Traditional Tuesday

To be upfront, this post is another reworking of one that has been made in previous years. This is partially because my perception is still fixed and I’ve already done most of the “footwork” for what I like to include.

The first U.S. sound film version of A Christmas Carol is MGM’s 1938 take on the story.  Like many of the renderings, this is usually identified by its lead actor; this one being Reginald Owen.

This is one of the classic versions that generate a lot of discussion and very varied opinions.  If you’re an American within a particular large-ranged age group, this is likely the version you watched most growing up, side by side with 1951’s Scrooge with Alastair Sim.  I’m one of those Americans.

In my years being obsessed with A Christmas Carol, this adaptation has been the most varied in my personal rating scale.  I first enjoyed it when I was much younger. In my teen and young adult cynical years, I developed a low opinion of it and often berated it. The natural altering of one’s perceptions occurs at different ages.  For many years now, I have enjoyed this version for the U.S. classic that it is. It has a charm that is hard to resist.

These are the factors I believe should be considered when viewing:

1. 1938
2. American
3. MGM

This version is affected by MGM’s (at its peak) moralistic vision for Americans. This vision is implanted on a 1930’s Hollywood interpretation of early Victorian England. What results is a fairly sanitized adaptation: family-friendly and with romance. It has faults but they’re easily forgiven.

Before continuing, I like to point out the story begins by having us read: “More than a century ago…in London…on Christmas Eve.”  Since this version was 1938, it insinuates the story takes place before 1838 – quite a few years too soon for the story.

Reginald Owen is far from being the best Ebenezer Scrooge, but he’s a good actor that’s easy to watch.  He was not the intended choice for the first American big-studio talking film version of ACC.  That honor was meant for the great Lionel Barrymore!

There was a long tradition of Barrymore playing Scrooge live on American radio during Christmas, both before and after this movie was made. To America, Barrymore was Scrooge.  Unfortunately, Barrymore’s physical problems prevented him from doing the movie.  Who knows what it might have been had Barrymore been able to bring his interpretation to the screen?  I’ve read the choice of Reginald Owen to play Scrooge was on Barrymore’s recommendation.  My personal DVD copy includes an old trailer. Lionel Barrymore introduces the production and Reginal Owen in the trailer.

[As a sidetracking personal note: listening to Barrymore’s radio A Christmas Carol is a long-standing Christmas Eve tradition of my own I relish every year!]

Owen plays Scrooge as a crooked, knee-bent crabapple. The most apparent non-likability is he’s a skinflint and doesn’t like Christmas. This is how he’s seen from the beginning. But before we are introduced to Scrooge, we actually meet Fred and Tiny Tim first!

Fred has an expanded role in this adaptation.  Played by Barry Mackay, he’s very Hollywood: tall, handsome and hopelessly in love with his fiancée, named Bess. The fiancée, Bess, is another expanded role for the very pretty ingénue Lynne Carver.  This is predictable MGM middle America movie appeal at its “best.”  Instead of already being married, as in the novella, they are presented as a “struggling” engaged couple, waiting for the means in order to eventually marry.  This isn’t completely original, however.  This is similar to what is insinuated about Fred’s situation in the 1910 Edison Studio version. This Fred gives one of my favorite versions of the short speech/retort to his Uncle Scrooge about Christmas. It’s in the actor’s delivery.

In comes Bob Cratchit played by Gene Lockhart.  Lockhart is physically against type as Bob Cratchit (he’s overweight) but his portrayal is well done.  Unlike the portly Cratchit portrayed in the more recent Canadian 2015 musical, Lockhart gets away with it in his loving and well-acted portrayal.  Lockhart’s real-life wife, Kathleen Lockhart, is a good choice as Mrs. Cratchit; she and Gene work well as an affectionate couple. One of the strangest innovations in this version: Bob Cratchit is fired by Scrooge on Christmas Eve.

The Cratchit children are definitely a distinctive topic with this version. In the past, I often made fun of their almost spastic excitement over ordinary things and tasks.  I could argue they made an early case of the need for Ritalin.  In my more mature viewings, I tend to view this as MGM’s naïve interpretation of those that do not have much being appreciative when receiving simple pleasures.  Of course, the Cratchit family, along with most other settings in this version, does not look to be too poor and destitution is non-existent.  This movie is a product of its time.

There are some odd moments in the movie.  Noticeably weird are the unusual music effects from the time Scrooge enters his home up to Jacob Marley’s appearance.  This is not to say the music is bad.  The score is by Franz Waxman, a good film composer whose scores grace many a well-known classic Hollywood movie (Rebecca, Sunset Boulevard).  On a slightly related note, film composer Bernard Herrmann, who wrote the songs for the 1954/55 TV musical version, highly regarded Waxman.

Leo G. Carol as Marley has always been a paradox for me. His vocal performance as Marley is imposing and very good but his stature doesn’t fit. Because Owen plays Scrooge in crooked poses, he and Carol look almost equal in height. If Owen stood straight there would be a noticeable difference between them.

In this version, the Ghost of Christmas Past is a young, pretty female played by Ann Rutherford (who appeared as a regular character in the Andy Hardy films with Mickey Rooney and in Gone with the Wind as one of Scarlet O’Hara’s sisters).

In Scrooge’s visit to the past, we hear Fan is called “Fran” in this version. Fran is played by English child actress, Ira Stevens, who is very recognizable from her small, but noticeable, part in The Little Princess with Shirley Temple.

The Ghost of Christmas Present is a traditional rendering well played by Lionel Braham (another alum from The Little Princess). His torch is a mini cornucopia (with a noticeable artificial light inside) used to do the sprinklings, which is regretfully not commonly presented among versions of ACC. A noticeable difference in Scrooge’s time with the Ghost of the Present is his almost full transformation before the visit by Yet-to-Come! The end of the Present usually transitions right into the future. Instead, after his time with Present, Scrooge is back lying in bed, seeming to sleep, dreaming and laughing of all the happy Christmas scenes he witnessed with both of the previous Ghosts. Then he’s unexpectedly transported, standing in front of Yet-to-Come. What is very different here is the Ghost appears while walking up an inclined mound and approaches Scrooge.

The scenes with the reformed Scrooge give us another mashed-up rendering of the story’s events.  Scrooge carries the prize turkey, himself. But first he goes to see his nephew and his fiancée for dinner.  This scene takes the opportunity for a mini happy ending as Scrooge makes Fred his partner, which will allow Fred and his fiancée to finally marry (a borrowing from the 1910 silent version).  Then they all go to the Cratchit home to deliver the prize turkey and other presents (another borrowing from 1910).  This is where Scrooge tells Bob he will raise his salary, and Bob doesn’t have to reveal to his wife the non-canonical event of being sacked by Scrooge on Christmas Eve!

Despite being sanitized and having dark elements removed, this version is heart-warming and very enjoyable to watch.  This remains a “never miss” in annual viewing.

Missing

• Phantom hearse
• Wandering Spirits
• Fezziwig Party
• Belle
• Miners, ship, and Lighthouse
• Ignorance & Want
• Undertaker, laundress, charwoman, and old Joe

Before They Were Famous

Recurrent TV mother, June Lockhart, makes her debut as one of the Cratchit children to her parents’ portrayal of Bob and Mrs. Cratchit. Look closely and you’ll recognize her.