उपयोगकर्ता समीक्षाएं

This condensed version of the Dickens story was shown on CBN one December in the mid-1980s. I taped it, and our family has enjoyed watching it each Christmas since then. The production is simple, but certain of the elements evoke unintended laughs. Only about half of the actors use British accents. Taylor Holmes' portrayal of Scrooge is very melodramatic, and we laugh at some of his delivered lines. The effect of Marley breaking through Scrooge's door is also very funny: a shot of the door is superimposed with Marley walking through a large sheet of paper and accompanied by a big "boom" sound effect. However, the program is very charming, despite the mediocre production values. I hope it is made available someday, even as a bargain-bin DVD.

The problem with "The Christmas Carol" (1949) is that it's a VERY familiar tale--with quite a few versions out there--including the classic versions with Alistair Sim as well as Reginald Owen, a musical, some wonderful made for TV versions and it's probably the most ripped-off plot used in sitcoms! So, because of this, a SHORT version with cheap sets is already at a huge disadvantage--even if it had Vincent Price narrating. Most of the acting (except for the Ghost of Christmas Present) is decent and it's okay for 1949 TV. But, shoving this into such a short time slot and the poor ending at the Cratchit ending didn't help. Overall, it's worth a look if you are curious but my advice is to see the made for TV version starring George C. Scott--I really think this is the best of the lot.

This show is like white bread--inoffensive and a bit bland.

Mainly because of Vincent Price's excellent and tongue-in-cheek narration, reading the celebrated Dickens story, this works better than it should, especially given the ridiculously over the top performance of Taylor Holmes as Scrooge, acting in a way one associates more with the worst excesses of silent cinema.

However, in twenty-five minutes this production does include a scene in Scrooge's office, Jacob Marley and all the three ghosts, as well as a glimpse at Scrooge's redemption and celebration of Christmas.

As an example of early television's attempts to film the classics, it is very good indeed. There are of course better adaptations of this tale, but this one is worth seeking out even if is just the once.

The version I watched is rather muddy picture-wise, but the sound is clear and understandable, and everyone has clear voices which serve Dickens' text well.

This is probably the shortest version you will see. With a bare-bones budget, they only managed 25 minutes. No street scenes of Victorian Christmas, and no lavish parties.

The movie was narrated by Vincent Price. He has such a wonderful voice and added immensely.

You won't recognize Cratchit's younger daughter, her name was Jill Oppenheim. She would grow up to be a true piece of eye-candy and a Bond girl as Jill St. John.

One of the most interesting parts is Scrooge's laugh on Christmas morning. If you heard it, you would probably call for the men in the little white coats to take him away.

BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE FILM. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 HOLIDAY FILMS. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM HONEST!

The Christmas Carol is a 1949 low-budget, black and white television special narrated by Vincent Price. Compressing the Charles Dickens classic story into a half-hour, it is stated to be "the oldest extant straight adaptation of the story" for television.

The production will be considered primitive by modern standards; it is also noted for misspelling Ebenezer Scrooge's name as "Ebeneezer" in the opening credits.

This special is worth watching for many reasons. There is something about watching an old black and white movie about Christmas. The production is not the bet ever adaption of the Charles Dickens classic but none the less it is well thought out and executed.

Older adults will like this. Kids will be bored. It is worth seeking out. There is a "Timeless Vibe" to this that big feature films seldom capture.

This 25-minute TV short seems to be a quickie that was made just for showing on Christmas day of 1949. That was its release date, but there's no information on a network or TV stations that ran it. So, a good guess might be that it ran on some local TV stations in New York and maybe a few other cities.

Remember - this was December 1949, just before the explosion of Television in America -- in the market, in homes, and on the air. In 1946, the first year after the end of World War II, there were only about 8,000 TV sets owned in the U. S., and only six TV stations in the entire country. Three were in New York City, and one each in Chicago, Philadelphia and Schenectady, NY. Growth was gradual but slow the first three years after the war. Many TV stations first went on the air in 1949, and TV sales began to pick up rapidly. Still, there were just 98 TV stations in the whole country in 1950 and by the end of that year, people owned five million TV sets in the U. S.

