A Christmas Carol Retrospective: Part 8
By: Brett B
Tags: A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, Film Reviews, Movies, Christmas

A Christmas Carol (1982 — Animated for Australian TV)

This version was produced by Burbank Films, an Australian animation company that seemed to primarily make animated retellings of classic stories and fairytales. This was one of a few other adaptations of Charles Dickens stories. I found it for free viewing on Tubi a streaming service that is free through my cable provider. It’s 1 hour and 12 minutes long.

We start with a choir rendition of “Oh Come All Ye Faithful”, but “Hark the Herald Angels Sing!” is not far behind. We’re introduced to Scrooge in his shop where Fred is introduced as well. Going in knowing that this was an Australian production, I was curious what the voice actors would sound like and for the most part it’s okay with everyone at least attepting a British accent, but there are definitely parts where the Aussie accent leaks out. Particularly in some word pronunciation (Merry, often sounds like “meery” and friends comes out as “freends” quite a bit). The animation is nothing too special, everyone is rather stiff and there is little movement in a lot of the frames, most likely due to a low budget. My wife made the comparison to old PBS productions, which I think is a fair assessment.

We see some happy townsfolk on the street and a caroler, and we’re introduced to Scrooge as he walks by a caroler, whose dogs growls at him. He then runs into a boy who stole some bread from a baker. The entire long loaf of bread falls out of the boy’s coat and Scrooge gives him a “Bah!” that sounds kind of like Skeletor as he runs off.

Scrooge arrives at his shop and things go pretty normally. He puts a tiny piece of coal in the fire, Fred arrives and is admonished, then as he leaves the charity guys go through their bit. The one charity guy who speaks the most speaks his lines really slowly for some reason. Maybe it helped with the accent?

Scrooge gives Bob his leave and he spends quick moment ice sliding with some kids, which seems to be another theme developing throughout these moments that is not present in the book. Bob arrives home and we meet the rest of the Cratchits and Bob starts a game of Blind Man’s Bluff with the family (this game happens at Fred’s party in the book).

A brief bit of Scrooge in the tavern (where he lets out another “Bah!”) and he heads home. He sees Jacob’s face on the door knocker (another lame overlay) and he makes his way to his chambers. He says “It’s humbug still” twice as he sits down and bells start ringing, and I wish I had kept count, as this version seems to be way overdoing the humbugs at this point.

Marley shows up and he looks like a member of a metal band, as he has what looks like spiked eye shadow coming out that makes him look kind of like a Kiss-reject. “What do you want with me?”, Scrooged asks two different times with a weird cadence. Marley speaks pretty slowly too.

When Scrooge says there’s more than gravy than of grave about him, Marley pumps his chains above his head, comically reminding me of a Tusken Raider. At this point the animation cheapness is reminding me of the original Scooby Doo series. Marley’s speech goes on way too long. He talks about remorse, how he never had a wife or kids, brings out a banker’s book to show him, etc. More dialogue than he needs to get the point across. At one point he asks Scrooge if he is cold, and Scrooge says he’s frozen. Marley says to put coal on the fire and Scrooge retorts that coal is expensive, so Marley picks up a wooden chair and comically throws it into the fire.

As Marley leaves, Scrooge goes to the window and sees just one spirit begging for help for a mother with an infant out in the cold. The Spirit of Christmas Past appears, and he looks like a young Ken Doll wearing a toga. The toga is also WAY too short, it practically cuts off at his waist, which looks pretty comical.

Scrooge says he won’t go with the Spirit, because he doesn’t know if he can trust him. “Humbug”, the Spirit replies. Now even the ghosts are saying it! Scrooge says it’s too cold, the Spirit tells him he’ll be warm enough after the life he’s led. Scrooge asks if hell is real then, and the Spirit says “Your past is hell enough.” Geez, so far the ghosts are dunking pretty hard on Scrooge.

The Spirit takes Scrooge to see himself as a lonely boy at school. We actually see him reading and we see Ali Baba at the window, a rare occurrence where they show his imagination being his only company. Fan shows up and does her bit and then Scrooge is taken to Fezziwig’s.

