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Prequel to A Christmas Carol (1999) - The Man Who Invented Christmas Fan Reaction · This Film is Lit

• 0:10
  Speaker A: On this week's prequel episode, we follow up on our the man who Invented Christmas listener polls and preview A Christmas Carol. Hello and welcome back to this film is Late Pockets. We talk about movies that are based on books. Plenty to get to, so we'll jump right in to our patron shoutouts. I put up with you because your father and mother were our finest patrons. That's why. No new patrons this week. But we do have our Academy Award winning patrons and they are Amanda Nicole Goble, Harpo Rat, Nathan Vic Blofeld, Mathilde Cottonwood, Steve Ben Wilcox, Theresa Schwartz, Ian from Wine Country, Kelly Napier, Gratch Justgratch Shelby says, help me raise money for Palestine with Arctic Fox copywriting on Instagram ends December 31st. And that darn skag. Thank you all very much for your continuing support. We truly appreciate it. Katie, let's see what people had to say about the man who Invented Christmas.
• 1:18
  Speaker B: Yeah, well, you know, that's just like your opinion man on Patreon. We had three votes for the book and one for the movie. Kelly Napier said, I don't read a lot of nonfiction, so I was hesitant to give this a shot when you all announced the episodes for December. I'm so glad I did. I thought Standiford did a great job of sharing both the history of the time, but also of Dickens's life in a way that felt like I was reading a story and not a textbook. I found the insight into the publishing world at the time to also be fascinating. I the way people were able to just blatantly rip off the work of others with very little repercussions is just crazy. It reminded me of when Vanilla Ice tried to say he didn't sample Queens under pressure for his Ice Ice Baby because they added a ting of triangle in the beat. Yeah, it is kind of similar to that. I think they like, they'll like change one thing and then be like, no, it's actually my text. Yeah, I agree with what you both said about the movie missing the mark by having so much from the story being ripped from encounters Dickens had with people in his life. Like the whole time. They needed to remind us that the most famous Christmas story of all time, after the one from the Bible, was going to be the end result of the tale. It was just putting a hat on a hat. And it got very old very quickly. I think when the waiter said his name was Marley, I rolled my eyes so hard they got stuck in the back of my head. I voted for the book as I didn't care for the exaggerated feeling I kept getting from the movie. The emotions were too strong, the nods were too obvious, and outside of Christopher Plummer, the acting was too melodramatic.
• 2:56
  Speaker A: Yeah, I don't really disagree with any of it. Yeah, necessarily.
• 2:59
  Speaker B: Our next comment was from Shelby, who said, man, I remember thinking the trailers for this looked really good back when the movie came out. Have my tastes really changed this much or is it just that I hadn't read the book? I made it to the scene with Marley and went, okay, I get the picture. Katie and Brian will fill me in on the rest because this December has been crazy busy busy for me. It's the book for the reasons Katie and Kelly have already discussed. P.S. brian and Katie, do not despair. The Hallmark Channel has you covered for Christmas book adaptations for years to come.
• 3:35
  Speaker A: Oh, boy. Also, Kelly sent us a message. I don't know if you saw that.
• 3:39
  Speaker B: Oh, no, I didn't.
• 3:39
  Speaker A: Yeah, I, I, the issue of having two people looking at things, sometimes I take, when I look at a message, the alert goes away and then you don't see it. But yeah. Kelly also sent us some potential ideas for Christmas episodes. So we have some additional.
• 3:54
  Speaker B: Yeah, I think we have discussed, like Hallmark movie adaptations at some point, but I'm just, I've never really, like, deeply looked into. The other thing is that I don't actually know, like, which Hallmark movies people would want to hear about even, or.
• 4:11
  Speaker A: More importantly, what we can access. I guess some of them would might be. Yeah, you could probably find most of them.
• 4:16
  Speaker B: But yeah, yeah, we would have to look around and see what we can, what we can access. But if you have a specific suggestion.
• 4:24
  Speaker A: Of, like I said, Kelly did send like five or six suggestions.
• 4:29
  Speaker B: So because I just really like, I don't think I've ever watched a single Hallmark Christmas movie.
• 4:34
  Speaker A: I, I, the only ones I've watched have been for Goodbye.
