It has been staged, animated, turned into a musical, incorporated in "Sesame Street" and made with Muppets. The first film version was made in 1908, when film was in its infancy; the first television adaptation came in 1943, when TV was in its infancy. Its central character has been played by the elite of the British stage (Patrick Stewart, Albert Finney), comedians (Bill Murray, Kelsey Grammer), country stars (Hoyt Axton), women (Vanessa Williams, Susan Lucci) and cartoon characters (Mr. Magoo, Scrooge McDuck).
Yet, somehow, the fundamental integrity and appeal of "A Christmas Carol" — a novella written and self-published by Charles Dickens in 1843 — has endured. In fact, it has not only endured but it Movie showtimes
Certainly, "Carol" has withstood the most wrongheaded of adaptations. A few years ago, A&E slapped together a version with a Marley's ghost
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The Dickens novella — originally called "A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas" — was written in just six weeks as something of an act of desperation. The author was in tough financial straits, his last book "Martin Chuzzlewit" had failed to generate strong sales, and his wife was once again pregnant.
Author Frank Thompson noted in his book "Great Christmas Movies" that Dickens "did not necessarily intend to create an immortal and beloved work of fiction. His aim was far more prosaic: to earn some much-needed cash."
Dickens hoped that a ripping good ghost story (which "Carol" most certainly is) would be just the kind of populist entertainment that would restore his fortunes. (It didn't, but it all but ensured his literary legacy.)
The tale is more than a ghost story, of course. It tries to capture some of social inequities of the time and re-establish a sense of festive Christmas spirit that was lacking in England and America at the time.
Actor Patrick Stewart — who played Scrooge in TNT's 1999 version of the story and played all the characters in a one-man stage show — said in an interview some years ago that the novella "explores the themes that lie at the heart of heart of life itself: fear and forgiveness, hatred and humiliation, greed and generosity, love and longing."
"It's simply fundamental," said Kelsey Grammer who took on the Scrooge role in 2004's "A Christmas Carol: The Musical" on NBC. "It's fundamental humanity and fundamental hope that we all have a chance at redemption."
As with the Shakespearean canon, it is the human quality that allows "Carol" to be so adaptable. That Tiny Tim would live, that Scrooge would be redeemed, that there would be a happy Christmas in the Cratchit household all represent themes that can stand the test of time.
When "Carol" is done well, it is dark in its tone but ultimately moving. Stewart's 1999 take on the work (available on DVD) finds Scrooge a much younger and more robust figure than the traditional curmudgeon but adds emotion to the tale. Perhaps the greatest film "Carol" — the 1951 version with the great Alastair Sim, also readily available on DVD — is a small marvel: a direct, clean and simple retelling of a great story.
Even though it is the most secular of Christmas stories, "A Christmas Carol" has, over the years, become almost a bit of Scripture in terms of its place in the holiday canon. Not long after it was first published, John Camden Hotten — one of the more English literary critics of his day — said of Dickens' live readings of his tale (which he gave often) that "there never was a more beautiful sermon than this of 'A Christmas Carol.' "
Certainly, the final scenes, in which Scrooge finds his redemption and became "as good a friend, as good a master and as good a man as the good old city knew," captures the hope and sentiment of Christmas as well as any bit of literature ever has. And, in the end, Scrooge becomes a man "who knew how to keep Christmas well" — becoming a symbol of all that's good about the season.
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