Pediatrician here, in the 90's a group of pediatric specialists wrote down every description of Tiny Tim. They believed he had a kidney disease called Renal Tubular acidosis. The lung symptoms were cause by blood chemistries being out of whack. Ricketts wouldn't cause hime to be chronically short of breath, just more prone to infections.
Very true but one of the reasons children like tiny Tim would have rickets is because of the horrific pollution in London, which had to have affected their lungs as well.
I, as a layman, always thought that Tiny Tim had several afflictions. (Some people have all the luck, he ain't one of them) With poverty as rampant as it was, adding in the air & water pollution causing small problems to become larger😢! Not only daily problems you also have sub par medications & medical knowledge...
Right, it was probably really hard for Michael Caine to keep a straight face while in this film. Tim, he just seems to have a blast in all of his roles.
The biggest surprise in Muppet Christmas Carol is the costuming. Those are actually fairly accurate to the period, more than many period dramas accomplish.
Yes, Abby Cox did a video on how good it was and little things like the smocking on Rizzo's shirt that would be seen for seconds. She was very impressed with it.
I always felt that is was because they where working with Muppets that the costume was allowed to be historically accurate. No need for a specific actor to look sexy or good looking by a modern standard when your characters are played by frogs, bears, pigs and a purple long nose... Thing
Here’s a video that Abby Cox did about the costumes in this movie. She too was amazed by the accuracy to the time period! 🤩 ruclips.net/video/9O_mL1X4UMI/видео.htmlsi=fNbD56mKTSkXZUfN
When i saw the title and the Historically Accurate thing my first tough was: man, i can't wait for him to say "the real Kermit the frog was this gently mississipian, he was a little more tall and less green, but i can see why the filmakers took a little liberty with him"
I'm originally from Portsmouth,England (where Dickens was born) and I love the Muppet Christmas Carol movie. The fact that Sir Michael Caine plays it straight makes the movie work.
Kermit is one of the best characters America has ever produced. He’s also my first and most enduring crush. I can’t express my love for him adequately; he is the embodiment of all that is good. And that’s why he’s the best Bob Cratchit ever.
I have probably seen most versions of A Christmas Carol but this is one of my favourite versions and because Michael played it straight, its very faithful to the original story.
There’s a meme out there about this movie, that I love, which goes like this: Muppet Christmas Carol Director: okay, so it’s A Christmas Carol, but with Muppets, so. You know. Feel free to have fun with it. Be a little silly. Michael Caine: I am going to play this entire thing as serious as a car accident.
@@Sarah-zr1njHonestly not far from reality. To quote Wikipedia: Henson later offered the role to Michael Caine, who replied: "I'm going to play this movie like I'm working with the Royal Shakespeare Company. I will never wink, I will never do anything Muppety. I am going to play Scrooge as if it is an utterly dramatic role and there are no puppets around me."
How fun! This goes into my saved playlist along with Abby Cox's video on the historicity of the costuming. Brilliant! Totally my favorite Christmas Movie.
There’s a meme about this where Henson says: “Michael, you’ll be Scrooge. Just have fun with it” Caine: “I’m going to play this as serious as a car accident.” Love this movie!
This is my FAVORITE Christmas movie, hands down. I can't wait to share it with my children soon and sing along with the music, that fits so well with the narrative. And I'm not a huge fan of music singing either.
I remember in 8th or 9th grade when this came out. My parents had this huge Christmas party and then after it was over, we all went out to catch the late showing of this movie. It was a fun day.
Thanks for this breakdown of my favorite Christmas movie! You mentioned the movie having two Marley brothers to accommodate Stattler and Waldorf - Jacob and Robert. Robert Marley = Bob Marley. It took me twenty years to get that joke! 😂
On versions with Dickens appearing: there's a 2001 animated version (with Simon Callow as Scrooge) that starts with Dickens reading this to an audience, which then proceeds to be extremely inaccurate to the book, and also a 2012 live-action version (by Guerilla Films) where there is a frame story of Dickens meeting someone to read his story to - and the whole thing looks like they rented a country house for a weekend and threw together whatever costumes and props they could find that would look somewhat Victorian. I wouldn't recommend either one, for accuracy to book or period, and certainly not as a good movie. That said, The Muppet Christmas Carol is the top of the tops. And your video is a great bit of historical context setting; well done!
I'm wearing my new The Muppet Christmas Carol tee shirt as I watch this. I have loved this movie since taking my then 4-yr-old son to see it. I listen to the soundtrack many times during the holiday and watch the movie with my grown sons.
