Oops ... holiday movie mistakes

[AlecWest]

Around this time of year, a lot of people begin to dig into their video archives looking for their favorite holiday-season films. Recently, I dug through my own archives and pulled out my DVD of the 1951 classic, "Scrooge" (aka "A Christmas Carol"), starring Alistair Sim in the title role. But, though I usually pull out such films around this time of year, the reason I wanted to watch it is because someone told me of a glaring production error I'd not seen before ... and I've watched this film dozens of times. Sure enough, it was there.

Shortly after Scrooge wakes on Christmas morning, he stands in front of a mirror. And if you look carefully, you'll not only see Scrooge's reflection and the reflection of the curtains behind him. You'll also see a "face" peeking out from behind one of those curtains (a stagehand or cameraman, perhaps). This reflection is on the screen for almost a full second and I'm surprised I didn't notice it before:

If anyone knows of any other glaring errors in holiday films, please let me know. I usually watch as many of them as I can and would like to see these oopses next time around.

P.S. Scrooge saw the "Ghost of Christmas Past," "The Ghost of Christmas Present," and the "Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come." But, if this error is any guide, perhaps it's a reflection of a 4th ghost ... the "Ghost of Christmas on the Unemployment Line."

[AlecWest]

P.S. This is meant as a commentary on the movie rather than an attempt to begin a political discussion. It occurs to me that, to conservatives, this movie would be classified as a "horror" film. A wealthy man of business is beset from the beginning by beggars, people who can't pay back their lawful debts, and charities hounding him. Then one night, he's visited by the ghost of his former business partner and discovers, to his shock, that Marley has become a liberal in death. As further punishment, Marley sends 3 more liberal ghosts to haunt him during the night. And by the time morning comes around, Scrooge himself has become a liberal.

I'm surprised the Fox News Network (with the Fox movie machine behind them) hasn't suggested a "conservative" alternative version of the film.

[yoda313]

Um we didn't need the political observation at all

But it must have been on for only a second or two hence the reason you never noticed it. Though I've never seen the version you're reffering too.

[Forum Troll]

You're all wrong..that's the ghost of the boy who was murdered in the house they filmed the movie in.

[AlecWest]

You're all wrong..that's the ghost of the boy who was murdered in the house they filmed the movie in.

Well (grin), my snipped frame is not that clear ... but it is a man. He looks like he's wearing a white shirt and appears to be talking to someone. And, he appears to be ducking down ... perhaps knowing he was in the reflected frame.

BTW, does anyone know where a person could acquire a copy of the actual "script" for the 1951 film as Noel Langley wrote it? One thing that bugs me about fiction in films is that editors sometimes cut out "solutions" to the "loose ends" that crop up during a film. In this film, Scrooge stiffs a charity and tells a man who owes him money (but can't pay it back) to go to debtor's prison ... two things that, in Dickens' actual novel, are resolved near the end of the novel. Also, Langley added a character (Alice) to represent young Scrooge's love interest ... who released him from their marriage because he'd become cruel and greedy. There was no "Alice" in the novel. And the only hint at a love interest was when he'd reached middle-age. Even then, the woman's name was never mentioned until MUCH later in the novel where she was married to another man. At this future point, her name (Belle) is mentioned once and once only. In the film, "Alice" worked in a sort-of homeless shelter. The novel can be read here:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/46/46-8.txt

But, though the Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge what Alice is doing in their present day (working at the shelter), Scrooge makes no effort in the film to contact her later and rekindle his love ... unless, like the other resolutions, the scene ended up on the cutting room floor.

Anyhoo, I'd kind of like to see Langley's actual screenplay to see if that's what happened to both resolutions.

P.S. While Langley wrote the screenplay for the 1951 "Scrooge" movie, he's best remembered as the screenplay writer of "The Wizard of Oz."

P.P.S. BTW, Langley made one conceptual oops in the film. In the novel, Fan (Scrooge's younger sister) comes to pick up Scrooge at his boarding school ... indicating that their father has become kinder and wanted him to come home. But nowhere in the novel is it mentioned that Scrooge's mother died giving him birth ... that his father blamed him for it ... which, in theory, also explains Scrooge's aversion to liking his nephew (since Fan died giving him birth). The problem?

If their mother died while giving birth to Scrooge, where did Fan (his younger sister) come from? In the film, young Scrooge says Fan looks so much like their mother ... and Fan acknowledges the comment in the film, saying it might be why he's become kinder. True, the father could have married again ... but then, Fan would have been a step-sister as opposed to a full sister ... and the novel doesn't mention that Scrooge's mother OR Fan died during childbirth ... only that Fan died as an adult (and Scrooge's mom isn't mentioned at all in the novel).

P.P.P.S. I've always wanted to see an alternate ending to this film ... adding in the resolutions mentioned earlier ... and one teensy other change. When Bob Cratchit arrives late for work the day after Christmas, I'd like to see Scrooge "seem" to ignore his late arrival. A few minutes later, Scrooge goes outside asking Bob to follow him. He instructs Bob to borrow a ladder from a neighboring shopkeeper and take down the "Scrooge & Marley" sign hanging outside the office ... telling Bob he wanted to go into the new year without Marley's name associated with the business anymore. With the sign taken down, Scrooge leaves Bob alone in the shop ... telling him he'll be gone for a short while to visit a local signmaker. But, when he returns, Scrooge also brings back a "new clerk" he'd hired.

THEN ... he calls Bob into his office and reminds him of his late arrival ... telling him to instruct "his replacement" in his duties as soon as he gets done hanging up the new sign (leading Bob to believe he's about to lose his job). Bob dutifully goes outside to hang up the sign. But, when he unwraps the newly created sign, he sees that it reads "Scrooge & Cratchit" ... with Scrooge standing behind him, laughing, and telling him he's being replaced by the new clerk to become Scrooge's new full-time partner in the business ... sharing equally in the money Scrooge would have normally kept to himself.