A Christmas Carol (1938 Film) - Production

Production

Made by MGM, and originally intended to star Lionel Barrymore, who played the role of Scrooge annually on radio, but was forced to drop out of the film because of his arthritis, the movie starred Reginald Owen as Scrooge and Gene and Kathleen Lockhart as the Cratchits. Terry Kilburn, better known for his portrayal of Colley in Goodbye, Mr. Chips, costarred as Tiny Tim and a young June Lockhart appeared as one of the Cratchit daughters. Leo G. Carroll played Marley's Ghost. The characters of Fred (Scrooge's nephew), and Elizabeth, his fianceé (his wife in the novelette), were greatly expanded in order to work in a romantic angle to the story that Dickens did not intend. The couple was played by Barry MacKay and Lynne Carver. Ann Rutherford, better known as Polly Benedict in the Andy Hardy films and as Carreen O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, was a young and attractive Ghost of Christmas Past, rather than the somewhat unusual creation that Dickens described. The music for the film was composed by Franz Waxman, in contrast to most MGM films of the period, whose scores were composed by Herbert Stothart.

Some of the grimmer aspects of the story went completely unmentioned or unseen, in order to make this a "family film" in the style of other MGM literary adaptations. Although Marley's Ghost did appear, the phantoms wailing outside Scrooge's window were not shown. Scrooge's fiancee, who eventually leaves him because of his miserly ways, was completely dropped from the film, as were the two starving children "Want" and "Ignorance", who hid within the folds of the Ghost of Christmas Present's robe. Also gone were the thieves who ransack Scrooge's belongings after he "dies" in the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come segment. While Gene Lockhart's performance as Bob Cratchit is admired, he is often criticized for looking too "well-fed" for the role.

Originally intended as a 1939 release, A Christmas Carol was immediately rushed into production in October 1938 and was finished in a matter of weeks. It opened in December 1938 at New York City's Radio City Music Hall where it did moderately well.

One of very many adaptations of the work, this version was frequently revived in theatres by MGM, was shown on local television stations throughout the 1960s, and was once a staple of Chicago's WGN television station. The film also became a Christmas Eve tradition when it was telecast annually on WCBS-TV Channel 2 as part of their Late Late Show installment beginning in the early 1960s. On some Christmas Eves, Channel 2 sometimes aired it as many as three consecutive times throughout the night into Christmas morning. By the early 1970s, WCBS-TV had acquired the 1951 film version and at that time ran both versions back to back. The M-G-M film was last shown on WCBS-TV in 1979, then in 1980, this version would move to WNEW-TV, while the 1951 version had already moved back to WOR-TV (which first telecast it in the U.S.) in 1975. Still, for years the 1938 movie remained the most famous film version of the story in the United States, and the most lavish until the 1970 musical version, though it clocked in at only 69 minutes. But its popularity was eventually eclipsed by Scrooge, the 1951 film, after that version began to receive wide television exposure starting in 1970. There are also those who have found Reginald Owen's portrayal of Scrooge to be rather lacking, especially in comparison to later ones.