Had the peculiar experience of watching Mr Magoo's Christmas Carol last night. I scarcely remembered (really scarcely) it, so one of my first thoughts was, This must have aired later than I think. But, no, it seems to have aired on 18 Dec 1962.
It's a favorite of my brother's, and my brother studied Dickens so if he doesn't have any problem with the treatment, I surely oughtn't. So the following are not problems I have with the show . . . they were just things which surprised me.
1. Making a musical of it, generally.
2. Magoo is such a congenial character, overall, he doesn't strike me as at all a mean Scrooge. He's Magoo speaking Scrooge's lines; which is all right, to be sure.
3. The Spirit of Christmas Present preceding that of Christmas Past.
4. Alice being renamed Belle. Maybe that was a phonetic choice . . . Jim Backus crying Alice! in the Magoo voice may have been something of a fright.
5. Tiny Tim is a cute animation baby, I don't think the threat to his health really comes across.
6. That the charwoman, laundress and undertaker come across as such a near-ghoulish troika reverts to № 1 above, I suppose.
7. I suppose the goose had to be swapped for a turkey. Admittedly, not an important change.
8. During "Belle's" song there is a springtime sequence. This may sound strange, but in A Christmas Carol, that near freaked me out.
9. In general, the long Magoo Makes His Way to the Theatre in Times Square intro.
All that said, sure, it was fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment