Wednesday 12 December 2012

13 Days Of Creepmas - A Christmas Carol (1971)



A classic ghostly tale now, that I'm sure most of you will have seen or read a million times before...but this is one of the creepiest versions of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol I've ever seen! 



Made in 1971 for ABC, it see's Alastair Sim and Michael Redgrave reprise their Scrooge and Marley roles from the 1951 film Scrooge and is directed by Richard Williams and also produced by him and Chuck Jones..... If it's creepiness you want, you'll get it here! Ignorance and Want, the phantoms and Marley's Ghost are properly scary.....apparently the style is based on John Leech's original illustrations for the book....




It won an Oscar for Best Short Subject/Animated Films, and an interesting extra piece of trivia here, the Academy changed the rules after it did, to make sure that no other made-for-TV animation could ever win that honour again...even if, as was the case here, it was deemed worthy enough of a later theatrical release! 

One of John Leech's illustrations

2 comments:

  1. That original illustration for the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come is one of the creepiest things I've ever seen!

    Downloaded this film last year with the intention of watching it but never got around to it - so this year it's a must.

    In terms of OTHER versions of that Future Ghost - the one in Scrooged is up there with the scariest.

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    1. Hehe...wait until you see Ignorance in the cartoon! Proper freaky....

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