Deck the Halls!**
Picked up the Scream Factory Blu for the Collector's Edition of Silent Night Deadly Night (1984), and have been watching the special bonus features. That alone has made this order from Amazon so worth it. Fortunate for me I ordered it early, still having to wait a week because it sold out. Good news is I received it a few days ago. Good insight if you are a fan.
I definitely wanted to get this viewing in tonight and start with the bonus features, both the document of the script to screen and the star of the film and Quigley's own interview. The audio commentaries are a cool addition I look forward to later, but I don't feel the need to get those in during Christmas holidays necessarily. Again each Wednesday I have been watching a Silent Night Deadly Night, so this week was no different. ---12/20/17.
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I had finished SNDN and decided to watch some of the new interviews on the Scream/Shout Factory featuring Art Hindle and Lynne Griffin that I also purchased on Amazon for the Christmas holidays. Two very good interviews, too! Both such delights!
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****
Watching it I didn't really feel anything other than what I said previously so the above is just fine. Staying home and experiencing a disastrous Christmas where just putting up lights produces painful results. Hell, just opening up his attic is a recipe for disaster. Family fussing and fighting, lights that should shine but don't because the wrong switch isn't thrown, Clark locked in the attic, Christmas tree hunting resulting in vehicle stress and broken windows, etc. causes much grief for the Griswolds. The good old fashioned family holidays for the Griswolds never ceases to result in misfortune for Clark. This cast is just so extraordinary. 12/21/2017
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White Christmas (1954) has indeed become an annual watch now thanks to AMC. The last three years anyway. I'm not much of a musical guy but I found myself enjoying Astaire some years back. This film has four very likable leads with Crosby and Kaye all smiles, charm, and active arms and legs, with a distinct "after war, now what?" plot featuring an army general (Dean Jagger) at a Vermont inn needing serious assistance from soldiers formerly under his command. Clooney and Vera-Ellen are the lady performers equalling Crosby and Kaye as far as stage talent. Some fluff melodrama involving Clooney getting pissed at Crosby, over Wickes overhearing and misunderstanding a conversation about the show for the general being exploited for commercial purposes, gives the film a thread to follow when the romance and influx of song and dance aren't ongoing. 12/21/2017. I watched this late as it was on after Christmas Vacation went off. Big production with a lot of grandiose pageantry. Vera-Ellen was awfully thin, but she was quite incredible while Kaye was perfect comic foul for straight man Crosby. I have felt despite casting troubles Kaye had good chemistry with Crosby. ****
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A Christmas Carol (1984) has been kind of an odd duck as far as viewing over the years. Late nights and early mornings. Sometimes early in the months, while other times right on Christmas Day. This morning, around 4:30, AMC had it on and I caught the end as he met his reclamation and went about making merry.
This is my second favorite adaptation next to the Sim version. Scott as a sneering, sarcastic Scrooge aggravating the ghosts and causing his clerk and nephew to gnash inside despite efforts to tolerate his miserable ways gives us a rather realistic character, easily booed.
Marvelous 1984 version of the Christmas Carol with a superb performance from George C Scott as the wretched miser in need of a lesson in Yuletide cheer. I've seen multiple versions of the Dickens classic novel brought to the screen and this could very well have the best supporting cast ever assembled. All the parts are expertly cast from David Warner's long-suffering clerk, Bob Cratchet, to Roger Rees' kind-hearted nephew, Fred. Frank Finlay's Marley's Ghost and Edward Woodward's Ghost of Christmas Present are both exceptional in how they present a grim outlook for Scrooge and question his long-term behavior towards his fellow man--if he doesn't straighten out his life and see the error of his ways only bad will lie in store for Ebenezer. Woodward imbues his spirit(normally known for his jolly nature and incredible appetite for all things life) with a dead seriousness and intensity, challenging Ebenezer's attitude and character, even his loud laughter carrying an underlying message. I love how the Ghost of Christmas Past chides Ebenezer, grinning as he demands her take him back to his bed after she awakens feelings of regret and guilt when they visit events that formed and fashioned the man he would become. This version, thankfully, covers more ground than others such as the important meeting between Scrooge and his cold, uncaring father who blames him for the death of his wife(she died in childbirth bringing Scrooge into the world)and how Ebenezer forces businessmen to pay extra for his corn. Even the smaller parts are well cast such as Anthony Walters as Tiny Tim(probably the most realistic vision of the sickly boy who needs medical attention father Bob cannot afford on his salary)and Susannah York as Bob Cratchet's wife, scoffing at the notion of celebrating Scrooge for their meager feast. Nigel Davenport leaves a chilling impression as Scrooge's father. Director Clive Donner(who was the editor for the '51 masterpiece)evokes a spot-on Gothic period atmosphere(shooting this in England only enhances the period flavor), handles the material with a more sober approach(less humor and more of a treatise on Scrooge's faults and failures as a human being, with little to no theatricality), and, to his credit, brings an authenticity to the Dickens story that feels quite genuine. A real winner. The fact that this is a television movie is a testament to the skills of everyone involved and how they are able to get a great deal out of the obvious modest budget. Scrooge's transformation at the end doesn't feel forced, but rings true thanks to Scott's sincerity and believability.---12/20/2010