There hadn't been a movie made of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" since 1938. So, the enterprising Jerry Fairbanks probably saw the possibility for a short film for TV. Fairbanks got his start as a cameraman in silent films, but soon began producing specialty shorts for Hollywood studios. He became interested in TV very early, and wound up producing many shorts, feature films and TV programs over a career that spanned several decades. He won two Academy Awards for shorts, and was nominated five times.

Perhaps the novelty of this film was having a well-known actor of the time, Vincent Price, as a narrator. He had little more than the opening lines. He first quotes Gilbert K. (G. K.) Chesterton, who wrote, "In everybody there is a thing that loves children, fears death, and likes sunlight. And this thing enjoys Charles Dickens."

Price then reads most of what Dickens himself wrote in the preface to his story: "I have endeavored in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humor with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly."

As a short and for its one-year release, this film is passable, but hardly a fitting portrayal of the story or its characters. It necessarily cuts much out, and but for one brief scene of Marley's appearance and retreat through the door to Scrooge's bedroom, there are no great effects to heighten the film - which all of the feature films have. So, Taylor Holmes can't be blamed for playing a mushy Scrooge. To have acted the full character for this brief story would surely have come across as over-acting.

And one shouldn't be too stern in assaying this short for its time and purpose. For the sparse TV audiences of the day, it was something they at least were able to watch on Christmas that related to the season. And it probably sparked some interest in people who would want to read the Dickens story, or look for the original movie to be shown the next year. Indeed, two years later, the British film company, George Minter Productions, would make a feature film that starred Alastair Sim as Scrooge with a wonderful supporting cast. It was released to theaters in the U. K. and the U. S. in early December of 1951. And, three years after that a short 49-minute TV movie aired on CBS that starred Frederic March and Basil Rathbone.

Since that time, TV networks, cable channels, and TV stations around the world have run one or more of the films of Dickens' Christmas classic each year during the holiday season from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day. May it go on forever.

I enjoyed it. It's an old version and as I get on in age I appreciate the effort of all concerned. The acting is pretty good for the most part and I like Taylor Holmes' version of Scrooge. It's not as elaborate as later versions, but it has heart. Side note: Jill St. John plays Missy Cratchet.

It wouldn't be fair to judge this version of A Christmas Carol by the same standards as the full-length movie versions. Nonetheless, even within its heavily abridged format, it falls short. The entire cast's acting is poor to mediocre, partly because everyone double-times it through their dialogue, perhaps in an effort to make up for the program's condensed time slot.

Even allowing for the fact that this is one of the earliest surviving TV programs - which does make it worth seeing in any case - the whole production seems uninspired. Still, it's interesting to see Vincent Price in an early television appearance as the narrator, during a period in which he was enjoying success in Hollywood cinema, but prior to his becoming a superstar.

We've all seen many versions of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" on film, but this is one of the ones I only recently learned existed, this year. It's not the best (not by a long shot), but I do think it's decent, for the era it came out in, as well as the smaller budget it seems to have.

I think everyone who's reading this review probably only knows of this film's existence due to a horror and general film legend, Vincent Price, being involved with this film. That's what drew me in. I'm sure that's what's drawn many others in, as well. He's only the narrator, here, but Vincent doesn't skip out on playing Vincent; with charm. He's what I watched the film for, and-thank the Lord-he wasn't some small voice over cameo. The narrator is on-screen pretty often, honestly. But the rest of the actors are fine. Scrooge himself is fine (even though the actor seems to have a speech impediment of the Sean Connery type, which can be a little odd and distractive).

Costumes are a joke, here. There's really nothing to see, with those. But, again: this seems very low-budget.

I do think the music in this little film was decent. Nothing to be in wonder about, but it was placed well. And that's what really matters, in my opinion.

My fiancé thought this was decent, too.

Solid stuff from a time long gone.

