After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The attractions of setting an adaptation of A Christmas Carol during the Great Depression are obvious as it allows the messages behind the immediate storyline to be driven home in the same direct way as Dickens managed when attempting to mitigate the harshness of Victorian utilitarian philosophy.However, the success of this film doesn't lie in capitalising on this parallel.For me, it comes more in the excellent script, characterisations and great moments.I believe a really good adaptation should contain moments to take you to the very bottom of your soul - maybe to even question what you're not doing more of that you could be. In this, the film succeeds very well.There are some genuinely dark moments - eg the Ghost of Christmas Future's pointing at Scrooge's forgotten headstone and telling Scrooge that no one even remembers him "That is the only real death" Indeed that ghost, given a rare speaking part, never seems convinced that he will give Scrooge another chance after all and that uncertainty adds weight to the performance. (It can also be comic - what would the miser think at being confronted with a spirit dressed in a seventies disco outfit. That is truly scary !) All the scenes with the Cratchit family (the Thatchers as they are called here) are much more understated than the original and this makes the whole thing easier to accept.Henry Winkler makes a good jump from his role of The Fonz. Like Finney, one of the few other younger men to take the older role as well, he overdoes the tottering about a bit but generally its an assured performance.This isn't the greatest film adaptation but it joins a select group of others that does justice to the original concept in adapting it for another era.

Oh dear, take the title of a Charles Dickens classic and insert the word 'American' so that you can take every liberty possible with the story. Only a passing resemblance to the original story, some very unconvincing ghosts and characters that, to be honest, you don't care about. If Slade had difficulty in identifying each o the ghosts, from his dead partner through to Christmas past, present and future, then he has an easier job than the viewer. None of the characters resemble in any way any characters in the book, there are no revelations and little, if any, emotion.Having looked at the past, present and future, why would Slade (Scrooge) bother having a redemption? The worst version of this story that I have ever seen.

This is by far the best adaption i have seen of scrooge even better than the musical version with Albert Finney in the title role.I have told various members of the family and friends about this film and they have thanked me for telling them about this brilliant film.I watch this at least five to ten times in December alone, I sometimes put it on through the year just to cheer myself up.As you may of guessed i love Christmas time of year and this film makes it extra special, would not have a Christmas without it. I love the way Henry Winkler plays the role of scrooge and no i wasn't really a happy days fan.Also the settings are excellent and the storyline as scrooge as some kind of carpenter instead of money lender also makes this film unique i just wish British TV would show it so more people over here could watch this brilliant film.

WOW! I thought I was the only one who had ever seen or heard of this movie? Thanks so much for having a link to buy a copy. I will do so before next Christmas.It is not really an americanized version of the Dicken's Clssic, I guess, but it takes place in 1930's New England, rather than Victorian England? MR Slade is not as mean as Mr Scrooge, he is just out of touch and seems to have forgotten all the people who made him what he is? He shows his cluelessness when he gives the hungry boys a book (I think it was a Horatio Alger book?) instead of giving them a meal? One of the striking things about it is the way he goes back to the orphanage and finds someone just like him and takes him to the now-ruined furniture factory. You hope that he inspires him, but you wonder if this boy will end up repeating Mr Slade's life? Of course, Mr. Slade did was not married, nor did he have a lovely daughter? i hope that Turner or AMC re-discover this little gem!