This cast and its atmospheric trappings are right up my alley. A splendid show every year. ****½ 12/22/2017
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White Christmas (1954) has indeed become an annual watch now thanks to AMC. The last three years anyway. I'm not much of a musical guy but I found myself enjoying Astaire some years back. This film has four very likable leads with Crosby and Kaye all smiles, charm, and active arms and legs, with a distinct "after war, now what?" plot featuring an army general (Dean Jagger) at a Vermont inn needing serious assistance from soldiers formerly under his command. Clooney and Vera-Ellen are the lady performers equalling Crosby and Kaye as far as stage talent. Some fluff melodrama involving Clooney getting pissed at Crosby, over Wickes overhearing and misunderstanding a conversation about the show for the general being exploited for commercial purposes, gives the film a thread to follow when the romance and influx of song and dance aren't ongoing. 12/21/2017. I watched this late as it was on after Christmas Vacation went off. Big production with a lot of grandiose pageantry. Vera-Ellen was awfully thin, but she was quite incredible while Kaye was perfect comic foul for straight man Crosby. I have felt despite casting troubles Kaye had good chemistry with Crosby. ****
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A Christmas Carol (1984) has been kind of an odd duck as far as viewing over the years. Late nights and early mornings. Sometimes early in the months, while other times right on Christmas Day. This morning, around 4:30, AMC had it on and I caught the end as he met his reclamation and went about making merry.
This is my second favorite adaptation next to the Sim version. Scott as a sneering, sarcastic Scrooge aggravating the ghosts and causing his clerk and nephew to gnash inside despite efforts to tolerate his miserable ways gives us a rather realistic character, easily booed.
Marvelous 1984 version of the Christmas Carol with a superb performance from George C Scott as the wretched miser in need of a lesson in Yuletide cheer. I've seen multiple versions of the Dickens classic novel brought to the screen and this could very well have the best supporting cast ever assembled. All the parts are expertly cast from David Warner's long-suffering clerk, Bob Cratchet, to Roger Rees' kind-hearted nephew, Fred. Frank Finlay's Marley's Ghost and Edward Woodward's Ghost of Christmas Present are both exceptional in how they present a grim outlook for Scrooge and question his long-term behavior towards his fellow man--if he doesn't straighten out his life and see the error of his ways only bad will lie in store for Ebenezer. Woodward imbues his spirit(normally known for his jolly nature and incredible appetite for all things life) with a dead seriousness and intensity, challenging Ebenezer's attitude and character, even his loud laughter carrying an underlying message. I love how the Ghost of Christmas Past chides Ebenezer, grinning as he demands her take him back to his bed after she awakens feelings of regret and guilt when they visit events that formed and fashioned the man he would become. This version, thankfully, covers more ground than others such as the important meeting between Scrooge and his cold, uncaring father who blames him for the death of his wife(she died in childbirth bringing Scrooge into the world)and how Ebenezer forces businessmen to pay extra for his corn. Even the smaller parts are well cast such as Anthony Walters as Tiny Tim(probably the most realistic vision of the sickly boy who needs medical attention father Bob cannot afford on his salary)and Susannah York as Bob Cratchet's wife, scoffing at the notion of celebrating Scrooge for their meager feast. Nigel Davenport leaves a chilling impression as Scrooge's father. Director Clive Donner(who was the editor for the '51 masterpiece)evokes a spot-on Gothic period atmosphere(shooting this in England only enhances the period flavor), handles the material with a more sober approach(less humor and more of a treatise on Scrooge's faults and failures as a human being, with little to no theatricality), and, to his credit, brings an authenticity to the Dickens story that feels quite genuine. A real winner. The fact that this is a television movie is a testament to the skills of everyone involved and how they are able to get a great deal out of the obvious modest budget. Scrooge's transformation at the end doesn't feel forced, but rings true thanks to Scott's sincerity and believability.---12/20/2010
This cast and its atmospheric trappings are right up my alley. A splendid show every year. ****½ 12/22/2017
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