Customer Reviews

Charles Dickens' The Christmas Carol

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When I received my copy of this DVD, I was surprised to discover that neither the "jewel case" nor the DVD listed any member of the cast, except Vincent Price, the narrator. His portrait fills the front cover of the "jewel case," and there is a thumbnail of this portrait on the disc. Although Vincent Price was a famous actor, may he R.I.P., I thought it odd that he, being the narrator, rather than playing the protagonist, Scrooge, was the only member of the cast even mentioned on the cover, until I watched the movie.

Vincent Price's performance is a stellar example of why his name and portrait are used to market this DVD. His narration, given intermittently as the camera cuts to and focuses on him, is the most spectacular part of this movie. It gave me the impression that he had memorized the entire novel.

The only thing I remember about any of the other footage is that it's more abominable than Dr. Phibes! Except for the footage of Vincent Price narrating this tale, this movie screams, "Low budget, black and white!" The only version I've seen of "A Christmas Carol" that I consider worse is the version produced in 1910, which is not only black and white, but silent, as well.

In the years to come, I will probably play this DVD over and over again just to show off Vincent Price's talent, fast-forwarding through the parts he doesn't appear in.

I only recommend this version of "A Christmas Carol" to two groups of people:

1) hardcore fans of Vincent Price, and

2) collectors of various versions of "A Christmas Carol"

While not HD clean and sharp, I found this version to be the cleanest, sharpest, and best transfer of this 60-year-old TV show thus far. I've seen several from public domain distributors. Sure, its production value is unsophisticated...after all, it's 1949. It's not fair to judge this television version of Dickens' Christmas Carol by the numerous film studio versions.

It's historic and certainly worth owning, as an earlier reviewer noted.

Filmed for TV in 1949, this short story is an abridged version of Dickens' classic work. Most viewers today would not care for this version. It is obviously low budget (even for 1949), and I'm sure the biggest expense was paying Vincent Price to narrate it (which he does very well--as always). Never the less, it is an example of very early television, and it does get the story told.

Amazingly, even though the film is less than 30 minutes long, the important aspects of the story are included. The acting is not always that great. I wasn't too impressed with the first two "ghosts", nor with Marley.

Special effects are non existent except for a thunder-like sound and black-out transitions. It is interesting to note that Dicken's original story does mention the loud thundering/echoing sound of doors as Marley's Ghost approached. This was probably the producers one attempt to add some kind of effects, loosely taken from the pages of the book itself. It doesn't work very well, however. Never the less, I will be watching it again.

Even though this made for early TV film isn't a showcase of exceptional workmanship, it is never the less an interesting addition to the Christmas Carol collection. For those that are either collectors of Christmas Carol films, or those who enjoy early TV (even when it isn't done very well), it's a great DVD to have. By the way, Scrooge is played by Taylor Holmes. The story was adapted by, and directed by Arthur Pierson.

After stumbling across this version on Amazon, it was purchased and recently viewed. It isn't the best version, but I'm glad I bought it as a collector of the older versions.

I guess I enjoyed watching it, but the Scrooge character, well, I don't know what to make of this performance really. I don't really know how to describe the Taylor Holmes portrayal other than... it's different.

For those with a nostalgic spot in their heart for Vincent Price, the frequent cuts to his narration make this a "good buy". The story line itself is somewhat changed and adapted to a short tv spot, the main character a little too "emotive", but still worth the view!