The 1971 animated adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" is extremely faithful to the original novella. The title card says "A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens" for a reason. No "freely adapted" here!
It also includes the "A Ghost Story of Christmas" subtitle to let us know some eeriness is on the way!
There are a lot of little details present here that we don't usually see in other versions. I think this whole thing probably works best for those who are already familiar with the book, otherwise some things might be hard to follow, or at least "get."
Although there's an obvious attempt to follow the book closely, there are some incidents omitted, as this is only about 25 minutes long. It is with these exceptions that we are concerned.
That last line is actually my little takeoff on the introductory narration, which is not from the book. It's different to have a narrator that doesn't say anything about Marley being dead.
We get most of the usual business in the opening scenes at Scrooge's office, although these are a bit shortened, such as his nephew is in and out pretty quickly and Scrooge doesn't argue with Bob Cratchit about the coal.
The oddest thing of all here is that Scrooge says that he knows that the charity solicitors will probably say that some people would rather die than go to the prisons or union workhouses. It's as if he's heard them say that before. He answers it with his usual "surplus population" remark, but it loses a lot of its punch.
Scrooge goes straight home, but not before a blind man's dog avoids him, just like in the book.
He sees Marley's face in the knocker, which is not plain as described in the book. It's some sort of face to begin with (a lion?) and really doesn't change all that much when it becomes Marley.
Scrooge does see a hearse in his staircase, another detail not often seen.
Scrooge is quickly in a nightshirt, which makes him look a little pudgy, and a wacky nightcap that looks like a dunce cap!
Marley's Ghost comes in and he is creepy to be sure. Good use of this being a cartoon is made in having his jaw really open when he removes the cloth. And he talks without his mouth moving, so Scrooge better be scared!
We also see Marley's fellow doomed phantoms, which adds to the creepiness!
The Ghost of Christmas Past appears and this is probably the closest in appearance to how it's described in the book than any other adaptation. It kind of shimmers and has multiple limbs and eyes appearing and disappearing and you can't tell if it's young or old. Again, excellent use of animation to do something that would be really hard to pull off with live action.
This show moves fast, so we don't get every scene in the past. We start with young Ebenezer at school. We see him reading as usual, but this time we see the characters from his books come to life.
I remember that image with the little musical fanfare as much as anything from seeing this show as a kid. I hadn't read the book yet, however, so I had no idea what that was supposed to signify.
The next image is cool, as we see Ebenezer grow, as he does in the book. He winds up as an apprentice with Fezziwig, however, instead of still being at the school with Fan coming to take him home.
I think without Fan, we miss the significance of Scrooge's sister's memory living on through his nephew. Who is this nephew, then?
In any event, we see Fezziwig's party and Dick Wilkins is there, and true to the book, Belle is not.
Belle shows up next, when she breaks up with young Scrooge. She's dressed just like she should be, in mourning clothes.
Old Scrooge dispatches the spirit right after this, so we don't see Belle with her husband and family.
The Ghost of Christmas Present appears and looks like you'd expect him to. We actually get just about everything in the present sequence, although shortened.
We start off with people milling about, then go to the Cratchit's house. Martha is already there and doesn't hide. She's actually not called by name here, and neither are Peter nor Belinda. We're out of there pretty quickly, but we do get to hear Tiny Tim "sing" about a child lost in the snow, as he does in the book. No argument about toasting Scrooge. Curiously, Mrs. Cratchit says, "God bless us everyone," before Tiny Tim does!
Other scenes from the book not commonly found in most adaptations are the other Christmas celebrations, with the miners and really old guy singing, the lighthouse, and the ship at sea.
We then get a very brief stop at Fred's house, where he toasts his uncle. His quote is from the book when he says, "Whatever he is," but taken out of the context of the guessing game, it doesn't really make sense.
It gets close to midnight and the spirit has really aged. Before he goes, we see
extremely creepy versions of Ignorance and Want. Did I say
extremely creepy?
The clock starts to strike midnight and the Ghost of Christmas Future appears. He's a bit early, as Marley's Ghost said he would appear when the last stroke ceases to vibrate. But they have a lot to see, so might as well get started!
The spirit is a hooded phantom, but we mostly see just its hand, which is effective.
They see the other businessmen at the Exchange and one has the weird growth on his nose, as per the book. We get inside Old Joe's with only the laundress and charwoman. Which one is not stated.
The characters in the scene at Old Joe's are perhaps the most unrealistic in the whole thing. Kind of reminds me of the corresponding scenes in the 1935 "Scrooge" and the previous animated special "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol."
We then see a body on a bed with the sheet barely covering it. It looks like there's a bunch of grey hair sticking out of the top. That can't be Scrooge, though, right? He's bald on top, but it's supposed to be him. Am I mistaken in what I think I'm seeing?
We next briefly see Bob at Tiny Tim's bed, but we don't see Tim's face (good!). Scrooge sees his name on the gravestone, then is back in his own bed, hugging his bed curtains.
He dances around a lot, with an awesome vocal performance by Alastair Sim, echoing his 1951 portrayal.
He calls out the window to the boy in the street, but only to inquire what day it is. He doesn't have him buy the prize turkey. I always thought the kid sounded a bit like Yogi Bear!
Scrooge goes to the poulterer's himself. The sign reads "Prize Turkee" for some reason.
He meets the portly gentleman who did the talking and promises to make a donation. He then goes to his nephew's house, sees the girl at the door and goes in. He calls his nephew "Fred" and that's about it.
After an abrupt cut, we're at the office the next day, where Scrooge catches Bob coming in late, but raises his salary. I think this is one point where you really need to be familiar with the story, as there's nothing to tell us it's the next morning.
We finally get Michael Redgrave's narration back to wrap up the story with some text right from the book.
So, a faithful adaptation with a lot of often overlooked details from the book!
