The Most Wonderful

Tis the season

I wrote a piece a few weeks ago about the, uh, uniqueness of Hallmark Christmas movies and how they require a standard of disbelief to get through them. Look it up, it was bitter and fun. But don’t think that I don’t love Christmas movies, because I do.

What’s your favorite? I mean right now, without thinking about it. I have a theory that if you have to look it up or think about it for more than 20 seconds, then it may not truly be your favorite. If a movie really has had an impact on you, it’s right there at the forefront of your consciousness.

If it was just a movie you liked or enjoyed, then it’s there in the recess of your mind, but it’s not standing at the door waiting to greet you.

My son answered this question with: I don’t have one. I was incredulous. I provided him an answer by reminding him that we watch Home Alone and Home Alone 2 every year, multiple times during the holiday season.

He shrugged and said, yeah, it’s not about Christmas, Dad, it’s more about a guy having his head blow torched. How do you even argue that?

My other son said he just has never really thought about it, and I agree. He’s the least movie/tv aficionado in the entire household. It probably would be more surprising if he actually had one. I’m sure there’s a Christmas TikTok that fills him with joy for the birth of our savior.

The queen of our household leans toward movies that are actually about the reason for the season. She loves the animated film “The Star” and it’s a family favorite, because if you can’t enjoy Keegan Michael Key as a dove who dances or Tracy Morgan as a clueless camel, well maybe joy has never found you.

Of course, the whole reason for this missive is to proclaim my favorite movie. A Christmas Carol. Notice how I don’t give you a star or version, because I have seen them all, and enjoyed them all with the exception of that weird one that came out a few years ago that envisioned it as a horror film.

I don’t pour spaghetti sauce on a fish fillet and call it a pizza, and that’s what I think that version did.

Alistair Sim really set the standard for Scrooge. He was cold and ruthless, and his transformation always transforms me every time I see it. The ghosts were good, but honestly, it’s the Ghost of Christmas Present that makes any version work.

George C Scott was amazing in his portrayal, and he may be the best thespian ever to actually inhabit Scrooge. And to have Edward Woodward just knock it out of the park with his portrayal of TGOCP (the ghost of Christmas present, duh!) is borderline too much.

Woodward’s admonition to Scrooge in the “Are there no workhouses” line and the people he condemns with heartless words, including Tiny Tim bring tears to my eyes every single time. Dang it, I’m doing it now.

Reginald Owen is regarded as the original Scrooge, appearing in the 1938 version. I’m not as big of a fan of his Ebeneezer (the makeup is off-putting), but I think it comes closest to recreating what London of the 1800s may have felt like.

Sir Patrick Stewart stepped off the bridge of the Enterprise and did a version. I know I stated earlier that George C Scott was perhaps the finest actor to fill the role, but he’s not far ahead of Captain Picard.

Stewart’s Scrooge is understated and yet gives off the “do not bother me” vibe with ease. This movie nails Bob Cratchit and his family the best of all the versions. Richard E Grant’s Cratchit is such an earnest and good man, and Saskia Reeves gives Mrs. Cratchit a backbone and provides dignity to their modest home.

Grant’s breakdown after the death of Tim (spoiler alerts? Are you kidding me?) fills any parent with fear and heartache.

Jacob Marley is always underrated. I have always been fascinated by him taking off the cloth holding his mouth together and having the jaw drop down, as perhaps a corpse would.

I loved Bernard West’s hair and countenance in the Stewart version.

Michael Hordern was Marley in the Alistair Sim version, and they gave him more to do. You saw him as Scrooge’s partner when he was alive, and saw the cold calculating man he was, and why he and Scrooge were partners, but never friends.

But it was Frank Finley in the George C Scott movie that was the best of them all to me. His ghost was filled with misery and spite, you could still see the anger he carried in life still clinging to him in death. The look of his Jacob Marley to me is iconic.

Now there have been other versions that I have seen, but frankly, I find them okay. The musicals, all the musicals. I don’t hate musicals, I just think that for this story, they take away the emotional depth of the story.

Putting established characters into the story has always disappointed me. Whether it was Scrooge McDuck or Mr Magoo, I want Scrooge to be Scrooge.

Honorable mention goes to the Bill Murray “Scrooged” movie. I read that Murray didn’t want to be in that movie, kind of hated doing it, and you know what? It works! His disdain for the movie makes his Scrooge a believable misanthrope, and his transformation may be the most believable.

I looked up how many versions there are of the Christmas Carol, and found over 40. I haven’t seen them all, but I think I’m going to make a goal this season to see as many as I can. They started in the early 1900s with early silent films that were only 15 minutes long

There are more recent editions where they have changed the main character female, and honestly, it’s the transformation of the character that I care about, and I know I’ll enjoy those, too.

But let me now tell you my actual favorite version. It’s the Disney Christmas Carol that was animated, using live-action performances and then creating the cartoon from there. And Jim Carrey plays all the roles of the main characters, Scrooge, Jacob, all the ghosts, and is in a word, stunning.

With animation, they can make it way more fantastical in scope, but they keep the human part at the forefront. I’ll be watching it again this holiday, even if it is by myself. Yes, the sad truth is, that no one in my family except for me enjoys A Christmas Carol.

I can only hope the three other people who live in my house will soon be visited by 3 spirits to show them the errors of their ways.