Michael Caine’s nuanced performance as Scrooge is just one reason why it’s an entertaining and inspiring film adaptation worth watching anytime (not just Christmastime).
A Christmas Carol could be the most adapted story of all. It seems every Christmastime brings fresh adaptations of the story; TV shows produce “Scrooge-themed” episodes. Since the first film adaptation, Scrooge, or Marley’s Ghost (1901), most have been vanity or stunt productions: produced, aired, and quickly forgotten. But a few have had the staying power to become annual classics.
From its title, 1992’s The Muppet Christmas Carol looks like a forgettable novelty production. But it’s certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and audience comments there show 86% of them loved it. IMDB.com users gave it a 7.8 out of 10 rating. The Metacritic.com score of 64 out of 100 reflects “generally favourable reviews,” while the user score 8.2 reflects “universal acclaim.” Guardian film critic Ryan Gilbey commented, “This is not only the greatest Christmas film ever made, but also… among the most glorious of all Dickens adaptations.” He may be overly enthusiastic, but he’s not the only one who loves this film.
Far from a forgettable novelty production, The Muppet Christmas Carol is a very, very good film. It was almost great, but sometimes dreams fall through. More on that in a bit.
Two key decisions helped make it a good film. First, the decision to cast Michael Caine as Scrooge. He promised director Brian Henson, “I’m going to play this movie like I’m working with the Royal Shakespeare Company. I will never wink, I will never do anything Muppety. I am going to play Scrooge as if it is an utterly dramatic role, and there are no puppets around me.” His performance offers no acknowledgement he’s working with co-stars of foam rubber and felt rather than flesh and blood.
And he plays the role very well. Scrooge is a challenging character. An actor can easily make him an over-the-top pantomime character when, for example, he hopes everyone who celebrates Christmas would be “buried with a stake of holly through his heart!” It’s important to play Scrooge with just enough of a twinkle in his eye, just enough lightness in his speech, to let the audience see there’s a decent human being trying to get out. That’s what lets the kind, generous Scrooge at the end be a redeemed, restored character, rather than a simple replacement swap of a character.
Caine finds that balance. And his final transformation into “as good a man” as any is more powerful for it. His transformation, to borrow a phrase, at first slowly then all at once, is a satisfying progression to watch.
The second decision was to cast Gonzo the Great (voice of Dave Goelz) as Charles Dickens, the narrator. One of the joys of reading A Christmas Carol is the prose narration Dickens wrote. Other productions try to preserve that prose by giving the narration to various characters. But Dickens did not write character-revealing monologues; he wrote an omniscient observer’s judgments and comments. Treating those comments as monologues usually does not work, nor does appointing one character as the omniscient narrator.
Being a Muppet movie, it’s a musical, and the songs by Paul Williams are mostly pleasant and catchy. The production numbers usually flow nicely with the plot… with one glaring exception. Muppet Show curmudgeons Statler and Waldorf play Scrooge’s former partners Jacob and Robert Marley (voices of Jerry Nelson and Dave Goelz). Their musical number should lament their wasted, misspent lives. Instead, it plays like a nostalgic celebration of moments like the day they evicted the entire orphanage, leaving “the little tykes all standing in the snowbank with their frostbitten teddy bears.” The Marleys are very perky and spry for people “captive bound… exhausted by the weight” of the shackles they bear.
But the biggest musical mistake was the fault of executive interference. Henson fought to preserve his film, but the suits succeeded in cutting an important musical number.
When the Ghost of Christmas Past (voice of Jessica Fox) takes Scrooge to relive the end of his engagement to sweet Belle (Meredith Braun), she explains her reasons for leaving in the touching song “When Love Is Gone.” It’s an important moment in the story, but the executives thought a sad four-minute ballad was too much for children to sit through. Cutting the song left a hole where Henson had placed the movie’s heart.
In the theatrical cut, Belle leaves because, well, “Another year before our wedding…?” Scrooge protests he loves her. She answers, “You did, once,” and departs. Is she really leaving just because their marriage is delayed? Something clearly is missing as the scene jumps to show how emotionally devastating the moment is. Or was supposed to be. The now-missing song carried the emotional weight of the moment away with it.
Most productions of A Christmas Carol let the audience off the hook. We comfort ourselves we wouldn’t send Tiny Tim to the workhouses so we must be OK. Those people are the cruel Scrooges, not people like us.
As Belle sings her regret for how they almost had love and sings her sadness for how some dreams come true, while some fall through, we learn why the time had come to say goodbye. “There comes a moment in your life like a window and you see your future there before you and how perfect life can be, but adventure calls with unknown voices pulling you away. Be careful or you may regret the choice you make someday when love is gone…”
No, we might not put Tiny Tim in the workhouse, but if we skip our child’s recital in favour of a meeting with an important potential client, the spirit of Scrooge is crouching at the door. The unknown voices are tempting us to trade love and affection for adventure and profit. Yes, we could become Scrooge too.
The song’s absence is highlighted in the film’s final number as the reformed Scrooge celebrates, “The love we found… we carry with us so we’re never quite alone… the sweetest dream that we have ever known.” In the theatrical cut, it’s a pleasant moment missing the context that would have made it a powerful moment.
There’s a historic Hollywood legend Jack Warner and Fred Steiner wanted to cut “As Time Goes By” from Casablanca. They couldn’t because Ingrid Bergman wasn’t available for the necessary re-shoots. The Muppet Christmas Carol is the kind of film they would have made had they succeeded: a very good film missing the heart that would have made it a great film. It was almost a great film, but some dreams fall through.
More than thirty years later, Disney has been able to release a wide-screen “full-length” version of The Muppet Christmas Carol. It’s a bonus extra on the Disney+ streaming service. I’m still hoping for – but not expecting to see – a Blu-ray release for my home collection. After all, why would they sell a $30 disk when they could sell a $140 year’s subscription?
As it is we’re left with the theatrical cut, with Michael Caine’s strong performance in a bright, cheerful, very good film that could have been great. For the moment that can be enough.
