Tuesday, December 11, 2012

The Bloody Pit #5 - A Christmas Carol Appreciation


I love December and the Christmas season. This time of year is inextricably linked to wonderful memories of my childhood and the pure joy of the giving and getting that it brings. The innocence of those times allowed the holidays to be every fantastic thing you could hope for coupled with no school, new toys, amazing food and visits from relatives that only appear once a year. Those cold days beget close relationships as we came together to keep warm, share food and remind ourselves that it is the love we have for each other that makes life worth living.

There are many stories that bring the Yuletide season to life for us but I think that the most life affirming of them all is the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge's terrifying night of ghostly visits. A Christmas Carol is a holiday time perennial for many reasons but the fact that it reminds us of the importance of treating our fellow humans well is easily its chief virtue. One hopes that it doesn't take supernatural intervention to show most people the error of their ways but, just in case, its always nice to have the idea of a dreadful, dark future hanging overhead to keep the nastier side of human nature under control.

On this episode of the Bloody Pit I am joined by two dear friends to discuss both the classic Charles Dickens' story itself and the various adaptations of it that have helped to place A Christmas Carol so strongly in the public consciousness. There have been a great number of film adaptations and, while we can't speak authoritatively about all of them, we try to touch upon as many of them as we can in roughly two hours of conversation. So please join me, John Davis and Ryan Reed as we have a fine time discussing the highs and lows of quite a few attempts to bring to the screen one of the best tales of redemption ever written. Things do get a little boisterous at times and we hope you have some fun too!

Remember that you can drop us a note at thebloodypit@gmail.com with your comments, suggestions or even your own favorite version of A Christmas Carol. We look forward to hearing from you and have a Merry Christmas! Oh! And iTunes users may have to re-subscribe to get the new show. PodBean has moved some stuff around. 




3 comments:

Angel said...

Hey Rod!

I have not listened to your xmas Christmas Carol post yet so this question may indeed be answered when I listen to it. Anyway, my question is did you ever find the George C. Scott Hallmark film version of ACC? It is possibly the most nuanced Scrooge I have ever seen!

Let us know what you think!

Angel

Angel said...

Hey Rod!

I have not listened to your xmas Christmas Carol post yet so this question may indeed be answered when I listen to it. Anyway, my question is did you ever find the George C. Scott Hallmark film version of ACC? It is possibly the most nuanced Scrooge I have ever seen!

Let us know what you think!

Angel

Rod Barnett said...

We do discuss the Scott version in the show an mostly give it high marks. I wouldn't call his Scrooge the most nuanced - instead I would defer to Finney in the 1970 film for turning in the most heart-breaking of performances in the role. Scott is very good but I think he misses some tonal shifts in spots. Check out the podcast for more on this. And thanks!