So Many Christmas Carols!: RANKIN/BASS's Stingiest Man in Town (1956 & 1978)

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  • Опубликовано: 2 дек 2024

Комментарии • 92

  • @ColinLooksBack
    @ColinLooksBack  2 года назад +11

    Have a private Christmas & a safe New Year with Atlas VPN Premium! Get it for just $1.70/mo + 6 months extra. Limited-time offer! get.atlasvpn.com/LooksBack

    • @forrestdupre87
      @forrestdupre87 2 года назад

      The animated version is better

    • @racheljackson4428
      @racheljackson4428 2 года назад

      The Rankin/Bass Powerhouse are Offically no longer with us with Jules Bass passing away recently.

    • @quietchap
      @quietchap 2 года назад

      Hope you have a merry Christmas, Colin ^^

  • @Tadicuslegion78
    @Tadicuslegion78 2 года назад +28

    Basil Rathbone I think is one of those wildly underappreciated actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood, yes people do know him mainly for Sherlock Holmes, as they should, and yet his character actor as the villain in a lot of swashbuckling movies is fantastic, like he could have played Captain Hook in a live action Peter Pan. Check out his performance against Errol Flynn in both The Adventures of Robin Hood and Captain Blood. Or as the bad guy in Zorro, dude was awesome.

    • @michaelpalmieri7335
      @michaelpalmieri7335 2 года назад +4

      Or when he played Mr. Murdstone in the 1935 film version of Charles Dickens' "David Copperfield," with Freddie Bartholomew as the younger version of the title character. I don't remember who played David as an adult though.
      Comedian W.C. Fields also appeared in the film as Wilkins Micawber.

  • @LeBasfondMusic
    @LeBasfondMusic 2 года назад +7

    Mr. Bass' passing really hit me in my core because the 40th anniversary of the last unicorn was just a few weeks later. 😭😭😭😭

  • @headofcosmospictures1232
    @headofcosmospictures1232 2 года назад +18

    It's great that you're covering this oddity. This is one of my personal favourite christmas carols and the songs are great too. Something i've noticed in various christmas carol adaptions is that they always give a romantic ballade to belle and scrooge. My three favourites are ''I might have been'' from The stingiest man in town, ''When love is gone'' from muppets christmas carol and ''Winter was warm'' from Mr Magoos Christmas carol.

    • @jenniferschillig3768
      @jenniferschillig3768 11 месяцев назад

      The double-act of "You" and "Happiness" from Scrooge (1970) is great too.

    • @jenniferschillig3768
      @jenniferschillig3768 11 месяцев назад +1

      You know, musical adaptations of A Christmas Carol do seem to have general categories of songs that they may or may not include. A song about how awful Scrooge is, a cheerful song for the Fezziwigs' party, a love song and/or breakup song for Ebenezer and Belle, a joyful number (sometimes a huge ensemble) for The Ghost Of Christmas Present, a song for the Cratchits (sometimes reprised at Tiny Tim's death), a song of joy and relief for Scrooge as he awakens on Christmas morning, and a joyous finale for the ensemble.

    • @caroldefender4144
      @caroldefender4144 8 месяцев назад +1

      @@jenniferschillig3768 And, less frequently, a warning song for Marley. (I say "less frequently" because I've only seen- or rather heard, since one was a recording- four versions where he does get one.)

  • @samwill7259
    @samwill7259 2 года назад +10

    Some people have pointed out how awkward the Rankin/Bass specials are, how odd the stop motion looks sometimes, how cheesy they are, how sappy and mushy they are
    And all of those are true
    I simply do not care, they're so cozy and heartfelt and lovely I could watch them every year happily until I'm dead

    • @kyliethelittlespider-mangirl94
      @kyliethelittlespider-mangirl94 Месяц назад

      I’m totally with you! I don’t care what people say, their animation is great either stop motion or 2D animated

  • @Sandlot1992
    @Sandlot1992 2 года назад +12

    that clip from Revenge of the Sith at the end is totally the icing on the cake! (I remember seeing this back on Fox Family back then!)

    • @michaelpalmieri7335
      @michaelpalmieri7335 2 года назад

      Yes, but what does it have to do with "A Christmas Carol"?

