Dickensian

“Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.”

The very first sentences of Dickens' “A Christmas Carol.”

 

I've always liked “A Christmas Carol.” In fact it was the only Dickens book I've ever read. I tried reading “Bleak House” but if you ever read Dickens, it's a tough chew. “Bleak House” was a novel about the grinding slow nature of the English court system back in the 1850's. The novel is a grind too.

 

Dickens is heralded as one of England's greatest writers and that may be. However, I could never get past his laborious style. Dickens will set a scene in a room, with say two characters who may have one minute's worth of conversation, but before he says “action,” he'll describe the room, the temperature, weather and what the characters are wearing in minute detail. As I read it I found myself screaming in my head, “Would you get to the point!!”

 

That would be my only criticism of him. That is due to the fact there was no TV and internet back then to brush away the need to describe the surroundings in words. I am a child of the 20^th century.

 

This rendition of “A Christmas Carol” was done in 1984 with George C. Scott playing the role as Scrooge. It's weird, because I can't get past his portrayal as Patton and then as a Scrooge. Every time I heard Scrooge (Scott) yell, I time warp back to his movie Patton.

 

“Crachitt! There will be no more coal for today!!” 

I hear that as Scott's Patton boasting,

“Rommel, You magnificent bastard...I READ YOUR BOOK!!”

 

Also, the best portrayal of Marley's ghost is in this flick. Click below to watch Marley clang his chains about.