Also I would like to point out about the death rate in children during the Victorian era was also caused by things in the household as well. Green wallpaper for example, was a big problem because to produce the bright vibrant green color arsenic was used in the manufacturing and children especially babies were prone to lean up against the walls and put their hands on the walls and babies have a habit of putting their hands in their mouths leading to ingesting the arsenic in the wallpaper, lead toys were also contributors in the high death rate in children. There were so many factors involved in the mortality rate in those times that it's surprising that any one made it past the age of six to ten, or even became teenagers to see adulthood.
I used to fast forward through that song as a child, but I watched the edited version on Disney+ last year, and it is rather jarring when the scene goes from Belle standing up, to Rizzo crying. All the emotion is gone from the scene.
The song was in the original release but they took it out because they thought it was too sad for kids. When the ”elder millennials” complained and said they wanted it back in supposedly the footage was lost (or something like that).
A great movie indeed, I'm a bit older than you but I've seen it around a dozen of times at least. Great video, thanks for sharing, a great Xmas and happy new year, for you, your family, friends, and all your visitors here, thanks for sharing.
The Royal Order of Victoria is an order of knighthood endowed by Queen Victoria for distinguished service to the crown or the royal family. I don't know that The Charitable Society of the Order of Victoria specifically existed but if it didn't something similar almost certainly did and it wasn't a faith-based organisation. It was a group made up of recipients of the order of Victoria who felt it was their civic duty to use their positions of wealth and influence to do charitable work. Collecting for a Christmas fund of the London Homeless is the kind of thing they would have done.
A very early “new” episode of Doctor Who has the Doctor and Rose meet Charles Dickens (played by Simon Callow). When Dickens learns the Doctor is from the future, there’s this exchange: “My books, Doctor. Do they last?” “Oh, yes.” “How long?” “Forever.” A somewhat sideways tribute to a literary legend. There’s another a season or two later involving Vincent Van Gogh that brings me to tears when I rewatch it.
I refer you to “An Essay on the Principle of Population”: Thomas Robert Malthus, pub. 1798. The Wiki article is - at this time - an excellent précis. And Malthusians are still out there, seeking to Decrease the Surplus Population… I love The Muppet Christmas Carol. IMHO it’s one of the best adaptations, handling the material in a sympathetic modern manner, and it’s fun. The costumes are absolutely accurate, btw!
You're saying the door knocker transformation was hand drawn animation? What about the spiral twisty transition with the 3rd spirit late in Scrooge's visitation and journey?
Oh good! J Draper (British RUclipsr, London historian) reviewed it too and found it generally accurate and it won her over! Thirty or more adaptatons before this one: it was the one play you could do every year that wasn't the Nativity and about religion. Your actors would be playing out human values but in a "modern" city where "modern" people lived. The focus not on the miracle of a birth but on the lives people truly lived. And how they could live those Christian values espoused by the adult Jesus in their lives. Love thy neighbor as thyself.
From what I've heard, the high level of accuracy to the book and to the historical period it takes place in was because Brian Henson decided to take the same approach that Michael Caine did: film it as a big prestige movie, that just happens to have the Muppets in it. And that a lot if that may have stemmed from his complicated relationship with his father, which Brian sadly never got to resolve.
There’s a channel called Colin looksback. Every Christmas season, he’ll do a couple videos called So many Christmas Carols, where he reviews adaptations of the book. Four years ago he did a video on this movie and said it was the most accurate adaptation.
And a Hearty Ho Ho Ho to you Professor Jared Frederick, I would like to begin with a recommendation. Rod Serling's 1964 take on the Dickens Classic called "Carol for Another Xmas". Serling wrote the screenplay, directed by Joseph Mankiewicz and starring Sterling Hayden, Eva Marie Saint, Peter Sellars, Ben Gazzara et. al. We watch a lot of films and during the holidays I try to pick things that fit in with the season. Docu's, Toons, TV programs, Movies etc. I enjoyed your analysis of the elements of this Muppetty excursion into Dickensian Fa-la-la. I noticed that only one commentator attempted to propose which Henson creations would take which roles in their own version of "The Streets of NY" I'm intrigued by this idea, but doing it justice will take some time. 🕵♂ I will try. Thanks for the fun, Jacques retired to Mexico 37 years and counting. 🎅🦌🌲what no plum pudding emoji!!!
I've always loved this movie. Then in the last 20 years as I read the book every Christmas season I've come to recognize how faithful of an adaptation it is. It's a travesty what they did in the Disney+ version. By removing the song "When Love is gone" the ending song "When Love is Found" doesn't pack the same emotional punch. I'm glad I have the theatrical release on DVD.