• 4:37
  Speaker B: Yeah. So I don't even know what people would want to hear about. Anyway, our next comment was from Charlene who said didn't read or watch this month, but as always, I enjoyed the episode anyway.
• 4:51
  Speaker A: Thank you.
• 4:52
  Speaker B: Love to hear that.
• 4:52
  Speaker A: Yep, love to hear that.
• 4:54
  Speaker B: The whole what could the original ending have been Kerfuffle was certainly the result of writers and or studio notes just saying no one will think about it or care. It's not an important enough issue to derail our masterful thematic plan.
• 5:08
  Speaker A: I started Google that drove me down such a rabbit hole. I started Googling to see if anybody else was even discussing that and I couldn't find like discussions of it. And it made me feel more crazy. Like it seems like such an obvious glaring with the movie and nobody talks about it.
• 5:26
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 5:27
  Speaker A: Not that it's. To be fair, it's not like it's a super popular movie with tons of discourse anyways. But still, I was like, why is the. I don't understand. It made me question myself even more. Like, am I missing something? And again, maybe it literally just is. Maybe I'm overthinking it and it really just is. His original plan was, yeah, he doesn't change, he stays an asshole. And the moral of the story is don't be like this guy. I guess maybe it just seems like such a stark.
• 5:56
  Speaker B: Well, I mean, considering redemption is like the central theme of the entire story.
• 6:01
  Speaker A: Yeah. Seems strange and based on other things we talked about in the episode. It just doesn't seem like that can be the case. But I guess. I don't know, it just. Yeah, we don't need to read it.
• 6:11
  Speaker B: So Charlene went on to say, I think what they could have done instead was take the question of Tiny Tim's fate as an opportunity to. To talk about the ending in general. I could see Dickens taking the perspective that he wanted to add some realism with Tiny Tim's death because Scrooge's redemption was already such a fantasy. And quote, it's a shame people in the real world don't change to later discover that yes, they can. Happy family reconciliation, etc. It's still kind of clunky, but at least doesn't have the glaring plot hole of a draft where the entire point of the story is somehow missing.
• 6:45
  Speaker A: I agree.
• 6:46
  Speaker B: As I said, I didn't watch, so I have no idea. But your descriptions of the Oliver Twist esque memories made me imagine the director asking himself, what would Baz Luhrmann do?
• 6:57
  Speaker A: It's not entirely off. It's not super Baz Luhrmann. It's not as bombastic as Bazaar.
• 7:04
  Speaker B: But I will say that like, something about, like the way that it was shot and like the color grading maybe did feel a little Baz coated.
• 7:13
  Speaker A: Yes, a little bit. Yeah. But it's. The presentation is not quite the same style as Baz Luhrmann. It's not as maximalist. It's more so just. It was incredibly melodramatic and overwrought in a way that Baz Luhrmann also does, but he also has like a visual style that is also wildly overly melodramatic in a way that those scenes kind of had, but not. It's hard to describe. I'D have to go back and review them.
• 7:39
  Speaker B: But our last comment on Patreon was from Nathan, who said the book was better crafted. So I suppose that is my pick. I will say I didn't enjoy reading the book because it exposes how depressing the life of Dickens really was. He had an impoverished, miserable childhood, an early adulthood beset by stress from having to constantly write in order to avoid the consequences of his debt. When he finally manages to pull himself out of the debt and stress, he turns out to be a giant asshole who fights with his business partners and cheats on his wife with a child. No part of Dickens life was good. This wasn't the intent, but the book made me hate Charles Dickens. You know, I. Again, I don't know everything there is to know about Charles Dickens. I don't think he doesn't strike me as that likable of a guy. Yeah, like, I. I don't think, like, brilliant, maybe.
• 8:30
  Speaker A: Sure.
• 8:31
  Speaker B: Likable. I don't know.
• 8:33
  Speaker A: Brilliant people were assholes.
• 8:34
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 8:34
  Speaker A: And not likable.
• 8:37
  Speaker B: The movie was much more enjoyable, but having read the book, it had the specter of how Dickens life actually went and ended hanging over it, which really hurt its appeal. We shall see next time if knowing too much about Dickens will ruin my enjoyment of A Christmas Carol.
• 8:51
  Speaker A: We shall see. Indeed. And there are some connections between. Which we'll talk about here in a minute, but between the man who Saved Christmas, or who saved the man who Invented Christmas and A Christmas Carol. Or this version of A Christmas Carol.
