A Christmas Carol (2009)/Transcript

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[Walt Disney Pictures/ImageMovers Digital intro is shown]
[classical Christmas music playing as opening credits appear on screen]
[Scrooge is at the Undertaker’s to verify that the body lying in the coffin is indeed Marley’s.]
Scrooge: Yes.
Quite dead.
As a doornail.
Undertaker: Certificate of death, sir.
[Scrooge signs the Death Certificate. He gives it to the Undertaker who then holds out his hand for payment which Scrooge reluctantly reaches into a small bag for to take out a few coins. The apprentice is readying to put the cover on the coffin.]
Stop!
[to Undertaker’s Apprentice who backs away in fear]
Back away, praddock!
[Scrooge removes the 2 coins over Marley’s eyes]
Tuppence is tuppence.
- Beg your pardon!
- I say!
Delinquents.
Newspaper!
We're hungry, sir!
Please, sir, we're very hungry.
Any morsel.
We're hungry, sir.
- Any scraps.
- We're starving, Please, sir.
We're very hungry.
Oh!
Merry Christmas, from his lordship, the mayor!
- Please, sir.
- Oh, look.
There it is.
[a stray dog steals the young girl and boy’s food that the cook throws out the window; they chase after him] Oi!
Come back here with that!
That's our meat!
Give it back!
That's ours!
Come back here!
- There you are, sir.
- Thanks.
Fresh hot chestnuts.
- How would you like this one?
- That's perfect.
That's a nice fresh eel.
Here is the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
Get lost.
And under which one is the pea?
Boom, boom, boom, boom...
Boom!
Get out of here.
There we are.
Watch this now.
Fred: Merry Christmas, Uncle! God save you.
Scrooge: Bah!
Humbug!
Fred: Christmas a humbug?
Uncle!
You don't mean that.
Scrooge: Merry Christmas. What reason have you to be merry? You're poor enough.
Fred: What right have you to be so dismal? You're rich enough.
Scrooge: Humbug!
Fred: Don't be cross, Uncle.
Scrooge: What else can I be when I live in such a world of fools as this? Merry Christmas. What's Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money. A time for finding yourself a year older and not a penny richer. If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with "Merry Christmas" on his lips should be boiled in his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart!
Fred: Uncle!
Scrooge: Nephew! Keep Christmas in your own way and let me keep it in mine.
Fred: Keep it? But you don't keep it!
Scrooge: Let me leave it alone then. Much good it has ever done you.
Fred: There are many things from which I have derived good and have not profited. Christmas being among them. But I have always thought of Christmas as a kind, charitable time. The only time when men open their shut-up hearts and think of all people as fellow travelers to the grave and not some other race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, Uncle, although it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe it has done me good, and I say, God bless it!
[Bob applauds; Scrooge is displeased, gets up and points his ruler at Bob who quietly goes back to his desk] 
Scrooge: [to Bob] Let me hear another sound out of you, Cratchit, and you’ll keep Christmas by losing your situation! [continuing, to Fred] You're quite a powerful speaker, sir. A wonder you don't go into Parliament.
Fred: Don't be cross, Uncle. Come, dine with us tomorrow.
Scrooge: I'll see you in hell first.
Fred: But why? Why so cold-hearted, Uncle? Why?
Scrooge: Why did you get married?
Fred: Because I fell in love.
Scrooge: Because...
...you fell...
...in love?
Good afternoon.
Fred: I want nothing from you. I ask nothing of you. Why can't we be friends?
Scrooge: Good afternoon.
Fred: I'm sorry, with all my heart, to find you so resolute. But I have made the trial in homage to Christmas, and therefore, Merry Christmas, Uncle!
Scrooge: Good afternoon!
Fred: And a happy New Year!
Scrooge: Good afternoon!
Fred: And a very merry Christmas to you too, Mr. Cratchit.
Bob: Merry Christmas to you, sir.
Scrooge: [sits back down at his desk] There's another one. A clerk making 15 shillings a week...
...and with a wife and family, talking about a merry Christmas.
I'll retire to Bedlam.
[The Poulterer and his associate enter the countinghouse] 
Poulterer: Ah. Good afternoon. Scrooge and Marley's, I believe?
Ah...
Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge or Mr. Marley?
Scrooge: Mr. Marley has been dead these seven years. He died seven years ago...this very night.
Poulterer: Oh...