At 1:00 a.m. when Scrooge flies over the city, there's no way London windows would be so well illuminated. Also, the apple variety Red Delicious appeared a little over 30 years later. The name probably even came later after a few name changes.
Isn't it amazing that we still talk about the writings of Dickens, Shakespeare, Verne, and Wells? How many books written today will people be talking about in a hundred years? Very few. It wouldn't surprise me, however, that people may still be talking about A Christmas Carol or Romeo and Juliet in a century or two.
Original VHS! Amazing..my kids starting watching this movie last year after I told them I watched it when I was their age. Memories..thanks for reviewing this
Where did you get the info about Marlies chain and its connection to Pittsburgh? I would love to share that info with kids in PA that are studying that story but I can't seem to find the source on that. Can you point me in the right direction?
@@jenniferthomson9442 It might be in the book of notes that Dickens wrote about his trip to America that was mentioned in the video, but I can't be sure. Hope that helps.
I've always felt this version is one of the closest to the book. Mainly due to Gonzo narrating. "A tight-fisted hand at the grindstone Scrooge. A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner." Try as you may you can't truly convey that kind of description by visual alone.
If you like A Christmas Carol, you should check out Marley's Christmas Carol, by Tom Mula, if you can find it. It was played on NPR each year for a while-don't know if it still is. I think it is better even than the original Christmas Carol. Mula wrote it and performed it as a one-man show.
Did not know about the Pittsburgh connection! That's my hometown...not sure if I think it's a good or a bad thing that Pittsburgh helped inspire the Marleys' chains xD []
I love The Muppets Christmas Carol. I watch it several times a year, not just at Christmastime. The reason I watch it all year round is because I am not a big fan of Christmas. Not at all. Not even a little bit! But I love this movie nonetheless. Having said that, there arose a question during this video that I never thought to ask before. Dr Bunson Honeydew and his assistant Beaker attempted to shake Scrooge down for some money while they represented "The Order of Victoria Charitable Foundation." I wondered if Victoria was queen when Dickens wrote the original book. It turns out, she was!! I looked it up; her reign was from 1837 through 1901, and the book was written in 1843. She would have been a young queen at the time, but queen she was.
I have always found it very interesting that nearly every depiction of the Ghost of Christmas yet to Come is that of or similar to the grim reaper. The description in the book is basically of a vague, nearly shapeless darkness. Something that does and does not take the form similar to a hooded human. Really the Ghost of Christmas yet to Come is an embodiment of a fearful unknown. Fearful for Scrooge mind you. He is mystery and doom. But I don't think he represents death. He simply has no recognizable form because for all intents and purposes he doesn't quite exist yet. He's a shadow of the future.
What I like about Gonzo as the narrator is that the book’s narrator is occasionally (and deliberately) scatter-brained. Who else, among the Muppets, would you pick to convey that?
2017's "The Man Who Invented Christmas" isn't particularly great - but it would be a movie that depicts Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens) as well as "A Christmas Carol" being the novella he's writing. Christopher Plummer is cast as Scrooge.
I'll have to look for that. Christopher Plummer is always interesting, especially since I first saw him in the Sound of Music as a child and have enjoyed seeing his different portrayals since! They don't ALL have to be great. It's Christmas, we can be lenient.
@1234cheerful I saw it in the theater when it came out. But I think I was not in the most engaged frame of mind for its lightness back then, so I'd would like to revisit again now to see if it makes more of an impression.
9:18 - While this is happening, Britain is importing tons of food from Ireland and, while the Great Famine doesn't start until 1845, this importation trend helps lead to the death of many people.
A good chimney sweep is not a Bygone Era in France, I'm not sure about other countries but if you want homeowners insurance and you have working fireplaces, you have to get a certified chimney sweep to sign a certification that your chimneys and fireplaces are cleaned & in good working condition, or no insurance❤! This is done annually, so saith the law😮!
So "Surplus Population" refers to the general populace outweighing the necessary resources to sustain a higher standard for living. However, I always took Scrooge's disdainful remark to imply people whom are exasperatingly unproducive, and therefore extraniously burdensome drains upon the commonwealth of society. As "surplus" means the excess of supply over demand, then "surplus population" would be flipping the equasion - meaning the overwhelming demand to dignify all people exceeding the supply of available resources to logistically sustain any but the best of them in that proper state of accoutrement.
The Ghost argues with Scrooge against people being deemed a surplus, and this is also Dickens arguing that. Scrooge hoarding money (he doesn’t even use it for himself where it would at least go back into the economy) is a big part of the problem. Scrooge considers anyone who can’t or doesn’t want to stay alive to suffer to be surplus until confronted with what that means to families like the Cratchits and children like Tiny Tim.
