A Christmas Carol

As someone who comes from a family of Christmas fanatics and HUGE "Carol" fans begging for a version that remains completely faithful to the original text, this updated version intrigued me like very few have. Although the use of Marley is unusual (he appears several times), I bought into the concept of Scrooge as a heartless loan shark and Bob Cratchitt as his assistant trapped in a job from which he cannot afford to escape. I especially enjoyed some of the modern, and very creative, approaches which will be better appreciated by those more familiar with the story. What captured my attention initially, was the opening scene in which the familiar, "Marley was dead..." is delivered in a totally fresh manner. If you love the "Carol" try to find this next Christmas on public television (which is where I found it by accident)!

A modern take on the familiar Christmas Carol story. This time Scrooge is a loan shark on an inner city estate. He brings misery to everyone who knows him, until he's finally shown the error of his ways by the three spirits. I recorded it last Christmas, and will certainly be watching it again this year. Look out for it being repeated!

This Christmas Carol was broadcast on the local PBS station here in Wichita about 2 years ago. It's no Alistair Sim version by any means, but it is a VERY well done up to date version that is rather dark. It's also sort of a tangent related to a similar version called "An American Christmas Carol" with Henry Winkler 1979 where he plays a similar loan-shark character. This UK version is very well done, and I wish it would come out on DVD.

I managed to get a hold of a VHS copy and treasure it.

Death is by far one of the best ghosts I have seen in a while.

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I am an avid fan of the 'carol' movies, and have read the book more times than I can count. Some version of 'Carol' are terrible, some are brilliant, this movie goes into the latter choice. Kemp brings us a very believable Scrooge, a loan shark in a council estate. We see more of Scrooges love, Belle (or rather, Bella, in this new version), who fills out the character like I have never seen before. The ghosts were fantastically thought out, instead of being random spirits, these ghosts were close to Scrooge in their lives. The Ghost of Christmas-Yet-To-Come being the biggest shocker of all.

This is undoubtedly my favorite take on the 'Carols' so far, and I would recommend it to anyone. I really, really hope that one day, it will be brought out onto DVD, I don't think the recording I made of it when it aired will last much longer from being watched.

A Christmas Carol (Ross Kemp) (2000) -

While Ross Kemp, would never have been my first choice to play any variation of Ebenezer (Eddie) Scrooge and he wasn't brilliant in this role, basically playing Grant Mitchell (Eastenders), I did believe that his character had truly gone through a change as a result of his visitations, because at the very beginning I felt that he was way passed a redemption of any sort.

This version of the classic Dickens novel was a hugely bastardised script that was actually as much 'Groundhog Day' (1993) as 'A Christmas Carol', but it somehow worked. Yes, I was surprised too!

I actually did enjoy it, despite a few hammy and overacted performances.

Will I be adding it to my list of films to watch every Christmas? Probably not, but I'm glad that I've seen it and I would watch it again in the future, although The Muppets, George C. Scott and Alistair Sim alternatives will always be lined up before it.

In fairness, the bastardisation was only really done to bring it up to date for the time that it was filmed and set and I thought that it was done quite cleverly to show that the same issues still existed over 150 years after Charles Dickens wrote the source material. Sadly the world does not seem to have improved since the mid 1800's or even the Millennium and we still have that balance of rich and poor, instead of a world where everyone lives comfortably.

Other than the fact that Liz Smith (Joyce) must have known the script to this story off by heart, this being at least the third one I've seen her in and the dodgy bit where Eddie was arguing with the ghost of Christmas future that was really quite weird, there's nothing more to say about this one, except perhaps to not judge it based on its premise and cast as I initially did 22 years ago.

7/10.