SCROOGE (1935)

It's Christmas Eve, and as I promised, I would still end my series of Christmas reviews by reviewing an adaptation of "A Christmas Carol", and this year I'm deciding to review the 1935 film staring Seymour Hicks.

Around the time when DVD's were first coming out, I had a copy of the film on DVD that I remember watching a few times, but never found myself able to finish it. I remember finding it to be too boring, slow moving, hardly at all visually interesting, and being disappointed of a certain important element that the film lacked. And having not seen it since childhood, or watching it in full, is there some legitimate good in this film than what my young mind saw, aside from the fact that this is the first film adaptation of the story with sound? ON WITH THE REVIEW!

EBENEEZER SCROOGE

The main attraction of why I remember wanting to see this movie as a kid (aside from the fact that it's an adaptation to a story that I love), was Seymour Hick's image on the cover, who looked flat-out nasty as Scrooge. My memory of his performance is very vague, but after recently seeing Hick's play the role, he in the very least knocks it out of the park playing a miserable old Scrooge. He looks intimidating; has a bitter old gravelly voice; and some of his dialogue such as his excuse of why Cratchit is not allowed to use his coal is well written and carried out quite bitterly through his delivery. This shouldn't be too surprising that Hick's would give a great performance as mean-old Mister Scrooge, since he's been playing the role on stage for years, and has even played Scrooge in the 1913 silent film titled "Old Scrooge". What I found to be quite amusing about this version of the character is usually with the other Scrooge's I've seen (at least when we first meet him), they're old and frail but look still look good from their appearance of how clean and fixed-up they look. But with Hick's on the other hand, he looks more washed-up, where his nice clothes look a bit old and wrinkly and his wavy white hair is all messy, where he almost looks like a bum who's given up on everything, including his appearance, except for greed. And seeing how cheap this miser is, and how miserable of a past that he's had, it would make sense to make Scrooge a little disheveled.

I don't have anything new to say about the performances from Donald Calthrop as Bob Cratchit, Robert Cochran as Scrooge's nephew Fred, or the actors playing the Portly Gentlemen. They all hit their characters right on the nail by expressing the characteristics that we associate with them. So there's nothing really new given to the performances that we wouldn't see in other adaptations of the story, except for the important fact that these are the first on-screen speaking actors to portray these characters, that's probably been copied or influenced in many of the other films and TV adaptations that followed. And looking at Calthrop as Cratchit, it astounds me of what a striking resemblance he has to the illustrations of Bob as if the character has jumped right out of the pages.

So far the visuals for the film are nice, but I can see why I would find some of it forgettable at an early age. There are some nice shots for the scenes in Scrooge's office that help visually tell the story. For example, I like that we don't see Scrooge right away, but see his back to turned to the camera in a few shots as he's writing in order to build-up what a miserable miser he is. Or when Bob Cratchit is about take some coal, where he is to soon be halted by Scrooge when he notices this action by viewing it from a mirror in-front of him, almost as if that's his rear-view mirror to keep an eye on his employee. It’s little visual touches like that I like, I also admire the use of shadows and fog for the streets of London, and the bright lighting and cheery visuals of a bunch of chef's preparing a Christmas meal and throwing scrapes for the children outside watching. But here's the problem that I have, since all the outdoor scenes are drenched in total darkness as we see some festive activities going on, it takes away a huge chunk of the fun since the environment looks unpleasant where it is at at times hard to see what the people around Scrooge are doing. I know that the era where the story takes place in wasn't so cheerful, but with the story being centered on Christmas and that there’s more than enough dark stuff in the actual story itself, they could’ve made things a little bit brighter. There's also a pointless scene of the rich gathering for a party and toasting to the Queen that could've easily been cut-out. And I get that it’s supposed to establish both classes of the rich and the poor, but personally I wouldn't miss it if the rich portion was cut out for how little it ties to the plot and the Christmas cheer that we're supposed to get out of this dark and dreary environment. We can already figure out from the dialogue and the characters actions of what the relationship between the rich and the poor were like at those times, like in so many other future adaptations of the story. William Trytel's score for this portion of the story part carries that Christmas cheer that you'd expect from a Christmas film made around during the time of the film’s release. The only time when I found the music to ever feel out of place is when Fred tells Scrooge how he feels about Christmas. I just felt that the scene would've been stronger if there wasn't any music playing to obviously signal us to feel happy for Fred’s positive outlook on Christmas.

MARLEY'S GHOST

The build-up to the appearance of Marley's Ghost is as suspenseful as you think it would be for a film drenched in almost nothing but darkness. It's heavy with atmosphere; we think we see Marley's ghost standing in the room that Scrooge is in on one occasion; the bell to Scrooge's door rings rapidly which causes him to look out the window to discover that there's no one at his door step ringing it; and for some strange reason a bucket just magically falls from the ceiling when Scrooge searches the rooms of his home. The creepiest scene during the build-up is the famous scene in the story with Marley's face on Scrooge's door knocker. There's no dialogue, unlike in many other versions of the story; and how his face materialize and dematerialize on the door knocker quickly makes the lack of looking at it for a long period of time spooky, along with the gong sound that's played when we first see him which sends horrific chills.

