Dickensean Devotee

I am a devotee of Charles Dickens. I especially like A Christmas Carol - which is the novella that Dickens wrote about the time he visited the US. I've got the story in print and most of the video versions of it. My personal favorite is Alistair Sim - which was produced by Jack Warner and seems to have started from the premise that a movie should mostly accurately reflect the original underlying work.

The other versions that I know about include = A Christmas Carol (1938) starring Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart, Kathleen Lockhart, June Lockhart, Leo G. Carroll, and Terry Kilburn. 69 min.; A Christmas Carol (1951) starring Alastair Sim, Meryvn Johns, Michael Hordern and Glyn Dearman 86 min. ;Scrooge (1970) starring Albert Finney, Sir Alec Guinness, Edith Evans and Kenneth More. 115 min.; A Christmas Carol (1984) starring George C. Scott, David Warner, Susannah York, Frank Finlay, Edward Woodward and Nigel Davenport. 100 min.; Scrooged (1988) starring Bill Murray, John Forsythe, Karen Allen, Carol Kane, and Bobcat Goldthwait. 111 min.;A Christmas Carol (1999) starring Patrick Stewart, Nick Adams, Desmond Barrit, Charlotte Brittain, Tom Brown, Kenny Doughty, Laura Fraser, Richard E. Grant, Joel Grey, Roger Hammond, Celia Imrie, Ian McNeice, John Mills, and Saskia Reeves. 93 min. Sim still sets the style standard for most of the performances - the nuances in his characterization can be seen in most of the other versions, except perhaps the Bill Murray one which is unique.

I mention this because I went to see the 3D version of the story released by Disney this season yesterday. This one stars Jim Carey in a motion capture version. I saw the non-3D version when the movie first came out. The 3D version is a real addition, an enhanced experience. There were some changes in this script - including a chase sequence in the third part of the story (the ghost of Christmas future) which was added to show off the technology. I think the writers kept mostly to the substance of the story. The technology used to make the movie is very good.

I am interested in the economics of the movie business because my son in law is a finance guy for Disney. As of last week the movie had done about $80 million but I think the studio thought it might get a second wind from the holiday traffic. The estimated total as of yesterday added another $10 million (to $90 total). In yesterday's 4:30 showing the crowd was small. Evidently the technology to make this kind of movie successful is pretty expensive (the estimated cost of making the movie was about $200 million).

For me Christmas would not be Christmas without a dose of Dickens. It will be interesting to see if the movie picks up in the next couple of weeks. I think this version is a good one and well worth seeing.