Well, we have no doubt that his generosity is well represented by his surviving partner. At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge, it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and the destitute. Many thousands are in want of common comfort, sir.
Scrooge: Are there no prisons?
Poulterer: Prisons? Yes, yes, plenty of prisons.
Scrooge: And the union workhouses, are they still in operation?
Poulterer: They are. I wish I could say they were not.
Scrooge: The treadmill in full vigour?
Poulterer: Very busy, sir.
Scrooge: Good! I was afraid something had occurred to stop them in their useful course.
Yes.
Poulterer: At this festive season, a few of us are endeavoring to raise a fund to buy the poor some meat and drink and means of warmth. What shall we put you down for?
Scrooge: Nothing.
Poulterer: Oh, you wish to remain anonymous?
Scrooge: I wish to be left alone! I don't make merry myself at Christmas, and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I support the establishments I have mentioned. And those who are badly off must go there.
Poulterer: Many cannot go there. And, well, frankly, many would rather die.
Scrooge: Then they had better do it and decrease the surplus population. Good afternoon, gentlemen!
Poulterer: Good afternoon.
Scrooge: [to Bob] You'll want all day tomorrow, I suppose?
Bob: Well, if quite convenient, sir.
Scrooge: It's not convenient, and it's not fair. If I were to dock you a half a crown for it, you'd think yourself ill-used. And yet you don't think me ill-used when I pay a day's wages for no work.
Bob: Well, it's only once a year, sir.
Scrooge: Poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every 25th of December. But I suppose you must have the whole day. Be here all the earlier the next morning.
Bob: Sir.
Whoa!
In honour of Christmas Eve!
Whoa!
[Scrooge is walking up the stairs to his mansion and drops his keys] 
Scrooge: Bugger it!
Where are you?
Here!
Why does everything seem to happen to me?
[Scrooge’s door knocker changes to the head of Marley, he backs away] Ah!
Get away!
Get away!
Ha!
[Now inside, he lights a candle to see] 
Scrooge: Balderdash!
I have given myself the willies.
That's what it is.
It's all still a hum...ah!
[Marley's Ghost appears in Scrooge's sitting room]
Oh!
How now!
What do you want with me?
Marley's Ghost: Oh, much.
Scrooge: Who are you?
Marley’s Ghost: Ask me who I was.
Scrooge: Who were you then?
Marley’s Ghost: In life, I was your partner, Jacob Marley.
Scrooge: Can you sit down?
Marley’s Ghost: I can.
Scrooge: Do it then.
Marley’s Ghost: You do not believe in me.
Scrooge: I don't.
Marley’s Ghost: Why do you doubt your senses?
Scrooge: Because the littlest thing can affect them. A slight disorder of the stomach can make them cheat. You may be an undigested bit of beef. A blot of mustard. A crumb of cheese. A fragment of underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are.
Marley’s Ghost: Mercy!
Scrooge: Dreadful apparition, why do you trouble me?
Marley’s Ghost: Man of worldly mind, do you believe in me or not?
Scrooge: I do! I must!
Marley’s Ghost: Woe! Woe is me!
Scrooge: You are fettered in chains. Why?
Marley’s Ghost: [holding up the chain for Scrooge] I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it link by link and yard by yard. Do you recognize its pattern? Can you imagine the weight and length of the chain you bear? It was as heavy and long as this seven Christmas Eves ago. Oh, yours is a ponderous chain.
Scrooge: Jacob, tell me no more. Speak comfort to me, Jacob.
Marley’s Ghost: I have none to give. I cannot stay. I cannot linger anywhere. Mark me, in life, my spirit never walked beyond our countinghouse, never roved beyond the narrow limits of our money-changing hole. Now endless journeys lie before me.
Scrooge: Seven years dead and traveling all the time?
Marley’s Ghost: The whole time. No rest, no peace.
Scrooge: You must've covered a lot of ground in seven years.
Marley’s Ghost: I was blind! Blind! I could not see my own life! Squandered and misused. Oh, woe...oh, woe is me!
Scrooge: But you were always a good man of business!
Marley’s Ghost: Business! Mankind...was my business. The common welfare was my business. Charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all my... 
Hear me!
My time is nearly gone.
Scrooge: I will. But don't be hard upon me, Jacob. Pray.
Marley’s Ghost: I am here to warn you that you have yet a chance at a hope of escaping my fate. A chance of my procuring, Ebenezer.
Scrooge: You were always a good friend to me, Jacob. Thank'ee.