And after all this great intense build-up, the door opens up by itself and we see absolutely nothing of Marley's ghost! Oh we hear his voice and the rattle of his chains, but we never see him materialize on-screen ever again, which is exactly what I meant when I said earlier that this film has lacked an important element. I remember being awfully disappointed of the fact that we never see Marley's ghost when he talks to Scrooge, and looking at it now, it's just as underwhelming. WHY MAKE HIM INVISIBLE?!! Did the actor voicing him refuse to be filmed? Did they not have the budget to make him appear to look ghostly, and were embarrassed to show Marley on-screen because of it? Or did they think that not showing Marley would be scarier since less is more? It makes no lick of sense at all, especially when you have a scene that's clearly building-up to his full on-screen appearance. The film tries to cover up his on-screen absence up by claiming that Scrooge can only see him, thus we the audience can't see him, but that's still no excuse at all. Not just for being extremely lazy film-making, but because we just caught a glimpse of his face earlier! Oops! Bad time for the film to pull that excuse card out!

It's been rumored that Claude Rains did the voice of Marley's ghost, and while I'm not saying at all that Marley's on-screen absence is plausible, it would be at least a fitting casting choice for him to voice an invisible Marley since he's best known for voicing the Invisible Man. However, it's not officially claimed that it was him, but the voice does sound very identical to his. And to give credit where credit is due, the actor (whoever it is) voicing Marley does bring the chills that we're supposed to feel from this spirit. But Hick's scarred reactions on the other hand, are just a little too goofy at times, which I'm not sure if that's how he's being directed or if that was really what it did on stage. And having him interacting with nothing, and looking at nothing just makes his exaggerated performance even sillier. 

THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST

As if not seeing Marley wasn't disappointing enough, how about we don't see the Ghost of Christmas Past either? Okay, we do see a blurry bright light to indicate his presence, and at one point he appears as a silhouette of a man, which in the very least we see Scrooge looking at something. But it's still just as lazy as not showing Marley's Ghost. When you first see it as a silhouette of man floating in front of Scrooge, while looking a bit supernatural, it's still far from being visually interesting. And unlike how our mystery actor voicing Marley still managed to bring chills despite that we found ourselves looking at nothing, the actor voicing the first of the three ghosts goes from having a weird monotone voice that doesn't sound ghostly, to eventually having a voice that sounds otherworldly that yet somehow manages to be forgettable for how boring and empty it sounds. I'm sure there are much worse versions of The Ghost of Christmas Past out there, but this is easily the most forgettable one that I've ever seen, that leaves little to no impression on you at all.

And it's not just the fact that there's nothing distinctive about the ghost when it comes to visuals and performance that makes this spirit so forgettable, but literally this whole entire visit runs under 10 minutes where most of it is us just watching Scrooge's past without old Scrooge and the ghost present. And I'm sure you fans of the story are probably thinking that this sequence must be very rushed since there’s so much to see of Scrooge’s past, and yeah that's part of the problem involving Scrooge's visions of the past, but not the heart of the problem, because you see, important events of his life like his childhood, his relationship with his Sister, and the party a Fezziwig's where he meets his lover Belle is all omitted! I can't stress that enough for how great of a downer this is. As I mentioned before about Hick's performance as Scrooge, and how the character is portrayed when we first meet him; he looks like that he's been through a lot of hardships in life for how miserable and disheveled he looks, but we never really learn why he's so miserable and selfish, since the only part of his own past that we see of his is him breaking up with Belle. We don't see him as a lonely child, we don't see him as a young and happy apprentice for one of the richest and jolliest men in England, we just go right to him saying goodbye to Belle after harshly refusing to give a happy couple more time to pay the money that they owe him.  And the scene itself of Belle leaving Scrooge is so rushed and ruined by such melodramatic acting and intense music that the scene could easily do without that it makes the emotions of this scene come off as more of a dramatic ending to a soap opera. But if forced fast-paced drama isn't your thing, then you'll enjoy the large amount of corny cheese when Scrooge sees Belle happily celebrating Christmas with her cheerful romantic husband and large number children that she has playing with her that comes and goes as fast as Scrooge's break-up with Belle.

THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT

 

So far we've had an invisible Marley, and a blurry light that's supposed to be the Ghost of Christmas Past, but now we get an actor on-screen playing the Ghost of Christmas Present. Now wait, you're telling me that the film couldn't get actors to play the previous two ghosts on-screen, and yet they were able to find an actor to play the Ghost of Christmas Present? What sense does that make? Why did they make this choice? I'm not kidding, I seriously want to know why these decisions were made?! Is it really that hard to dress an actor up like a ghost, or were they not able to make the costumes in time? But okay, okay, you've already heard me question this before and I won’t bother repeating the obvious problems that I have with these choices; is the actor playing the ghost any good? Well the ghost (just like our lead) is played by a famous theater of his time Oscar Asche, and though he dresses like the spirit, and acts like the spirit, I found his overall performance to be extremely lacking. I get more of the impression that this is a guy just playing the role, as opposed to him actually being the spirit since he lacks the jolly and sentimental qualities of the character. It overall just feels very half-baked.

