Reviews

I was only 11 when this show was on but I loved it. I was fascinated by it's view of Britain. In the Christmas show. The families go to visit each other and the Americans wind up in England and the Brits in the US. In England, it was a big issue for the Finchs to get "central heating." I realized that they were different. Was especially amused by the character of Willie Shorthouse. Who hated Americans. His interactions with Patty were hilarious! I identified with the boys, of course and found Neville's life fascinating. I was always interested in the cast members afterwards, especially Victor Maddern, who was on shows as varied as Bonanza and Doctor Who. I know Dennis Waterman became a big star so I got a Region 2 DVD of the first season of Minder as I am also a big George Cole fan.

This may be the cheapest production of this classic tale ever made by a major studio and looks it. Backgrounds that are crude paintings and a 58 minute running time harm the production. These great actors seem rushed.

I so wanted to see what Michael Hordern could bring to the role and he just doesn't have the time he needs. It seems the camera work is all closeups to cover up how threadbare the sets. The Fezziwig party has a few other guests besides Fezziwig, Scrooge and Dick Wilkins. Fred has just two guests at his party, Topper and an unnamed blonde. The BBC has done such lavish productions of Dickens. Why would they be so cheap and Scrooge-like with their only production of Dickens' most famous work?

I first saw this more than 60 years ago when Channel 9 in NYC showed it all week. I only remembered the kids and what they did. It was the first time I saw a British movie. I did not know how much I'd enjoy actors like Megs Jenkins, Sydney James, Peter Sellers, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Colin Gordon and the rest in the years to come! James and Sellers have some great scenes together! Katie Johnson from The Ladykillers even makes an appearance. I am an American and don't really care about the British Royal Family one way or another. But seeing the joy on the British people at the crowning of their Queen brought tears to my eyes. Long live the Queen!

Other reviewers accuse Star Trek of ripping off this episode for the first season episode "Arena." In fact, as pointed out in the Connections session, the plot of this episode is taken from the 1944 Fredric Brown story "Arena" which Star Trek adapted more faithfully but with a different conclusion to the battle. One big difference is that "Star Trek" properly credited Fredric Brown. The Outer Limits did not.

This is a significant episode as it's the first one with a scene with just Sheldon & Penny. These would turn out to be comedy gold and show just how much chemistry the actors have.

Well, there's only one reason (two, if you want to be funny) to see this movie and that's Andrea Dromm. She became a "star" because of a commercial and she made this, the first Star Trek pilot and THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING. This movie is the least of her works. It's been more than forty years since I saw this in a theater and I don't remember anything of the plot. I'm reasonably sure that Andrea spends a lot of time in a bikini. If that's not reason to watch, I don't know what is. At the end, the guy want to become a spy, too. If you met a spy like her, you'd join up immediately. From what I do remember, the movie was pretty silly.

But there's always Andrea!

Sam Tomaino

This is one of the most unnecessary remakes of all time. It is nothing but an ego trip by Marlo Thomas and should not have been made.

The biggest flaw was that since MARLO was producing this, her character was spotlighted so much that we got a lot less of the supporting characters like Bert & Ernie. Thus, we cared less about them.

Orson Welles is just sleepwalking through his part as Potter. He's not a patch on Lionel Barrymore.

I watched this when it first premiered and was already a fan of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. I was appalled that the original scriptwriters received no credit despite the fact that large parts of their dialog was used. This was because the movie had gone into the Public Domain at that point. The only credit was for the original story by Philip Van Doren Stern. I've read it and it can't be used as the source for the stolen dialog in this movie.

I think film classes should be shown both versions as an example of how to make such a movie and how NOT to.

I'm glad it's not available on legitimate VHS or DVD.