When Scrooge says those who wish to die should do it and reduce the surplus population he is essentially saying "there's too many poor people already."
Jared, my wife & I found your channel when we were watching "Masters of the Air" and you have been a subscription of mine ever since. I very much enjoy what you do, and as a *huge* Muppets fan, was delighted when I saw the notification that this video had dropped! I was in college when the original Muppet Movie was released, and the Muppet Show was a staple in our household during my adolescent years. Thank you for yet another inspiring and educational entry into your growing library of excellent videos. I hope you and yours have a most joyous holiday, and may we all experience our own Dickensian journey to the true meaning of Christmas this holiday season. God bless.
Oh, and as for my recommendation for which Muppet should play which character in the "Gangs of New York" Muppet adaptation, alas, I have never seen that film, or I most certainly would have something to offer! Any Muppet version of literally *any* film would be a winner in my book. Hmmmm...how about Kermit as Kyle Reese and Miss Piggy as Sarah Connor in a Muppet version of "The Terminator". Let's get this trending and maybe James Cameron will hop on board! 😆
When I saw the title of this one I was filled with a mixture of dread and chuckling at the same time hoping you wouldn't bash one of my favorite movies. Haha.
Re the costume talk-another RUclips talked about the costumes here (and the costume designer responded in the comments): ruclips.net/video/9O_mL1X4UMI/видео.htmlsi=Z8jxSrJ2Px5bYj9u
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
Pediatrician here, in the 90's a group of pediatric specialists wrote down every description of Tiny Tim. They believed he had a kidney disease called Renal Tubular acidosis. The lung symptoms were cause by blood chemistries being out of whack. Ricketts wouldn't cause hime to be chronically short of breath, just more prone to infections.
Very true but one of the reasons children like tiny Tim would have rickets is because of the horrific pollution in London, which had to have affected their lungs as well.
I, as a layman, always thought that Tiny Tim had several afflictions. (Some people have all the luck, he ain't one of them) With poverty as rampant as it was, adding in the air & water pollution causing small problems to become larger😢! Not only daily problems you also have sub par medications & medical knowledge...
I think it was decided it was rickets because improvement could happen with just better nutrition? Does the one you mentioned get better?
You have to do Muppet Treasure Island now. I love how Michael Caine treats them as real people and Tim Curry acts as a Muppet. Happy Holidays.
Right, it was probably really hard for Michael Caine to keep a straight face while in this film. Tim, he just seems to have a blast in all of his roles.
Yes, please do! Maybe it is not a family favorite for you but we would love to hear your comments and watch with you!
@@jawo8754 Yes, that's Tim Curry all right. He's got into voice acting now and even back onstage.
@@1234cheerfulTim Curry’s reading of A Christmas Carol is the one I have and listen to every year. :)
@@1234cheerful every year I listen to an audiobook of A Christmas Carol narrated by Tim Curry
The biggest surprise in Muppet Christmas Carol is the costuming. Those are actually fairly accurate to the period, more than many period dramas accomplish.
Yes, Abby Cox did a video on how good it was and little things like the smocking on Rizzo's shirt that would be seen for seconds. She was very impressed with it.
Almost every word spoken by the humans comes right out of the book too.
@@Morna777 J Draper noticed that too, and that some things "right out of the book" were things usually left aside in previous adaptations.
I always felt that is was because they where working with Muppets that the costume was allowed to be historically accurate. No need for a specific actor to look sexy or good looking by a modern standard when your characters are played by frogs, bears, pigs and a purple long nose... Thing
Here’s a video that Abby Cox did about the costumes in this movie. She too was amazed by the accuracy to the time period!
🤩
ruclips.net/video/9O_mL1X4UMI/видео.htmlsi=fNbD56mKTSkXZUfN
Not many films can claim to have Miss Piggy threatening to bash Scrooge's face against the pavement. That's a big strength this adaptation has.
🤣
When i saw the title and the Historically Accurate thing my first tough was: man, i can't wait for him to say "the real Kermit the frog was this gently mississipian, he was a little more tall and less green, but i can see why the filmakers took a little liberty with him"
I was just going to say “There were Muppets in Dickens’s time?” :)
Most Certainly! Their entertainment was in fact limited being the lack of extensive electronics & it's affordability😂!!!
I'm originally from Portsmouth,England (where Dickens was born) and I love the Muppet Christmas Carol movie. The fact that Sir Michael Caine plays it straight makes the movie work.
@alanprior7650 Very true!
Kermit is one of the best characters America has ever produced. He’s also my first and most enduring crush. I can’t express my love for him adequately; he is the embodiment of all that is good. And that’s why he’s the best Bob Cratchit ever.