Hicks on the other hand begins to hit the sentimental side of Scrooge just right. How he tells the spirit that he's willing to learn from him is touching to the point where it doesn't feel corny or phoned-in; and his reactions of watching Bob's family celebrate Christmas is subtle where you're able to get plenty of emotion out of him. The scene with Bob's Family is as nice and wholesome as you expect it to be, that is with the lacking of one major iconic element to the scene, and that's Tiny Tim exclaiming "God bless us everyone". And no, the line is thankfully not cut out, but the kid's delivery of this iconic quote is a bit robotic given how emotionless he sounds, as if he's just saying the line.

However, the kid playing him begins to nicely sing "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" that soon turns into a choir, as Scrooge is then being shown visions of people celebrating Christmas in the present, including his nephew Fred. At first the montage of Scrooge gazing at all the Christmas festivities seemed fun from the singing and the silhouette of people inside their homes celebrating, but much like how the use of darkness for the film's gritty night time setting takes away from that glorious festive nature that we're supposed to get out of the scenes after when Scrooge locks up his counting house, the same problems unfold here as well. Everything looks so far from enchanting as all this happens so quickly that it makes me question why these scenes couldn't take place during the day. The scene with Bob carrying Tiny Tim from church in broad daylight as they are being surrounded by bright white snow looked so much nicer than everything that we see in this sequence.

Another repeated problem that this montage has is the rushed pacing and corny acting that takes place at Fred's Christmas party. Just like the scene when we see Belle with her family, it comes and goes by so fast as you're getting nothing but unnaturally happy performances that it feels weird, as if that its forcing its Christmas cheer on you. What's even stranger is how this montage and the spirit’s visit ends. After we see Fred, the Ghost begins to laugh as burning flames cover up his face which causes the scene to dissolve to Scrooge being back in his bed. That's such a bizarre way to end the ghost’s appearance that I'm not sure if he's mocking Scrooge, bidding him good-bye by laughing, or trying to scare him given for how menacing this final image looks and even sounds.

GHOST OF CHRISTMAS YET-TO-COME

So after seeing a ghost in its full physical form, the film decides to show very little of the Ghost of Christmas Yet-To-Come like all the other ghosts before the Ghost of Christmas Present. But out of all the things that the film does to show less of the ghosts, what they do with this ghost is actually fitting. Since the final spirit is always known for being the most ominous one of them all since we never usually see its face or its body since its always covered up in a cloak, it would make sense to give him less of an on-screen appearance. And apparently before Zemeckis could make the spirit into a shadow in his adaptation of the story, this film did it before he could, only instead of seeing the spirit's full shadow we just see its hand pointing, which I'll admit is not as scary when compared to how Zemeckis used this shadow concept, but it's still pretty eerie at times that’s supported by a grim score. What I did think that this film did better when compared to how Zemeckis used this concept is that Scrooge himself becomes a shadow as well, where we see his actual face gazing at the things he sees through his own shadow. Yes, the effect is dated, but it's still a chilling and unique concept that I wish was done in more versions of the story. It's definitely better than Zemeckis making Scrooge tiny with a squeaky chipmunk voice.

The scene with the businessmen happily discussing about Scrooge's passing is done just as solid as the other versions that you're familiar with, that's nothing that different apart from this film being the first sound film to do this scene, and how Scrooge is witnessing it. But then things take a bit of a more interesting approach when we get to the Old Joe scene that has to be one of the creepiest version of that particular scene that I've ever seen. The use of darkness and shadows creates a very uncomforting mood as most of the lighting is aimed towards the ugly faces of Joe and the people who stole from Scrooge which nearly makes this scene look like a nightmare. And though the acting and the accents they put on is over the top, it’s the right amount of over the top since they still come across as freaky for how crazy and deranged they are.

Just like how the film kept the wholesomeness of the scene with Bob's Family celebrating Christmas in the present in-spite of Tim's unenthusiastic wish of blessing everybody, this scene hits the sadness of Tiny Tim's death just as hard as it was in the book. I hardly felt emotionally connected to Tiny Tim for when he's supposed to be cute, and yet for some reason I feel sorry that he's dead, even when knowing that everything will turn out fine in the end. The music and the family’s sad reactions about his demise and Bob being late are so depressing that you get the strong emotional feeling of how much they love and miss the poor boy. And when Bob shows up acting happy about finding his son a place to rest, to then seeing him going up stairs to cry, I felt a bit heartbroken. But what really got me emotionally upset is seeing Bob go to his son's bed and cry in front of his corpse as we hear a powerful choir! Holy Christmas, I was not at all expecting to see his dead body! In most versions we'd see either his crutch lying in the spot where he used to sit or a shadow of his dead body, but no he's lying there right in front of us as dead as a door nail, which I was not at all expecting in such an early film version of the story. But just when you think that this is the perfect way to stop this scene, we suddenly cut to Bob going downstairs acting happy again as he holds Tiny Tim's crutch to bid him farewell, which just kills the mood of the scene for how it suddenly becomes bittersweet again, with just a few more ounces of sugar.