Fezziwig tells Scrooge and Dick Wilkins to pack up, as they will start their Christmas party. They move some furniture out of the way and the most disappointing portrayal of Fezziwig’s “party” occurs. It is literally Scrooge, Dick Wilkins, Mr and Mrs. Fezziwig, and two of their daughters with a guy playing a fiddle. It’s hardly a party at all! This couple with the single spirit trying to help the mother earlier drove home that there is no budget in this movie for crowd scenes.

One of the daughters whispers in the fiddler’s ear as if she’s requesting a song and he plays…the same song that he has been playing.

When Scrooge talks about Fezziwig making people happy, we get a flashback to him being mean to Bob, like we forgot already what happened 20 minutes ago.

The Spirit takes Scrooge a little further and sees young Scrooge talking to Belle and says he looks about 35 years old. Scrooge says he was 25 and the ghost reiterates that it looks like a 35 year old’s face. The Spirits usually chastise Scrooge in every version, but this is just getting rude!

Belle breaks it off with him. Scrooge tells her “What you say is humbug”. If we started a drinking game for humbugs, we’d be dead at this point.

Old Scrooge can’t stand to watch anymore. He asks where his chains are as he would rather die a thousands deaths. A little melodramatic, aren’t we?

He’s taken to one more past, which is Belle married with three children. Three brats making a mess, as Scrooge puts it, before changing his description to three children playing happy games. We see Belle as a mother and her husband details seeing Scrooge alone while he was in the city. It’s rare that any version includes that particular seen.

Scrooge awakens in his chair and we see the Ghost of Christmas Present, who kind of looks like Santa with a holly crown. He takes Scrooge into the street and sprinkles his torch on the food of some people. Scrooge says he doesn’t like turkey or pheasant, the Spirit asks what he likes and he says toast and tea. The Spirit seems unimpressed and says he really knows how to enjoy himself. The Spirit stops some people from arguing by sprinkling his torch.

The Spirit flies Scrooge to the Cratchit house and when Bob arrives, Scrooge sheds a tear after watching Tiny Tim. As they watch the Cratchits eat, the Spirit asks if Scrooge is hungry, then sarcastically offers him some toast and tea that he conjured, which Scrooge refuses. They offer a toast to Scrooge and then one to Peter, who will be getting a job soon.

The Spirit asks Scrooge how much he pays his “clark” (it sounds that way with the accent anyway) and Scrooge yells to Bob that he is sorry, but he can’t be heard.

The Spirit flies scrooge to the light house! Everyone but Scrooge has dinner and he is jealous. He says he has no family, so why should he. The Spirit points out that he does have family and takes him to Fred’s.

The “party” is again sparse, with only four people there. But one of them is Topper! (Or “Toppeh” as they pronounce it). They decide to play 20 questions and the clues are a disagreeable animal, which turns out to be Scrooge.

The Spirit takes him to the spooky woods, where he shows him Ignorance and Want (not under his cloak, but just standing near him). They look like just sad, normal children.

Quickly, they all disappear and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives, who looks like a blue floating cloak. Scrooge asks the Spirit if he is the final spirit, its hood shudders and Scrooge comically says “Does that mean yes?”

It takes him to the streets, where the charity guys mention that someone died last week and never gave to any charity in his life. Scrooge is next taken to the tavern, where someone is sitting in Scrooge’s favorite chair. He thinks that he’s working through lunch or they raised their prices.

We see old Joe and the two ladies and undertaker who are selling some of Scrooge’s things. “That man knows how to drive a bargain!”, Scrooge comments.

He’s then taken to his body, and asks to see some tenderness, so Scrooge is taken to see the Cratchits grieving over Tiny Tim. Scrooge is then taken to his business. The charity guys show up and a new person who clearly is not Scrooge is running the business and makes a donation. I guess this is even further in the future, as I’m not sure why someone would already be using his place of business when he apparently just died.

Scrooge asks what becomes of him and he is shown his own tombstone. He grabs the spirit and there is a clear cut intended for a commercial break, and when it returns, he’s grabbing his bedpost, which I admit is a pretty nifty use of a commercial break.

