If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Shower of Stars - 1954. Fredric March as Ebenezer Scrooge. Basil Rathbone as the Ghost of Jacob Marley. Bob Sweeney as Bob Cratchit. What could possibly go wrong ? Where do I begin ?The first three minutes of the program is taken up by Choral Singing. In fact, the program turns out to be a series of mediocre to bad songs interrupted occasionally with an abbreviated telling of "A Christmas Story". There is a way overlong love filled duet by the young Ebenezer and Belle following which she breaks off their engagement. Ummm... wha ? Following this, Ray Middleton goes on and on about Christmas and Santa which has nothing to do with the story. It's like he is supposed to be the "Ghost of Christmas PRESENTS"To make matters worse, March has a distractingly huge and obviously false nose that is not the color of his face. Then there is the final carol by "Tiny" Tim / choir during which we see several minutes of Frederic March making faces. It's just too too odd.I looked forward to seeing Basil Rathbone as Marley's Ghost but found him to be nothing special in the role.If you have made a list of "A Christmas Carols" to watch and need to check this one off .. do so... otherwise skip it.Almost forgot .. there are some cool ads for Chrystler cars !

To me, this Christmas Carol definitely could have been better considering that it had Fredric March and Basil Rathbone starring and Bernard Hermann as composer and that the story is so timeless. It does have a few big debits but also a lot of things that came off well. The adaptation is too short, from personal opinion this should of if it were allowed been 25 minutes longer, and there are parts especially with Christmas Yet to Come- a scene that came off ridiculously sadly as well- that felt rushed, making Scrooge's change of heart/transformation rushed and less believable too. Some of the story is structurally bare bones, the basic elements are there but things that give Scrooge reason to change and that what made him like he was in the first place were missed out which further led to his transformation from miser rushed and not so believable. The songs are hit and miss here and generally take up too much time of the running time. Some are pleasant, the best being the incredibly touching one sung by Tiny Tim, the most beautiful one melodically and the only song where the lyrics actually resonated with me, and the opening sequence song is the other truly memorable one. But others don't stick in your head very long and some have some corny lyrics, the worst one being Ghost of Christmas Present's which went on forever and didn't serve that much of a point to the story as well as suffering the worst of the lyric writing. The two original carols, outstandingly sung by the Roger Wagner Chorale, are great but don't quite fit within the Victorian/Dickensian setting.However, from a visual standpoint this Christmas Carol looks surprisingly good. It's very well shot throughout, with a big shout out going to the extended shot at the end, and the period detail is evocative and handsomely constructed. The street scenes with the Carollers and Fezziwig's drawing room are agreed the best of the interiors while the snow looks Christmassy and real. While the songs don't quite come over well generally Bernard Hermann's score absolutely does, the chorus writing in the Jacob Marley scene is wonderfully spooky. If there was anything actually that can be singled out as the best thing about this it would definitely be the score. Even with a lot missed out of the story there is no problem at all with understanding the script, which is witty and heart-warming, and while the story is truncated which compromises the pacing and length it still packs a powerful emotional punch(the ending is a tear-jerker) and makes its point effectively. In the acting stakes, nobody is outstanding in the support acting but nobody's disastrous. It was an interesting move to have Belle/Ghost of Christmas Past and Fred/Ghost of Christmas Present doubled up, that has never been done before, and it didn't come off too badly, Sally Fraser's beguiling and Ray Middleton's appealingly hearty(he is better though as Fred, he got the joviality of Ghost of Christmas Present just right but wasn't quite benevolent enough). Wasn't a big fan of the over-sized and rather stereotypical nose but Fredric March really gives his all as Scrooge and is very good, he is great doing the gruff miserable miser but the character's transformation is convincingly acted. His best moment is his facial expressions during the extended shot with the choral singing of Tim's song, a wide mix of emotions beautifully conveyed by March, it was another bold move made here and was most telling. One mustn't forget Basil Rathbone either, who chills the bones as Jacob Marley though in an understated way, a way that not many other actors can do as effectively as Rathbone could.All in all, a pretty decent adaptation of a Christmas classic, thanks to Hermann's score, a couple of good innovations, the visuals and the performances of March and Rathbone but due to it being too short and rushed with a bungled Christmas Yet to Come scene and hit and miss songs it does fall short as well. 6.5/10 Bethany Cox

I first saw the Shower of Stars production of A Christmas Carol as a child in 1954. I must say, my jaw dropped at the first sight of Sally Frazier (the Ghost of Christmas past). I thought she was a Goddess,easily the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. When I was able to purchase an obscure video tape of this show in 1988 however, imagine my disappointment at the trick my 11 year old eyes had played on me. While still beautiful, she was nothing like I remembered. (or imagined!) What I did not remember, and was pleasantly surprised at was the outstanding score by the great Bernard Herrman. From the opening sounds of a child trumpeting his flute for the coming (acappella) carolers who sing their message as a foreboding warning of things to come, (so Herrman!) to the well done musical interludes that DON'T intrude on the story, this was an unexpected delight! I wish this was available on DVD and at the very least, Bernard Herrman's wonderful and ORIGINAL Chistmas score should be made available.

This show is on DVD, it's a bonus feature on the Bing Crosby and Kate Smith Christmas DVD. I was excited to watch this, never knowing that March played Scrooge before, and always up for seeing a new adaptation of A Christmas Carol. What a huge disappointment! This is borderline garbage. March doesn't deliver and the rest of the actors, except for Rathbone of course, are lousy. The songs aren't memorable, nor even mediocre enough to sit through, and the choice of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is unbelievably ridiculous. The only consolation is that the Bing Christmas show is the main feature and worth paying the $8 for, so you're not really paying for this version of A Christmas Carol (unless you watch it).