Marley’s Ghost: You will be haunted by three spirits.
Scrooge: That's the chance and hope? I'd rather not.
Marley’s Ghost: Expect the first tomorrow when the bell tolls one.
Scrooge: Couldn't I take them all at once, and have it over with, Jacob?
Marley’s Ghost: Expect the second the next night at the same hour. And the third upon the next night, when the last stroke of 12 has ceased to vibrate. Look to see me no more.
Scrooge: Ah!
Ah!
I'm sorry.
I wish I could help you.
Ah!
Oh!
Ah!
Ah!
[the Ghost of Christmas Past appears] Are you the spirit whose coming was foretold to me?
Ghost of Christmas Past: I am.
Scrooge: Is it possible that you might put your cap on?
Ghost of Christmas Past: Would you so soon put out, with your worldly hands, the light I give?
Scrooge: No, no! No, no!
I'm so sorry.
I meant nothing by it.
I meant no offense.
I just thought I...
Who and what are you?
Ghost of Christmas Past: I am the Ghost of Christmas Past.
Scrooge: Long past?
Ghost of Christmas Past: Your past.
Rise. And walk with me.
Scrooge: But I am mortal and liable to fall.
Ghost of Christmas Past: [places his hand on Scrooge’s chest] Bear but a touch of my hand there...
...and you shall be upheld in more than this.
Scrooge: Whoa!
Good heavens.
I was bred in this place.
I was a boy here.
Ghost of Christmas Past: Your lip...is trembling.
And what's that? On your cheek?
Scrooge: [wiping away a tear] Nothing. Something in my eye.
Ghost of Christmas Past: Do you remember the way?
Scrooge: Remember it?
I could walk it blindfolded.
[a vision of kids on a carriage and sleds are shown]
Giddyup!
Giddyup!
Oh!
Whoa!
Ghost of Christmas Past: These are but shadows of things that have been. They have no consciousness...of us.
Scrooge: I knew them. I know every one of them. They were schoolmates of mine.
Ghost of Christmas Past: Let's go on.
Scrooge: This...
This was my school.
Ghost of Christmas Past: This school is not quite deserted.
A solitary child...
...neglected by his friends...
...is left here still.
Scrooge: I know.
[a young, school-aged version of Scrooge is seen]
Poor boy.
Poor, poor boy.
Ghost of Christmas Past: Let's...see another Christmas.
Fan: [Scrooge is now several years older] Ebenezer!
Ebenezer!
Dear, dear brother!
I've come to bring you home!
Young Scrooge: Home, little Fan?
Fan: Yes, home!
Father is so much kinder than he used to be.
He spoke so gently to me one night.
I was not afraid to ask him if you might come home.
And he said yes!
And he sent me in a coach to fetch you.
And we're to be together all the Christmas long.
And to have the merriest time in all the world!
Young Scrooge: You're quite a woman, little Fan.
Scrooge: She had a large heart.
Ghost of Christmas Past: She died a woman.
And had, as I think...
...children.
Scrooge: Yes, one child.
Ghost of Christmas Past: True. Your nephew.
Scrooge: Yes.
[Scrooge arrives at his former place of employment when he was younger]
Ghost of Christmas Past: Do you know this place?
Scrooge: Know it?
I was an apprentice here!
Why, it's old Fezziwig.
Bless his heart!
it's Fezziwig alive again!
Fezziwig: Yo-ho!
Ebenezer, come on!
Come on!
Dick!
Come on!
It's 6:00.
They're going to be here soon.
Scrooge: Dick Wilkins.
Bless me, yes.
There he is, Dick Wilkins.
He was very attached to me, was Dick.
Fezziwig: Yo-ho, me lads!
No more work tonight.
it's Christmas Eve!
Hooray!
Dick, Ebenezer, let's get cleared away.
We want lots of space.
Lots and lots of space.
Hee-hi!
Whoa!
Maestro!
May I present...?!
Whoo!
Whoo!
Well done!
Well done!
And now, kind fiddler, if you please.
It is time for... Sir Roger de Coverley!
Scrooge: Hey!
Belle: Might I have this dance with you?
Whoo!
Ebenezer, it's your pass. [Belle is dancing with Scrooge]
[We are now in the countinghouse. Belle is having a conversion with a now middle-aged Scrooge who has become bitter and angry]
Belle: Another idol has replaced me.
Middle-Aged Scrooge: Another idol?
What idol?
