So, did you listen to it? What a voice, right?
I like this a lot. It has solid production values, moves along well and doesn't dumb it down.
OK, so, now here's where my OSD kicks in and we see what this version includes, omits and adds!
With the half-hourish running time, they could actually cram a lot of the book in there, but some things needed to be omitted for time constraints and some things changed a bit to fit the audio-only format.
I thought it was really interesting that Scrooge was the narrator. I don't know how many adaptations have used that idea, but certainly not many. I think it's a good touch and allows us to hear that much more of Ronald Colman's velvet tones!
Scrooge sets the story in 1843, the year of publication the original book. Good to know.
Scrooge never does call his nephew by name here and we don't go to his party, so there's no one else to call him Fred. The cast lists Fred (Nephew) as a character, because you might not know who Fred is otherwise.
I think this is the only version in which Scrooge says that his nephew has a child. I wonder why they threw that in.
There's only one gentleman to ask Scrooge for a donation to charity. As in the book, he's not named, but the cast lists him as "Mr. Portly!" I think it's funny that Scrooge makes a joke about Marley's liberality! He's pretty sarcastic on the whole here.
This version uses the relatively common variation of all the ghosts appearing in one night. Marley says the first will come at 1:00, the second at 2:00 and the third at 3:00.
Naturally we can't have everything the various ghosts would have shown Scrooge in each sequence, but we get a couple with each.
In the past, we get lonely Scrooge at school and his breakup with Belle, who's also not called by name here, but listed as Belle (Sweetheart). No Fezziwig here, so we don't actually see Scrooge happy in the past - which he points out to the next ghost!
In the present, we have Scrooge describing the various people he sees celebrating Christmas. This is taken right out of the book, but a lot of versions don't include this.
We go to Bob Cratchit's house to see his Christmas dinner. Scrooge had no idea that Bob had a family. Interestingly, the ghost says he has five children. He usually has six. Hmmm... Besides Tiny Tim, we hear Mrs. Cratchit mention Martha and Peter.
Speaking of Tiny Tim, he does have a wacky voice, obviously palyed by an adult woman (Barbara Jean Wong). Tiny Tim is so hard to cast! Tiny Tim sings a song, as he does in the book, but it's just heard in the background as Scrooge and the ghost talk.
As mentioned, we don't get to go to Fred's party.
One big change here is that the Ghost of Christmas Present talks! They must have done this to avoid having Scrooge just talking to himself. It's different, but fits the format fine.
We get Scrooge's business associates discussing his death in he usual casual manner, but we don't get his things being sold off.
What we do get that is extremely rare is Scrooge pulling down the shroud on his corpse to see his own face! Almost always Scrooge refuses to do it. Maybe too hard (and creepy) to do in live-action, but it makes for a good bit here.
Instead of Bob Cratchit talking about Tiny Tim's death with his family, he talks to Tim in the graveyard. Interestingly, we learn that Tiny Tim was born in 1838 and was seven years old when he died. So, the future here is 1845, two years later. Way more specific than usual!
Scrooge wakes up on Christmas morning and talks to the kid who buys the turkey. He then relates the rest of the story to us, how he had dinner with his nephew and raised Bob's salary. He says that was a memorable day, so he must have gone to Bob's house later that same day.
Am I reading too much into all of this? One hundred percent! But, hey, that's what I do!
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