Are you trying to tell me there is no historical evidence for talking vegetables in Victorian Era?
I'm shocked!
Never mind them what about the singing lobsters?
Maybe the Mad Hatters would be hallucinating such?
🤣
I have probably seen most versions of A Christmas Carol but this is one of my favourite versions and because Michael played it straight, its very faithful to the original story.
There’s a meme out there about this movie, that I love, which goes like this:
Muppet Christmas Carol Director: okay, so it’s A Christmas Carol, but with Muppets, so. You know. Feel free to have fun with it. Be a little silly.
Michael Caine: I am going to play this entire thing as serious as a car accident.
@@Sarah-zr1njHonestly not far from reality. To quote Wikipedia:
Henson later offered the role to Michael Caine, who replied: "I'm going to play this movie like I'm working with the Royal Shakespeare Company. I will never wink, I will never do anything Muppety. I am going to play Scrooge as if it is an utterly dramatic role and there are no puppets around me."
How fun! This goes into my saved playlist along with Abby Cox's video on the historicity of the costuming. Brilliant! Totally my favorite Christmas Movie.
There’s a meme about this where Henson says: “Michael, you’ll be Scrooge. Just have fun with it”
Caine: “I’m going to play this as serious as a car accident.”
Love this movie!
This is my FAVORITE Christmas movie, hands down. I can't wait to share it with my children soon and sing along with the music, that fits so well with the narrative. And I'm not a huge fan of music singing either.
Seeing Daniel-Day Lewis as the only "Human" character in a Muppet Gangs of New York (With Kermit as the Priest and Robin as his son). Chef's Kiss!
I remember in 8th or 9th grade when this came out. My parents had this huge Christmas party and then after it was over, we all went out to catch the late showing of this movie. It was a fun day.
Thanks for this breakdown of my favorite Christmas movie! You mentioned the movie having two Marley brothers to accommodate Stattler and Waldorf - Jacob and Robert. Robert Marley = Bob Marley. It took me twenty years to get that joke! 😂
I was today years old, as the saying goes!!
12:00 breaking the fourth wall is also a feature of traditional Christmas pantomimes which are still extremely popular in the U.K.
I would recommend the 2005 film Joyeux Noel about the WWI Christmas Truce between Allied troops & German troops in December 1914.
I think Gonzo's look was more inspired by the fact that Dickens himself was kind of a flashy dresser but I like your interpretation better!
Light the lamp, not the rat!
On versions with Dickens appearing: there's a 2001 animated version (with Simon Callow as Scrooge) that starts with Dickens reading this to an audience, which then proceeds to be extremely inaccurate to the book, and also a 2012 live-action version (by Guerilla Films) where there is a frame story of Dickens meeting someone to read his story to - and the whole thing looks like they rented a country house for a weekend and threw together whatever costumes and props they could find that would look somewhat Victorian. I wouldn't recommend either one, for accuracy to book or period, and certainly not as a good movie.
That said, The Muppet Christmas Carol is the top of the tops. And your video is a great bit of historical context setting; well done!
This was my introduction to "A Christmas Carol." It is indeed my favorite adaptation.
This movie made me a Michael Caine fan for life (The Man Who Would Be King helped too)
Love this movie and really enjoyed your comments on it! Merry Christmas! 🎄
Thanks for watching! Merry Christmas!
I'm wearing my new The Muppet Christmas Carol tee shirt as I watch this. I have loved this movie since taking my then 4-yr-old son to see it. I listen to the soundtrack many times during the holiday and watch the movie with my grown sons.
Truly a cinematic masterpiece
This is my introduction to your channel and your work. In short, I’m hooked and am now a subscriber! Well done sir!
Muppet "Gangs of New York" - love it!
Wait ... Muppets aren't real??? I need to have a sit down with my pugs.
We all have that moment. It's sad. - Andy
@@ReelHistory :)
I hope they took it well!
@@elliem4225 They hate me now.
@@elliem4225 They hate me now.
My favorite version for all the reasons you mentioned! Love it!
This film is a personal favourite of mine, round about this time of year. It’s how I got introduced to the tale of ‘a Christmas carol’
Also I would like to point out about the death rate in children during the Victorian era was also caused by things in the household as well. Green wallpaper for example, was a big problem because to produce the bright vibrant green color arsenic was used in the manufacturing and children especially babies were prone to lean up against the walls and put their hands on the walls and babies have a habit of putting their hands in their mouths leading to ingesting the arsenic in the wallpaper, lead toys were also contributors in the high death rate in children. There were so many factors involved in the mortality rate in those times that it's surprising that any one made it past the age of six to ten, or even became teenagers to see adulthood.