Belle: A golden one.
Middle-Aged Scrooge: There is nothing on this earth more terrifying to me than a life doomed to poverty. May I ask, why do you condemn, with such severity, the honest pursuit of substance?
Belle: You fear the world too much, Ebenezer.
You've changed.
Middle-Aged Scrooge: Changed?
Perhaps grown wiser, but I have not changed toward you.
Belle: Our contract is an old one. It was made when we were both poor and content to be so.
When it was made...
You were another man.
Middle-Aged Scrooge: [bangs the desk with his fists] I was a boy!
Belle: I release you, Ebenezer.
Middle-Aged Scrooge: Have I ever sought release?
Belle: In words, no.
Middle-Aged Scrooge: In what, then?
Belle: In an altered spirit. In another atmosphere of life. In everything that made my love of any worth in your sight. Tell me, Ebenezer, if this contract had never been between us, would you seek me out now? No.
Middle-Aged Scrooge: You think not?
Belle: I would gladly think otherwise if I could. But if you were free today, would you choose a dowerless girl? A girl left penniless by the death of her parents? You, who weighs everything by gain? I release you, Ebenezer. May you be happy in the life you've chosen.
Scrooge: [visibly uncomfortable about being there] Spirit, remove me from this place.
Ghost of Christmas Past: I told you, these were shadows of things that have been. They are what they are. Do not blame me.
Scrooge: Remove me. I cannot bear it. Leave me!
Take me back!
[Scrooge tries to snuff the ghost out with the snuffer] Haunt me no longer!
[Scrooge then gets rocketed into the air and falls back into his bedroom]
Ah!
Oh!
Ah!
Ah!
Oh, blast!
Ghost of Christmas Present: Enter, Scrooge!
Come in!
Come in and know me better, man!
I am the Ghost of Christmas Present.
Look upon me!
You have never seen the likes of me before?
Scrooge: Never.
Ghost of Christmas Present: Have never walked forth with my elder brothers?
Scrooge: I don't think that I have.
You have many brothers?
Ghost of Christmas Present: More than 1,800.
1,842, to be exact.
Scrooge: Oh.
I see you wear a scabbard, but no sword.
Ghost of Christmas Present: Indeed.
Peace on Earth.
Goodwill toward men.
Scrooge: Spirit, conduct me where you will. 
[Ghost of Christmas Present laughs heartily]
Ghost of Christmas Present: Oh...
Touch my robe.
Scrooge: Oh!
What's happening?
What are you doing?
Ah!
Oh!
Very strange.
Ghost of Christmas Present: Indeed.
Not many mortals are granted - a heavenly perspective of man's world.
Scrooge: Yes.
It's quite beautiful.
Spirit, these poor people have no means to cook their food.
And yet you seek to close the only places in which they can warm their meagre meals every seventh day.
Oh!
Ghost of Christmas Present: Hear me, Scrooge.
There are some upon this earth of yours who claim to know me and my brothers, and do their deeds of ill will and selfishness in our name.
These so-called "men of the cloth" are as strange to me and my kin as if they never lived.
Charge their doings to them, not us.
Scrooge: Aye.
I will.
Smell that?
Cooking goose!
Come on!
Scrooge: I take it this bleak paupers' dwelling is of some significance.
It is all your loyal clerk can afford for his meagre 15 bob a week.
- Mother!
- Papa!
We just came by the baker shop.
And smelled our goose, cooking delicious.
Mrs. Cratchit: Shut the door, please.
What happened to your precious father?
And your brother.
And Martha, she wasn't as late last Christmas Day.
Mother, here she is, Mother.
Here's Martha.
Martha!
Wait till you see our goose.
'Tis a wonderful one.
Mrs. Cratchit: Peter, off with you to the baker's and collect the bird.
And take the children with you.
And pray, no dallying.
Why, bless your heart alive!
Dear, how late you are!
Martha: We had a deal of work to finish up last night and clear away this morning.
Mrs. Cratchit: Never mind.
Long as you're 'ere.
Sit ye down before the fire and have a warm.
No.
No, no, no.
There's Father coming.
Hide, Martha.
You must hide.
Hide, Martha.
Bob: It's cold out there.
Belinda: Hello, Father.
Hello, Timmy.
Bob: Why, where's our Martha?
- Uh...not coming.
Not coming?
Not comin' upon Christmas Day?
Martha: [popping out from the coat "closet"] Here I am, Father!