Happy to be back in his normal room, he runs to the window and pays the boy below for a turkey. Everything plays out pretty traditionally from this point, except for one segment where he buys presents to take to Fred (while singing “Hark the Herald Angels Sing!”, the song that continues to haunt me with its frequency). This version has Scrooge waiting until the next day and surprising Bob with a raise and ends there.

This one is a bit of a paradox. It frequently has scenes from the book that many do not, like the lighthouse, Belle and her husband, and Ignorance and Want, but it doesn’t portray many of those scenes very accurately and it has a lot of unnecessary and poorly-written dialogue. The voice acting is mediocre and the animation is pretty poor, even for the 80s. It’s hard to recommend this version at all, except for some of the unintentionally funny moments, like the overly rude spirits.

Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983)

Running at only 26 minutes, this is a short-film that was originally released to play in theaters before a re-issue of the Disney animated film, The Rescuers. (In the pre-VHS days, many films were re-released to theaters every few years to drum up more profits) If it seems like playing a short that long before a feature length one is something from another time, remember that Disney released the movie Coco in 2017, and had a 21 minute long short film featuring Olaf from Frozen that ran before it. Some people were a lot more annoyed by that then I was, because a lot of people went in not knowing there was going to be something that long beforehand. Mickey’s Christmas Carol is available on Disney +, where I viewed it.

This version features a number of Disney characters in the typical roles of the characters featured in a Christmas Carol. In the title role of Scrooge, is appropriately enough, Scrooge McDuck, voiced for the first time in animation by Alan Young, who would continue to play the role for Disney until his passing in 2016, including in every episode of the original DuckTales series.

We start with opening credits and an original song, “Oh, What a Merry Christmas Day”, which is nice and pleasant enough.

A beggar asks Scrooge for a penny for the poor and is met with a “Bah!”. Scrooge sees his “Scrooge and Marley” sign on his business and reflects on Marley being dead for seven years now. He mentions that Marley left him only enough money for his tombstone, and he looks right at the screen and says he had him buried at sea. Scrooge McDuck being cheap is pretty timelessly funny to me.

He enters his business and we meet, Cratchit, portrayed by Mickey Mouse. He chastises Bob for using coal and says he can have half the day of Christmas off, if he docks half his pay. Bob reminds Scrooge that he pays him three shilling and a ha’ penny now. Scrooge remembers that he gave him a “raise” three years ago when he started doing his laundry for him. I’d mention every “Scrooge is ultra cheap” joke, but in only 26 minutes, they have a lot of them!

Fred arrives, portrayed by Donald Duck, which is appropriate, since Donald is literally Scrooge McDuck’s nephew outside of this film. Fred gives him a wreath and invites him to dinner. Scrooge sarcastically acts excited, then throws the wreath over Fred and literally kicks him out the door.

The charity guys show up, portrayed by Ratty and Moley from “The Wind in the Willows”. Rather than rudely dismiss them, Scrooge says if he donates, the poor won’t be poor anymore, and these guys will be out of a job, and he doesn’t want to do that to them. Once he tricks them out the door, he rudely dismisses them. Scrooge McDuck truly is smarter than the smarties.

Scrooge dismissed Bob a generous two minutes early and makes his walk home. His door knocker transforms from the head of a lion into the face of Jacob Marley, he portrayed by Goofy. Scrooge investigates by honking its nose and it lets out an “Ow!” to which scares him to run inside. We get a gag of Marley’s shadow slowly stalking Scrooge up the stairs, until he tickles it with his cane and runs into his chambers.

Marley being portrayed by Goofy has its moments, as he steps in the room and slips on Scrooge’s can in typical Goofy-fashion. He’s depicted with the bandage and chains, so they’ve kept some thing traditional. He gives Scrooge a speech that he must change or suffer his fate and that he’ll be visited by three spirits. As he departs, he falls down the stairs letting out a trademark “Goofy holler”. They had to get it in somewhere!

The Ghost of Christmas past arrives and is portrayed by Jiminy Cricket (who shows Scrooge an “Official Ghost of Christmas Past” medal for verification). He flies Scrooge out the window and into his past. Straight to Fezziwig’s, portrayed by Mr. Toad, and his party goers who are various background characters from Robin Hood, along with Chip and Dale, Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow, and Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Young Scrooge seems like a wallflower at the party, but “Isabelle”, portrayed by Daisy Duck, points out they’re under a mistletoe and then pulls him into a dance.

