|
By
THEMIS ATHENA
Given the enormous potential
for failure, it takes either a lot of guts or a
big ego to remake a classic and step into a pair
of shoes worn so well by the likes of George C.
Scott and Alastair Sim -- after all you don't even
have to have grown up in an English speaking
country to take those two names and their
portrayal of Dickens' miserly anti-hero for
granted as part of your Christmas experience. And
I suspect a good part of both guts and ego was at
play in this production; but let's face it: after
years of bringing Scrooge to the stage in a
much-acclaimed one man show and after also having
recorded the audio book version of "A Christmas
Carol," a movie adaptation starring Patrick
Stewart was probably due to come out sooner or
later. Yet, while it does sometimes have the feel
of another huge star vehicle for Stewart (even
without the self-congratulatory trailer and brief
"behind the scenes" features included on the DVD),
his experience and insight into the character of
Scrooge allow him to pull off a remarkable
performance, and to make the role his own without
letting us forget who originally wrote the tale.
From a "humbug" growled out from the very depth of
his disdain and his audible desire to boil "every
idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his
lips" with his own pudding and bury them with a
stake of holly through their heart, to the
"splendid" and "most illustrious...father of a
long, long line of brilliant laughs," coughed up
and spit out after years of having been out of
practice, this is the Scrooge that Dickens
described; and Stewart obviously has the time of
his life playing him.
This made-for-TV production is sometimes
criticized for its use of special effects; I don't
find those overly disturbing, though, in fact,
they're rather low-key and for the most part used
to show nothing more than what Dickens actually
described. (This is a ghost story, remember?)
Scrooge really does see Marley's face in his door
knocker; we all know that Marley's ghost does
indeed walk through Scrooge's doubly locked
door...and last but not least Dickens himself
describes the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come as
"shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed
its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of
it visible save one outstretched hand." (Granted,
no gleaming lights for eyes, though.) The script
could have spared a modernism here and there, but
again, mostly the lines are exactly those that
Dickens himself wrote. Even where the characters
don't actually speak them, they are part of their
reflections -- such as Marley being buried and
"dead as a doornail" (which, after all, is the
tale's all-important premise) and Scrooge's rather
funny musings how the Ghost of Christmas Past
might be deterred from taking him for a flight
(where citing neither the weather nor the hour nor
a head cold nor his inadequate dress would do).
Richard E. Grant, known to TV audiences as Sir
Percy Blakeney in the recent adaptations of "The
Scarlet Pimpernel," moves to the opposite end of
the social spectrum in his portrayal of gaunt,
downtrodden Bob Cratchit; and he is a very
credible caring father and husband, albeit a bit
too well-educated -- unlike the rest of his
family, who speak and come across as decidedly
more cockney. Joel Grey, whose Master of
Ceremonies in "Cabaret" stands out as one of those
"one of a kind" performances that are few and far
between in film history, is almost perfectly cast
as the Ghost of Christmas Past, combining the
spirit's wisdom of an old man with his child-like
innocence, frail stature and luminous appearance.
A great supporting cast and solid cinematographic
and directorial work round out an overall very
well done production.
Many actors are remembered either for one
career-making role or for a certain type they have
cast. No doubt Patrick Stewart, who as a teenager
had to face an ultimatum between a steady job and
the theater and chose the latter, will go into
film history as Captain Jean-Luc Picard of "Star
Trek The Next Generation." But I would not be
surprised if the other major role he will always
be remembered for will be that of Ebenezer Scrooge
-- on stage, in audio recordings and in this movie
adaptation, which successfully brings Dickens'
timeless tale of bitterness, sorrow, redemption
and the true meaning of Christmas to the 21st
century, and which before long, I think, will
attain the status of a classic in its own right. I
know that I, for one, will be watching it again
with renewed pleasure next Christmas.
In terms of extras, there is a trailer, two
2-minute featurettes, "Behind the Scenes with
Patrick Stewart" and "Remaking a Classic"
(they're, in essence, extended trailers) and
filmographies. |