This film; *chef's kiss*
This is fascinating. Looking forward to more of your videos. Subscribed.
Welcome aboard!
Is this the one where the full version was recently released that included the “When Love is Gone” song?
It’s been on Disney+ for a few years hidden under Extras, and I think it’s in video releases now.
I used to fast forward through that song as a child, but I watched the edited version on Disney+ last year, and it is rather jarring when the scene goes from Belle standing up, to Rizzo crying. All the emotion is gone from the scene.
The song was in the original release but they took it out because they thought it was too sad for kids. When the ”elder millennials” complained and said they wanted it back in supposedly the footage was lost (or something like that).
@@astridafklinteberg298Elder Millennial is such a great term. Sounds very Tolkien.
A great movie indeed, I'm a bit older than you but I've seen it around a dozen of times at least. Great video, thanks for sharing, a great Xmas and happy new year, for you, your family, friends, and all your visitors here, thanks for sharing.
Love the 12 O'Clock High mug on the shelf
The Royal Order of Victoria is an order of knighthood endowed by Queen Victoria for distinguished service to the crown or the royal family. I don't know that The Charitable Society of the Order of Victoria specifically existed but if it didn't something similar almost certainly did and it wasn't a faith-based organisation. It was a group made up of recipients of the order of Victoria who felt it was their civic duty to use their positions of wealth and influence to do charitable work.
Collecting for a Christmas fund of the London Homeless is the kind of thing they would have done.
A very early “new” episode of Doctor Who has the Doctor and Rose meet Charles Dickens (played by Simon Callow). When Dickens learns the Doctor is from the future, there’s this exchange: “My books, Doctor. Do they last?” “Oh, yes.” “How long?” “Forever.”
A somewhat sideways tribute to a literary legend. There’s another a season or two later involving Vincent Van Gogh that brings me to tears when I rewatch it.
“And the award for 2024’s best Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come goes to....Luigi Mangione”
😅
Beautiful video ☺
Fireplaces were important for heat, but stoves with chimneys were used for cooking (and heat) too.
I refer you to “An Essay on the Principle of Population”: Thomas Robert Malthus, pub. 1798. The Wiki article is - at this time - an excellent précis. And Malthusians are still out there, seeking to Decrease the Surplus Population…
I love The Muppet Christmas Carol. IMHO it’s one of the best adaptations, handling the material in a sympathetic modern manner, and it’s fun. The costumes are absolutely accurate, btw!
Love the wrap up!
Thanks for watching!
CGI was not used in this wonderful movie. All were practical effects which makes this film all the more remarkable.❤
You're saying the door knocker transformation was hand drawn animation? What about the spiral twisty transition with the 3rd spirit late in Scrooge's visitation and journey?
I was 14 when I saw this movie in the theater for the first time and remember having a VHS copy at first and now have the DVD.
Oh good! J Draper (British RUclipsr, London historian) reviewed it too and found it generally accurate and it won her over! Thirty or more adaptatons before this one: it was the one play you could do every year that wasn't the Nativity and about religion. Your actors would be playing out human values but in a "modern" city where "modern" people lived. The focus not on the miracle of a birth but on the lives people truly lived. And how they could live those Christian values espoused by the adult Jesus in their lives. Love thy neighbor as thyself.
From what I've heard, the high level of accuracy to the book and to the historical period it takes place in was because Brian Henson decided to take the same approach that Michael Caine did: film it as a big prestige movie, that just happens to have the Muppets in it. And that a lot if that may have stemmed from his complicated relationship with his father, which Brian sadly never got to resolve.
Muppets break the fourth wall in all of their films. It's my favorite thing about them!
I still watch every year, along with the version that George C Scott was in.
Light the Lamp not the Rat!!!!!... Favorite part.... Merry Christmas to you Jared.
Merry Christmas!
Bill the Butcher is either the Swedish Chef or Mrs. Piggy.
Can you review the Patrick Stewart version of "A Christmas Carol" from 1999 next?
Oh gosh1 YES please do! I'm sure it won't touch the magic of the Muppets for you but we'd love to hear you comment!
There’s a channel called Colin looksback. Every Christmas season, he’ll do a couple videos called So many Christmas Carols, where he reviews adaptations of the book. Four years ago he did a video on this movie and said it was the most accurate adaptation.
And a Hearty Ho Ho Ho to you Professor Jared Frederick, I would like to begin with a recommendation. Rod Serling's 1964 take on the Dickens Classic called "Carol for Another Xmas". Serling wrote the screenplay, directed by Joseph Mankiewicz and starring Sterling Hayden, Eva Marie Saint, Peter Sellars, Ben Gazzara et. al. We watch a lot of films and during the holidays I try to pick things that fit in with the season. Docu's, Toons, TV programs, Movies etc.