  • @Tadicuslegion78
    @Tadicuslegion78 2 года назад +20

    Rankin/Bass made 18 Christmas specials...18! both in that jerky puppet stop-motion style and this hyper detailed animation from Topcraft, which later led to animators from that becoming Studio Ghibli. Rankin/Bass must have realized the "Christmas Special" market was wide open for the taking.

    • @AuraOfANobody
      @AuraOfANobody 2 года назад +3

      Topcraft's work is really interesting to revisit once you're familiar with their later work as Ghibli! While it technically predates Ghibli as a studio, I swear, there are some shots in Nausicaä where her eyes look just like Amalthea's in The Last Unicorn. Really cool stuff.

    • @pablocasas5906
      @pablocasas5906 2 года назад

      It's pretty noticeable that the animation was done in part in Japan. It reminds me a lot of the World Masterpiece Theater shows by Nippon Animation, in which Miyazaki and Takahata worked, it also reminds me of some Tatsunoko shows from that time as well

    • @garycarpenter2980
      @garycarpenter2980 Год назад +1

      Rankin/Bass was the Kings of Christmas ⛄🎄 plus the other holidays,Basil Rathbone was great as well as Holmes and I didn't know he had played Scrooge and Marley s ghost 👻 but he's a great talent actor

  • @maxordman4100
    @maxordman4100 Год назад +3

    Thank you for covering this special Christmas cartoon in honor of Joules Bass’s passing! Very good job! Please cover more Rankin and Bass Christmas specials! Definitely enjoy your Christmas Carol cartoon comparisons!

  • @WillScarlet16
    @WillScarlet16 Год назад +4

    A hell of a lot better than Netflix's Christmas Carol.

  • @hoosierwood
    @hoosierwood Год назад +3

    The songs are great. "Mankind should be my business." makes me tear up.

  • @boscott6438
    @boscott6438 11 месяцев назад

    I saw this when I was 12 years old in 1959. Have loved it ever since. I have the album and listen to it every year. I was so pleased to find the "movie" on youtube two years ago. The music and the singers are amazing!

  • @Ireton06
    @Ireton06 2 года назад +4

    I’m impressed with this special, might check it out

  • @MisterSynyster
    @MisterSynyster 2 года назад +2

    RIP Herr Rankin, Herr Bass & Herr Rathbone

  • @80sDisneyFan
    @80sDisneyFan 2 года назад +7

    I wonder if the Rankin-Bass special is on that new DVD set. Also congrats on getting a sponsor.

  • @juliamavroidi8601
    @juliamavroidi8601 Год назад +4

    The cricket narrator in the animated version is probably inspired by the similar character in Rankin-Bass' Cricket on the Hearth. Another Dickens' adaptation and one of their earliest Christmas specials (the first hand drwan animated one iirc)

  • @ChickenGeorgeClooney
    @ChickenGeorgeClooney 2 года назад +1

    Really love that you have this series. I'm also doing my own personal watch of as many Christmas Carol adaptations as I can, currently at 85 seen!

  • @robynwolph3836
    @robynwolph3836 2 года назад +8

    RIP Rankin Bass.

    • @racheljackson4428
      @racheljackson4428 2 года назад +1

      yeah very sad but not as sad as the passing of Kevin Conroy.

    • @80sDisneyFan
      @80sDisneyFan 2 года назад +1

      @@racheljackson4428 That's disrespectful. BOTH deaths are equally as sad.

    • @AnAverageGoblin
      @AnAverageGoblin Год назад +1

      @@racheljackson4428 Piss off with that shit dude. losing two people who were both important to their industries is sad.

  • @michaelsanchez440
    @michaelsanchez440 2 года назад +3

    I like Christmas specials made of stop-motion.

  • @heymanwhatsgoingon
    @heymanwhatsgoingon Год назад

    unintentionally saved this watch for christmas day, perfect time to watch now i guess even tho it’s 3am lol

  • @SeasideDetective2
    @SeasideDetective2 Год назад +3

    I found the animation style of the 1978 special grotesque, but in a charming sort of way. The Ghost of Christmas Present, however, came out looking more terrifying than I think the animators intended.

  • @aidanhever3369
    @aidanhever3369 2 года назад +4

    Man, kinda like Hanna-Barbera. The one who started it all died first, while his partner died a couple of years later.

