The animated version of "A Christmas Carol" produced in Australia in 1969 and originally aired in the U.S. in 1970 as part of the "Famous Classic Tales" series on CBS is to me, a reminder of what kids TV used to be.
Back in the dark ages before home video of any sort, you had to watch whatever happened to be on the TV when you were in front of it.
And the newly produced cartoon shows of the late '60s had really limited animation without a lot of tricks to make it look better than it was. They were sometimes saved by clever stories and good voicework.
This show has extremely static animation that just looks cheap. In a few scenes they try some shots like the one above, which is just the outlines of Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present. At least it's different.
The story adaptation is pretty good. It doesn't seemed dumbed down for kids, but certain things like Fred completely disappearing after his beginning scene make me wonder. Did they not want to spend the money that it would have cost to "animate" those scenes?
With 45 minutes, a more complete version of the story could have been done.
And why does Fred sing? Was this supposed to be a musical, but the idea was abandoned for some reason?
Who knows, but I suspect the low budget is to blame for most of the problems.
In the end, we're left with this version of "A Christmas Carol" that is sort of fun from a nostalgia standpoint, but doesn't offer much else. I don't think it even has a cheesy charm.
And it was totally outclassed by the Richard Williams animated version featuring the voice of Alastair Sim, televised just a couple of years later.
That being said, the Scrooge isn't so bad and the series was sponsored by Kenner...
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