Now let's take a look at the story and plot of the TV-movie "An American Christmas Carol" from 1979!
Since this is not a straight-up adaptation of "A Christmas Carol," the script by Jerome Coopersmith does not need to be particularly faithful to the source material, but it actually does follow the book fairly closely.
But be aware that there are SPOILERs ahead!
The story takes place in Concord, New Hampshire in 1933, which is right in the middle of the Great Depression, so a lot of the people in town are having hard times and can't afford to make their payments om their various possessions.
It's their further misfortune that the loans are held by Benedict Slade, the Scrooge surrogate, who's so mean that he spends Christmas Eve going around repossessing various items.
The topper is when he repossesses a piano from the orphanage that he himself had once lived at!
This reminds me most of Albert Finney's Scrooge who threatens to confiscate the goods of his debtors, but Slade actually does it!
Along the way, he deals harshly with three specific individuals who will pop up later on.
Most intriguing is Merrivale, who runs a campus bookshop, but has the nerve to sell books rather than sweaters and bow ties!
Slade starts tearing the leather covers off various books, including "A Christmas Carol!" So, the story does exist in this universe!
I think the orphanage piano bit is a little over the top, especially since he seems somewhat sympathetic to the orphans who come by his office to sing Christmas carols. He doesn't chase them away, but rather greets them pleasantly and gives each the the gift of a self-help pamphlet!
Slade is reluctantly assisted in the repos by his employee Thatcher (I didn't catch his first name), who fills the Bob Cratchit role.
Thatcher also sort of serves as one of the charity collectors, as he urges Slade to reopen the local quarry that had closed the previous year in order to stimulate the town's economy.
Slade doesn't take too kindly to business advice from his employee, so he fires Thatcher, à la Reginald Owen's Scrooge firing of Gene Lockhart's Bob Cratchit.
Now, I know it's mean for Slade to fire Thatcher on Christmas Eve, but Thatcher was giving Slade a hard time about the quarry (it's not Slade's fault that it was closed and as Slade points out, why would he want to restart a failed business?) and he was undermining his repo activities, so you can see why Slade was fed up!
In any event, there's no Fred equivalent here, as well as no Fan stand-in.
We do get a Marley, though, as Slade is visited by the ghost of Jack Latham, his late business partner.
Slade had been reading "A Christmas Carol," however, so he's kind of genre savvy and thinks the ghost is an imposter. He mentions that he might be wearing a lot of makeup like "that actor" in "Frankenstein," which had been released in 1931!
But Latham's Ghost gives him the usual special and says more spirits will be forthcoming in a relatively brief scene.
Having read the book, Slade is aware that the next visitor is the Ghost of Christmas Past. What's odd is that it seems to be Merrivale, the book store owner. He doesn't say he's not, but he makes a reference to having played the trumpet in a war and that walls came down. Is he supposed to be Joshua?
And what does he have to do with Slade's past anyway? This reminds me of the random characters doubling as the spirits in the Kelsey Grammer musical version, which was 25 years later.
In the past, we see young Slade at the orphanage from which he's taken in by Mr. Brewster, the Fezziwig stand-in who owns a furniture-making company.
Brewster takes boy Slade to the factory and gives him a pep talk and makes him his apprentice and so on.
Then we see grownup Slade, which is now Henry Winkler without the old-age makeup, but with a 1970s style hairdo, in love with Brewster's daughter Helen and full of ideas about how to streamline the furniture-making process and sell a cheaper product.
But Brewster won't hear of it, so Slade goes to work for another company in Chicago, leaving Helen behind until he can make more money.
He returns to Concord about ten years later and sees Helen running a World War I bond rally.
I must point out that I didn't think it's realistic that Helen sold $25,000 worth of war bonds, as they would be way too much for the 1918-or-so residents of Concord to come up with.
Also this is only about 15 years from the "present" of 1933, but old Slade looks at least 30 years older than young Slade!
Slade again tries to help Brewster, whose business is not doing well, by telling him he could sell furniture to people "on time" so they can make installment payments, but, again, Brewster doesn't want to hear it.
