Synopsis:
The classic 1951 version of A Christmas Carol rendered more faithful to its literary source via the removal of the events created specifically for the screen, and visually reshaped for a fresh viewing experience.
Intentions:
The widely beloved 1951 movie starring Alastair Sim is the definitive adaptation of A Christmas Carol for many people, yet it felt the need to expand upon the book by adding new sequences that in my view damage the balance of the narration making it lean too much towards the Christmas Past segments in detriment of the rest. The intention with this edit is constructing a more balanced narrative by removing those additions. Furthermore, a new visual style (which I will not spoil here) has been implemented throughout, based on an old idea of mine from way before I knew about fanedits, on a style that I always thought would fit this story perfectly and is how I would have filmed it.
Change List:
-Cut Tiny Tim at the toy shop window. This is Scrooge's story, and this is the one scene that he is neither present in, nor witnessing, nor affected by. Plus, I really detest the character of Tiny Tim, even in the book, and would have cut him back further if I could. -Cut Mr Jorkin at Fezziwig's and meeting Scrooge. Mr. Jorkin, a character created for the movie, is completely removed from this edit. -Cut Fan's death scene. All that's relevant from it is learnt from the Ghost of Christmas Past earlier in the story. -Cut Scrooge meeting Marley for the first time. Can be taken for granted anyway. -V2 CHANGE: Cut young Scrooge and Marley buying Fezziwig's business. With the previous cuts it kind of felt like it came out of nowhere. -Cut the boardroom scene. The kind of businessman Scrooge is is clearly established from the very opening, no need to elaborate. -Cut Jacob Marley's death scene. Not only is it unneeded, but I feel it works against the story in a way, as Marley delivering a warning to Scrooge before dying makes him coming back as a ghost much less poignant. -Cut the Ghost of Christmas Present's talk of "the child born in Bethlehem". Too much Christian propaganda. No problem with human characters being depicted as very religious, but a spirit delivering a mini-sermon is a completely different subject. -V2 CHANGE: Cut scene depicting Scrooge's lost love as a spinster. I initially left it in because the book did have a segment depicting her fate (she married another man), but decided to remove it because I heavily dislike the trope of having the hero's girlfriend decide that if she's not for the hero she has to be lonely.
Additional Notes:
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Other Sources:
Special Thanks:
Ssj, for polishing the rather faulty English subtitles.