• 9:04
  Speaker B: Interesting.
• 9:04
  Speaker A: We'll get there.
• 9:06
  Speaker B: Over on Facebook, we had one vote for the book, one for the movie, and one listener who couldn't decide. And Terry, my mom said, I haven't read the book yet, but I really like the movie.
• 9:18
  Speaker A: I think your mom will like the book more.
• 9:20
  Speaker B: I think you're right. I do think you're right. And Miladin said, hello, Brian and Katie, it's been a while since I commented on one of your episodes. Life Happens and other things required my attention.
• 9:32
  Speaker A: That's fair.
• 9:33
  Speaker B: Anyway, regarding the episode, I choose neither. I watched the movie and enjoyed it. That was mostly due to Dan Stevens performance as Charles Dickens. As far as accuracy goes, that went out the window in the beginning where he's praising America. And I would have to be drunk to believe that as a Christmas movie, it checks out all the beats. It's very vibrant and colorful. The main protagonist deals with internal and external problems. His problems get solved with a happy ending. If it's Christmas horror, then we can end on a Tragic or sad? Note the standard non horror Christmas themed movies always have a happy ending. Furthermore, it felt too close to the Christmas Carol story. There were nodes, references and characters talking to the creator. I would much rather watch the adaptation. I haven't read the book after listening to the episode. It sounds more intriguing than the movie it's based on. As someone who loves history, I want to read it. Bonus Question what are your thoughts on the upcoming light hearted not violent as Rambo 4 and 5?
• 10:37
  Speaker A: Not as violent.
• 10:38
  Speaker B: Not as violent as Rambo 4 and 5 first blood prequel movie?
• 10:44
  Speaker A: I have no thoughts because this is the first I'm hearing.
• 10:46
  Speaker B: Yeah, I have not heard anything about that.
• 10:47
  Speaker A: Had not heard that they were making a prequel to First Blood. So it depends on what. Yeah, I have no idea. I think maybe light hearted may not be the. I think Miladin is translating from non English into English here. And maybe lighthearted.
• 11:05
  Speaker B: Maybe not quite the right.
• 11:07
  Speaker A: Quite the right term because they do say not as violent as Rambo 4 and 5. I will say to be fair, I have only seen First Blood and I think whatever the one was that came out in like 2020, I think it was just called Rambo. Maybe those are the only two Rambo movies I have seen. So I don't have much of a comparison. We talked about obviously a lot in the First Blood episode of. I thought that movie was great and I still think that may be one of our best episodes personally. But I was surprised of how different First Blood is from kind of the cultural perception of Rambo as a character. And so I'd be interested to see if the prequel is going like what direction because. Because the, the. Your notes here of the upcoming light hearted parenthetical not as violent as Rambo 4 and 5. I could interpret that two different ways. Meaning one, it's not as violent, thus it's going to be like, like softened and not as impactful. Or that could mean that it's maybe trying to get back to the roots of what First Blood was because I know the later sequels got kind of bombastic and just became action movies. And maybe they're saying it's going to be more like not lighthearted but more like character focused and like the first movie is. And not as violent because the first movie while having some violent scenes isn't actually that violent. It's not a big action movie. It's more of a character study. And so maybe that's what they're getting at. That could be interesting. A prequel seems weird. It seems unnecessary because like not you don't need to know the specifics of his past in First Blood in order for that movie to work. And, in fact, I think it might work better not knowing the exact events that preceded that, other than knowing, you know, generally that he was a soldier in Vietnam or whatever and did horrible things and blah, blah, blah. And he has ptsd. I think maybe leaving that up to your imagination of what that is maybe is stronger than and explicitly depicting that backstory. I don't know.
• 13:17
  Speaker B: I don't. I was just skimming an article about it, and it really did not tell me anything about what the movie is.