The idea does catch the fancy of Latham, however, who reminds me more of Mr. Jorkin from 1951's "Scrooge" rather than Jacob Marley. Brewster's unwillingness to change with the times also echoes Fezziwig from that film.
Anyway, Brewster's factory burns down and he doesn't have insurance, so he's out of business. Slade feels bad about this, but none of that is his fault. He does not take over the business like Alastair Sim did.
Latham could have loaned money to Brewster to try to rebuild the factory, but he goes into the finance business with Slade instead. Slade correctly points out that loaning to Brewster would be throwing good money after bad, which seems cold.
Brewster winds up dying and Helen is mad at Slade, ending whatever chance their relationship might have had.
Now we're done with the past. I don't really see anything that would have caused Slade to become so Scroogey other than the breakup with Helen, but whatever.
The Ghost of Christmas Present shows up in the person of Mr. Jessup, the head of the orphanage. Why he represents the present is about as clear as why Merrivale represents the past!
Interestingly, the first place they go is Helen's house, where we see she's married (to a pharmacist) and has a grown daughter. This also seems like it wouldn't have all happened within the 15 years, but it's an affecting scene, although the book's equivalent is seven years in the past, not the present.
They next go to Thatcher's house, where we see him with his wife, daughter and son Jonathan, who I guess has polio and is the Tiny Tim character.
The Thatchers are hoping to save enough money to send Jonathan to Australia, so he can be cured by Sister Kenny, whom I know from the 1946 movie starring Rosalind Russell. Of course, with Thatcher not having a job anymore, and Australia being quite far away from New Hampshire, that's a tall order.
Slade is legitimately upset by this, not having known that Thatcher had a sick child.
The Ghost of Christmas Future is up next and he seems to be Matt Reeves, whose furniture had been repossessed by Slade, but, as I mentioned, he wears 1970s clothes and such.
This ghost shows Slade's things being auctioned off in his warehouse. Nobody wants to buy anything except his portrait, which they have a fun time burning.
This obviously takes the place of the scene at Old Joe's establishment and I get that they're going for something along the same lines, but I don't think it works.
First, Slade's things would have some value and/or use to people, especially if they can get something at a low price, Depression and all. Hey, even Scrooge's odds and ends had value!
Also, some of that stuff would be things Slade had repossessed, so this would be a chance for people to get some of it back.
Second, a woman bids $100 for Slade's portrait. $100 is too much for someone to fork over just to burn the thing, whether she hated him or not. And I presume the people that hated him were those who owed him money, so where would she get that kind of dough?
The auctioneer, by the way, is played by Cec Linder, whom I would swear I didn't know. However, he did portray Felix Leiter in 1964's "Goldfinger," which is a good credit. I remember the Felix Leiter character in "Goldfinger" very well and can picture him in my mind's eye, but I could not have told you who played him.
Jack Lord as Felix Leiter in "Dr. No," definitely yes. I could even tell you it was Rik Van Nutter in "Thunderball." But Cec Linder, no.
Anyway, Slade then sees Jonathan Thatcher's grave, then his own and is ready to reform!
He looks out window on Christmas morning and a couple of boys confirm which day it is, but Slade does not send them to get a turkey.
He apparently grabs one along the way, though, as he shows up at the Thatcher house with a big turkey and some presents. The present for Jonathan is a series of tickets that will get him to Australia. The sequence in which Slade describes each ticket is amusing.
Slade then grabs Thatcher and they return all the stuff they had repossessed the day before, finally bringing the piano back to the orphanage, along with some presents for the kids.
Slade notices a boy off by himself who reminds him of himself at that age, so he takes the kid to the burnt out factory and gives the kid the same speech that Mr. Brewster had given him, so I guess it's come full circle.
The thing is, though, that this new kid can't be an apprentice at the furniture factory because there is no factory! The scene makes no sense and goes on way too long. We get the point right away and don't need to be hit over the head!
Slade also told Thatcher that he was going to reopen the quarry and put Thatcher in charge, so happy ending!
You know, I thought I was just going to do a quick recap, and I really don't mean to nitpick, but there you go!
Next: What's the final verdict?
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