Hick's performance of Scrooge throughout the film has been going through some many ups and downs, and his encounter with the third and final spirit is definitely one of the downs of his performance. When he first interacts with the ghost, he gives the same exaggerated reactions that he gave when he encountered Marley, that's once again comical, especially when considering the fact that he's looking at nothing. And as he watches all these terrible events taking place in the future, Hick's just stands there acting unamused by all of this for how causal and unemotional it is. But when we get to the scene when he sees his tombstone, the way he exclaims the name he reads on it is intense, though a tad bit over the top. And as he pleas to the spirit that he will change, we get a cool image of Scrooge's shadow hand preventing the spirits ghost hand from pointing at the stone. The way Hick's delivers these pleas do sound sad and tragic especially when being attached to the image that I just mentioned. However, when we see him on-screen shouting his lines, as sad as his tone sounds, his expressions somehow don't match up with the torment and fear of how the character is feeling.

CHRISTMAS DAY

Though Hick's was lacking so much emotion during his visit with the Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come, when we see the character redeem himself by taking part in the Christmas cheer, Hick's hits the emotions that the character is feeling the way it should be. Sure it's over the top, and there are occasions when Hick's delivery would sound odd and even tad bit half-assed at times. But for the majority of his screen-time of playing the reformed Scrooge, I still found him endearing to watch. And upon seeing him finally transform, a detail that I heavily admired is unlike how he looked so disheveled when we first met the character, he now appears to look more presentable which I thought was a nice way of showing his transformation from a visual stand-point. Furthermore, as we get plenty of moments of him joyfully wishing people a Merry Christmas, or doing something as childish as throwing a snowball at a butcher to get his attention, they still manage to bring a bit of emotional tenderness, particularly in the scene when Scrooge gazes at his nephews Christmas tree and thinks of Tiny Tim singing which causes him to cry. Most of the scenes that you are familiar with from the story are carried out as effective as you would hope for them to be, as well as even adding a few nice minor touches to the characters reacting towards Scrooge's behavior, like when Bob is about to hit Scrooge with a cane when Scrooge pretends to angrily snap at him. The only performance that I can think of that totally lacked any kind of charm or joy was the kid who buys the turkey for Scrooge. He's almost as robotic as the kid playing Tiny Tim.

Unlike how most of the cheerful scenes that show the joy of Christmas were drenched in so much darkness that it kills the tone that these scenes were aiming for, everything in this whole entire portion of the film is as bright and cheery as how the visuals looked with Bob carrying Tiny Tim. It's not spectacular or anything, but it's good enough to get you into the Christmas spirit, along with that uplifting Christmas score. The only major gripe that I have with the whole entire portion of the film is how the film ends. Instead of having Scrooge sitting down having a dinner with Bob's family, or him walking away with Tiny Tim in his arms; the film ends with Scrooge and Bob singing together in church. I'm not at all against the idea of ending the story with the characters going to a holy place to be together, but there's one important element missing and that's Tiny Tim! A main part of the reason of why Scrooge changes was to save Tiny Tim's life by being like a "second father to him", and in a place where Tiny Tim loves to go to hopefully inspire people through his disability, we don't see him there at all, let alone not getting a single scene of him and Scrooge interacting with each other. Yes, the actor playing Tiny Tim isn't anything special, but regardless I still expect to see a scene with Scrooge and Tim together after seeing Scrooge being so motivated to help him.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

It's hard for me to call it a "Bah, Humbug" adaptation or a "God Bless Us Everyone" adaptation of the story because there are so many things that the film gets both and right wrong at the same time. The performances from the cast do a solid job at playing their characters, except for when they fail to execute some of the emotions that we're supposed to get out of them (especially Hicks). The film's atmosphere can look nice and fit the mood for a handful of scenes, except for when it looks too dark and gloomy during scenes that are supposed to be pleasant as we get a couple of scenes where the film's score isn't needed. The film does have a few visually interesting ways of telling the story, and yet it for some reason doesn't want to show us most of the ghosts to add the film's visual appeal from an artistic and storytelling stand point. It's overall just a mess of a movie. I'm glad I saw it since there are enough good things in it to keep me invested and at times amazed, but the bad stuff in it can get so degrading that I don't think that this will be something that I'll be watching as many times as other versions of the story. But if you’re remotely interested in seeing this film or are a die hard “Christmas Carol” fan, then I say it’s worth a view!

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!! 

MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET

After reviewing one mediocre Santa film after another, it's time that I look at one of the classic ones in that category...



At the day of the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, a jolly old man (Edmund Gwenn) notices that the guy playing Santa at the parade is a drunk, and goes to complain to the special events director Doris Walker (Maureen O'Hara). Quickly in need of a replacement, she persuades the old man to fill-in as Santa, who becomes such a hit success among audiences and children at the parade that he is then given the job to play Santa again at the Macy's Department Store. Everything goes well for the business thanks to the old man, but Doris finds out that the man actually believes that he's thee Santa Claus. Doris and the head of the toy department Julian Shellhammer (Philip Tonge) decide to let him keep on pretending that he's Santa since he's not hurting anybody and giving them good business, but after the old man gets into a confrontation with the mean and incompetent psychologist Mr. Sawyer (Porter Hall) he is sent to a mental institution where he will be committed. A friend of Doris named Fred Gaily (John Payne) helps the down and out man by being his lawyer in a court case to prove that he really is Santa Claus. While all this is going on, the man who claims to be Santa spends his time with Doris' little girl Susan (Natalie Wood) who has no sense of imagination and wonder because her Mother raised her to accept the harsh reality that the world truly is. I'll be completely honest and say that I have never ever watched the film from beginning to end until now. I knew the premise, some of its key scenes (including the climax), and have watched bits and pieces of it on TV, but I never had the time to push myself to see it in its entirety. And after finally watching it in full, I was quite amazed by it.