• 13:23
  Speaker A: So, like I said, I have not heard anything about. This is literally the first I'm hearing about there being a prequel or anything to First Blood that they're working on. It's titled John Rambo featuring Noah Centineo as Rambo during the Vietnam War. Yeah. Origin story before First Blood. I'm trying. It's directed by Shalmari He Lander. I've never heard of this person. I'm just gonna give a quick look at this director to see if I think they have the right. Oh. So I've never actually seen any of this guy's movies, but I've heard they're interesting. So he did Sisu, which I think he's. He's like, Finnish. Yeah, he's finished. He did Rare Exports, which I've heard interest is an interesting movie. And he did a movie called Big Game and then a movie called Sisu, which I believe stars, which I think are, like, mostly, like, war movies and stuff. So he might have the right pedigree for it. I think Sisu is like more of a character study piece kind of thing. I don't know. Anyways, could be interesting.
• 14:35
  Speaker B: I guess. We'll see.
• 14:36
  Speaker A: We'll see. But I. I guess at a. Like I said, kind of at a first blush, my thought is, why are you making a prequel to Rambo? I mean, other than finance. Like, I get why, but, like, narratively, thematically, I don't think you need to make a prequel. In fact, I think it could be detrimental to kind of. I think it's kind of pointless, but maybe not saying it's impossible to do well, but I would be surprised if it is. Good.
• 15:02
  Speaker B: All right, well, over on Instagram, we had one vote for the book and one for the movie, and Tim Wahoo said everyone else is going to pick movie, and you were wrong, Tim. The book actually won this poll with five votes to the movies, two, plus our one listener who could not decide.
• 15:22
  Speaker A: Yep, There you go. And, yeah, a little depressed turnout this week, which makes sense because this is one. I had never heard of this before, so it doesn't surprise me that it wasn't a particularly popular episode. So. All right, thank you all, though, for all of your feedback. We love discussing it and hearing what you have to say. Katie, it's time to preview A Christmas.
• 15:41
  Speaker C: Carol from Turner Network Television and Hallmark Entertainment. A Christmas Carol.
• 15:48
  Speaker B: Damn you.
• 15:48
  Speaker A: Merry Christmas.
• 15:50
  Speaker C: A story of a man consumed by grief, a mind clouded by ignorance, a soul drowning in bitterness.
• 15:58
  Speaker A: What reason have you to be merry? You're poor. I've always thought of Christmas as a time for good, not a time for profit. Nephew, you keep Christmas in your way, let me keep it in mine. Haven't we done this before? No, we haven't done this before.
• 16:10
  Speaker B: We haven't, because when we. The last time we recovered A Christmas Carol, we were not doing prequels yet.
• 16:16
  Speaker A: We didn't do prequels then. You're right. There you go.
• 16:20
  Speaker B: So A Christmas Carol in Prose being a ghost story of Christmas, classic title. Yes. Is an 1843 novella by British author Charles Dickens. And we talked about both A Christmas Carol and Charles Dickens pretty extensively in our last episode, but we're going to preview this one again. So. Published on 19th December of 1843. Like I said, the first edition of A Christmas Carol sold out by Christmas Eve of that year. So six days later. And then by the end of 1844, a year later, 13 editions had been released.
• 17:04
  Speaker A: Thirteen editions. What are they changing?
• 17:07
  Speaker B: Not additions in the sense that they're changing things, but like other print runs.
• 17:10
  Speaker A: Oh, okay.
• 17:12
  Speaker B: So they had printed at 13.
• 17:14
  Speaker A: I guess that is what additions means.
• 17:15
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 17:15
  Speaker A: Sometimes I. I was thinking in the context of, like, when I think, like, oh, it's a. The second edition.
• 17:20
  Speaker B: Like a textbook.
• 17:20
  Speaker A: Like a textbook where they change things, but. Yes. Yeah.
• 17:25
  Speaker B: So a little backstory. But at the end of 1842, Dickens was a pretty well established author. He had six major works under his belt. He was pretty popular. But in December of that year, he began publishing his novel, the Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, which is a hell of a name. And he was publishing that as a monthly serial, and he really liked it, but nobody else did, and the sales were really disappointing. And he was facing some financial difficulties. So to try and make some fast cash, Dickens decided to write a Christmas book which would become A Christmas Carol. His publishers were not as enthusiastic about the idea, so Dickens decided to fund the publication of the novella himself in exchange for A share of the profits, unfortunately, largely due to the structure of the publishing industry and copyright law at the time, Dickens didn't actually see much profit from A Christmas Carol, not as much as he hoped he would. But in 1849, he began doing public readings of the story, which were super successful. So he continued doing that until his death in 1870. And then as I was perusing the Wikipedia page, which we actually see, we.
