The Muppet Christmas Carol
What’s the best adaptation of a Christmas Carol, you ask? Maybe it’s 1950s Alastair Sim musical Scrooge? Maybe it’s the Emmy-nominated 1984 George C. Scott TV movie? Maybe it’s Robert Zemeckis’ 2009 technical extravaganza?
Video: Brian Henson talks about the making of the film.
Well I’m here to tell you today, for the record, that no, it’s not any of them – it’s the one where Bob Cratchit is a felt frog and Charles Dickens’ best friend is a rat called Rizzo.
The son of Muppet Maestro Jim Henson, Brian Henson, took the reins for this very special film, which on the surface may seem like a typical Muppets pastiche, but actually is one of the most faithful adaptations of the story in its spirit that you’ll find.
Michael Caine’s performance puts him up with the best of the screen Scrooges, his masterstroke being that he plays it completely straight, even when surrounded entirely by puppets.
“I’m going to play this as if I’m doing ‘A Christmas Carol’ with the Royal Shakespeare Company,” Brian Henson recalled Caine telling him – it’s this devotion to the story that preserves the emotional core and allows the surrounding muppet madness to not interrupt the story.
Because beyond those Muppety flourishes and catchy big musical numbers, that story is ultimately the same as the book, laden with dialogue from Dickens, and a knowing sense of humour that marries up with the author’s own witty prose perfectly.
From a filmmaking perspective too, the thing is beautiful – the main London city set is shot like it was built for a German expressionist movie, full of small detail and tilted angles, playing with the different heights of the characters against its backdrop.
Speaking of shot choices, I dare you not to get a fuzzy feeling when you look at the gorgeous frame of Kermit staring at the moon at the end of ‘One More Sleep ’til Christmas.’
And for all the literary purists scoffing in my face right now like Statler and Waldorf (or Marley and Marley in this case), I make this point: the original Christmas Carol was the big blockbuster entertainment of its day, with Dickens undertaking over 127 public readings of the story through is lifetime.
Even if it may not be the most textually faithful, I’d argue no other adaptation quite captures what the joy and buzz of what those performances must have been quite like the Muppets manage.
A Ghost Story for Christmas
Well, we’ve spoken about the warmth of Christmas, but what about the chills? As a horror fan, it would be remiss of me not to mention the darker Christmas treats on offer.
Pictured: “Directed predominantly by Lawrence Gordon Clarke, the strand produced masterclasses in disquieting dread, whilst paradoxically having the strange cosiness of a classically told story – like sitting by the fireside to stop the shivers on a cold Christmas Eve.”
For me, the most successful of all of these is a season of ghost stories the BBC produced in the 1970s, loosely under the umbrella of ‘A Ghost Story for Christmas.’
Directed predominantly by Lawrence Gordon Clarke, the strand produced masterclasses in disquieting dread, whilst paradoxically having the strange cosiness of a classically told story – like sitting by the fireside to stop the shivers on a cold Christmas Eve.
One of my favourites that embodies what the strand did is 1972’s ‘A Warning to the Curious,’ a tale about an archaeologist who goes in search of a legendary lost crown, but upon its discovery finds it may be more of a burden than a blessing.
Using the power of suggestion, with only tiny glimpses of the supernatural machinations, the film perfectly embodies the spirit of James’ storytelling, where the fear comes from the fact that an unknowable force is working just beneath the idyllic landscape of the Anglican coast.
And returning to the literary king of Christmas, it’s rare you’ll find a sense of impending doom captured as perfectly as the 1976 adaptation of Dickens’ The Signalman.
Featuring a startling study in paranoia from British character actor Denholm Elliot, the brilliance of this piece comes from the fact that much of its fear is sold on the claustrophobic conversations of two men sitting in a train signal box, and the mounting realisation that the the titular signalman’s premonitions may be more than just a lonely man’s superstition.
In addition, a new adaptation of James’ The Mezzotint – a story involving a particularly unusual painting – is to be broadcast as part of a revival of the strand on Christmas Eve on BBC Two.
The classic ‘70s stories are often on rotation on TV at Christmas, and are also available on DVD – so if like one of MR James’ characters, you feel like digging up a lost treasure this Christmas, you wouldn’t go too far wrong with one of these – though be warned, this treasure may come with some other, more unexpected surprises.
And the worst, actually
Oh, go on then. I’ll risk being chased through Royal Square by an angry mob for this one.
My least favourite Christmas film is Love Actually. I know, I know. It’s beloved by all, everyone in it is a national treasure and I shouldn’t be so cynical.
Video: Trailer for Love Actually.
But come on – the film opens with a fictional Prime Minister bafflingly using one of the most devastating terrorist attacks of the century to make a statement so sickly sweet even Hallmark would think twice about putting it on their cards – “love, actually is all around.”
In this film’s case, ‘all around’ turns out to be quite limited too.
For an anthology, which banks on telling a variety of different stories across a city with one of the most varied populations in the UK, it seems to settle for predominantly men who either are Hugh Grant, or could feasibly be played by Hugh Grant but aren’t because he’s already playing a role in the film.
Speaking of which, his speech about what makes Britain great is almost grotesque in its jingoism – a sequence that takes a jab at American exceptionalism that ends up pretty keen on exceptionalism itself.
Outside of this, we’ve got the sweet on the surface (but actually quite weird when you think about it) plot where Andrew Lincoln kisses his best friend’s wife behind his back, and the Colin Firth storyline so saccharine it feels like Richard Curtis wrote a parody of his own films.
On the other hand… in preparation for this I watched it again with my partner last night, who will happily say how wrong I am and has already given me all the hell you probably want to give me right now for this piece.
And you know what? Maybe it’s the spirit of Christmas softening me, or maybe it’s the fear of getting a vengeful mince pie in the face from her, but while I still didn’t like the film overall… there were bits in it I liked this time round.
The Emma Thompson/Alan Rickman segment is well-written and moving, the relationship between the porn stars is a genuinely unique take on love not seen often, and the culmination of Bill Nighy’s Christmas tour is a really heartfelt moment.
So, though I’ll never be a fan, maybe this Christmas I’ll take a leaf out of one of my favourite films, and follow the example of Michael Caine’s Scrooge, by having a bit more room in my heart for a film I like a bit less.
(It’s still rubbish though.)