Belinda: We got you, Father.
Martha: I couldn't bear to see you in a state of disappointment. If only for a giggle.
Bob: It's so lovely to see you, my Martha.
Martha: Come on, Timmy.
I hear the pudding singing in the copper.
Shall we have a look, then?
Mrs. Cratchit: How did little Timmy behave?
Bob: As good as gold.
And better.
Somehow he gets thoughtful sitting by himself so much, and he thinks the strangest things you ever heard.
He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people sawed him in church, because he was a cripple...
...and it might make pleasant for them to remember it upon Christmas Day who made lame beggars walk and blind men see.
I believe he grows more hearty and stronger every day, my dear.
Tiny Tim: The pudding looks delicious!
The whole wash house smells like a pastry cook's shop.
Scrooge: Spirit, tell me, will Tiny Tim...?
Ghost of Christmas Present: I see a vacant seat in the poor chimney corner...
...and a crutch without an owner.
Carefully preserved.
- Hurrah!
- The Christmas goose!
Make space.
Let's get that cover off.
- Oh!
- Lovely!
Well done, Peter.
I don't believe I've ever seen a more magnificent goose cooked.
Mrs. Cratchit: It is a beautiful bird, that's for sure.
But I'll pray that one Christmas, perhaps, the children might taste a turkey.
Bob: Perhaps one day, my dear.
Perhaps one day.
A toast.
To Mr. Scrooge.
The founder of our feast.
Mrs. Cratchit: Ha!
Founder of the feast, indeed.
I wish I had him here.
I'd give him a piece of my mind to feast upon, and I'd hope he'd have a good appetite for it.
Bob: My dear, the children...
it's Christmas Day.
Mrs. Cratchit: Christmas Day, I'm sure.
How can one drink the 'ealth of such an odious, stingy, 'ard, unfeeling man as Mr. Scrooge?
As you know he is, Robert.
Nobody knows it better than you.
Bob: My dear, Christmas Day.
Mrs. Cratchit: I'll drink his 'ealth for your sake and the day's, not for 'is.
A merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
He'll be very merry and very 'appy, I have no doubt.
Bob: A merry Christmas to us all, my dears.
God bless us.
God bless us.
Tiny Tim: God bless us, everyone.
- Merry Christmas and happy New Year.
- God bless.
Scrooge: Kind spirit, say Tiny Tim will be spared.
Ghost of Christmas Present: If these shadows remain unaltered by the future...the child will die.
Scrooge: Die!
No, spirit.
No.
Ghost of Christmas Present: What then?
[reiterating what Scrooge said earlier to the Poulterer and his associate] If he is to die, he had better do it.
And decrease the surplus population.
[we're now at Fred's house where him and his guests are playing a game of charades and making fun of Scrooge at his expense]
- So you're thinking of an animal?
Fred: Yes.
- A live animal?
Fred: Yes.
- A rather disagreeable animal?
Fred: Yes.
- A savage animal?
Fred: Yes.
Wait, wait!
Is it an animal that grunts and growls?
Fred: Yes!
- And lives in London?
Fred: Yes.
- A horse?
Fred: No.
- A cow?
Fred: No.
Fred: A dog?
- A pig?
Fred: No.
- An ass?
Fred: Yes and no.
- Oh!
I know who it is, Fred!
I know!
it's your Uncle Scrooge!
Fred: Yes!
Christmas a humbug?
Now, he actually said that?
Fred: As I live.
And he believes it.
I have no patience with him, Fred.
Fred: I have.
I'm sorry for him.
Who suffers from his ill whims?
Only himself.
He decides to dislike us, won't come and dine with us, and what's the consequence?
He loses a dinner.
- Indeed, he loses a very good dinner.
- Hear, hear.
- A magnificent dinner.
- Great.
Fred: He's certainly given us plenty of merriment, that's for sure, and I think it would be ungrateful not to drink to his health.
He wouldn't take it from me, but he may have it nevertheless.
A merry Christmas to the old man, whatever he is.
Uncle Scrooge.
All: To Uncle Scrooge.
Scrooge: Are spirits' lives so short?
Ghost of Christmas Present: My life upon this globe is very brief.
It ends tonight.
Scrooge: Tonight?
Ghost of Christmas Present: Tonight at midnight.
Hark.
The time is drawing near.
Scrooge: Forgive me...but I see something strange protruding from your skirt.
Is it a foot or a claw?