  • @natethefighter
    @natethefighter Год назад

    That stinger at the end is * chef's kiss *

  • @Nightman221k
    @Nightman221k 2 года назад +9

    I think this is the very first adaptation of A Christmas Carol I’ve watched. After having watched a multitude of versions… unfortunately this one doesn’t hold up as well even though I like a lot of what it did. The Cratchits resorting to painting clothespins in place of presents for Tiny Tim was sweet and sad and I liked the character designs even if Tiny Tim is dead-eyed. It is the only version I know of that depicts a tragic ending for Belle since during the song it shows she ended up lonely and poor. It’s interesting to see a version where Scrooge’s selfishness had an adverse effect on her, but I always liked Belle in the story so it just felt a bit mean for no reason. Especially since Scrooge is jovial and makes it up to everyone BUT her. I wasn’t fond of the cricket in this either. I do still have a soft spot for the version overall but it’s definitely not the best or closest to Dickens in terms of storytelling.

    • @michaelpalmieri7335
      @michaelpalmieri7335 2 года назад +2

      In the original story, after the Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge how Belle broke up with him because of his greed, he then shows the old miser how, years later, Belle is happily married to a man who's neither selfish nor materialistic like Scrooge. They also have children.

    • @jenniferschillig3768
      @jenniferschillig3768 11 месяцев назад

      @@michaelpalmieri7335 "...and when [Scrooge] thought that such another creature [as Belle's teenage daughter], quite as graceful and as full of promise, might have called him father, and been a spring-time in the haggard winter of his life, his sight grew very dim indeed."

  • @frogglen6350
    @frogglen6350 2 года назад +2

    it is amazing hiw this classic story is Ober 100 years old

    • @michaelpalmieri7335
      @michaelpalmieri7335 2 года назад

      I think it's more than just over 100 years old. The novel was written sometime in the 1840s, so that would make it about 180 years old.

  • @BuckarooBanzai84
    @BuckarooBanzai84 11 месяцев назад

    Fun-Fact; this particular production is, as far back as I can recall, the first piece of media to directly make the connection between Christmas Present and Santa Claus! =)

  • @itzorin600
    @itzorin600 2 года назад +1

    Oh yeah I've been waiting for this one

  • @MagillanicaLouM
    @MagillanicaLouM 2 года назад +1

    Ohhh these are the Frosty and Rudolph special makers? And those are just a few under their name, impressive

  • @user-no5hs2wc2t
    @user-no5hs2wc2t 8 месяцев назад

    Basil was and is great!

  • @natsmith303
    @natsmith303 2 года назад +4

    Gonna be honest, I actively hated the animated version the one time I've seen it. I think it was the bit early on when Scrooge laughs when he causes someone misfortune that put me off for the rest of it, because that's just not Scrooge. He's apathetic to the point of cruelty, not intentionally malicious.

    • @michaelpalmieri7335
      @michaelpalmieri7335 2 года назад

      *actually

    • @jenniferschillig3768
      @jenniferschillig3768 11 месяцев назад

      Which is why that awful 2019 BBC adaptation with Guy Pearce missed the mark by a million miles, making Scrooge actively evil. And taking out any warmth or joy and piling on tons of grimdarkness that wasn't there in the original because this is 2019, Game of Thrones is popular, and all the cool kids are nihilistic.

  • @TylerRakstis
    @TylerRakstis 2 года назад

    Funny you mention the detail in the live TV version because that's what I thought was happening as a kid when watching Scrooge McDuck or the Muppets. 6:09-6:46

  • @OrganizedChaos1117
    @OrganizedChaos1117 2 года назад

    11:55 If nothing else, this had the creepiest "door knocker becomes Marley's face " scene ever.

  • @tylerdiggs9174
    @tylerdiggs9174 2 года назад

    Nice vid. Didn't get a notification on this for some reason though

  • @perrilewis180
    @perrilewis180 Год назад

    You have another disney one. It's Spring time with Roo. Yes it's winnie the pooh and it's Easter in it's non secular form but it's still a Christmas Carol in a sense.

  • @KyleRDent
    @KyleRDent 2 года назад +2

    That "Noooooo" needs to become a meme.