I enjoyed your analysis of the elements of this Muppetty excursion into Dickensian Fa-la-la. I noticed that only one commentator attempted to propose which Henson creations would take which roles in their own version of "The Streets of NY" I'm intrigued by this idea, but doing it justice will take some time. 🕵♂ I will try. Thanks for the fun, Jacques retired to Mexico 37 years and counting. 🎅🦌🌲what no plum pudding emoji!!!
I've always loved this movie. Then in the last 20 years as I read the book every Christmas season I've come to recognize how faithful of an adaptation it is. It's a travesty what they did in the Disney+ version. By removing the song "When Love is gone" the ending song "When Love is Found" doesn't pack the same emotional punch. I'm glad I have the theatrical release on DVD.
At 1:00 a.m. when Scrooge flies over the city, there's no way London windows would be so well illuminated. Also, the apple variety Red Delicious appeared a little over 30 years later. The name probably even came later after a few name changes.
A very informative video. Thanks.
Michael Caine is so classy
I still watch it every year!
Isn't it amazing that we still talk about the writings of Dickens, Shakespeare, Verne, and Wells? How many books written today will people be talking about in a hundred years? Very few. It wouldn't surprise me, however, that people may still be talking about A Christmas Carol or Romeo and Juliet in a century or two.
We watch this every year. Love its very careful homage to the original and Michael Caine is hands down the best Scrooge ever.
This is in my top 5
Original VHS! Amazing..my kids starting watching this movie last year after I told them I watched it when I was their age. Memories..thanks for reviewing this
I still have my original VHS copy!
Thanks for watching!
Watched the movie a few days ago and J. Drawer’s video on accuracy to the period and the book, which was very good.
Where did you get the info about Marlies chain and its connection to Pittsburgh? I would love to share that info with kids in PA that are studying that story but I can't seem to find the source on that. Can you point me in the right direction?
@@jenniferthomson9442
It might be in the book of notes that Dickens wrote about his trip to America that was mentioned in the video, but I can't be sure. Hope that helps.
I've always felt this version is one of the closest to the book. Mainly due to Gonzo narrating. "A tight-fisted hand at the grindstone Scrooge. A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner." Try as you may you can't truly convey that kind of description by visual alone.
What a fun movie that I now share with my own children!
If you like A Christmas Carol, you should check out Marley's Christmas Carol, by Tom Mula, if you can find it. It was played on NPR each year for a while-don't know if it still is. I think it is better even than the original Christmas Carol. Mula wrote it and performed it as a one-man show.
I've been trying to get them to do a version of Fiddler on the Roof, but they've told me they won't do it.
Did not know about the Pittsburgh connection! That's my hometown...not sure if I think it's a good or a bad thing that Pittsburgh helped inspire the Marleys' chains xD []
no one breaks a 4th wall like Deadpool
I love The Muppets Christmas Carol. I watch it several times a year, not just at Christmastime. The reason I watch it all year round is because I am not a big fan of Christmas. Not at all. Not even a little bit! But I love this movie nonetheless. Having said that, there arose a question during this video that I never thought to ask before. Dr Bunson Honeydew and his assistant Beaker attempted to shake Scrooge down for some money while they represented "The Order of Victoria Charitable Foundation." I wondered if Victoria was queen when Dickens wrote the original book. It turns out, she was!! I looked it up; her reign was from 1837 through 1901, and the book was written in 1843. She would have been a young queen at the time, but queen she was.
What about A Christmas Story? That would be interesting.
We did that 2 or 3 years ago
@ReelHistory I will have to go back and watch it, hopefully you weren't hard on the movie
@ReelHistory just watched it and it was great! I will have to watch for the Easter eggs when I watch it at Christmas
I have always found it very interesting that nearly every depiction of the Ghost of Christmas yet to Come is that of or similar to the grim reaper. The description in the book is basically of a vague, nearly shapeless darkness. Something that does and does not take the form similar to a hooded human. Really the Ghost of Christmas yet to Come is an embodiment of a fearful unknown. Fearful for Scrooge mind you. He is mystery and doom. But I don't think he represents death. He simply has no recognizable form because for all intents and purposes he doesn't quite exist yet. He's a shadow of the future.
Sam Eagle as Bill Cutting. Fozzie as the barber who gets elected sheriff, but his club is a rubber mallet that squeaks.