Ghost of Christmas Present: It might be a claw, for the scant amount of flesh there is upon it. Look here.
Ignorance Boy: Naff off!
Oh, man.
Ghost of Christmas Present: Look here.
Want Girl: You daft old geezer.
Ghost of Christmas Present: Look!
Look!
Down here!
- Go away!
Scrooge: Are they yours?
Ghost of Christmas Present: They are man's.
This boy is Ignorance.
This girl is Want.
Beware them both.
Oh!
Ah!
Ah!
Have they no refuge?
No resource?
Adult Ignorance: Are there no prisons? [a cage with bars drops on him]
Adult Want: Are there no workhouses? [a straitjacket appears on her]
[Big Ben chimes 12 a.m. as the Ghost of Christmas Present dies and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come appears]
Scrooge: Am I in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to C-Come?
You're about to show me shadows of the things that have not happened but will happen.
Is that so, spirit?
Ghost of the Future, I fear you more than any specter I have seen.
But I know your purpose is to do me good.
I am prepared to bear you company.
Lead on.
The night is waning fast.
it's precious time to me.
Lead on, spirit.
- When did he die?
- Last night, I believe.
- Or sometime Christmas Day.
- I thought he'd never die.
- What's he done with his money?
- Hasn't left it to me.
That's all I know.
It is likely to be a cheap funeral.
For the life of me, I can't think of anyone who'd want to attend it.
I don't mind going...
if lunch is provided.
There, yes.
What a frightful fellow.
- All right.
- Good day, gentlemen.
Scrooge: Get ahold of yourself, Ebenezer.
You're having a wobbly.
Whoo!
Oh!
Oh!
[Scrooge has been shrunk by the spirit’s magic allowing him to crawl into a drainage pipe] You won't get me in here.
Christmas pudding, no doubt.
I'm...I'm on Lime Street.
[The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come has spotted him as he emerges from the pipe and continues the pursuit] Oh, come now.
Oh!
Ah!
Whoa!
Mrs. Dilber: Merry Christmas, Joe.
And happy New Year, to be sure.
Old Joe: Come in.
Sit down in me parlour and let's have a look.
Here.
Whoa!
What do you call these, Mrs. Dilber, huh?
Scrooge: Mrs. Dilber?
Mrs. Dilber: Bed curtains.
Old Joe: You mean to say you took them down while he was lying there?
Mrs. Dilber: I do.
And why not?
Old Joe: You was born to make your fortune, and you certainly will do it.
Mrs. Dilber: Well, I shan't hold back my hand when I can get something by it...
Don't you go getting grease on them blankets now.
Old Joe: 'is blankets?
Mrs. Dilber: Whose else do you think?
He won't be feeling the cold without them now, I dare say.
Old Joe: I hope he didn't die of anything catching.
Mrs. Dilber: Don't you be afeard of that.
I ain't so fond of his company that I'd loiter about.
You can look through that shirt till your eyes ache, and you won't find one 'ole in it. It was the best he had.
Scrooge: Mrs. Dilber!
Mrs. Dilber: Would have been wasted, only for me.
Scrooge: You're fired!
[High-pitched] Fired!
Old Joe: How did you mean "wasted"?
Mrs. Dilber: Somebody was fool enough to put it on him to be buried in.
But I took it off him.
This is the end of it, you see.
He frightened everyone away while he was alive.
Only to profit us now that he's dead.
If he'd had somebody to look after him when he was struck with death, instead of lying there, all alone, gasping out his last breath...
...well, we wouldn't have these things to sell now, would we?
Scrooge: [growing back to regular size] Hey!
Whoa!
Spirit!
I see!
I see!
The case of this unhappy man who dies a solitary, lonesome death might be my own.
My life tends that way now.
Merciful heavens!
What's this?
Spirit, this is a fearful place.
When I leave it, I shall not leave its lesson.
Trust me.
Let's go!
I understand.
And I would, if I could, but I have not the power.
Spirit, if there is any person who feels emotion caused by this man's death, show that person to me, I beg you.
[cut to a hallway where Fred and his wife are talking]
Fred's Wife: Are we ruined?
Young Fred: There is hope yet.
Fred's Wife: Hope?
Only if he relents.
Young Fred: He is past relenting.
He is dead.
Fred's Wife: Dead? [Concerned] To whom will our debts be transferred?
Young Fred: I don't know, but by then we'll have the money. And even if we don't, it's unlikely any new creditor will ever be so merciless. We shall sleep tonight with light hearts, my dear.
