This adaptation from the TV series "Fredric March Presents Tales from Dickens" has a brief running time in which to squeeze in as much story as they can.
The whole thing runs about 25 minutes to allow for local commercials, plus you have opening and closing credits plus just enough Fredric March to justify the title!
So, what did they have time for?
Well, we start with a brief introduction from Fredric March. He says he's in the same room in which Charles Dickens wrote "A Christmas Carol" Could that be true?
We start off with Scrooge's nephew dropping in, but there's no time for the portly gentlemen, so after giving Bob Cratchit the usual hard time, Scrooge goes straight home.
We don't see Marley's face in the knocker, but Scrooge seems jumpy when he goes into his house and says "Humbug!" again at something. Being that this seems like a low-budget affair, I can't imagine that they had a special effect showing Marley's face in the knocker, but cut it for time constraints.
In any event, Scrooge sits by the fire in his dressing gown and ginormous nightcap when his little bell on the mantel rings by itself.
We do get a special effect of a transparent Marley's Ghost entering through the door.
I do think that in this case, the wrapper holding Marley's Ghost's jaw shut makes him look like an old woman. It looks more like a babushka than anything else!
Marley's Ghost also rolls his Rs a lot. He's different!
He warns Scrooge to change his ways and tells him to expect three spirits at one, two and three o'clock respectively.
Scrooge bids him a somewhat jaunty goodbye, then chalks it up to indigestion.
The first spirit arrives right away, however. The Ghost of Christmas Past here looks like Noah or Moses to me.
As Scrooge and the spirit visit the past, they walk through heavy mist. It makes me think of the way heaven is depicted in movies like "Here Comes Mr. Jordan."
At this point, the sets are just a few props surrounded by all that mist. This presumably helped the budget for this production and it gives things a dreamlike quality.
They go back to Scrooge's school and after some kids frolic by, they see young Ebenezer alone. Then Fan comes in to bring him home and they twirl around and go out the door.
Next we come to another door with no building, and the spirit asks Scrooge specifically if he recognizes the door!
Scrooge does indeed, as it's Fezziwig's warehouse (clap! clap!). Fezziwig tells young Scrooge and Dick Wilkins to make room for the party, but we only see Belle come in and she twirls around with young Scrooge and kisses him under the mistletoe.
Next we go to the breakup scene. This goes on much longer than the other two scenes from the past and has some dramatic heft.
We don't have time to see Belle married and this first spirit vanishes.
Fredric March comes back to read a bit to set up the next spirit. We don't really see much of him, but he's pretty engaging.
The Ghost of Christmas Present is next, of course, and he looks and acts the way you'd expect. The actor, Alexander Gauge, does a really good job. Too bad we don't get to see more of him here. He's best known for playing Friar Tuck in the 1950s TV series "The Adventures of Robin Hood" with Richard Greene.
They first visit Bob Cratchit's house, which is also represented by a sparse set. Mrs. Cratchit is there with Martha and one boy Cratchit when Bob comes in with Tiny Tim. Interestingly, Bob mentions that Martha mashed the potatoes, which is usually Peter's job. Does that mean the other boy is not Peter?
We only have time for Bob to say grace and Tiny Tim to say his line before we head off to Fred's house.
There we see Fred playing the guessing game with his guests and they toast Uncle Scrooge.
This spirit disappears and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come appears as the bell strikes thrice (as Marley's Ghost said).
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come falls victim to just looking like a guy in a caped robe. He's not overly scary.
They visit the Cratchit house, where we learn Tiny Tim has died. This scene also goes on a bit longer than the others and is very sensitively handled. We see Tiny Tim's crutch in the corner and hear him say his famous line one more time.
Martha does call the other Cratchit kid "Peter," by the way, so she did totally steal his potato mashing job!
Leaving the Cratchits, a coffin is being transported in front of Scrooge and the spirit and they stop to listen to a couple of businessmen talking about some old "wretch" that had died.
Then they see just the charwoman selling the bed curtains to Old Joe. These scenes are all quick.
Next is the cemetery where Scrooge sees his own tombstone and promises to change.
He wakes up in his own bed and realizes he can change those shadows from the future.
He gets the kid to buy the turkey for the Cratchits and surprises Fred at his home, where sits right down to start chowing on the "magnificent" turkey!
He catches Bob coming in late the next morning. Amusingly Bob says he's late as they were making rather merry because someone sent them a magnificent turkey!
Scrooge raises Bob's salary and they toast from a bowl of Christmas punch that Scrooge had been hiding.
Fredric March comes back to read the end of the story and we're good!
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