Scrooge *** (1970, Albert Finney, Alec Guinness, Edith Evans, Kenneth More) – Classic Movie Review 557

‘What the Dickens have they done to Scrooge?… They’ve put him in a big, big musical.’ Well that was risky advertising, huh?

Director Ronald Neame’s 1970 movie is quite a jolly musical version of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, with more than tolerable songs by Leslie Bricusse, including the standout Thank You Very Much. Bricusse’s Original Song and the Original Song Score were both Oscar nominated for Bricusse.

Albert Finney (then only 34) shows flair and energy as the singing old miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who of course is visited by the spirit of his former partner, Jacob Marley (Alec Guinness), who warns him to change his ways or face the consequences in the afterlife. On Christmas Eve night, he’s visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Edith Evans), Present (Kenneth More) and Yet to Come (Paddy Stone), whose visions give him the opportunity to mend his ways.

Richard Beaumont as Tiny Tim, David Collings as Bob Cratchit, Frances Cuka as Mrs Cratchit and the rest of the stock company are all on splendid form too. It’s lovingly crafted in England with a particularly fine cast of the regular British thespians of the day, including Michael Medwin, Anton Rodgers, Laurence Naismith (Mr Fezziwig), Kay Walsh (Mrs Fezziwig), Suzanne Neve (Isabel Fezziwig), Derek Francis, Gordon Jackson, Roy Kinnear and Geoffrey Bayldon.

For his game performance, Finney was honoured with a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actor – Musical/Comedy. Guinness, Evans, More and Stone add a lot of exotic spice as the Christmas ghosts. The treacly pudding is thickened by the cute trick effects, decent sets and the witty Ronald Searle titles. Despite the lame script by Bricusse and Michael Medwin, it’s a lively engaging and colourful show.

Scrooge provides value for money in a costly-looking, plush, well-heeled production, with the Art Direction-Set Decoration (Terence Marsh, Robert Cartwright, Pamela Cornell) and Costume Design (Margaret Furse) also Oscar nominated.

Here, Scrooge’s fiancée, Isabel, is the daughter of Mr and Mrs Fezziwig but in the book she is not related to them and is called Belle.

Medwin plays Finney’s nephew Fred, even though he is 12 years older than him.

An unhappy Alec Guinness’s big musical number was cut from the film, although the lead-in remains intact. It is called Make the Most of This Life and was restored when Scrooge was adapted into a stage musical with Anthony Newley as Scrooge and Jon Pertwee in Guinness’s role as Jacob Marley. The long shoot required Guinness to wear wires and a harness for his floating character and he suffered a double hernia.

© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 557

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