The thing that I love most about the film is the characters because they don't feel like those corny cliches that we see in many Christmas films nowadays. The way they're written and how they are portrayed is not only charming and likable, but how they talk about the stuff that's troubling them and interact with one another never gives you the impression that they're just doing all this because that's what the script says, their emotions and interactions feel believable since none of it feels forced, rushed, pointless, or out of the blue as everything they do leads to one action after another, where we would also discover something new and interesting about each character. Furthermore I like how the film doesn't just stop for exposition just to spell out these character's past and how they are feeling through a monologue, it's all done through conversations that seem natural and flowing with the film's narrative and pacing. And even before we learn more about them, we find ourselves easily identifying them as we get acquainted with these characters.




Maureen O'Hara as the lead character Doris does a brilliant job of playing this character that has lost all sense of child-like wonder. We're not given too much depth of why she's the way she is, all we know about her is that she's a divorced woman who was left behind by her husband when Susan was born. But as vague as the film gives us this important detail, we have a clear understanding why she's this way through her actions and her subtle expressions. That scene when she disapproves Fred's action of taking Susan to see Santa where she tells him that when little girls believe in fairy tales, they think life is a fantasy where they'll come to realize that Prince Charming won't be what he appears to be, greatly expresses why she's raising her to be mature without behaving like a child because she doesn't want her to be disappointed with the realities of life just like what happened to her. And yes she runs a parade that's full of child-wonderment, and imagination, but for her its simply a job and not a passion, who doesn't even want to watch what she's created since it'll remind her of how she was manipulated by the fantasy aspect of the parade as a child.




Another prime example of a character who we don't know too much about, but understand why he is what he is through his behaviors and little background we're given is the film's antagonist Mr. Sawyer. All throughout the film we despise this guy for making his patients feel more depressed about themselves, flat-out lying to the characters, and above all for trying to put the man who he claims is Santa in the mental institution for the rest of his life, when he's done no wrong to anyone. But as cruel and despicable as he is, there is some sympathy given this character which is only discussed in one scene when he's examining Santa that's easy to overlook since it's played out for comedy, where the emotions connected to this character are done subtly. We discover that he is a man who is so in denial of living a horrible marriage, his poor choices in life, and his nervous habits that he thinks he's perfectly fine and sane, when in reality he's the one who needs concealing more than his patients that go to him for it. It's funny given the delivery of his denial, and how calm and collected Santa's exclaims are, but it's also pretty sad since he never once thinks that he needs help. And as you're watching him all-throughout the film as you sit there hating him and occasionally laughing at him, you somehow feel a bit sorry for how sick he is that is expressed through his actions and nervous behaviors that Porter Hall does so well with delivering.




To be frank about the performances in this movie, I couldn't find a single one that I didn't like or found boring. They're all such wonderful performances portraying such delightful characters that perfectly balance out the film’s drama, comedy, and innocence. The ones who stand-out the most since there are so many is John Payne as Fred who plays out as a nice father figure for Susan, and a powerful lawyer and motivator for Santa that becomes chilling and inspiring for how serious he handles this near impossible case. Alvin Greenman as the young employee Alfred who loves to dress-up as Santa and give presents during the season to bring joy to others, that Santa has a sweet friendship with. Philip Tonge as Julian Shellhammer for his sophisticated and yet humorous performance of his reactions towards Santa and his surprising actions. The cameos from up and coming Academy award nominated actors such as Thelma Ritter as the Macy's customer, and Jack Albertson (who you may know him best for his portrayal of Grandpa Joe in "Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory") as the post office employee. And an eight year old Natalie Wood as Susan, who acts like a mature and rational adult, but still shows her childish innocence and wonders, where she shares perfect chemistry with O'Hara, Payne, and Gwenn!

And speaking of Gwenn, his portrayal of Santa is truly what makes this movie such a charming and unforgettable Christmas classic! He may not have the deep voice that we associate with Santa, nor can I remember a time when he actually ho-ho's, but you still believe that this guy is Santa for how sweet, humble, jolly, playful, passionate, and sophisticated he is, who is wise, caring, understanding, and can interact with children perfectly without ever feeling the need to talk down to them or get angry! He's just an all around lovable character and performance that earned Gwenn an Oscar for his authentic portrayal as Santa, and was at times believed that he was actually Santa by his own cast and crew (especially from the child actors). Just like all the characters in the movie, Santa has a great amount of scenes playing on all levels that the film provides, whether its playing on levels of enchantment as he playfully interacts with a little Dutch girl by speaking and singing in her native language, or teaching Susan the power of imagination; or on the levels of comedy like everybody's reaction when he thinks he's nuts as he just calmly tells them that he's Santa with such confidence; or on levels of drama regarding of how he feels about humanity forgetting the true meaning of Christmas.