• 18:55
  Speaker A: See a live reading of Dickens do a live reading of A Christmas Carol in that episode of Doctor who.
• 19:00
  Speaker B: Yes, yes. So as I was perusing the Wikipedia page for A Christmas Carol, I did find a few follow ups on some questions we had during last week's episode. So, on the subject of Ebenezer Scrooge, it is possible that his name came from a tombstone that Dickens had seen on a visit to Edinburgh. The grave was for one Ebenezer Lennox Scroggy.
• 19:33
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 19:34
  Speaker B: Whose job was given as mealman. He was a corn merchant. Supposedly, Dickens misread the inscription as Mean Man. However, this theory has also been described as, quote, yeah, a probable Dickens hoax for which no one could find any corroborating evidence.
• 19:54
  Speaker A: Yeah, that seems so too convenient.
• 19:56
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 19:57
  Speaker A: I mean, I assume that based on that comment or that note there, that that grave does exist.
• 20:03
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 20:04
  Speaker A: And that it does say Meal man on it. But the idea that Dickens misread it as Mean man and then decided to name. Like, even if he was inspired by that name, even if he saw it and was inspired by that name to make his character name his character Ebeneezer Scrooge, I find it unlikely that part of the reason behind that was because he misread it as Mean Man. Yeah, that seems silly to me. You know what I mean?
• 20:33
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 20:33
  Speaker A: What seems more likely is he saw this thing, was like, oh, that's an interesting name. That would be a good name for a character.
• 20:38
  Speaker B: Right. You know, and probably wrote it down like we saw him do in the movie.
• 20:43
  Speaker A: I just. The idea that he misread it as Mean man seems apocryphal.
• 20:49
  Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. Speaking of names, when Dickens was young, he lived near a tradesman's premises with the sign Googe and Marnie, which some people think may have provided inspiration for the name Marley.
• 21:05
  Speaker A: Sure, sure. I mean, maybe.
• 21:08
  Speaker B: Yeah, maybe for the vision of the chained Marley, supposedly he drew on a memory of a visit to the Western Penitentiary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he saw fettered prisoners. Okay, supposedly. And then finally, the two figures of want and ignorance sheltering in the robes of the ghost of Christmas Present were apparently inspired by children Dickens saw on his visit to a ragged school in the East End of London. I don't know if ragged school is the way that the person who wrote that decided to write it, or if ragged or if that's like a Victorian term.
• 21:53
  Speaker A: Term. Yeah.
• 21:54
  Speaker B: Like, I have no idea.
• 21:55
  Speaker A: Like a general term that people use. Like, it means something specific, basically. Probably just means like a school for, like, orphans or something.
• 22:02
  Speaker B: Probably, yeah. Street children.
• 22:04
  Speaker A: Street children, yeah.
• 22:07
  Speaker B: So most contemporary critics reviewed A Christmas Carol favorably. The Illustrated London News.
• 22:14
  Speaker A: We know at least one did.
• 22:15
  Speaker B: Yes, I have. I have a quote from him in a minute.
• 22:19
  Speaker A: Amazing.
• 22:19
  Speaker B: The Illustrated London News described how the quote, impressive eloquence, its unfeigned lightness of heart, its playful and sparkling humor, its gentle spirit of humanity, all put the reader in good humor with ourselves, with each other, with the season, and with the author. A critic from the Anatheum, a literary magazine, considered it, quote, a tale to make the reader laugh and cry, to open his hands and open his heart to charity, even toward the uncharitable, a dainty dish to set before a king. And William Makepeace Thackeray, writing in Fraser's magazine.
• 23:03
  Speaker A: That's the guy, right?
• 23:04
  Speaker B: Yes, that's the guy. Described the book as, quote, a national benefit and to every man or woman who reads it, a personal kindness. The last two people I heard speak of it were women. Neither do the other or the author. And both said by way of criticism, God bless him, well, there you go. So most people liked. Did sell hand over fist across the pond. Because Dickens had criticized the United States in his books American Notes and also in Martin Chuzzlewit, that made American readers reluctant to embrace his work. But by the end of the Civil War, the book had gained wide recognition in American households. In 1863, the New York Times published in a late but enthusiastic review, it's.
• 23:51
  Speaker A: About 20 years after it came out.
