlds radio broadcast, came this presentation of the Dickens classic.

By December 23rd, the date of the Christmas Carol broadcast, the radio show had gained a sponsor and was technically called Campbell Playhouse, but the Mercury Theater affiliation was still well-known.

I prefer the 1938 Mercury Theater version to the 1939 version. In 1938 Orson Welles narrated AND played Ebenezer Scrooge, while in 1939 Welles narrated but the venerable Lionel Barrymore, in poor health, limped along as Scrooge. It’s not Barrymore’s fault, of course, but that is why the 1939 version edits down Scrooge’s lines so much to spare Lionel. Filler material was thrown in at the end to pad out the on-air performance since so much was cut.   Continue reading →

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December 5, 2019 · 10:43 pm

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1984) – KENT STATE VERSION

PBSBalladeer’s Blog continues its annual orgy of versions of the Dickens classic as Christmas Carol-A-Thon 2019 resumes!

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1984) – Don’t be misled by the 1984 date, this is neither the George C Scott version NOR the French TV version which I first reviewed years ago. This is a taped stage performance that aired on Ohio Public Television station WNEO on December 22nd, 1984.  

Just to give you an idea of the psychotically obsessive lengths I sometimes go to to track down these obscure versions of the Carol: Years ago when I bought this it was one of the many productions not available on video. Nor was it to be found on E-bay or Amazon or any of the usual outlets.

By emailing various staff members at Kent State University (whose theatre department mounted this version) I eventually reached a kind individual. He stated that, though the university did not have copies of the production for sale he would ask around on the KSU faculty’s exclusive chat boards to see if anyone had a copy they may have taped off television back in 1984. Continue reading →

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December 3, 2019 · 7:19 pm

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2012)

Balladeer’s Blog’s 10th Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues with this eeriest of all the versions to date!

christmas carol 2012A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2012) – This adaptation of A Christmas Carol was a noble effort to try something different that was not just a gimmick. Ignore the negative IMDb reviews which accuse this adaptation of using “Elizabethan language.” They’re off by a few hundred years, since in reality the dialogue follows that in the Dickens novel of 1843.

This 2012 version of A Christmas Carol boasts absolutely beautiful cinematography. Its emphasis is on the eerie nature of the story and has the look of a horror film much of the time. It has assorted flaws which I’ll cover as we go along but I almost hate having to cover the negative aspects of such a brave experiment.

I will take a hundred creative attempts like this, which may fall short but are trying something new, over one more soulless item which updates the story to the modern age but has no emotion to it.      Continue reading →

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December 1, 2019 · 8:55 pm

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2019)

Balladeer’s Blog’s Tenth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues with this brand-new adaptation of the Dickens tale.

A Christmas Carol 2019A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2019) – Directed and co-written by Steven Salgado, this adaptation of the 1843 novel sets the story in present-day Miami. Though some may try to pigeon-hole this indy film as “a Hispanic-American Christmas Carol” that would not be quite accurate.

Yes, the movie gives us Roberto instead of Bob Cratchit and Scrooge & Hernandez instead of Scrooge & Marley (Marley is Hernandez’s FIRST name) as well as a nearly all-Hispanic cast, but viewers are not hit over the head with it. There is no attempt to drag present-day politics into the story and ethnicity is not used as a gimmick. It is not even commented upon that the characters are all Hispanic-American, a refreshing change in a 2019 film.

This movie looks absolutely gorgeous. There are probably Miami Tourism videos that don’t make the city look this sunny and appealing. I’m not exaggerating. The cinematography in this flick makes everything look good enough to eat.

Kate Katzman portrays Ellen Scrooge, CEO of Scrooge & Hernandez Pharmaceuticals. Marley Hernandez died just one year earlier instead of the usual seven years. The astonishing youth of nearly all the cast members seems to be the reason for this. Ellen looks like she would have still been in High School seven years earlier, not already a partner in Scrooge & Hernandez. Continue reading →

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November 29, 2019 · 1:30 am

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2006): COMPUTER ANIMATED BY BKN

If it’s the Friday after Thanksgiving then that means it’s the start of this year’s Christmas Carol-A-Thon! This is the TENTH Annual edition. Between now and Christmas Day Balladeer’s Blog will examine multiple versions of A Christmas Carol, both new reviews AND old favorites mixed in.