This now leads me into talking a little about a few major themes that the film has going for it; the first one being against commercialism. All throughout the film we see Santa trying to teach humanity about the true meaning of Christmas by loving thy neighbor and good will towards man as he recommends customers other stores to get the items that they need, which in return makes the store seem like they genuinely care about their customers and wanting help their competitors, as their rivals do the same for them that eventually leads them to a truce. Granted, I don't think that method would work in the real world, but just like how some of the things that George Bailey does in "It's a Wonderful Life" doesn't make too much business sense, it's the emotions and inspiring moral that still speaks to modern viewers that make us keep coming back to these film's despite that some of the actions done don't seem too realistic. And what do you expect when both films either star an angel or Santa Claus, obviously liberties are going to be taken into account to connect to the Holiday feel, and make its message stand tall! What's also wonderful about how the film delivers its message is it doesn't feel shoved in your face. When you see Santa upset about Christmas being overtaken by commercialism during a few conversations, it never feels like the actor or the writing is trying to directly preach it to the viewer, it sounds like how the character of Santa would feel and react to it, and that he would do things that are unorthodox for the business since he just wants everybody to be happy and get along.



The last few morals and themes that are constant throughout the film is faith and beliefs. Almost every major character in the film is having their faith and beliefs being challenged. Santa is looking for faith in humanity for them to remember what Christmas really is through his actions, as humanity and our leads are having their beliefs being challenged if he's really Santa Claus or not after all the miracles he's performed for them. By today's standards the challenge of people believing Santa in Christmas movies is a trope that we relate too and seen dozens of times, and while I can't say that this is the first Christmas film to challenge people's beliefs in Santa, it certainly is one of the earlier and popular examples that makes the film quite ahead of its time, where it still comes across as strong. And what's amazing about the film and how it handles the last few morals is despite the result of the court case, when we get to the last scene of the movie, we still find ourselves in wonderment if the man really was Santa or not, just as much as the characters do, which I admire that the film decides to end on an ambiguous note so it can challenge the viewers belief in the character as well, instead of giving us a clear cut answer. I mean after all, despite that the man acts like Santa, and does things that are impossible, we never once see him perform any magic on-screen.




The most appealing aspect that the film has to offer is that it can appeal to both kids and adults. Adults will be sucked into the dramas surrounding the adult characters, the powerful acting, and its attack on commercialism, while kids will be carried away by Gwenn's enchanting portrayal as Santa, the humor, the little girl played by Natalie Wood who has trouble believing in Santa, and the Christmas imagery (especially the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade sequence that is actually real, and that Gwenn really was in the parade as Santa). Even during the courtroom scene as adults get some political jokes, court talk that kids will not understand, and court-room drama, there's still enough stuff in it to keep kids invested. Sure the fact that Santa is on trial along with Gwenn's performance should be enough, but there's still many scenes of humor, wonder, and charm to prevent it from being dull, such as seeing a kid being brought to the stand to identify Santa, and of course the memorable climax that leads to the overall decision!

OVERALL THOUGHTS

There's so much stuff that I could talk about and probably go in deeper detail, but then I'd be spoiling the film for newcomers! The film overall is a Christmas classic for many good reasons! It has likable and intriguing characters, a magical performance from Edmund Gwenn as Santa, it's beautifully acted, contains morals that don't feel preachy, and enough good comedy to entertain as well as enough drama to keep you emotionally invested. If you see this film, make sure you see it in glorious Black-&-White because the color that's been added to the film in recent airing doesn't bring the same level of atmosphere to fit the emotions properly.

FRED CLAUS

My next Christmas review is one that I remember seeing in theaters when I was in Middle School, which is a Santa film starring Vince Vaughn titled..

 

When I was about to see it in theaters I thought the film was going to stink, but after viewing it I remember enjoying it okay. It wasn't something that I thought was brilliant, but I didn't think it was unwatchable either. But after having not seeing it since I was a kid, how exactly does the film hold-up? ON WITH THE REVIEW!



What surprised me when I was a kid, and even now as an adult is rather than the film starting out with Vince Vaughn where it's later revealed that he's related to Santa Claus, the film starts out when he was a kid way before the 20th century. A young Fred meets his new born baby brother Saint Nick, who he promises to look after and take care of. But it turns out that Nick is not just any ordinary baby, but is actually a very jolly and plump little soul who laughs "Ho-ho-ho" as opposed to crying. And as he gets older, he starts giving away his birthday presents to the orphans, makes himself a red-suit, and learns how to slide down chimneys. Because of Nick's good nature, Fred's parents favor his little brother over him. And when Nick cuts down the tree that his brother loves to place it into the living room, unknowing that Fred loves that tree because it's the place where he goes  to be alone and interact with the bird that lives there, Fred completely turns his back on his brother. This whole opening sequence is one of the very few nice things that the film has to offer. Although the back-story is short and at times a little corny, the relationship between a young Santa and his older brother Fred is cute and kind of sad, mainly because of the performances from the kids portraying them who give their characters plenty of charm. You do know that Nick only means well and are adored by it, but you also find yourself sympathizing with his brother as he slowly becomes the black-sheep of his family since all the attention and praise is on his little brother, and that all the good deeds he's done is hurting poor Fred from an emotional stand-point. The only downside to this sequence is despite connecting to the story; the environment, acting, and whimsical presentation feels out of place with the rest of the movie's tone and atmosphere since nearly everything about the film is over the top cartoony, where this sequence for the most part isn't. Just by watching how cute and fairy-tale like everything is, I almost forgot that this film stars Vince Vaughn, and that we're going to get plenty of slapstick and gags for the rest of the film.

