The 1977 A Christmas Carol from the BBC is always a pleasure to watch.  There was a time it was very difficult to see in the U.S.  It was over twenty years old before I had my first opportunity to view it. It was first broadcast by the BBC as part of their Christmas Eve programming for 1977.  It eventually became available on DVD as part of a large Dickens collection, but it was in PAL format which is incompatible with DVD players in the U.S.  It was thanks to the World Wide Web I was able to eventually see it many years ago. It has since become available in good, streaming versions.  Tonight, I watched it on BritBox.

It’s too bad this isn’t more widely seen. Even though it runs barely one hour, there’s a full helping of the Dickens classic served.

To be honest, for many years the main reason I wanted to see this rendering was to see Patricia Quinn. I’ve always been taken with this sultry lady. Having seen the production, I learned she’s just one of the draws of a fantastic cast in this little gem.

The great Michael Hordern (Lady Jane; voice in Paddington Bear) is our Ebenezer Scrooge here. Mr. Hordern has an A Christmas Carol pedigree. He was Jacob Marley in the classic 1951 ACC with Alistair Sim and voiced Marley in the great 1971 animated version! John Le Mesurier (Dad’s Army) is a very good Jacob Marley. I already mentioned Patricia Quinn (I, Claudius; Rocky Horror – both original stage & screen versions) as the Ghost of Christmas Past. Bernard Lee (“M” from James Bond films) does a very effective portrayal of the Ghost of Christmas Present. I’m a fan of Zoë Wannamaker (My Family; Cassandra “moisturize me” from Dr. Who) so it’s just a plus with her in the ensemble. Hers is probably the best-acted Belle there is! Paul Copley of Downton Abbey is Fred. Bob Cratchit is Clive Merrison, whose work I’m not personally familiar with (there’s only just so much English television an American gets to see, after all). Brian Blessed is the narrator.  Oh yeah…Christopher Biggins appears as Topper.

Production values and the atmospheric look are in large part by-products of their being fashioned in the latter half of the 1970’s. It’s a look that could only be best described in better-dedicated paragraphs concerning that topic that aren’t going to be attempted here.

The script is very direct from Dickens. This makes up for the lack of effects and small-scale presentation. This one gives the rare offering of opening with Marley’s funeral though other things are sacrificed for the one-hour timeframe. All in all, this is an extremely respectable contribution to the repertoire of A Christmas Carol productions.

Missing

• The phantom hearse
• The ship, lighthouse, and miners
• After Zoë Wannamaker’s great scene of Belle breaking her engagement with Scrooge, it goes to the Comely Matron scene which many versions leave out.  Strangely though, this scene is done only with Belle and her husband; it doesn’t have her children.
• Old Joe is missing.  Mrs. Dilber and the charwoman are combined.  The scene with the opportunists takes place with Mrs. Dilber and the undertaker in Scrooge’s bedroom while his corpse is still present.

 Unique

• Ignorant and Want are included but they are not under the robe of the Ghost of Christmas Present.  They are seen and introduced off to the side before the Ghost leaves Scrooge.
• The following happens during the scene in Scrooge’s room after his encounter with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. He begins looking at parts of his room pointing out where events happened as he realized the events truly took place. The scene itself isn’t unique as it is right out of the novella. It is the visual imagining of the scene I find unique.  As Scrooge says, “There’s the door, by which the Ghost of Jacob Marley came” a couple of chain links are shown on the floor, then disappear. As he exclaims, “And there’s the window I went out of!” Scrooge sees his footprint in the snow, and then it disappears. He then says, “There’s the corner where the Ghost of Christmas Present sat!” as sprig of holly is shown, and that disappears as well.

Extra Stuff

The first time I included this version in the annual blog, I include a link to a site for Zoë Wannamaker.  It still exits with the same pictures of Zoë Wannamaker as Belle and has the same text about some of her insights into the character on a special page in her website.