Ok this might be the best one haha! - Andy
I had a Grandma Gertie! 😢❤
This and Christmas Carol Goes Wrong are the only versions of this story I like, and the doctor who one (but that was more loosely based)
What I like about Gonzo as the narrator is that the book’s narrator is occasionally (and deliberately) scatter-brained. Who else, among the Muppets, would you pick to convey that?
Lovely. Thank you.
2017's "The Man Who Invented Christmas" isn't particularly great - but it would be a movie that depicts Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens) as well as "A Christmas Carol" being the novella he's writing. Christopher Plummer is cast as Scrooge.
I'll have to look for that. Christopher Plummer is always interesting, especially since I first saw him in the Sound of Music as a child and have enjoyed seeing his different portrayals since! They don't ALL have to be great. It's Christmas, we can be lenient.
@1234cheerful
I saw it in the theater when it came out. But I think I was not in the most engaged frame of mind for its lightness back then, so I'd would like to revisit again now to see if it makes more of an impression.
Would like to know how they managed to get Michael Caine for this.
Prof. Fredrick, Do you happy to have a father or uncle when is or was also a history prof. in North Eastern PA?
9:18 - While this is happening, Britain is importing tons of food from Ireland and, while the Great Famine doesn't start until 1845, this importation trend helps lead to the death of many people.
A good chimney sweep is not a Bygone Era in France, I'm not sure about other countries but if you want homeowners insurance and you have working fireplaces, you have to get a certified chimney sweep to sign a certification that your chimneys and fireplaces are cleaned & in good working condition, or no insurance❤! This is done annually, so saith the law😮!
Scrooge 1970 would also be worth a watch
🎉🎉🎉
Nice video.
I'm going with the Swedish Chef for Bill the Butcher.
So "Surplus Population" refers to the general populace outweighing the necessary resources to sustain a higher standard for living.
However, I always took Scrooge's disdainful remark to imply people whom are exasperatingly unproducive, and therefore extraniously burdensome drains upon the commonwealth of society.
As "surplus" means the excess of supply over demand, then "surplus population" would be flipping the equasion - meaning the overwhelming demand to dignify all people exceeding the supply of available resources to logistically sustain any but the best of them in that proper state of accoutrement.
The Ghost argues with Scrooge against people being deemed a surplus, and this is also Dickens arguing that. Scrooge hoarding money (he doesn’t even use it for himself where it would at least go back into the economy) is a big part of the problem. Scrooge considers anyone who can’t or doesn’t want to stay alive to suffer to be surplus until confronted with what that means to families like the Cratchits and children like Tiny Tim.
When Scrooge says those who wish to die should do it and reduce the surplus population he is essentially saying "there's too many poor people already."
Love this movie, sweetums and deadly would have to be in gangs of ny remake
Many children were used as chimney sweeps... water babies book...
Not once in this video did you say that Charles Dickens wasn't blue, it must be canon.
Go team!
My vote is Scooter for Amsterdam
Jared, my wife & I found your channel when we were watching "Masters of the Air" and you have been a subscription of mine ever since. I very much enjoy what you do, and as a *huge* Muppets fan, was delighted when I saw the notification that this video had dropped! I was in college when the original Muppet Movie was released, and the Muppet Show was a staple in our household during my adolescent years.
Thank you for yet another inspiring and educational entry into your growing library of excellent videos. I hope you and yours have a most joyous holiday, and may we all experience our own Dickensian journey to the true meaning of Christmas this holiday season. God bless.
Oh, and as for my recommendation for which Muppet should play which character in the "Gangs of New York" Muppet adaptation, alas, I have never seen that film, or I most certainly would have something to offer! Any Muppet version of literally *any* film would be a winner in my book. Hmmmm...how about Kermit as Kyle Reese and Miss Piggy as Sarah Connor in a Muppet version of "The Terminator". Let's get this trending and maybe James Cameron will hop on board! 😆
Thanks for subscribing and watching!
I would love to see a Muppet Schindler's List.
Noooooooooooo
There is a kind of muppets "Scarface" in Peter Jacksons "Meet the Feebles." Beware it's very trashy, crude, and violent.
Does Elmo make an appearance as the little girl in red?
When I saw the title of this one I was filled with a mixture of dread and chuckling at the same time hoping you wouldn't bash one of my favorite movies. Haha.
Hope we didn't disappoint!
@ReelHistory It was good. Great job!
What about Joker Claus?
This is a joke right? I'm not watching this...I REFUSE....my life it soo precious!
This movie is precious! 🥰
Re the costume talk-another RUclips talked about the costumes here (and the costume designer responded in the comments): ruclips.net/video/9O_mL1X4UMI/видео.htmlsi=Z8jxSrJ2Px5bYj9u
C'mon, it has to be historically accurate?
Just having fun! 🤣