Scrooge: Let me see some tenderness connected to death, or this chamber will forever haunt me!
Mrs. Cratchit: It's late.
Past your father's time.
He's walked slow these last few evenings.
Oh, he has walked...
...with Tiny Tim on his shoulders... fast, indeed.
But he was very light...
...to carry, and...
...your father loved him so.
- Father.
Mrs. Cratchit: You went today, then?
Bob: Yes, my dear.
I wish you could have gone.
Would have done you good to see how green a place it is.
You'll see it often.
And I promised him I would walk there every...every Sunday. 
[breaking down]
My little child!
My little child.
Young Cratchit Boy: Father, please don't be grieved.
Please, Father.
Bob: I'm all right, love.
I'm quite at peace.
I'm sure none of us will ever forget our poor Tiny Tim.
- Oh, no, Father.
- Never ever.
Bob: Thank you. Thank you, my dears. [Bob walks up the stairs and it appears he’s staring at Scrooge for a brief moment]
Scrooge: Bob. [Bob continues up the stairs]
Specter...something tells me our parting moment is at hand.
Tell me...
...who...was that man we saw lying dead?
[A fierce snowstorm is occurring at the cemetery]
Spirit...
...before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point, answer me one question!
Are these the shadows of things that will be or shadows of things that may be?
Men's courses in life foreshadow certain ends.
But if these courses are departed from, these ends will change.
Isn't that so?
[The ghost reveals Scrooge's name, date of birth and partial date of death on the headstone]
No.
No!
Am I that man who lay upon the bed?
No.
Spirit, hear me!
I'm not the man I was!
Why show me this if I'm past all hope?
Spirit!
Spirit, assure me that I may change these shadows you've shown me!
Change them by an altered life!
No, spirit!
No!
No, spirit!
Good spirit...help me!
Spirit!
Help me, spirit!
Ah!
Help, spirit!
Spirit, I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.
I will not shut out the lessons of the past, nor present, nor future.
Oh, please, spirit, tell me I may sponge away the writing on that stone!
[the ghost forces Scrooge to fall into his empty coffin sitting in a deep grave atop the fires of Hell]
[Scrooge appears in his room hanging from the bed curtains. It’s now Christmas Day]
Still here?
They're still here.
I'm still here.
I'm still here.
I'm still here!
I don't know what to do.
I'm light as a feather, merry as a schoolboy.
[Laughs heartily like the Ghost of Christmas Present] I've heard that laugh before.
[opens his window to get a whiff of fresh air]
Ah!
[to boy with sleigh walking down the alley] I say, what's today?
Boy with Sleigh: Eh?
Scrooge: What's today, my fine fellow?
Boy with Sleigh: Today? Why, Christmas Day.
Scrooge: It's Christmas Day? I haven't missed it. The spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like. Of course they can. Of course they can. Hello, my fine fellow. Do you know the poulterer's on the corner?
Boy with Sleigh: I should hope I did.
Scrooge: What an intelligent boy. Do you know whether they've sold the prize turkey that was hanging there? Not the little prize turkey, the big one.
Boy with Sleigh: The one as big as me?
Scrooge: What a delightful child. Yes, my buck.
Boy with Sleigh: It's hanging there now.
Scrooge: Is it? Go and buy it, then!
Boy with Sleigh: [walking away] Walker!
Scrooge: No, no, I'm in earnest. Go and buy it, bring it back here, and I'll give you a shilling. Come back in less than five minutes, and I'll give you a half a crown. [Boy runs off]
I'll send it to Bob Cratchit's. He shan't know who sent it. It's twice the size of Tiny Tim.
Mrs. Dilber.
Merry Christmas!
Mrs. Dilber: [frightened of Scrooge's new demeanor] Oh, my God!
He's gone mad!
Scrooge: Yay!
My dear Mrs. Dilber, you're the loveliest creature I have ever laid eyes upon.
[Starts dancing with her, and she tries to break away] Dance with me, Mrs. Dilber.
Dance with me!
Mrs. Dilber: [Hits him with her feather duster] You're barmy, Mr. Scrooge!
Unhand me!
[Runs away] He's completely deranged!
Help!
Scrooge: What a charming woman.
Mrs. Dilber: Help!
Scrooge: [referring to his door knocker] I shall love it as long as I live.
What an honest face it has.
Ooh!
