A Christmas Carol (1999)

Patrick Stewart IS Scrooge
For years Patrick Stewart has done a one person stage version of "Christmas Carol" playing all the parts. Twice he has taken it to New York where he received rave reviews. Those of us who could not get to New York had to be satisfied with an audio tape version. Then someone had the brilliant idea of doing the video. Naturally it was expanded to have a full cast and sets. Because of his years of doing the stage version Mr. Stewart fits so easily into the role that he is not playing a part, he IS Scrooge. There are other fine versions of the story, notably the wonderful George C. Scott production, but none can compare with Mr. Stewart. The adaptation of the story to film is so true to Dickens, he must have sat on the script writers shoulder as it was written. I taped it from the TV broadcast and now can not wait for the DVD to be released. Anyone who makes "Christmas Carol" part of their holiday or just loves magnificent acting should definitely add this...

A Brilliant Performance from Patrick Stewart
160 years ago (1843), Charles Dickens (1812-1870) wrote one of his most beloved short stories, "A Christmas Carol". After the advent of film early in the twentieth century, several different directors have attempted to capture Charles Dickens' story, and various actors have portrayed the story's protagonist, Ebenezer Scrooge.

Such was the case in 1999 when director David Hugh Jones directed an updated version of the classic story for television, which stared the venerable Shakespearean-trained actor Patrick Stewart. (Patrick Stewart was also one of the film's executive producers.) Patrick Stewart, who is well known for his portrayal of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the 7-year TV-series "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and 4 "Star Trek" feature films (as well as many other roles), has always used his Shakespearean training to create a very realistic performance in most anything that he does, and his portrayal of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge was no...

A "Christmas Carol" for the 21st Century.
Given the enormous potential for failure, it takes either a lot of guts or a big ego to remake a classic and step into a pair of shoes worn so well by the likes of George C. Scott and Alastair Sim - you don't have to have grown up in an English speaking country to take those two names and their portrayal of Dickens's miserly anti-hero for granted as part of your Christmas experience. And I suspect a good part of both guts and ego was at play in this production; but let's face it: after years of bringing Scrooge to the stage in a much-acclaimed one man show and after also having recorded the audio book version of "A Christmas Carol," a movie adaptation starring Patrick Stewart was probably due to come out sooner or later. Yet, while it does sometimes have the feel of another huge star vehicle for Stewart (even without the self-congratulatory trailer and brief "behind the scenes" features included on the DVD), his experience and insight into the character of Scrooge allow him to pull...

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