By 1970 the gargantuan razzamatazz Hollywood musical that had once been a main staple was truly dead. Changing audience tastes, budgetary restrictions and a departure of the old guard at the studios, who truly understood the art and craft of creating suspended disbelief within the genre, had all conspired to put the final nails in the coffin for the glossy movie musical as an art form. Musicals were still being made. But now they had the faint wreak of mothballs and formaldehyde; a sort of lumbering extravaganza suffering from acute elephantitis and a deplorable lack of raw talent and overall good taste to sell them as magical high art.
It is all too easy to cast Ronald Neame's Scrooge (1970) into this latter category; an ambitious musical retelling of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Robert Cartwright's art direction, Oswald Morris' cinematography and Margaret Furse's costume design have the rich pedigree and palpable flavour of Carol Reed's Oliver! (1968). And the film is equally blessed by star performances from Albert Finney (in the title role), Kenneth More (The Ghost of Christmas Present) and Alec Guinness (Jacob Marley) among others. Yet Scrooge is a leaden film, desperately second rate in its re-telling of Dickens' immortal story, and a wholly unrealized claptrap of episodic narrative threads loosely strung together by Leslie Bricusse's weighty script and thoroughly forgettable songs.
Our story opens on Christmas Eve. The perennial miser, Ebenezer Scrooge (Finney) is working his accountant Bob Cratchit (David Collings) late into the night. Despite this hardship, Bob harbours no ill will against his embittered employer and even sincerely thanks him for his miserable Christmas pay before taking to the London streets with his young daughter, Kathy (Karen Scargill) and son, Tiny Tim (Richard Beaumont) in preparation of the brief and meager celebration that will be their Christmas Day.
Scrooge is invited by his nephew (Michael Medwin) to celebrate the holiday at his home. But Scrooge will have none of it. Instead he locks himself in his dark and brooding gothic home (shades of Wuthering Heights) as he plans to spend another Christmas alone. All, however, does not go according to plan.
The ghost of Scrooge's partner, Jacob Marley (Guinness) appears and forewarns Scrooge that he is coming to no good end. After some initial fear, Scrooge admonishes the ghost who promises to show him the error of his ways by sending three spirit guides that will plague the rest of his evening's slumber: the ghosts of Christmas Past (Edith Evans), Christmas Present (More) and Christmas Yet To Come(Paddy Stone).
Scrooge superficially indulges the first two ghosts, reliving the folly of his own youth and the loss of his one true love. He visits the Cratchit home and is amazed by how joyous the family is despite the fact that Tiny Tim has been stricken with a crippling polio that will likely claim his life. Scrooge is further shown the Christmas celebration at his nephew's home where various guests poke fun at his miserly ways.
But it is the third and final spirit of the night who presents Ebenezer with the most sobering glimpse; his own death and exile into the bowels of hell where he will be forced for eternity to serve as Satan's book keeper in chains. Curiously, when the film is shown on television this latter sequence is cut from the film.
Realizing the error of his ways, or perhaps simply in utter fear of spending eternity in hell, Ebenezer awakens to find himself in his own bed Christmas morning. He dresses in earnest and hurries into the city to buy up all the goodies and spread his good cheer to all. London rejoices at Scrooge's conversion and join him in celebrating the blessed day.
From a purely production perspective, Scrooge has everything going for it. And yet if struggles to keep pace and time with the best of the musical genre. Perhaps the flaw is in the central character. Ebenezer Scrooge is hardly a loveable literary figure - except in the last ten minutes of the film. As played by Albert Finney he is too richly bitter to be believable as the cheery convert to Christmas goodness in the last act.
In general too Dickens masterwork is an ill fit for the splashy musical treatment. Re-titling the film 'Scrooge' only serves to place the emphasis squarely on Finney's shoulders. As an actor, he is more than up to the challenge and perhaps if the film were a non-musical he would have had better luck and timing in bringing the character to life.
But the script forgets the essentials of what makes a Hollywood musical work - namely that the central character need be romantic and loveable and that the audience should care about what happens to him/her. The lead should also be able to sing and have the bulk of the score tailored to suit the character.
Finney has only one musical moment in Scrooge and it comes after his character's conversion at the end of the story, belting out a reprise of 'Thank You Very Much' - the one faintly memorable song in the score. But even this song doesn't belong to him. It is first sung by an undertaker at Scrooge's own funeral during the film's third ghostly visit of night.
All of the songs are sung almost as incidentals by supporting cast or as purely ensemble set pieces - mere backdrop that renders the film's musical premise moot even before the story has begun.
It is perhaps a telling bit of foreshadowing that Paddy Stone (who plays 'death' in the film) is also listed as Scrooge's 'stager: musical sequences' since the choreography is as stiff and uninspiring as a freshly laid out corpse. The dances are pedestrian at best, with most of the supporting players simply shuffling about while waving their hands and rocking back and forth from the waist up.
In the last analysis, Scrooge bombs as a musical entertainment because its musical elements are out of whack with the time honoured conventions of its genre. At its heart the film is as hollow and void of inspiration, love and magic as the central character of Ebenezer Scrooge himself.
Scrooge comes to Blu-ray via CBS Home Entertainment - a subsidiary of Paramount and the results are actually quite impressive. The image is remarkably pristine and vibrant, showing little signs of its age. Colours have been accurately reproduced, giving full range to the magnificently designed sets and costumes. Flesh tones are quite natural in appearance. Fine details are evident throughout. Film grain registers as grain, not digital grit. Occasional age related artefacts do not distract. This is a very pleasing visual presentation.
So too is the audio quite a revelation. The HD-DTS 5.1 track gives full range to the songs. Dialogue is rather frontal sounding but clear. There are no extras.
FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
1
VIDEO/AUDIO
4.5
EXTRAS
0
2 comments:
I have Scrooge on VHS, LaserDisc and DVD. All of them have the original as heard in the theatre when first released, but this Blu-ray Disc edition has left it out. Why? Blu-ray is suppose to give you more not less. I returned my copy. I want a complete version.
Gregory G. Stangal
Dear Gregory:
The short answer is that a lot of films are being slapped out on Blu-ray by people who have neither the time nor the inclination to research how the film's they are currently releasing were originally intended to be seen. Take Fox's catastrophe on West Side Story. I mean, come on. It took someone to manually go in a manipulate the title credits with a fade out/fade in that WAS NOT in the original release print.
I've recently posted a piece at the top of my column about streaming. At the end of it you will find CBS Home Video's contact info. I suggest you write them and voice your concerns about Scrooge. Only when more people do will we finally get the product we expect and deserve!
Post a Comment