We jump forward a little to Scrooge in his business, where Belle arrives and tells Scrooge she’s had a honeymoon cottage for years now and wants to know if he is ready to marry. Scrooge tells her she was an hour late on the mortgage payment on it, so he foreclosed it and she leaves heartbroken. Old Scrooge can’t bear watching it, so he’s returned to his bed.

The Ghost of Christmas Present is right outside his bed, portrayed by Willie the Giant from the “Mickey and the Beanstalk” segment of Fun and Fancy Free. He even gives a “Fee, Fi , Fo, Fum!” He truly is a giant, towering above the city, where he carries Scrooge to the Cratchit house.

Scrooge thinks the meal is meager, but says to look at what’s cooking over the fire, but the Spirit says it’s just his laundry. Mrs. Cratchit is Minnie, and we have a little Mortie Mouse as Tiny Tim, who Scrooge is impressed by, but the Spirit gives the vacant chair speach, as Mickey cuts a single pea into multiple “slices” (which is really similar to a gag from Mickey and the Beanstalk).

The Spirit and the Cratchits disappear and Scrooge is enveloped in smoke, which is coming from the Ghost of Christmas Future, as it’s a hulking figure in a robe smoking a big cigar. He asks the Spirit about Tiny Tim, who points to Bob grieving over Tim’s grave. Scrooge asks if the events can be changed, but sees two weasels (the same type from Wind in the Willows) digging a new grave. Scrooge asks who it belongs to. The Spirit pulls back his hood to reveal that he’s portrayed by Pete (the long time Mickey villain), who says “Why yours, Ebenezer. The richest man in the cemetary!” as he smacks Scrooge into the grave which begins to fill with hell-fire. Scrooge screams he’ll change and awakens on his bedroom floor.

Scrooge quickly runs downstairs, dressed madly and sloppily, and quickly comes back seeing he can’t go out like this! The joke being that he forgot his cane. He runs outside to Ratty and Moley, and fills Moley’s hat with coins. He thinks their bewilderment is a sign that it wasn’t enough, and fills Moley’s pants next. He runs into Fred (riding the horse from Wind in the Willows) and wishes him a merry Christmas and promises to be over for dinner.

He comes out of a shop with a bag and comes to Bob’s house. He pretends to be angry with Bob, but finishes by giving him a raise and making him his partner. We end with a “God Bless us, everyone” from Tiny Tim and a reprise of “Merry Christmas Day”.

I’m a bit of an ultra-Disney fan, so I tried to go into this as un-biased as possible. I haven’t seen it since I was very young so I was curious how it held up. From a technical level, it looks great. After the ugly animation of the previous adaptation, this was a real palate cleanser. The characters and backgrounds are vibrant and are great examples of some beautiful hand-drawn animation. The voice acting is all solid, although Goofy will likely sound a little off to many people who are use to the performance that his current voice actor, Bill Farmer, has been doing for many years. A lot of the humor holds up well and there were a number of jokes I know that I find funnier know, particularly the absurd cheapness stuff.

It’s biggest weakness is certainly its length. I honestly wish they would have done a feature length version instead of a short. It doesn’t make for too great of an adaptation of the original story since there a number of scenes omitted purely because of how little run time there is and the themes of the story all feel too rushed because of it. It’s a good bit of fun, but unfortunately not a great Christmas Carol.

This was released in what is often scene as the “Dark Ages” of Disney. They had just released the “Fox and Hound”, which did okay, and were in production of “The Black Cauldron” which would become one of their biggest box office bombs. (If you are interested in Disney history, I highly recommend the documentary “Waking Sleeping Beauty” which is also available on Disney +) I wish we could have a more modernized version of Mickey’s Christmas Carol, as some of the characters they use (particularly the “Wind in the Willows” ones) are probably unrecognizable to many viewers now. With the wealth of characters they have now, I think they could make a really unique and inspired feature-length version of a Christmas Carol utilizing a Disney cast.

Next time I’ll be looking at Scrooged starring Bill Murray and the George C Scott version of a Christmas Carol. Thanks for reading, and have a merry Christmas!