So, what does the 1953 radio broadcast of "A Christmas Carol" include and what does it omit?
We start off with the narration telling us that Marley was dead as a door-nail and Scrooge is a wrenching, grasping, covetous old sinner, etc.
Laurence Olivier does the narration in his natural voice and plays Scrooge in a voice that sounds Scroogesque, but is not too wacky. Solid job!
Scrooge's nephew comes in and Scrooge dismisses him pretty quickly, but we get the idea that the nephew (whom Scrooge later refers to as Fred) is very cheerful in contrast to Scrooge himself.
The two portly gentlemen come in to collect for charity and only one talks, just like in the book.
Scrooge says "Good afternoon!" a lot to get rid of everyone!
Bob Cratchit also gets the usual talking to.
Scrooge has his usual melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy tavern and sees Marley's face in the knocker when he gets home. He hears all the bells ring and Marley's ghost appears through the door.
Marley's ghost has a cool, echoey voice. As per the book, he says the other three spirits will come on three successive nights.
The Ghost of Christmas Past is described as like an old man shrunk to the size of a child and has an appropriate old man voice.
They go back to see lonely, young Ebenezer at school. His sister comes in, but Scrooge only refers to her as "little sister" and does not call her Fan. The spirit reminds him that Fred is her son.
Next is Fezziwig's party, which reminds Scrooge that he could treat his own employee better.
We gotta keep things moving, so no time for Belle.
The Ghost of Christmas Present comes and brings Scrooge to Bob Cratchit's house. It seems all the kids are there, but the only ones named beside Tiny Tim are Martha and Belinda. Tiny Tim gets just his one line, which is fine, as it's hard to cast a good Tiny Tim voice. Scrooge is appropriately worried about Tiny Tim. He also says he didn't know that people could be so happy.
I think Mrs. Cratchit steals the show in this scene. She might be my favorite Mrs. Cratchit ever! I think it's the way she says, "I'll be bound."
Scrooge notices that the spirit is growing older and he sees Ignorance and Want. We don't get the chance to go to Fred's party.
True to the book, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come does not speak, but the narration and Scrooge's dialogue let us know what's going on.
They see Scrooge's body, "plundered and bereft" and covered with the requiste sheet.
We go to the Cratchits' house and learn that Tiny Tim has died. Then Scrooge learns that it was his body when he sees his name on the gravestone.
Scrooge wakes up and finds it's Christmas morning from the kid outside his window. He sends the kid to get the prize turkey and says he'll send it to Bob Cratchit.
Scrooge continues to think out loud and wraps up the story by telling us that he's going to make a donation to the poor, go to dinner at nephew Fred's and surprise Bob at the office by raising his salary.
Sir Laurence finishes the narration and we hear Tiny Tim say his line one more time!
So, we get a lot of content from the book with lots of description. I love hearing things such as the Ghost of Christmas Present's torch being "in shape not unlike plenty's horn" that are straight out of the text but seldom heard.
Awesome job all around!
No comments:
Post a Comment