In the 16 December post about Skinflint, I mentioned how 1979 was one of the more interesting years for A Christmas Carol adaptations. Rich Little’s Christmas Carol, though made in 1978, was first aired in ’79. All three of the major U.S. networks put something out that December. There was the animated Bugs Bunny’s Christmas Carol short segment that was part the larger Bugs Bunny’s Looney Christmas Tales special that aired on CBS. The NBC network presented the previously mentioned country-western musical Skinflint: A Country Christmas Carol. Finally, there was An American Christmas Carol, the ABC network’s contribution to that year.
When this was first aired in 1979, I watched it with caution. As I’ve stated other times, I don’t anticipate disliking any version of ACC or adaptation the first time I see it, but I will sometimes be on guard depending on circumstances. Back in ’79, that circumstance was Henry Winkler. As a television star, Winkler was at the absolute height of his huge popularity due to his character “Fonzie” on the show Happy Days. At that time, I was an intellectually “snooty” teenager and was not a fan. In fact, I detested the show and the Fonzie character even more – to the point where the character grated on me. Because of this, I was reticent to watch An American Christmas Carol when it first aired, but I did. Please note: this is not to be confused with the horrendous All-American Christmas Carol of 2013 (which should only be viewed as punishment).
I was glad I had watched this during its original broadcast in ‘79. Though my personal rating scale has gone both up and down with this, it’s generally good. Like many other versions, I evolved from broadcast viewings, to a home recorded VHS, to DVD.
This is an adaptation of ACC, not a traditional rendering. It is worth viewing. The reworking of Dickens’ story is well thought out. Early 1930’s depression U.S.A. fits the topic and gives believable situations and motivations to the characters the way Dickens’ early Victorian London did. It was also apropos to the late ’70’s U.S. viewers whom could better identify with the movie’s situations. (This was the short period between two recessions, stagnation, and the “energy crisis.”). It was less than a year from the U.K.’s Winter of Discontent.
It is 1933. Benedict Slade (Winkler) runs a local credit/loan company called “Slade and Latham” in Concord, New Hampshire. “Jack Latham” is his deceased partner. It is the Great Depression, so there are plenty of people for Mr. Slade to advantageously repossess the goods purchased from their accounts when they are behind on payments. It is a bad and frightening time to be out of work, especially for an employee like Thatcher, whose family includes his polio-stricken son, Jonathan. Thatcher (no first name) is forced to assist his boss, Mr. Slade, as a repo man on Christmas Eve. They travel to various people and places delinquent in their payments to confiscate their purchases. Poor Thatcher has the added burden of expectations from local out-of-work laborers. They expect him to request Mr. Slade to buy and reopen a local factory since Slade is one of the few local men of means. Thatcher is fired by Mr. Slade on Christmas Eve when he makes the request. This has a similarity to the 1938 MGM version where Bob Cratchit is fired by Scrooge on Christmas Eve.
Among the unfortunates having things repossessed, there is a bookseller, an orphanage, and a farmer. The first two are very significant. Among the items confiscated from the bookseller is a rare edition of A Christmas Carol. Now we understand why the traditional character names are not used; A Christmas Carol is an actual book of fiction in these characters’ reality and serves as a catalyst for Slade’s Scrooge-like visitations. The orphanage introduces us to Slade’s past as we learn he was an orphan temporarily housed there, himself, as a boy. All three of the repo-ed people serve as the past, present, and future spirits. The speaking future spirit (the farmer) appears as a man dressed from 1979 when this was made – a good concept when this was done.
It is when Slade begins tearing up old books for their leather that his ghostly visits begin. He tears the rare edition of A Christmas Carol, the lights in his warehouse go out, and he is soon visited by his deceased partner, Jack Latham. From here, the story follows as we would expect with the past (the bookseller, David Wayne), present (orphanage administrator), and future (the farmer, Dorian Harewood) spirits and travels.
One line in particular I have always liked: when the power goes out in Slade’s warehouse after he destroys the Dickens book, he calls the operator on his phone: “Operator, operator. I seem to have lost my power…in my warehouse.” He has indeed lost his power because this also signals the beginning of the spirits.
In brief, we see Slade as an angry orphan who is fostered and apprenticed by Mr. Brewster, a furniture manufacturer (this adaption’s Fezziwig equivalent). He falls in love with Brewster’s daughter and you can surmise what happens from there. What is interesting about Slade’s character is, other than wanting to make money, he shows a talent for understanding what the up and coming business opportunities are. From the present we learn about his employee, and the future shows us a town that is not glad to be rid of Slade when he dies, but how little of any of his existence they care to remember, from his image to his derelict and forgotten grave.
The makeup turning the young Henry Winkler into the elderly Slade is well done for the time. It doesn’t always look well to contemporary eyes. Winkler pulls off the performance. Though he obviously fares better as the younger Slade in the past sequences where he plays close to his actual age, he does well playing a much older role. There are moments I think he can be a little flat. He’s certainly not the first young actor to portray Scrooge against his age type. There have been quite a few at varying degrees of success; a couple of examples are the younger Sir Seymour Hicks in the 1913 version and Albert Finney in the 1970 cinematic musical.