 


So after getting rushed and poorly written exposition of how Nick, Fred, and their parents are suddenly immortal, but never bother to explain to us how Nick got his magic, how he met the Elves and started a charity business for children, or why Nick becomes an old man despite being immortal, and yet Vaughn who is his older brother remains in his 40s; we fast-forward to Chicago in the 21st century as a now older Fred (Vince Vaughn) becomes a selfish and arrogant man who works as a repossession agent. After getting arrested for conning people into give him their money, he calls his brother who is now referred to as Santa Claus (Paul Giamatti) to pay his bail, and give him $50,000 so that he can run a gambling business. Santa agrees to bail him out, but he tells Fred to come to the North Pole to work for the 50,000. Upon reluctantly arriving to the North Pole to get work from his brother so that he can start a business of his own, efficiency expert Clyde Northcutt (Kevin Spacey) comes to inspect the place as he plans to shut-down Santa's operation for good by using Fred's hatred towards his brother to his advantage.



Vince Vaughn is a very hit and miss actor, who can be funny when given the right material and direction, but when he fails, it just becomes painful, and his performance here is not horrible, but it's not good either. It mainly has to do with the fact that he's just playing the obnoxious jerk that we all know him best for, which would be fine if it were funny, but it isn't. I hardly found anything in his performance to be charming, funny, or endearing, nor did I found myself buying that this is the same kid who we saw in the opening as an adult. I just saw Vince Vaughn playing Vince Vaughn, which is a huge downer, not to mention the fact that the character's immortality is never addressed or talked about again. I mean after living and hating his brother for centuries, he acts like he's only lived a mortal life instead of an immortal life. You'd think that his immortality and past experiences with the people that he's encountered and the world around him may have also contributed to his selfish and arrogant personality, and hatred towards Christmas; but no, he just acts like your typical every day Christmas hating asshole with nothing interesting about him at all apart from who he's related to! And when you see him start changing to be good to help out his brother willingly, it never seems effective or rewarding for how blank his reactions are, and phoned in his change of heart is through the cliched writing, quick pacing, and corny music. The only scene I thought was pretty nice is when he visits an orphan boy he knows as he's dressed as Santa to gives him a speech about the world being what he makes of it, after previously giving him negative advice, but even then I still felt like it wasn't earned since his transformation of being good felt so rushed and hammered in.



It's not just Vaughn's obnoxious and mean-spirited personality that makes the humor in the film fail so miserably, but it's also the writing and direction. Most of the physical abuse that Vaughn suffers are either from the Elves, or a mob of people dressed up as Santa, that are awkwardly choreographed as we get out of place cartoony sound effects to make it all sound safe and painless for younger audiences. And the Christmas songs that are played for many of these scenarios hardly even match-up with the comedic tone or visuals, where they seem shoehorned just to make the film appear to be Christmassy. The only time I thought the use of a song worked for a goofy scene in the movie was when they played ironically a none Christmas related song "The Bird Is The Word" as Vaughn is fighting against guys dressed up as Santa. It wasn't funny, but at least fits the craziness and timing of this fight. There are even plenty of jokes in the film that just don't make sense. For example, why would an Elf disc jockey played by Ludacris be playing nothing but "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" non-stop when there are clearly other Santa songs out there, let alone different renditions of that particular song? The only reason why (at least to my knowledgeable) is because we need a reason for Vaughn's character to break-down and have a cheesy dance scene with him and the elves so the film can appeal to the hip crowd. However, as unfunny as most of the humor is, that doesn't mean that I didn't get a few laughs out of this film. The reveal of the restaurant that Fred was planning to take his girlfriend out without actually knowing what this "romantic" place really is since he came up with the idea at the last minute when he saw it on a billboard was funny. Fred going to the wrong house as he's taking his brother's job got a giggle out of me. But the real priceless scene in the movie is when he goes to a Siblings Anonymous meeting, with cameos of Stephen Baldwin, Roger Clinton, and Frank Stallone lamenting about how successful their brothers are when compared to them. That scene was clever in both humor and in terms of the plot, but aside from that, the film offers very few laughs.


