Last Christmas I set myself
the target of watching a different version of A Christmas
Carol every day during December. This could also include radio
broadcasts, audio books, and even a play (which was terrible). I had intended
to write a book about the adaptations and possibly turn it into a guide to the
best and worst. However, I eventually decided that I didn’t really want to do
this after all, as it began to spoil my enjoyment of one of the best known
Christmas stories of all time. It numbed me against the story to such an extent
that I didn’t cry at the end of The Muppet Christmas Carol,
which I’m sure you all do every year. It’s strange how they keep making films
based on this story really, as people generally moan about remakes. Most films
tend not to stray too far from the story, keeping it in Victorian London,
although Scrooged must now be regarded as a
classic. A few years ago on television I saw Ross Kemp in a modern day take on
the story with him playing a bailiff on a rough estate. It was exactly what
Dickens would have written nowadays, the poverty and desperation of a poor part
of London.
The best version of the story
of course, and funnily enough one of the most faithful to the book, is The Muppet Christmas Carol, which we watched last night.
This Christmas I have tried to keep away from the story, although I have
watched a couple of versions, but I have saved myself for The Muppets. I
especially like the way that it isn’t played as a Muppet film in the usual
sense of what a Muppet film is. It is played so straight (with the possible exception
of Statler and Waldorf as Jacob and Robert Marley) that the fact that they are
all puppets is purely incidental. Michael Caine is playing one of the best
roles of his career, and the whole presentation serves as the best possible
tribute to the memory of Jim Henson. My only wish is that they hadn’t removed
the song ‘When Love Is Gone’ from the DVD release. I have quickly looked into
it and realise that some DVD editions do have the song, so it is pot luck. I
know for a fact that the VHS video has the song included, but while we still
have the video somewhere, we no longer have a video player. What makes it more
ridiculous is that the song is reprised in the finale as ‘When Love Is Found’.
Anyway, we watched it last
night and fully enjoyed it. The first ‘eye-swell point’ being of course the bit
towards the end when Beaker takes off his scarf to give to Scrooge.
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