  • @g-forcefgt323
    @g-forcefgt323 Год назад

    11:22 it should be mentioned Paul sadly passed away in July.

  • @katiehickey4539
    @katiehickey4539 2 года назад

    Wait a minute, New Dream Stingiest Man in Town Collection; 1956's Stingiest Man in Town Movie in VHS and 1978's Stingiest Man in Town Movie in DVD-Video.

    • @garycarpenter2980
      @garycarpenter2980 Год назад +1

      The 1978 version is better than a live action show

  • @dylanpietz7855
    @dylanpietz7855 Год назад +2

    Funniest thing, I was actually going to suggest this particular version of A Christmas Carol, specifically the Rankin/Bass version. But I guess you found out about it before I could suggest it. Anyway, since Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules bass are sadly no longer with us, after this video, I don't suppose you could do videos covering their other films, specials and shows perhaps?

  • @memethyst
    @memethyst 2 года назад

    im a big fan of rankin bass but this is one of them that i've never actually seen

  • @shoresean1237
    @shoresean1237 26 дней назад

    Mister Rathbone would either be delighted or beside himself were he to learn that a recent effort was 'A Sherlock Carol' with the great detective contacted by Scrooge's ghost to solve his (post-CC) murder.
    Part of me liked this, but at the same time, part of me was disappointed. Even in 1978, the CC adaptation market was flooded, and I had to wonder why R/B went for such low-hanging fruit. This was (IMHO) the era that saw the decline of R/B's dominance in Xmas specials. Nestor was cool, but basically Rudolph set around the Nativity, with some flaws. 'First Christmas' was sweet, but had to be the most misnamed special ever. Pinocchio, Leprechauns and Jack Frost were almost Xmas in name only. 'Life and Adventures' seemed an odd choice for a studio that had created a very distinctive Santa with his own iconic backstory. I actually liked the 2000 L&A version better. I'm not slamming them, and I know they have their fans, but the electric magic I felt with the big set just wasn't there. I think they should have kept to their patented song-into-story method. My dream R/B special: Santa's Beard, featuring The Beach Boys and a bunch of their Xmas covers with the story being for the little brother to meet Santa like in the song. It would ideally be done in the 'Night Before Xmas' 2D animation.
    As far as Musical versions go, I think I prefer Rich Little's over this, but I will never turn a version of CC off, save for a couple of the very cheap DTV ones from the late 90's and 00's. According to Tropes, one version doesn't even have Tim die in the bad future!

  • @sarasamaletdin4574
    @sarasamaletdin4574 2 года назад

    I haven’t still seen that many Christmas Carols, but I watched today the new Netflix one and I did like it. But I assume you find it pretty standard since you have watched so many.

  • @Rubberman202
    @Rubberman202 Год назад

    This feels appropriate, given the recent passing of Jules Bass. I've watched Rankin-Bass's "Stingiest Man in Town" a couple times in the past, I like the music, but it's kind of lacking in terms of an adaptation of A Christmas Carol. The part that sticks out to me is when the Ghost of Christmas Present tries to do the whole "decrease the surplus population" ironic echo to Scrooge, but the special forgot to include Scrooge saying that line earlier. Also, the Ghost of Christmas Future is a bit rushed, and it doesn't have quite the same emotional pay-off as other Christmas Carol adaptations. My grandma is a HUGE Christmas Carol fan, and she was sorely disappointed with this version, but I just think it's alright.

  • @kiwikenobi
    @kiwikenobi 2 года назад

    Me mid-video: Aha, I know exactly what joke I'll make in the comments!
    Me at the very end of the video: Ah. Glad I waited, he beat me to it. XD

  • @Perrosiutico
    @Perrosiutico Год назад +1

    I'm so sorry you can't appreciate the vocal performance of Basil Rathbone ,which I find impeccable. For me, he achieves the perfect vocal quality for this character and infuses the songs "One Little Boy" and "Mankind Should Be My Business" with all the emotional depth of a great actor. And Rathbone even dances! If you want more polished vocalism there is always the ringing tones of Met veterans Robert Weede and Patrice Munsel. Rathbone, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Dante Alighieri, tourist in Hell, is totally convincing in his transformation. I have searched for the video of this 1956 memory of my childhood for most of my life. After being told repeatedly by the folks at the Paley Museum of Broadcasting that this was lost forever, a lone copy of the original kinescope in the effects of a deceased Alcoa executive. I have very little use for the later animated version. A few years ago I stumbled on a copy of the piano/vocal score in an old music shop. Someday I hope to produce my own live version.