Vincent Price is one of my favourite actors and A Christmas Carol is one of my favourite stories, so when I stumbled across this I couldn't wait to watch it. Price is great as the narrator, I could listen to him all day long, but sadly this looks like it was filmed on the cheap. The sets are minimal, the mixture of American and English accents in Victorian London is wrong and Taylor Holmes as Scrooge is woefully hammy. The opening and closing credits felt like they took up a quarter of the short running time. But if, like me, you are a Price fan or if you're just looking for a condensed version of the tale then this it is worthwhile viewing.

This half-hour digest telling of Charles Dickens' Christmas CAROL from 1949 is one of the earliest American television programs to survive. Taylor Holmes (a character actor perhaps best known for as Henry Spoffard Sr. in Marilyn Monroe's GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES) is well cast as the sour Mr. Scrooge. Although he is a bit over the top in a few of his early scenes, he is very good otherwise and there is a unusual touch of poignancy in his performance that often is not in other actors as Scrooge, possibly due to Mr. Holmes' having lost two of his sons (including the well-known actor Phillip Holmes) within the previous five years, thus giving him perhaps an emotional link to Scrooge's inner sadness that some actors couldn't quite reach. This little drama is moves quickly of course given the time frame and the cast of mostly unknowns does very well (although the ghosts are fairly ridiculously costumed, particularly the ghost of Christmas present who resembles some actor in a king costume for a 1960's cereal commercial). It's an effective little piece of television and Christmas nostalgia. It won't be anyone's favorite rendition of the classic story but it's worth seeing and rather endearing.

Charles Dickens' The Christmas Carol (1949) is a 25 minute short film available on Tubi. The storyline follows our friend, Ebeneezer Scrooge, and his unwillingness to appreciate Christmas, or humanity for that fact. Our notoriously cheap friend is visited by three ghosts looking to change his perspective and way of life before it's too late.

This movie is directed by Arthur Pierson (The Fighting O'Flynn) and stars Vincent Price (The Raven), Taylor Holmes (Gentlemen Prefer Blonds), Patrick Whyte (Peyton Place) and Robert Clarke (The Man from Planet X).

The opening quotes, narrations and thoughts on the storyline by Vincent Price is outstanding. The dialogue in this film is excellent and there are a lot of humerus interactions and circumstances as Scrooge tries to avoid the ghosts. The film is super fast paced and moves from scenario to scenario quickly. I do wish they gave Price as much time to talk at the end as they did at the beginning.

Overall this is a fun film to watch during the holiday season. It's always entertaining seeing Price in a different setting. I'd score this a 6/10 and recommend seeing it once.

Simple and precise , Taylor Holmes proposing a seductive and correct crafted Ebenezer Scrooge, with some admirable virtues more impressive than few classic adaptations , Vincent Price using his charm in well manner, the handicap of early TV program being reduced by the virtues of cast.

The only problem - maybe the ghosts who , between eccentric and boring blank are only presences.

But , for a very short version, it works just admirable, proposing honest atmosphere of book and a pleasant way to define Scrooge transformation.

So, after familiar versions, just a nice - sweet surprise . And the perfect narrator.

The Christmas Carol (1949)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Vincent Price hosts and narrates this made-for-TV version of the Charles Dickens' classic about Ebeneezer Scrooge (Taylor Holmes) who is visited by his former partner and warned that three spirits will visit him. I've seen so many versions of this story that you obvious begin to feel a bit of deja vu but I've always felt that the story itself is so strong that it's not too hard to bring one into it. This version here has several good things going for it but it's obviously done on a pretty low-budget and the wooden sets and some poor acting certainly doesn't help. I thought that all of the sets were rather cheap and fake looking but I think a lot of the television shows from this period suffered the same fate. Just take a look at the chains around Marley and you can see that there wasn't too much imagination going on. Another weak thing was the performance by George James who is so still as the Ghost of Christmas Present that you'd think they really dug him up out of some grave. With that said, the performance by Holmes was actually pretty good. He's certainly not one of the best Scrooge's that I've seen but I enjoyed his performance. I also thought Price did a good job reading from the book and just check out the way he keeps reminding us that Marley is dead. I'm not sure why they changed the "A" to a "The" in the title but fans of the story and Price will want to check this one out.