If you got the chance to listen to the 1954 recording of "A Christmas Carol" by Claude Rains, I'm sure you will agree that it's an unusual treatment!
If you haven't, then beware of SPOILERS!
This was originally two sides of a standard 10-inch 78 rpm record. You could get three minutes and change on one side, so it's a tall order to get the whole story on there.
Instead of a dramatization, it's a solo performance by Claude Rains as Scrooge. He relates the story as if it has already happened. What makes it wacky is that his conscience (also voiced by Rains through a filtered microphone) is egging him on!
Scrooge narrating the story makes me think of Ronald Colman again, as his Scrooge is also relating events that have already taken place.
But as this version here is not a dramatization, we have a reformed Scrooge throughout. Claude Rains could play evil characters quite well, but we only hear his nice Scrooge, as he does not illustrate his evil ways.
On Side 1, Scrooge sets the scene by mentioning that his clerk, Bob Cratchit, had left the counting house. Then when Scrooge went home he had a dream.
There's no mention of Jacob Marley here at all.
The Ghost of Christmas Past appears and shows Scrooge a point in the past where he was at a Christmas party, smiling and happy, as he hasn't been since. Hard to say when this was. He says he was a young man, but with a group of youngsters.
Whatever the case, the side ends after just under two and a half minutes. The ghost's "time grows short," indeed!
Flip the record over and Scrooge meets the Ghost of Christmas Present. This is the only spirit he describes. He says he's a giant with a torch in his hand. No surprise that the spirit takes Scrooge to Bob Cratchit's house.
This is the longest sequence. Scrooge mentions that Bob has three children and describes Tiny Tim and quotes his famous line. Scrooge is ashamed that he pays Bob such a meager salary and is not surprised that "a pall fell over the festivities" when Mrs. Cratchit mentioned his name.
The Ghost of Christmas Present appears next and he shows Scrooge his tombstone, with no one to mourn for him. Scrooge begs for a chance to change his ways.
The ghost vanishes and Scrooge is back in his room on Christmas morning. He gives a sack of gold to a passing boy to buy the biggest goose (not turkey) he can find and send it to Bob Cratchit.
Scrooge wishes us a Merry Christmas and reminds us what Tiny Tim remarked.
A little over three minutes for the flipside, so the whole thing clocks in at about five and a half minutes.
So, a snappy little trip through the story and well done, I say!
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