• 23:52
  Speaker B: Yeah, not the author brought, quote, old Christmas of bygone centuries and remote manor houses into the living rooms of the poor of today. And the novella did capture the zeitgeist of the early Victorian revival of the Christmas holiday. This is around the same time that the Christmas tree was introduced in Britain and its use was being popularized by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, as mentioned in the movie. Also, in the early 19th century, there had been a revival of interest in Christmas carols following a decline in popularity over the previous hundred years or so. Flashing forward, talking about some of, like, a little tiny bit of the cultural impact of a Christmas carol, the phrase bah humbug as well as the name Scrooge have both become ensconced in the popular lexicon. And while Dickens did not invent the phrase Merry Christmas, the novella did pop.
• 24:50
  Speaker A: He also didn't invent Bahambug. Right. That was a thing.
• 24:55
  Speaker B: I have no idea.
• 24:55
  Speaker A: I thought. I remember reading. I think I saw a video recently of somebody talking about how that was a thing already that had a. That was a phrase that had very.
• 25:04
  Speaker B: Well, my. Yeah.
• 25:05
  Speaker A: And it's also. I think in this. I think this video I saw was talking about that the phrase itself has a specific meaning that is kind of different than what people tradition. I would have to go find. I don't remember any specifics, but that the. The actual meaning of the phrase is slightly different than like, the general, like, idea that it just means, like, boo on this frivolity or whatever. Or like the idea, you know, like humbug in this context just means like, ah, fuck Christmas or whatever. Like, kind of like. I'm trying to think of a word that would be doing a similar thing. Point being, this video is making the point that it actually has a slightly more subtle and nuanced meaning that actually adds to what the point of the story is. But I do not remember the specifics. It was a video I saw like a week ago, randomly.
• 25:57
  Speaker B: All right, well, so Dickens also did not invent the phrase Merry Christmas, but the novella did popularize it amongst the Victorian public and is likely the reason that we still say it to this day. Christmas Carol has been dramatized and adapted countless times for virtually every medium and performance genre. And we get new versions of it pretty regularly since its publication in 1843. It has never been out of print. So that's something.
• 26:29
  Speaker A: There you go. Fantastic. Okay, so I quickly googled humbug. A humbug is a person or object that behaves in a deceptive or dishonest way, often as a hoax or in jest term was first described in 1751 as student slang and recorded in 1840 as a nautical phrase. It is now often used as an exclamation to describe something as hypocritical nonsense or gibberish. When referring to a person, a humbug means a fraud or imposter, implying an element of unjustified publicity or spectacle. And so in Christmas Carol Ba Humbug, he's declaring Christmas to be a fraud and is the point is like, he's. He's saying that this is all, like, performative and that this isn't a genuine expression of, like, charity or whatever. And so that kind of. It's not just like an exclamation.
• 27:17
  Speaker B: That means it's a little more subtle.
• 27:18
  Speaker A: Than Christmas or whatever. Like, in modern, like, when you hear somebody say humbug these days, you kind of just interpret it as like. Yeah, a modern way of saying, like, Christmas, basically. But there's more to it than that. It's like an explicit rejection of, like, the performative nature of.
• 27:40
  Speaker B: I'm gonna start using that to describe stuff, like, everything.
• 27:43
  Speaker A: Yeah. Anyways, it's interesting. All right. That is our little preview of A Christmas Carol, the novella. It's now time to learn a little bit about A Christmas Carol. 1999. Ebenezer, I'm here to warn you.
• 28:00
  Speaker C: You will be haunted by three spirits.
• 28:03
  Speaker A: This is all humbug.
• 28:05
  Speaker C: His journey will help him rediscover the spirit of Christmas, find the rewards of kind, and bring true meaning into an empty life.
• 28:14
  Speaker A: I know this place. There was a boy here.
• 28:17
  Speaker C: There are only shadows of things that have been. They can't see us or hear us.
• 28:22
  Speaker A: Dance for us, Mr. Percy Bear. A Christmas Carol 1999 was made in 1999 as a TV movie directed by David Jones, who's known for 84 Charing Cross Road, Betrayal, and then tons of random episodes of tv. Primarily a TV director, but did do a couple movies, is written by Peter Barnes, who wrote a handful of episodes of Merlin, Enchanted April and was the writer on the 1999 Alice in Wonderland TV movie that we did. I think I might now, when I saw that, I was like, oh, I think I remember when we did that. I might have mentioned that he wrote the 1999 Christmas Carol. The Patrick Stewart.
