Build a movie plot around this: Whom did Scrooge get engaged to? Belle
The film opens with Jacob Marley's funeral procession as his death is mentioned by the narrator (Roger Rees). This scene then changes to seven years later, on Christmas Eve in 1843 within the business establishment of Scrooge and Marley. Bob Cratchit (David Warner), a clerk employed by Scrooge, comments that Marley has been dead for seven years, but is gruffly ordered to return to work by Marley's surviving partner, Ebenezer Scrooge (George C. Scott). Bob then attempts to add some coal to an almost nonexistent fire, but is stopped by Scrooge, who gives him a curt and cutting lecture on clothing as protection against the cold, and that "coal burns; coal is momentary, and coal is costly". Scrooge then declares that there will be no more coal burned in the office that day, and orders Cratchit to return to work lest he be fired.Bob returns to his desk as Fred Hollywell (Roger Rees), Scrooge's nephew, cheerfully enters the office; Scrooge mocks his nephew's cheerful demeanor, calling Christmas a "humbug," a holiday that has never done anyone any good, summing up his view with a very well-known quote, in a mockingly cheerful manner, "If I could work my will, every fool with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips would be boiled in his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart." Despite this declaration, Fred patiently states his own views of how Christmas has benefited him in many ways, even if not with monetary gain. "Though it has not put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, it has done me good; and I say, 'God bless it!'" Bob applauds from his desk in the office, only to be sternly warned by Scrooge that he will spend Christmas unemployed should he make more noise. Fred invites his uncle to dinner, who curtly declines, and dismisses his nephew with, "You are wasting my time."Despite his uncle's rudeness, Fred maintains his good humor, wishing Bob and his family a Merry Christmas as he departs the office. Scrooge then prepares to leave for the Exchange; he grudgingly gives Bob Christmas Day off...