Universal Monsters - Part 5

A somewhat tangential entry in the "Universal Monsters" series of films is 1942's "Invisible Agent," which sneaks in as part of "The Invisible Man" series.

It's a pretty fun blending of the invisible theme with topical WWII action.

The star of the film Jon Hall, was never a big star, but he has at least one important distinction: he was born on February 23, the same as Kelsey Grammer's Scrooge, Kathleen Harrison and yours truly!

Why are we talking about this movie? It was directed by Edwin L. Marin, known in these circles as the director of 1938's "A Christmas Carol" from 1938!

The picture was not sold by using his name, as it's in extremely fine print on the (very cool , if misleading) poster above and the (misleadingly Frankenstein-esque) one below!

But we needed reliable guys like him to keep the product coming back in the golden age of Hollywood!

Note: My editor, Slugger Jr., was particularly interested in what I had to say in this post:

He watches all the movies with me and must have liked this one! Maybe it was the walk-on by Walter Tetley as a newsboy!

On the subject of the 1938 version of "A Christmas Carol," you may recall that June Lockhart, daughter of Gene and Kathleen (who portrayed Bob and Mrs. Cratchit) made her movie debut as Belinda Cratchit in that film.

June's first lead role in a movie was in Universal's 1946 "She-Wolf of London," which also sneaks into the whole Universal Monsters thing, as it is sort-of part of the Wolf Man series. SPOILER: It really shouldn't be!

June is cute as a button, but doesn't get a chance to act much and she and co-star Don Porter are so not British!

But fun for 1960s TV fans to see Gidget's father and Will Robinson's mother 20 years prior!

LIFE Magazine (December 25, 1944) - Part 2

The LIFE magazine photo spread from the December 25, 1944 issue featuring Lionel Barrymore as Scrooge is a fascinating piece.

It offers something of a "what if" in that it perhaps shows what a movie featuring Barrymore as Scrooge would have looked like. He famously did not get the chance to play the part in 1938. I may have mentioned that once or twice!

The story indicates it was enacted at the MGM studios, so the photos do look movie-ish.

They show the cast list, which is really helpful, but it's not a particularly well-known bunch, with a couple of exceptions.

Who wore it better?

Most fascinating of all is June Lockhart, who's made up to look like Ann Rutherford's version of the Ghost of Christmas Past from the 1938 movie.

June is best-known for her later TV "mom" roles on "Lassie" and "Lost in Space," but if you recall, she played Belinda Cratchit in the 1938 movie with her real-life parents Gene and Kathleen Lockhart!

She no doubt remembered that, but did whoever was casting this photo shoot know? Pretty fun, though!

June's still around, age 94!

I also recognize Jeff York, well his name, as the Ghost of Christmas present. He was a big guy who originally acted in serials and B-movies under his sort-of birth name Granville Owen, then changed his name after service in WWII to Jeff York. I imagine he was going for a Bruce Bennett thing, as Herman Brix broke away from the stigma of serial acting by changing his name.

In any event, it got him signed to MGM, which is how he wound up here. I remember him most as Mike Fink in a couple of "Davy Crockett" episodes on the Disney TV show. From reruns of course!

I have to look on he IMDB to identify any of the other "actors," but they seem to be MGM contract players. I don't think any of them would have been cast in an actual live-action version of "A Christmas Carol" if it were to have been made in 1944, except maybe for Dickie Hall as Tiny Tim.

In any event, it all works well for these purposes.

The photography by Ralph Crane is great, but no surprise as he was very accomplished. If you Google him, you'll see all sorts of great photos.

My editor likes this one!

Old LIFE magazines have fun ads in them, including some for products that don't exist anymore. I'd buy this one, though:

A Christmas Carol (1938) - Who's Who

Now let's take a look at the cast of the 1938 MGM version of "A Christmas Carol."

First up, Reginald Owen as Scrooge. He's OK, but doesn't seem all that mean and reforms extremely quickly. Granted, that's the script and direction, but I don't think he adds much. He does have an iconic Scrooge look, but sometimes you can really see the heavy makeup!

As mentioned previously, Bob Cratchit gets an expanded role here. That's a good thing as Gene Lockhart does a great job in the role. He has tons of Christmas spirit! I know the knock on him is that he looks like he hasn't missed too many meals, so he doesn't seem poor, but what're you gonna do? He's a total pro  and was in a lot of movies over the years. His other Christmas classic movie claim to fame is his part as the judge at Kris Kringle's hearing in "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947). Not too shabby!

A fun thing is that Gene Lockhart's wife, Kathleen Lockhart, was also a performer and she was cast here as Bob's wife. No name given to her in the book or in this adaptation. She does a good job, but her role is much smaller.

Even more fun is that the Lockharts' 13 year old daughter, June, appears here as Belinda Cratchit! June Lockhart of course was later famous for her roles in the TV series "Lassie" and "Lost in Space." She's recognizable here in  her film debut. She guesses that Bob brought home sausages for Christmas dinner!

So, what about that other Cratchit kid, Tiny Tim? Well, he's played here by Terry Kilburn, who's not an unappealing performer (I've seen him elsewhere, most notably in "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" from 1939), but he just seems wrong here. Too old, too healthy looking. He's just not, you know, tiny!

This movie has the full complement of six Cratchit kids, including Martha and Peter. They all kind of run around screaming a lot, in the manner that adults think that kids act. They remind me of a Victorian Brady Bunch!

Scrooge's nephew Fred also has a greatly expanded role here too. What about the actor, Barry Mackay? Best. Fred. Ever. I don't know who he is, as I've never seen him in another movie (his filmography is small), but he does a great job here. Fred's supposed to have the most infectious personality of anyone you've ever met, and this Fred does!

Fred's not married yet in this version, but he has a fiancee named Bess. The actress, Lynne Carver is attractive, but she doesn't really get a lot to do.

Marley's ghost is played by Leo G. Carroll, whom I've seen in a zillion things, all they way up through "The Man from U.N.CL.E." TV series and he always seems about the same to me, including here. The idea of your former partner's ghost visiting you is pretty scary, but he doesn't add much more. He kind of groans more than moans, I guess.

The Ghost of Christmas Past might have the most interesting casting in the whole movie. While many versions tend to feature an old man, here the ghost is a beautiful young woman, as played by Ann Rutherford. She's the one actor who seems like she was cast because she was hanging around the MGM lot. This was around the time she started playing "Polly Benedict" in the "Andy Hardy" movies. The Christmas past sequence seems very short, but she does just fine.

Interesting casting for young Scrooge too. As mentioned before, we only get one young (and he is young) Scrooge. The actor, Ronald Sinclair, is a young teenager and it's interesting to see someone so young as Fezziwig's apprentice. Dick Wilkins is young here too. Is that actually more period authentic than the twenty-somethingish apprentices we're used to seeing?

Ronald Sinclair appears in a few movies as a teen actor (including playing young Ronald Colman in "The Light That Failed" (1939) - fun!), but switched to the other side of the camera as an adult. He eventually worked as a sound editor on "Die Hard" (1988)! So, does that also give him two Christmas classics on his resume?

To me, the cast is not peppered with familiar character actors the way a lot of MGM movies of the period are, for whatever reason, but the other parts are adequately played. Except for "Fran!" She's as annoying as her name change!

All in all, I think the cast does a good job with the material they're given, with Scrooge and Marley's ghost particularly watered down, but a superior Bob and Fred in the bargain!

Still worth a watch, and it's a snappy 69 minutes!