• 29:04
  Speaker B: This was your childhood version?
• 29:05
  Speaker A: Yes, this was my version of A Christmas Carol that I watched because my dad was a big Next Generation fan. And so Patrick Stewart showed up in A Christmas Carol. We watched that one.
• 29:16
  Speaker B: 1999. Big year for Peter Barnes.
• 29:19
  Speaker A: Yeah. The film stars Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant, Joel Gray, Dominic West, Kenny Doughty, Laura Frazier and Celia Emery, among others. It might be. Er. I don't. Because I don't. I think that's an I, actually. Anyways, it has a 72% on rotten tomatoes. It does not have a Metacritic score. I assume something related to the fact that it's a TV special, TV miniseries kind of thing. And a 7.4 out of 10 on IMDb. Patrick Stewart was nominated for best performance in a miniseries or TV movie by the Screen Actors Guild and Ian Wilson was nominated for Outstanding Cinematography at the Emmys that year. So the film was. And I don't have much in at all in the way of production because team made for TV movies like this, there's just not really copious amounts of like information about the production process and stuff like that. There's probably a making of documentary I could have gone and watched and paraphrased bits from, but. Or maybe not. I don't even know. So. The film though was greenlit after Patrick Stewart wrote and starred in a very successful run of one man shows of A Christmas Carol on Broadway and in the West End in the late 90s.
• 30:29
  Speaker B: Did he play all the characters?
• 30:30
  Speaker A: He played over 30 characters all by himself. Yes.
• 30:32
  Speaker B: I need to know if there's a recording of that.
• 30:34
  Speaker A: I would hope there is, but he was the one who wrote it and yes, starred in it playing all the characters. This specific version of the film, of the story took direct inspiration from the 1951 film version, according to Wikipedia. Specifically it says in its set design and kind of the. The vibe of it, it's a little more spooky than some of the other. This is what this one thing said than some of the other versions of the story. And I think this is one IMDb trivia fact and this is the connection to the man who invented Christmas. Ian McNeese plays Albert Fezziwig in this film. He was Edward Chapman, who's one of the publishers in the man who Invented Christmas. And Annette Bedlund, who plays Mrs. Fezziwig in this, also played Mrs. Fezziwig in the man who Invented Christmas. So in the man who Invented Christmas, they were clearly doing like a, a little nod, a little nod, pulling some of the people from this version and there may be other people in the man who Invented Christmas from other versions. I didn't look that up.
• 31:38
  Speaker B: You know what I mean?
• 31:39
  Speaker A: This may have been the two people from this version that they pulled in. There may be people from other versions that they pulled into that kind of as a fun little, you know.
• 31:47
  Speaker B: Well, we know the guy who played Charles Dickens in that episode of Doctor who was in it.
• 31:52
  Speaker A: So Simon Callow was. Yeah, he was in it briefly. He plays the, the artist who makes the COVID But yeah, he played Dickens in Doctor who. So yeah, they, they definitely in that one cast a bunch of people who have been in.
• 32:05
  Speaker B: Yeah. Related properties.
• 32:07
  Speaker A: Yeah. Christmas Carol versions throughout the years. So. Which is a fun idea for sure. And then finally getting to a couple reviews that I found. Michael Spear of Variety praised the cast and direction, writing quote, oft told tales are difficult to pull off, but this one gets it right. Director David Jones displays a smooth hand that adds mounds of style to the rendition, and his approach to Peter Barnes's script is a tribute to delicate staging. Stewart as Scrooge is such a perfect piece of casting that it will be hard to imagine anyone else as the sour old tightwad in years to come. End quote. And then in a. More I think that was from a contemporary review at the time. In a Modern Review in 2019, writing for Den of Geek, Robert Keeling called it, quote, a steadfastly faithful adaptation, but said it lacks any warmth and while it does the darker stuff quite well, it doesn't really exude Christmas spirit. It feels like we're being lectured about Dickens story rather than being given an entertaining film. Marley's Ghosts is pretty creepy, and the three ghosts are on the whole, nicely done, but the scenes involving Christmas yet to come don't feel spooky enough at all. Richard E. Grant is fine as the hard done by clerk Bob Cratchit, but his children are especially irritating with Tiny Tim vying for the coveted most Irritating and Poorly Acted award with his fellow 1938 and 1984 Tiny Timbs. The sets are impressive and the attention to detail can't be faulted, but it just lacks any sense that of fun, end quote. So differing opinions there on it. I don't remember. So before we get to the end here, as always, you can do us a favor by heading over to Facebook, Instagram, threads, bluesky, Goodreads, any of those places interact so we can hear what you have to say about all this stuff. We love to hear your comments and feedback on episodes. You can also head over to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, drop us a nice little review and Support us@patreon.com ThisFilmIsLit we just put out last night our episode for our bonus episode for December where we're covering four different Rankin Bass Christmas specials. We did Jack Frost, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, the Year Without a Santa Claus, and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. If you want to hear us talk about all of those, Support us@patreon.com thisfilmos and you can do that. I don't know where can people watch this.