Boy with Sleigh: Hello.
[the Poulterer has the turkey on his shoulder] Here's the bird.
Scrooge: Hello!
Whoop!
How are you?
Merry Christmas. [gives the boy a coin]
Why, it's impossible to carry that to Camden Town.
You must have a cab.
Drive on, my good man!
[Hangs on the back of a carriage] Hilly-ho!
Chirrup!
Yahoo!
Hip, hip!
Chirly-up!
Bob's your uncle!
Fanny's your aunt!
Here's your aunt's fanny.
Live it up, folks!
You'll be a long time dead!
Don't let the worms have all the fun.
[transition to Scrooge dressed in a topcoat and hat walking down the street as he comes across some carolers]
Merry Christmas.
Good morning, sir.
A merry Christmas to you.
Woman: And to you, sir.
Scrooge: Happy holiday!
And a merry Christmas to you.
Woman [as child]: "God bless you, sir." - Thank you, sir.
Glad tidings.
Sir.
Scrooge: [to the Poulterer] My dear sir, how do you do?
I hope you succeeded yesterday.
A merry Christmas to you, sir.
Poulterer: Mr. Scrooge?
Scrooge: Yes.
That is my name, and I fear it may not be pleasant to you.
But allow me to ask your pardon.
And will you have the goodness... [whispers something in his ear]
Poulterer: [surprised at what he just heard] Lord bless me!
My dear Mr. Scrooge, are you serious?
Scrooge: And not a farthing less.
A great many back payments are included in it, I assure you.
Poulterer: [taken aback] My dear sir, I don't know what to say to such...
Scrooge: Do not say anything.
I'm much obliged to you.
Many thanks to you.
And bless you.
[Scrooge arrives at Fred's house for dinner]
Scrooge: Is your master at home?
Fred's maid: Yes, sir.
Scrooge: I'm...his uncle.
Is it an animal that grunts and growls?
Fred: Yes.
- And lives in London?
Fred: Yes.
- A horse?
Fred: No.
Guest #2: A cow?
Fred: No.
A dog.
- A pig.
Fred: No.
An ass.
Fred: Yes and no.
Fred's Wife: I know what it is, Fred!
I know!
Fred: What?
It's your...
[Scrooge walks in the room]
Fred: Uncle Scrooge?
Well, bless my soul.
Scrooge: I've...come to dinner...
...if you'll have me.
Fred: Of course, Uncle!
Welcome!
Welcome!
Merry Christmas!
Everybody, this is my uncle, Ebenezer.
Be good and pass this.
Here you go.
Enjoy.
Scrooge: Next year we must have this dinner at my house.
I insist.
I'll spare no expense.
After all, you can't take it with you, can you?
No, you can't. [Camera pans to the outside of Fred's house]
[Cut to the next day. Scrooge is in the countinghouse sitting at his desk looking at his pocket watch as Bob scurries in]
Scrooge: A full 16 minutes late.
What do you mean by coming here at this time of day?
Bob: I'm very sorry, sir.
I am a bit behind in my time.
Scrooge: You are, indeed.
[Motions for Bob to come over to his desk]
Step in here.
Bob: Well, it's only once a year, sir.
It shall not be repeated.
I was making rather merry yesterday.
Scrooge: Now, I'll tell you what, Mr. Cratchit.
I'm not going to stand for this sort of thing any longer.
And therefore...
and therefore... [Bob has a worried look on his face]
...I am about to raise your salary!
A merry Christmas to you, Bob.
A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I've given you in many a year.
I'll raise your salary, and do whatever I can to help your struggling family.
And we'll discuss your affairs this very afternoon over a bowl of Christmas punch.
But first, let's make up the fires.
I want you to go out...
...and buy another scuttle of coal before you dot another "i", Bob Cratchit. [gives Bob a bag of coins and ushers him out the door]
Off with you, Bob.
We've wassailing to do.
Hilly-ho, Bob!
Bob: Yeah.
Yes, sir.
Right away, sir.
[to the audience] And Scrooge was better than his word.
He did all that he said he would and more.
And to our Tiny Tim, who got well, Scrooge was like a second father.
He became as good a friend, as good a master and as good a man as the good old city ever knew.
And it was always said of him that he knew how to keep Christmas well.
And so, as Tiny Tim observed... [Tim is on Scrooge's shoulders]
Tiny Tim: God bless us, everyone.
[The end; Credits roll]
Category:Complete Transcripts