Author: Charles Dickens
Short summary:
It's Christmas day and, as usual, Mr Scrooge wants to work late
because time is money and money should not be wasted. Like every day, even if
it's Christmas, Mr Scrooge goes home to his own home since his partner Jacob
Marley passed away. He is about to spend Christmas Eve alone as always. But not
everything will happen as planned. No sooner has he arrived home than he comes
face to face with the ghost of his former partner. This one informs him that
this night will be a special night for him and that it will allow him to have
another look on his life. He will meet three ghosts: the past, the present and
the future. But will that be enough to change Mr Scrooge into a good and
generous man?
My personal opinion:
It's been a long time since I wanted to read a book by Charles
Dickens and to begin with I wanted something light. I had seen many adaptations
of this story, so I thought it would be an opportunity to discover the style of
this author by a story I already knew more or less. This Christmas tale is
beautifully written. It really makes me want to discover the rest of Dickens'
work. Her style is of a captivating English classic that fascinated me and
describes the scenes and events in a realistic and compassionate way that
really touched me. I look forward to tackling another of these novels.
Number of pages: 160
Time to read it: 2 weeks
Rating: 16/20
The first 3 sentences:
Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about
that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the
undertaker, and the chief mourner.
A Christmas Carol, Dickens, in 5 adaptations By LadyDandy |
December 21, 2013 | 11 Comments
A Christmas Carol, it's the most famous work of Dickens and the
most adapted to cinema, TV ... here are the 5 favorite versions of LadyDandy!
A Christmas Carol by Dickens, it's a bit THE big classic Christmas
Anglo-Saxon, so that we franchouillard-es could not escape.
Is it useful to summarize the beast? Scrooge, an old and
mean-spirited man who mistreats his poor employee Cratchit, receives on
Christmas Eve the visit of three spirits, ghosts of Christmas past, present and
future, who show him what he has lost and what he could to lose if he continues
to be so bad and selfish. Scrooge ends up well traumatized but fortunately, he
wakes up full and able to make a new start in life. Here he is spreading his
largesse, becoming the most beloved man in England and yadi yada ...
Sound familiar? No wonder: the beast has been adapted, parodied
tens or hundreds of times, and a deluge of adaptations invades our screens
every year. This brave Scrooge has been seasoned with all the sauces: classic
way with a series of actors so British ennobled by the Queen, superhero way in
Smallville , Time Lord way in Doctor Who , way stamped several times at
Looney's Toons, marshmallow pie at Barbie ... Everyone has their version of the
story and I'm going to talk about my five favorite adaptations!
The most magical: Mickey Christmas
The first adaptation I faced did not care for the miquettes when I
was brat. Mickey's Christmas stirs Scrooge in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge (at
the same time, in VO, Scrooge is called Scrooge and is inspired by the
character of Dickens, so it seems logical); Mickey takes on the role of
Cratchit, Dingo plays this bastard of Jacob Marley, fire the scrooge's crooked
partner, Gemini Cricket is the ghost of the past Christmas, Willy the giant
(appeared in Mickey and the beanstalk ) is the ghost of Christmas present , and
we have a lot of other more or less forgotten Disney stars that make their
appearance (like the characters of La Mare aux Frogs , the Disney which nobody
remembers but for which I have a lot of affection).
As a child, I had a fierce hatred for Mickey, who interprets poor
Cratchit, and so it blocked my empathy a little, especially since Disney is not
going to kill the miserable! We must see the poor family Mickey cut a pea in
four at the eve meal on violins background ...
But, besides that, the cartoon is excellent, we constantly
oscillate between laughter and horror, the colors, the lights are beautiful,
the atmosphere really faithful. In short, good Disney.
The most funny and adorable: Christmas at the Muppets
Muppets movies do not age and even if they are bloody puppets, I do
not get tired of watching them interact, sneer, fuss and tease jokes or
reflections really not so stupid a posteriori. Christmas among the Muppets
makes Kermit the brave Cratchit opposed to a Scrooge of flesh and bone,
performed by the remarkable Michael Caine.
The story is once again very faithful to the original (which is
quite dark, do not be deceived, but of all the adaptations that I saw, there
was only the Barbie version to make it all cucul- la-praline). We have some
modifications: Jacob Marley is divided in two and it is Statler and Waldorf who
interpret it in one of the most funny and successful scenes of the film.
In VF, the songs sound very wrong compared to the VO but they are
still catchy and then, it has its charm. The whole thing is really adorable:
one of the best movies of the Muppets and, I dare say, one of the best films of
Michael Caine.
At about a minute, the singing horses are SO FUN!
The most scary: The funny Christmas of Scrooge
I was really not a fan of motion capture (you know, this technique
is to capture the movement of the actors to make them in synthetic images and
which gave the disastrous Express Pole but also the very very nice Tintin ) ...
and then I saw Scrooge's The Christmas Carol and I glimpsed the rather badass
possibilities of this technique, provided I did it right.
The film offers real visual prowess but it already has a bit old I
think. Fortunately, it remains a very good staging and an adaptation that does
not mind a bit of darkness and psychology (maybe too much darkness: at times
it's the total frenzy). There are awkwardnesses (this is the adaptation that I
would recommend the least), but I really did not expect anything from this film
and it surprises pleasantly.
I will recommend the VO though: I love Emmanuel Curtil, the French
voice of Jim Carrey, but I find that the performance of Jim, who plays Scrooge
at all ages of his life and the ghosts, is rather successful. He really faded
and it's frankly not bad.
The most modern (and outdated at the same time): Ghosts in
Celebration
I should have taken a color photo to illustrate this film, which is
not in black and white, but Carol Kane has a TOO good head on that one!
Comedy of the eighties (vazy I speak American) that does not really
get old, this film transposes the story of Dickens nowadays and it is Bill
Murray, then in full glory post- Ghostbusters (and therefore accustomed to
ghosts) who plays Scrooge, here the director of a cold television channel, cynical
and downright detestable (in a good way).
The special effects may seem overwhelmed but they remain really
impressive if one adheres to puppets, models and animatronics more than
computer-generated images; in any case, it's a nice job. The adaptation is
rather clever and the casting impeccable: Bill Murray is perfect and I also
have a thing for Carol Kane, ghost of Christmas Present a hit. Also noteworthy
is the cool soundtrack by mister Danny Elfman!
The most delirious: Blackadder's Christmas Carol
Rowan Atkinson not only played the guests in romantic comedies and
the depressing Mr Beans, he was also the star of a delirious English sitcom
starring Edward Blackadder and his servant, from generation to generation,
through the history of England.
The series is pretty nice overall but I especially recommend their
episode of Christmas. Inspired by the tale of Dickens, he takes the complete
opposite with a Blackadder generous to the point that we abuse him, who
receives the visit of a ghost come to congratulate him on his good deeds. Said
ghost then shows him everything he loses being nice, from the past to a very
very distant future (and very delusional). Blackadder ends up understanding
that being mean, cynical and opportunistic is funny too and the end is rather
enjoyable!
All is served by a cast at the hair: Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry,
Robbie Coltrane, Miranda Richardson ... and the dialogues are piquant to the
British. To see to recover from an overdose of Christmas nonsense: this is a
very effective purge!
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