Scrooge (1970) - Part 2

Let's take a look at the cast and characters in this adaptation...

Leading the way is Albert Finney as Scrooge. I think he gives a great interpretation. What he conveys better than perhaps anybody else is the miserliness. A lot of times Scrooge is portrayed as a coldhearted business man, but here he really seems like an eccentric old miser. His clothes and office and home seem shabby because he just does not want to spend any money at all. He looks like he even cuts his own hair!

Scrooge's scenes after he reformation would seem over the top, but they're convincing because he is just a bit crazy anyway!

The Scrooge makeup does a good job of making the 30-something Finney into a recognizably Scrooge-looking type. An advantage this version has over almost any other is that it has an extremely convincing young Scrooge, as that's Albert Finney without the old age makeup.

I really like the younger take on Bob Cratchit here. He's played by  David Collings,who gives the role a youthful exuberance we don't normally get. He has a lot of fun with his kids, who are all younger than usual in this version as well. He's also very loyal to Scrooge, as seen in the somewhat longer than usual "toast" scene. Mrs. Cratchit (Bob calls her "Ethel" just once, I think) seems a bit old for Bob, but maybe it's just me.

Tiny Tim is pretty good. As with most screen Tims, he doesn't necessarily look like he's deathly ill, but whatever. The actor, Richard Beaumont, is not annoying at all, and does a good job with his little solo song.

There are five Cratchit kids altogether, three girls and two boys. There doesn't appear to be a Martha, as Bob would be too young to have  a daughter who's a milliner's apprentice. One of the daughters is named Kathy (played by Karen Scargill) and kind of partners with Tiny Tim. She's cute in an also non-annoying way. We don't know if the other girl is Belinda or if the non-Tim boy is Peter.

I don't care for Scrooge's nephew here. First problem is that he's inexplicably called "Harry." Huh? That just seems weird. Plus, I think the actor, Michael Medwin, is too old for the part. If my math is right, he was 47 at the time and does not look like I think Scrooge's young newlywed nephew should look. A quick bit of research shows he was Albert Finney's producing partner. Aha!

Marley's Ghost on the other hand, is a blast. The great Alec Guinness gives an offbeat characterization, complete with a crazy little walk. He gets an unusual second scene late in the movie and makes the most of it. His makeup, which makes gives him a monochromatic bluish gray tint, is really good.

Edith Evans plays the Ghost of Christmas Past here. She's not the typical ghost, but they lampshade it right away. Scrooge says she doesn't look like a ghost, and she says, "Thank you." She's pretty old, but still has presence. She's got some snappy one-liners at Scrooge's expense.

The Ghost of Christmas Present, played by Kenneth More, has a classic look and gives an appropriately boisterous performance. He gets in some pretty good zingers too.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come looks about how you'd expect, except that it reveals a crazy Skeletor face at the end of its scene. This ghost is played by Paddy Stone, who was the choreographer for the film. Some of the scenes have a lot of complicated choreography going on, so he certainly earned the right to get this part!

Scrooge's former fiance is named Isabel in this version and is Fezziwig's daugther. As such, she gets a fair amount of screen-time. Suzanne Neve does a good job in the role and handles her featured song well. Her parents, played by Laurence Naismith and Kay Walsh, also do a good job with their big number.

A sequence at the beginning of the film shows Scrooge going around trying to collect debts, so we get a few incidental characters unique to this adaptation. Showiest among the is Tom Jenkins, the soup vendor, as played by Anton Rodgers, who leads the showstopping "Thank You Very Much" number(s).

Except for Albert Finney and Alec Guinness, I'm not really familiar with any of the actors (1970s British films are not my spec-i-al-ity), but that works as there's nothing to distract me from the characters they're playing.

And Finney and Guinness are great, so no problem there!