 

Though Vaughn doesn't help the film, the supporting cast hardly ever do so as well, and that's a real shame because these are some of the best people in the business. They aren't horrible performances, if anything they’re serviceable, but barley anything stands out about them or their character. Miranda Richardson as Mrs. Claus, and Kathy Bates and Trevor Peacock as the parents are very forgettable for how boring their delivery is, and bland they are as characters. Rachel Weisz as Fred's girlfriend is downright annoying since all she does is pretty much just yell and nag, though I really can't blame her character for that either since Fred is not that likable of a character to begin with. John Michael Higgins as the Elf Willie lacks being funny or cute, as he's given a forced and pointless love interest played dully by Elizabeth Banks. And the kid playing the orphan that Fred watches was decent, but doesn't leave much of an impression on you.

 

For me the biggest disappointment in terms of performance is two time Oscar winning actor Kevin Spacey as the film's antagonist. His character is nothing more than just the greedy businessman archetype that we see constantly in films, and that would be fine as long as he gives a performance that's delightful to watch. But as much as he plays up how cold and dastardly mean that this man is, I just found him dull and at times a little too silly where it isn’t funny or enjoyable. I was so bored by this performance, that I found myself in constant wonder of who sent Spacey to inspect the North Pole, and how he has the power to shut-it down, as well as the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunnie's operations? We never find out who he works for, we just know that there's a board that knows about Santa, but never why? And the crazy thing is when we find out that he has a softer side towards the finale, while well acted mostly from the actor opposite of him, and tying into one of the film's morals, there's never a scene that makes him feel human, since he's too busy hamming it up as we assume a one dimensional antagonist, so it doesn't feel earned, or come off as a shocking surprise for that matter. It just feels there to be there.



If there's one performance in this movie that doesn't make-up for the others, but is at least enjoyable and more emotional when compared to the performances in this movie, it's Paul Giamatti as Santa. Unlike the other actors (not counting the kids in the opening) that were annoying, forgettable, and corny, where there was maybe 1 or 2 scenes where a few of them shined despite not feeling earned, Giamatti (for the most part) shined all the way through. When you look at this guy right from his first scene where he's trying not to completely give into his brother's selfish demands because of his kindness, you buy that he's one of the most humble human beings in the world. From start to finish as you enjoy his presence for how friendly he is, he continuously shows signs of constant stress and fear of losing a job he loves doing as he tries to keep his self-centered brother in line where you feel his pain. And when he has given up on hope he looks incredibly miserably, as if all the life and joy that we saw earlier was sucked right out of him which is heartbreaking to see. My favorite scene involving Giamatti as Santa is when he taps into Clyde's childhood when all seems bleak, that to me really brought out the feeling that he is Santa despite how out of the blue this scene is. If I had one problem with his performance, the scene when he finally breaks down did seem too comical, as opposed to sad, and him trying to run over Fred when the two fight just seemed way too out of character. I don't care how angry he is, this is Santa, he should know better not to injury his brother in a way that would nearly kill him!



And incase if you're wondering about what I think about the film's depiction of the North Pole, well aside from how they visually explain how their system works, and having a cool room and device for how they find out who is naughty and nice, it overall looks pretty generic. It looks like a mix between the sets from the Santa Clause sequels, and Hogsmeade from "Harry Potter"; it doesn't look too original, or hardly stands out as anything different. In terms of visual effects well I thought they did a nice job placing John Michael Higgins' head on a little person's body since it did look convincing half the time. But on the other hand I did find it a bit unnecessary since this role can be easily played by a little person. The effects for the reindeer, well it isn't as cartoony as say the reindeer in the Santa Clause 2, but they still look pretty fake.



The thing that I truly admire of what the film was trying to do was it's moral of being no such thing as a naughty child, since kids go through troubles in their life and don't know how to deal with them, as others are just not raised right which is why they behave so naughty and maybe are in need of some kindness in return to give them a sign of hope. And the character who learns that in the process is actually Santa himself through his brothers actions! I really felt like the film had such a wonderful moral going for it, a moral so powerful and unique for a Christmas film about Santa that it just hurts me that it wasn't executed quite right since almost everything supporting it fails to get us emotionally invested. For me the biggest offense when it comes to the actors trying to emote is the music supporting them. I'm not necessarily talking about the Christmas songs we hear (though they don't help the scenes when they are used in the film), I'm talking about the score itself, where the music constantly keeps signaling us of when we should feel bad or get an emotion from them, but can't for how corny and obviously manipulating it is. We get some scenes that work the film's emotions fine, but they're very far apart and only happen in the prologue and the film's third act.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

"Fred Claus" is a corny, generic, and stupid Christmas movie, with forgettable characters, bland and obnoxious performances, lazy writing, dreadful use of music, and humor that's more awkward then it is funny. BUT, I wouldn't label it as one of the worst Christmas flicks that I've ever seen. The opening was sentimentally charming. Paul Giamatti does a fantastic job as the overworked Santa. I did get some good laughs out of the film (though there are so very few of those). And I heavily admire of what the film was trying to teach, even though it isn't carried out as strongly as it should've been. If the film had stronger characters carried through powerful performances, thoughtful writing, humor that wasn't so childish, and better direction this could've been a Christmas classic. I'm not saying it's not worth watching because it is for the few things that I mentioned, and will in the very least entertain you, but it's not something that I recommend you check out right away. If you so happen to see it on TV, or have watched all of your favorite Christmas movies and Specials and are seeking to watch something different, then I say that seeing this film isn't such a bad option.