• 34:17
  Speaker B: Katie well you can check with your local library. I don't know what the odds are on that one seem low. Yeah or a local because I actually.
• 34:24
  Speaker A: Don'T know if this got print.
• 34:26
  Speaker B: Yeah I have no idea as a.
• 34:27
  Speaker A: Made for TV movie I don't even know if this ever got like a.
• 34:29
  Speaker B: I mean 1999 it probably did itself.
• 34:32
  Speaker A: Have gotten it but Yeah, I don't know.
• 34:34
  Speaker B: Yeah, I don't know what your odds are on that. Otherwise, you can rent this for around $4 from Amazon, Apple TV, YouTube or Fandango at home.
• 34:43
  Speaker A: Yeah. This might even be one where, because of the weird nature of it, you might even be able to find it, like, on YouTube.
• 34:49
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 34:49
  Speaker A: In full or something like that. Maybe. I don't know. I haven't looked. But it wouldn't surprise me if this is the kind of thing that is just like, on YouTube. Somebody uploaded it from their VHS rip or something like that and, like, nobody cares enough to, like, take it down. Who knows? But. So despite this being one of the ones that I. That I watched as a kid, I remember nothing about this because I did see it a couple of times, like when I was 11 or whatever when it came out. But it's not like a thing I watched every year or anything like that. I just remember that I did watch this when it came out because specifically my dad was like, we're Captain Jean Luc Picard. He's playing Scrooge. I was like, okay. No, I'm interested to see how I feel about it or if it's any good, because I love Patrick Stewart. I think he's great. And I think it's like that one review said. I think it makes sense casting wise. I think he could. He seems like he should play a good Scrooge. And it's very. I'm very interested to see Richard E. Grant playing Cratchit because he's a guy that I could imagine in a modern version playing Scrooge. Like Richard E. Grant very much. He shows up in Doctor who occasionally, but he played one of the villains in, like, one of the Christmas specials of Doctor who. And he's not playing Scrooge, but he's playing, like a similar style. He played that one. I can't remember his name, but in one of the ones where, like, the snow comes to life.
• 36:08
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah, I know what you're talking about.
• 36:09
  Speaker A: You know what I'm talking about. It's one of the Matt Smith.
• 36:11
  Speaker B: The Evil Snowmen.
• 36:12
  Speaker A: Yes. I think that's a Matt Smith episode. I'm pretty sure it's like one of the final Matt Smith.
• 36:16
  Speaker B: It's got Christmas Special.
• 36:17
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 36:18
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 36:18
  Speaker A: He plays that villain which kind of has a Scroogy energy.
• 36:22
  Speaker B: Scrooge like villain.
• 36:23
  Speaker A: And it's so funny to me seeing that he plays Cratchit in this because obviously, you know, such kind of different roles. So I'm interested to see him as Cratchit in this because I've usually see him play villains and stuff. He also, I think he plays like a First Order in in one of the Star Trek or Star wars sequel movies. I'm pretty sure he's like one of the First Order officers or something like that. So he very often plays villains. And so seeing him play Cratchit I think will be interesting. But yeah, it'll be a lot of fun. Come back in one week's time, right before Christmas proper. We'll be talking about a Christmas Carol 1999. Until that time, guys, gals, non binary pals, and everybody else keep reading books, keep watching movies, and keep being awesome. Sam.