Now Scrooge is ready for his first spirit - the Ghost of Christmas Past.
It's a woman who emits a lot of light and carries around the requisite extinguisher cap.
First stop, as usual, is to see lonely, young Ebenezer at school. As mentioned before, Scrooge does not weep for his past self, even though the ghost says he can. He's defiantly proud of himself.
Scrooge specifically says that his father held a grudge against him because his mother died in childbirth. This is a throwback to the 1951 version. And to make this work, Fan is apparently older than Ebenezer, although he still calls her "Little Fan." When the ghost reminds Scrooge that Fan's son is his nephew, Scrooge refers to him as "Fred Holywell," so Fred finally has a last name!
When Fan comes to bring Ebenezer home, things get
really interesting, as their father came along! I think this might be the only adaptation where we see him, and it's awesome! This guy totally looks like he'd be Scrooge's father and the Ebenezer apple did not fall far from the tree. The credits say the father's name is Silas Scrooge (what
else would it be?), but I don't think there's any reference to that in the show itself.
The look on current Scrooge's face as he stares at his father is worth the price of admission alone. Did I mention that George C. Scott is good?
Scrooge Senior sends Ebenezer off to apprentice with Fezziwig in pretty short order, and we visit the big Christmas party next. It looks like young Scrooge and Dick Wilkins are moving bolts of fabric to make room. It's not always clear what Fezziwig has going on in that warehouse!
As is so often the case, Belle is at the party, although this time it's implied that she's
not Fezziwig's daughter, as Scrooge identifies three young girls as Fezziwig's daughters - with really young suitors.
Young Scrooge and Belle are good together.
After the party, Ebenezer is talking to Dick Wilkins and Dick says that Ebenezer's not good enough for Belle, which makes Ebenezer resolve to get rich so he'll be worthy. So, was all this Dick Wilkins's fault? If he had shown encouragement to Ebenezer, would he have married Belle and been happy? Thanks a lot, Dick Wilkins!
Current Scrooge says that to start making money, he lent out the sum that he had inherited from his father. Belle was none too pleased, and, as expected, breaks up with him.
Flash forward to married Belle with her ton of kids and Scrooge wonders what he missed out on. He quickly snaps back to his regular self when Belle says she feels sorry for him, so he's mad again and dispatches the ghost!
She doesn't go quietly, however, as she shouts "Truth lives" over and over as she fades away. OK, got it, truth lives.
Now, the Ghost of Christmas Present appears, but curiously, he doesn't identify himself, nor does Scrooge ask who he is. He does refer to the previous ghost as "Christmas Past," however, like it's her name!
The ghost brings Scrooge to the market place, which Scrooge enjoys, as there's lots of buying going on. Oops! Wrong lesson!
Let's go to Bob Cratchit's house. Martha's already there but doesn't talk about her work or hide when Bob comes in. They have all six kids here. Bob calls the youngest girl "Alice" when serving the food, so with Martha and Belinda accounted for, all the girls have names. We also have Peter and Tiny Tim, but the middle boy doesn't get a name. He shouldn't feel too bad, though, as Mrs, Cratchit doesn't get a first name either. I thought that was interesting, as they're pretty free with handing out names in this one!
An extra bit thrown in is that when Peter is to start working, his boss will be Fred Holywell!
Scrooge is more interested in Tiny Tim this time around, but, oh, is he annoyed when the ghost throws that "surplus population" remark back at him! He also gloats when Bob raises the toast to him.
On the whole, Scrooge thinks it's nice that the Cratchits are having a good time, but he's pretty antsy and keeps wanting to leave.
He has a somewhat better time at Fred's house. Fred's wife was in line when they were handing out names, and she came away with Janet. Scrooge talks back to Fred and Janet a lot and is unamused when he's the comic answer to the simile "tight as..."
After the party, they see a poor homeless family with a very meager Christmas meal. This scene may be unique to this version as well. It illustrates whom Scrooge so offhandedly would send to the prisons and/or workhouses he so glibly speaks of. The couple scored the names Ben and Meg, by the way.
We do also get Ignorance and Want to further make the point.
The ghost leaves Scrooge alone for a bit before the next spirit shows up. He gets some time to think about things, but he's a hard sell and still not too repentant. He admits to a few mistakes here and there, but is still not sure what he's done to be treated in such a manner.
Well, if you won't repent easily, the next spirit will see to it that you're scared into repenting!
And scare Scrooge it does with some unpleasant future visions.
We go the Exchange for the usual offhand talk about somebody having died. Scrooge still can't quite get the message.
In a little switch of the usual order, he sees his body covered with a sheet. He asks to see some emotion connected to "this man's" death, but he doesn't like what he sees, as the trip to Old Joe's gets him a bit when he recognizes his own things. He quickly changes that to the items only
looking like his!
The only plunderer in this case is identified by Old Joe as Mrs Dilber, but again, this would appear to be the charwoman, not the laundress, and well, you get the idea!
Scrooge wants a better depth of feeling, which, of course, brings him to the Cratchits' house where he learns that Tiny Tim has died. He's touched, but ready to go home. He can't, though, until he sees his own grave. This does the trick and he promises to live a changed life.
He makes good on his promise on Christmas morning, including sending the prize turkey to the Cratchit family. We do see it get delivered and Tiny Tim blurts out, "God bless us
all everyone" again for some reason when they decide to cook the turkey. The family repeats it. I guess they didn't notice that he added that extra "all" in there, but hey, the kid's still sick!
Scrooge also meets both of the gentlemen who had been collecting for charity and he makes his generous donation.
We see a little of Fred and Janet before Scrooge arrives for dinner and they are a nice couple. Scrooge is quite humble and apologetic when he gets there, but he can't resist getting a dig about the "tight as..." simile, even though Janet doesn't get it because it was sort-of-future Janet who made the joke and actual Janet now won't say it!
Scrooge is still thoughtful and cautious and certainly not over-the-top in his reformation. As mentioned before, this is in line with George C. Scott's very realistic take on the role.
The next morning sees Scrooge surprise Bob at the office by doubling his salary!
The narrator comes back to wrap things up. We now recognize the voice as being Fred's. He even gets Tiny Tim's line correct!
This is a totally solid adaptation with lots to recommend it. Even though it's 35 years old now, I think it's very accessible to modern audiences and worth at least one watch every year!