A Christmas Carol 2006 2A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2006) – This computer-animation version of the Dickens classic was produced by BKN and distributed by Genius Entertainment, Kidtoon Films and Image Entertainment. Ric Machin directed. The 48 minute film had a brief theatrical run in November of 2006 before being released on home video.

If you’re in the mood for a shallow, “just going through the motions” rendition of A Christmas Carol then THIS is the version for you! The target audience seems to have been very, very young children so all strong emotional content has been removed, leaving the shell of the actual story.

The computer animation, though dated by 2019 standards, was very good for 2006 and probably delighted children. Anthropomorphic animals play the characters, with skunks as Ebenezer Scrooge and his nephew Fred, rabbits as Bob Cratchit and his family, an anteater as Jacob Marley and so on.

Taking the story beat by beat: Continue reading →

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December 25, 2018 · 4:36 pm

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1982)

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Christmas Carol-A-Thon 2018 comes to a close with Balladeer’s Blog’s look at this neglected 1982 Australian cartoon version.

A Christmas Carol 1982A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1982) – Burbank Films of Australia produced this mediocre at best animated version of the Dickens classic. Previously I reviewed the 1969 Australian cartoon version and if you were to go strictly by this 1982 rendition of A Christmas Carol you would think that Australian animation technology had not progressed one bit since 1969.

Background figures often don’t move at all and the ones that do just repeat the same gestures and gesticulations ad nauseum like in early video games. There’s also a delayed reaction element to every dialogue exchange early on. The Australian accents add a bit of novelty but that was also true of the 1969 version.

Moving on to the story, Nephew Fred’s visit to his Uncle Ebenezer and Bob Cratchit largely sticks to dialogue directly taken from the novel but pointlessly throws in meaningless asides here and there. The delayed reactions in the early exchanges of dialogue really stick out here. It’s like you’re watching live actors who take a while to remember their next line.

The dialogue flows much better between Scrooge and the two Charity Collectors. Bob Cratchit’s farewell to his boss is trimmed to the bone, robbing it of any impact, but this IS one of those versions which shows Bob joining children in sliding along the sidewalk ice like an overgrown kid so that’s nice.   Continue reading →

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December 24, 2018 · 8:34 pm

BLACKADDER’S CHRISTMAS CAROL (1988)

blackadder's christmas carolBLACKADDER’S CHRISTMAS CAROL – My Ninth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues here at Balladeer’s Blog! Long-time readers know what a big fan I am of Rowan Atkinson’s work – especially his Blackadder programs. Hell, I’m even an enormous fan of his more serious work in Full Throttle. And I never tire of telling anyone who will listen that I think he’d make a perfect Dikaiopolis in Aristophanes’ comedy The Acharnians. 

As to why it took me so long to finally get around to reviewing Blackadder’s Christmas Carol, it’s the same reason that applied to the George C Scott version: I wanted to handle some of the more obscure Carols before hitting the well-known ones.

This Christmas Special is set in Victorian England with Atkinson starring as Ebenezer Blackadder, owner of a moustache shop. Tony Robinson is on hand as yet another member of the Baldrick family line.

In typically perverse Blackadder fashion the storyline reverses the usual sequence of events. Ebenezer starts out as a kind-hearted and generous soul but soon the Christmas Spirit (Robbie Coltrane) shows him visions of Blackadders Past, Present and Yet-to-Come.     Continue reading →

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December 15, 2018 · 5:33 pm

CHRISTMAS MUZAK PLAYED IN K-MART STORES: 1974

Snowy parking lotHere at Balladeer’s Blog I’m known for my strange sense of humor and my love of oddities, the more obscure the better. How could you NOT love the internet when it lets you find virtually any particular cultural kitsch that you get in the mood for?

In addition to K-Mart Christmas Muzak from 1974 plenty of other years are available, all the way up to the 21st Century. Just pick your favorite year and listen!

After all, what could be more Christmassy than the periodic between-song reminders that smoking is permitted ONLY at the Snack Bar. Or a Blue Light Special in the Deli! It’s like an audio version of a Currier and Ives Christmas Print! (I’m kidding.) 

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