"Famous Classic Tales" - "A Christmas Carol" (1969) - Part 1

"Famous Classic Tales" - "A Christmas Carol" (1969)
Director: Zoran Zanjic
Scrooge: Ron Haddrick

We jump ahead to 1969 for this made-for-TV animated adapaaton of "A Christmas Carol." This was produced in Australia in 1969 by Air Programs International (API), then first aired in America in 1970.

In the States, it ws part of the "Famous Classic Tales" series on CBS. These were squarely aimed at kids and I remember seeing this version of "A Christmas Carol" a few times back in the day.

The thing I remember most about it and what made me recognize it as the version I remember is that there's a running gag of Scrooge not being able to sneeze, beause, as the Ghost of Christmas Presentssays, he's "too mean to give away a good sneeze."

I also remember watching the 1971 animated version from Richard Williams, which we've previously discussed, back then. Even at a tender age, I could tell that this 1969 one was inferior. Not the worst thing ever, but not great.

The main thing is really that the animation is cheap. 1969 was not a golden age for lushly animated TV programming, but this isn't even at the level of say, "Scooby Doo, Where Are You!" which also premiered that year.

I'm also not crazy about some of the the character design. I don't think it looks classic, just sort of dated.

I think Scrooge himself looks OK, though, and the voice acting of Ron Haddrick as Scrooge is pretty good. He was 40 at the time and is doing kind of a stock "old man" voice, but he adds a lot to the production.

Any version of "A Chrsmas Carol" is nothing without a strong Scrooge and this at least has that. (He does kind of look like a "Scooby Doo" villain, though, doesn't he?)

The adapatation isn't bad either, so this is something you can listen to without having to watch too closely.

Next, we'll take a look at the plot points of this adapatation and how the characters are presented.