A MarkInTexas Made-For-TV Christmas: A Christmas Carol (1969)

In the six years I've been reviewing Christmas specials, I think I've only reviewed two specials that did not originate in the United States: The Bestest Present, a Canadian special based on the Canadian comic strip For Better or For Worse, which I reviewed back in 2014, the first year of this column, and Robbie the Reindeer in Hooves of Fire, a British special that I reviewed last year.  Now joining that group is a special from Australia.  But for those of you who were hoping for A Very Outback Christmas, you're probably going to be disappointed, since this is yet another adaption of A Christmas Carol.

For those who were holding out hope that this Christmas Carol would have some kangaroos and koalas and bootings and historically accurate convicts, you'll be dismayed to learn that this version, like most straight adaptions of the story, takes place in Victorian England.  It does, however, have an actual Australian, Ron Haddrick, voice Scrooge, and his accent is unmistakably from Down Under.  That's about it for anything distinctly Australian about this show, though.

As I said, this is a pretty basic straight-ahead telling of the tale, but this hour-long take does have a few interesting quirks.  For starters, this Scrooge is a snuff user, which is a reminder that tobacco use was considerably less vilified 50 years ago.  He also has a habit of rubbing what he says is the first coin he ever earned, which is used by the Ghost of Christmas Present as a sign of his greed.  The special starts 7 years before the main action, on the day of Marley's funeral, when Scrooge rips off the undertaker.  There's also an aside in a nearby store of people making fun of him, which at least works as foreshadowing for the sequence of thieves selling his possessions after his death.  The oddest thing is the one and only appearance of his nephew, Fred.  This sequence, set in Scrooge's office on Christmas Eve, is straight from the book, and in the novel sets up both the eventual visit to his house both with the Ghost of Christmas Present and on his own toward the very end of the book, as well as foreshadowing the reason Scrooge avoids Fred, that he reminds Scrooge of Fred's late mother, Scrooge's beloved older sister.  But, as I said, this is Fred's only appearance, as those sequences are cut.  What the special does have time for is a duet between Scrooge and Fred where they outline their philosophies on Christmas, which is all the odder because that is literally the only song in the special.

Being a TV special from 1969, the animation is really quite crude, with the character designs mostly being rudimentary.  One striking exception is the design of Jacob Marley, who in most adaptions is basically a ghostly human, with his chains and lockboxes.  In this one, he is considerably more horrifying, even more so than Yet to Come, with a skull for a face and white flames shooting out of the top of his head.  The animation is still fairly crude, but this image, far more than any other image in this special, is remarkably potent.  I wish a better animator had used that design, perhaps Oscar-winning animator Richard Williams, who would make his own, visually striking version of the tale just two years later.

Other than Marley and the oddities, this is a relatively straightforward adaption of A Christmas Carol.  The poor quality animation also makes it one of the lesser Christmas Carols out there.  Perhaps if you're Australian, it might be worthwhile, but there are better versions of this ridiculously frequently adapted story out there.

Next time: Christmas ghosts can visit others beside Victorian businessmen.