Scrooge (1970 film)
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| Scrooge | |
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 Scrooge movie poster |
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| Directed by | Ronald Neame |
| Produced by | Robert H. Solo |
| Written by | Charles Dickens (novel, A Christmas Carol) Leslie Bricusse |
| Starring | Albert Finney Alec Guiness Edith Evans Kenneth More Michael Medwin Laurence Naismith |
| Music by | Leslie Bricusse Ian Fraser |
| Cinematography | Oswald Morris |
| Editing by | Peter Weatherley |
| Distributed by | Cinema Center Films |
| Release date(s) | November 5, 1970 (U.S. release) |
| Running time | 113 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The 1970 movie Scrooge was a musical film adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic 1843 story, A Christmas Carol. It was filmed in London, directed by Ronald Neame, and starred Albert Finney in the title role. The film's musical score was composed by Leslie Bricusse and Ian Fraser. With eleven musical arrangements interspersed throughout (all retaining a traditional British air about them), the award-winning motion picture is considered by many to be a faithful musical retelling of the original, with one exception noted below.
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[edit] Acclaim
Overall, the film was nominated for a BAFTA Film Award in the UK, one Golden Laurel award, four Oscars, and five Golden Globes in the U.S.A., in which Albert Finney won as The Best Motion Picture Actor in a Musical/Comedy in 1971. Finney was only 34 years old at the time he was chosen to play both the old miser and the young man Scrooge of flashback scenes, but his performance was widely praised by the critics and the public. Of note, Alec Guinness had a role in the film as Jacob Marley's ghost.
[edit] Controversial aspect
Though the film was given a very mild "U" (Universal Audience) rating in the UK and a "G" (General Audience) rating in the U.S., one rather controversial aspect of this version of the story is a departure from the novel during the visit of The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. In a nightmarish Scene 12: Office in Hell (1:29:30), Scrooge falls, screaming, through his own open grave, through a seemingly bottomless shaft, and into the very bowels of hell, where Marley tells him of his appointment as Lucifer's personal clerk. The frightened Scrooge's massive chain arrives on the backs of several burly, hooded "demons" who wrap it around him, fairly crushing him to the floor, amid his futile cries to Marley for help. This scene is so intense that it is often edited or censored from television airings (and even some home video releases of the film, though the current Region 1 and Region 2 DVDs retain the sequence).
[edit] Continued appeal
In 1992, a stage musical adapted from the film, featuring the Bricusse/Fraser songs and starring Anthony Newley, was mounted in the U.K. under the title Scrooge: The Musical. Nevertheless, the film is available for purchase for home video, and is aired often. Despite the availability of several competing film versions of the Dickens tale, this production continues to be among the more popular airings of the story during the Christmas season.