  • @mightyfilm
    @mightyfilm 2 года назад +1

    I should start off by saying there's a MUCH worse anime version of A Christmas Carol:
    ruclips.net/video/b-dvwEkyjO0/видео.html
    Anyway, this is a very interesting case. All if not most of Rankin Bass's projects were animated in Japan (yes, the stop motion ones too), but I remember reading in an old Anime encyclopedia that this was actually the only one that was considered a co-production (as a special, the King Kong cartoon was intended as one as well). This being between Rankin Bass and TMS animation (the studio behind such classics as Lupin II, Detective Conan, and outsourced animation for Ducktales and Tiny Toons among others). Now, I've never seen this entire thing, but what I have seen looks just beautifully colored and framed and very atmospheric. This is almost theatrical quality. Now, I forget the exact Japanese name of this special, and only one clip of the Japanese language version exists. Still, shame that Walter Mathau doesn't seem to be in top form here. I'm a BIG fan of the guy's work, and I really think it's a shame they didn't cast Jack Lemmon as someone to play off of Scrooge, be it the Hum Bug, a ghost, Jacob Marley or Cratchet himself. I'd think if they got those two together in the recording studio, there would have been a stronger chemistry that could have coaxed a better performance out of Mathau.

  • @ILikeSoup2013
    @ILikeSoup2013 4 месяца назад

    Walter Matthau voiced the grinch once

  • @jennifermoy272
    @jennifermoy272 Год назад

    You should do a "So Many Christmas Carols" review on the "Real Ghostbusters" Christmas episode, "X Mas Marks the Spot".

    • @lilyfultz9702
      @lilyfultz9702 Год назад

      As Well As The Bravestarr Christmas Episode Tex's Terrible Night
      The Animaniacs Christmas Episode A Christmas Plotz
      & The Littlest Pet Shop Christmas Episode Who Scrooged McRude?

  • @gstone8255
    @gstone8255 2 года назад

    Walter Matthau sang well in Hello Dolly.

  • @tristanbray2184
    @tristanbray2184 2 года назад

    This wasn't Matthau's only voiceover credit. He narrated "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" for Dr. Seuss Video Classics.

  • @matthewander2241
    @matthewander2241 2 года назад

    Still waiting for spirited

  • @Magicghost23
    @Magicghost23 Год назад

    🎄🎄🎄

  • @seanking8427
    @seanking8427 Год назад

    12:55 I didn’t like the grave morphing into the devil

  • @aranbuzzas8000
    @aranbuzzas8000 Год назад +1

    You're pretty harsh on this. It's without a doubt the original with Rathbone is the BEST version of A Christmas Carol. I was excited to see it get some attention on RUclips, but this video was a big disappointment.

  • @belleroseelizabethsmith8148
    @belleroseelizabethsmith8148 2 года назад

    Did u see the new scrooge movie?

  • @pacoramon9468
    @pacoramon9468 Год назад +1

    Too early for this kind of videos.

  • @memelessnaiki
    @memelessnaiki 2 года назад

    early?

  • @erikbihari3625
    @erikbihari3625 2 года назад

    Yeah, starts to get boring after a while.

  • @AnInkStick
    @AnInkStick 2 года назад

    Ooooh boy. My least favorite Christmas carol adaptation.

    • @thundertits
      @thundertits 2 года назад

      which one?

    • @AnInkStick
      @AnInkStick 2 года назад

      @@thundertits the rankin bass version.

    • @michaelpalmieri7335
      @michaelpalmieri7335 2 года назад

      @@thundertits
      What do you think this video is about?

    • @thundertits
      @thundertits 2 года назад

      @@michaelpalmieri7335 he's talking about TWO movies I wanted to know which one inkstick was talking about

    • @garycarpenter2980
      @garycarpenter2980 Год назад

      @@AnInkStick You must be a new scrooge yourself....any toon from R&B is great