Filmic Friday 251: A Christmas Carol (1954)

In Which I Discuss A Possibly Forgotten Classic

In 1951, Alastair Sim played Ebeneezer Scrooge in a famous adaptation of the Charles Dickins classic A Christmas Carol. It's still a popular version of the story to this day!

Three years later, CBS put on a variety show called Shower of Stars and made their own version, which I had literally never heard of until we found it on Hulu [Correction: It was actually Amazon Prime Video!], but... I 100% absolutely should have heard of it because it has Basil Freaking Rathbone and music by Bernard Herrman!!!!

Bennie Herrman?!

I love his music so freaking much!

But I'd never, ever heard of this version except perhaps as a footnote on Rathbone's Wikipedia page.

So we started it up and settled in.

I also had no idea it was available on DVD, though I have my doubts about the quality of the transfer...

Btw, that's March as Scrooge with the charity men behind him.

As far as adaptations go, this one's a bit more condensed than I'm used to, but it really works with the flow  - I mean, the thing's only about 53 minutes long without commercials, so it's not going to have the space for every detail. Still, I could've done with about five more minutes of Basil Rathbone as Jacob Marley!

It's got some great effects for ghostly apparitions and Basil is fantastic.

So you've got your basic story: Ebeneezer Scrooge (Frederic March) is a miserable turd who makes everyone around him miserable and is a miserly jerk, so his old partner decides "I'll do my best to keep this twit from hauling chains for eternity" and sets him up with some holiday spirits to smack some sense into him. This goes over as well as you might think, with Scrooge being disbelieving the whole encounter... until he sees evidence that yeah, his dead friend absolutely just hung out with him for a bit.

That is when things start going haywire for him.

See, this adaptation does one of my favorite things: the ghosts are people he knew or knows! Christmas Past arrives first, donning the guise of his lovely once-fiancee, Belle.

Who is charmingly lovely, though I doubt Ebeneezer ever saw her in such a state of undress in their past.
By Victorian standards, this young lady is naked.

Christmas Past reminds him that he used to love Christmas, but his love of money grew stronger than his love of Man and it cost him everything. His joy was consumed by coins. His heart was locked away by ledgers. His love left him so he could be with what she could see him loving more than her - cold hard cash.

Christmas Present appears next, and... honestly, the actor playing him is 1000% into the role. Ignorance and Want are nowhere to be found, as often happens in these adaptations, but neither is his big beard or his fancy robe! Then again, he kinda reminds me of Mr B Natural... but as a very accomplished (and soused) baritone. His "Very Merry" song will get stuck in your head.

Oh, I didn't mention that this is kind of a musical?

Yeah, there's a bunch of musical numbers, though all of them combined probably take less time than the "Very Merry" song from Christmas Present.

See, Christmas Present is played by Scrooge's nephew, Fred, who comes off as a bit of a doofus, but a lovable one. The actor as the Ghost definitely cranks that affability up to about 93 and goes hard. He drags Scrooge around like a confused child on holiday with a distant uncle and shows him Christmas at the Cratchits' home. Tiny Tim sings a cute song, and this is what breaks through to the miserly man, who begs to know if Tim would survive. Spoilers: Uh... no. No he won't. Not if Scrooge doesn't pay his dad a living wage...

So of course, this is where they really take some liberties, because there's no Ghost of Christmas Future. At all. Present simply... leaves. And Scrooge finds himself in a graveyard that looks nearly identical to the one from that godawful Spirit pilot I watched on the DC App...

He encounters first his grave, then, while panicking, Tiny Tim's. With his heart fully shattered and rebuilt into something more approximating that of a decent human being, albeit one wracked with guilt and shame (so... 100% normal), Ebeneezer wakes up, pulls the "I'M NOT A MONSTER ANYMORE PLEASE LET ME HELP YOU, EVERYONE IN NEED" thing we're all used to from the end of every Christmas Carol adaptation, and goes to visit the Cratchits for Christmas Dinner.

This is a wonderful adaptation, and the scoring from Herrman really takes it over the top. You'd expect far less from a television adaptation on a variety show, but it's quite lovely, and I would love to see it again.

Even if that "Very Merry" song drives me freakin nuts lol.

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Filmic Friday 234: Murder at 1600

Murder at 1600
1997

A few weeks ago, I saw a movie called Murder at 1600. Now, I'm a big Wesley Snipes fan because Z showed me the Blade trilogy early on in our relationship, so finding out that there was a 1990s murder mystery starring Snipes in the White House was pretty exciting!

"Sex. Wealth. Power. The combination is murder."

I find it hilarious that it's just Snipes and Lane on the cover, considering who else is in this movie, but aside from that, this was a great, great time!

I mean, it opens with Snipes punching out an armed, dangerous, and distraught Charlie Rocket,
so you know it's going to be bizarre.

Snipes is a good cop in DC trying to keep his home, which is being taken over by eminent domain. The big reason he doesn't want to move? He has a bunch of Civil War miniatures filling the whole apartment. It's weird, but it also pays off. Which is weirder. Anyway, he and his partner are hanging out when he gets dragged into solving the murder of a secretary at the White House.

I like his partner. He's such a weirdo. Also, they act more married than most married people in movies.
I dig it.

So we've got Snipes in the White house, trying to solve a crime, and no one is cooperating. At least there's Diane Lane, who's trying to do her job as a Secret Service member.

While looking like Dana Sculley.

So Snipes and Lane eventually have to form what amounts to a two-person team fighting the White House, assassins, and even the rest of the Secret Service. The movie gets pretty wacky.

But it has great lighting and Snipes is hilarious.

My favorite part of this movie, though, is who isn't on the poster.

Why yes, that is Alan Alda taking a walk with Wesley Snipes while they discuss
whether or not the President's son is a murderer on top of being a philanderer.

Yeah, Alan Alda is one of the major roles in this flick.

If you've ever wanted to see a movie where Wesley Snipes and Alan Alda interact a whole bunch, here you go. Seriously though, it's awesome to watch these guys trying so hard in a movie with so little going for it, story-wise.

While all of the parts interlock appropriately, this story is a little too overburdened with detail, and it can be easy to get lost trying to follow the plot, such as it is.

Murder at 1600 is best enjoyed for what it is: a made-for-tv movie starring some awesome actors with some great cinematography.

So if you're looking for a movie to watch, check your local library for a copy of Murder at 1600, because it's worth its weight in popcorn!

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