Jack Pelling is the editor and co-presenter of Celluloid Heroes Radio, which can be visited by clicking here. His podcast can also be downloaded from iTunes. Jack joins The Hollywood News for its celebration of the greatest festive tradition of all, the Christmas movie. For the rest of The Hollywood News Movie Advent Calendar, click here.
Charles Dickens’ most famous novella has seen more reworkings than Mickey Rouke’s crumpled pillowcase of a face, with adaptations ranging from THE MUPPETS, BLACKADDER, MICKEY MOUSE and DOCTOR WHO, to its most recent big screen incarnation – Robert Zemeckis’ eye-gauging, 3D poke-fest – Disney’s A CHRISTMAS CAROL. There is a reason why this story has been covered more times than Don’t Stop Me Now in a karaoke bar; it has everything. Ghosts, urchins, Christmas and the most famous and dramatic character arc in English literature. The success of these interpretations of Dickens’ timeless parable rests on whether their central character’s on-a-sixpence transmogrification from curmudgeonly humbug to festive bauble fondler is both as believable and as satisfying as it was the first time round, and for me, there is no better Ebenezer than Bill Murray in 1988’s SCROOGED.
Hot off the heels of GHOSTBUSTERS, Bill Murray was then known for his cheeky yet affable charm, and it was hard to imagine him being convincingly unlikeable. It was therefore a pleasant surprise that Murray’s Frank Cross, the self-obsessed, narcissistic president of a major television network, is so utterly repellent that you would almost rather watch him drink himself to death in his ivory tower than go through the inevitable learning curve. One of the looser adaptations of the book, we see Bob Cratchet’s role transferred to that of Franks’ personal assistant, overworked and downtrodden to the point of abuse, and the introduction of a love interest in the form of INDIANA JONES’ Karen Allen. In a nice self-referential twist, the plot follows the marketing campaign leading up to the TV station’s live Christmas Eve production of ‘A Christmas Carol’, (culminating with the show itself) and takes place mainly within the bowels of a characterless and clinically corporate New York skyscraper.
Many of the more saccharine family adaptations have been guilty of playing down the central theme of Dickens’ novella. ‘A Christmas Carol’ is a parable about the dangers and corrupting nature of greed, and like much of Dickens’ work, utilises its stereotypical characters to illuminate and satirise the exploitation of the working classes by the rich, whether it’s industrialists, teachers, or in this case, bankers. It is perhaps not surprising that the films made by Disney have chosen to play down the anti-capitalist undertones of the source material, but SCROOGED doesn’t pull any punches. The film is an unscathing attack on the inherent greed and crassness of the media in 1980s America, with the ominously clinical TV headquarters reflecting Terry Gilliam’s BRAZIL as opposed to the cobbled streets of Victorian London. TV executives are the primary target, and Murray’s Frank caricatures the venal pomposity of lack of integrity so often associated with the profession.
As you would expect of a Bill Murray picture, there are laughs to be had along the way, but perhaps not as many as you would expect. The script is never as witty as it is acerbic, but the tone is never too sneery for a Christmas watch. It is also darker than its PG rating would suggest, with some disturbing scenes that younger audience members could find a little distressing including some genuinely unsettling ghosts and the depiction of a homeless man freezing to death (ho ho ho!). On the whole, however, it’s good festive family fun, and the turnaround is as rewarding as ever, epitomised by the wonderfully candid line ‘The Jews taught me a good word once- schmuck. I used to be a schmuck, but I’m now no longer a schmuck.’ Sure, there are problems with it: it’s a little low on the laugh count; the script is a little clunky; and the love story is ham-fisted and unbelievable, but it’s one of the bravest and original takes on the timeless classic, and is isn’t afraid to tackle the didactic message that was the novella’s raison d’être. It also has a cameo from Miles Davis.
