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Mickey’s Christmas Carol
Release Date December,
16th, 1983
FUN FACTS:
Mickey's Christmas Carol is a 1983 American animated
fantasy short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Buena
Vista Distribution Company. It was directed and produced by Burny Mattinson.
The cartoon is an adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas
Carol with Mickey Mouse as Bob Cratchit and Scrooge McDuck as his namesake
and inspiration, Ebenezer Scrooge. Many other Disney characters, primarily from
the Mickey Mouse universe, Robin Hood, and The Adventures of Ichabod
and Mr. Toad, were cast throughout the film.
Mickey's Christmas Carol was largely an
animated adaptation of a Disneyland Records 1974 audio musical entitled An
Adaptation of Dicken's Christmas Carol. The musical featured similar
dialogue and cast of characters with the exception of the first and last
Christmas ghosts.
This was the first original Mickey Mouse theatrical
cartoon produced in over 30 years. With the exception of rereleases, Mickey had
not appeared in movie theaters since the short film The Simple Things
released in 1953. Many additional characters seen in the film had also not
appeared in a theatrical cartoon for several decades. The film was also the
last time in which Clarence Nash voiced Donald Duck. Nash was the only original
voice actor in the film as Walt Disney (Mickey Mouse) and Pinto Colvig (Goofy)
had died in the 1960s, Cliff Edwards (Jiminy Cricket) and Billy Gilbert (Willie
the Giant) in 1971, and Billy Bletcher (Pete) in 1979.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best
Animated Short Film in 1984, but lost to Sundae in New York. It was the
first nomination for a Mickey Mouse short since Mickey and the Seal
(1948).
Synopsis
On Christmas Eve 1843, while all of Victorian England is
in the merry spirit of Christmas, Ebenezer Scrooge (Scrooge McDuck) thinks only
of the money he has made and of making more (apparently, he charges people 80%
interest, compounded daily). While Scrooge's selfish thoughts cascade in his
head, Bob Cratchit (Mickey Mouse), exhausted and underpaid (a meager two shillings
and a ha′penny per day), continues to work long and hard for him. Cratchit
reluctantly asks for a "half day off" for Christmas, to which Scrooge
replies it will be unpaid. When collectors Rat and Mole, along with
beggars on the streets, kindly ask for a simple donation, Scrooge responds to
Rat and Mole that if he does, the poor will no longer be poor and thus they
(the collectors) will be out of work, "and you [can't] ask me to do that,
not on Christmas Eve." Scrooge's cheery nephew Fred (Donald Duck) invites
his crotchety uncle to a holiday feast fit for a Roman emperor -- roast goose
with chestnut dressing, candied fruits, and cinnamon cake with lemon glaze. Scrooge
turns him down flat, stating that such rich festive cuisine gives him digestive
and other health difficulties.
Later, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley (Goofy),
Scrooge's greedy former business partner who has died seven years earlier. Due
to his cruelty in life, he is doomed to wear heavy chains for eternity. He
warns that a similar fate will befall Scrooge unless he changes his ways and
that Scrooge will be visited by three spirits. Marley then leaves, falling down
the stairs when he tries to avoid tripping over Scrooge's cane again. The first
spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Past (Jiminy Cricket), shows Scrooge his past.
His obsession of money led him to break the heart of his fiancee Isabelle (Daisy
Duck) by foreclosing on the honeymoon cottage's mortgage.
The
second spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Present (Willie the Giant), arrives and
shows Scrooge the poverty-stricken Cratchit family, who still keep a festive
attitude in their home despite their hardships. Bob's young son, Tiny Tim, is
revealed to be ill, and Willie foretells tragedy if the family's hapless life
does not change. However, just when Scrooge is desperate to know Tim's fate,
the Ghost of Christmas Present and the house disappear. The third and final
spirit, Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (a hooded figure later revealed to be Black
Pete), takes Scrooge to the future in a graveyard. When he sees Bob mourning
Tiny Tim's death, Scrooge is horrified and asks whether this future can be
changed.
Two gravediggers (Weasels from The Adventures of
Ichabod and Mr. Toad) are amused that no one attended Scrooge's funeral
while digging his grave. After the weasels leave to take a break from their
work, the ghost reveals Scrooge's grave by lighting a match. The ghost shoves
him into his grave calling him "the richest man in the cemetery."
Despite his pleas that he will repent, Scrooge falls into an empty coffin which
bursts open to hell.
However, Scrooge suddenly awakens on Christmas Day.
Having been given another chance, he throws his coat over his nightshirt, dons
his cane and top hat, and goes to visit the Cratchits, cheerfully donating
generous amounts of money along the way (including 100 gold sovereigns to Rat
and Mole; the charity collectors from earlier) and telling Fred that he will come
after all. He tries to play a ninny on Bob, dragging in a large sack supposedly
filled with laundry and announcing gruffly that there will be extra work in the
future. But to the Cratchits' joy, the sack is instead filled with toys and a
big turkey for dinner. Scrooge gives Bob a raise and makes him his partner in
the counting house, and Tiny Tim proclaims "God bless us, everyone!"
Cast
Main cast
Voice actor
|
Character
|
Role
|
Alan Young
|
Scrooge McDuck
|
Ebenezer Scrooge
|
Wayne Allwine
|
Mickey Mouse
|
Bob Cratchit
|
Hal Smith
|
Goofy
|
Jacob Marley's
ghost
|
Eddie Carroll
|
Jiminy Cricket
|
Ghost of
Christmas Past
|
Will Ryan
|
Willie the Giant
|
Ghost of
Christmas Present
|
Will Ryan
|
Pete
|
Ghost of
Christmas Future
|
Clarence Nash
|
Donald Duck
|
Fred, Scrooge's
nephew
|
Patricia Parris
|
Daisy Duck
|
Isabelle
("Belle" in the novella)
|
Nonspeaking
|
Mr. Toad
|
Fezzywig
("Fezziwig" in the novella)
|
Nonspeaking
|
Minnie Mouse
|
Emily Cratchit
|
Nonspeaking
|
Millie or Melody
Mouse
|
Martha Cratchit
|
Nonspeaking
|
Morty and Ferdie
Fieldmouse |
Peter Cratchit
|
Dick Billingsley
|
Tiny Tim
|
|
Hal Smith
|
Rat
|
Collectors for
the poor
|
Wayne Allwine
|
Mole
|
|
Wayne Allwine
|
Otto
|
Beggar
|
Wayne Allwine
and Will Ryan
|
Weasels
|
Gravediggers
|
Extras
Opening street scene
- The Big
Bad Wolf, collecting for charity
- The Three
Little Pigs, caroling
Party at
Fezzywig's
- Lady
Kluck, dancing with Secretary Bird
- Rabbit
children, clapping
- Uncle
Waldo; clapping, later dancing
- Grandma
Duck; clapping, later dancing
- Horace
Horsecollar, dancing with Clarabelle Cow
- Gus Goose,
dancing with Clara Cluck
- Angus
MacBadger, dancing
- Chip and
Dale, dancing
- Huey,
Dewey, and Louie, decorating Christmas tree
Closing street
scene
- Skippy
Bunny and Toby Turtle, playing in the street
- Mother
Rabbit and Grandma Owl, standing in the street
- The
Practical Pig, chasing two of the Three Little Wolves
- Cyril
Proudbottom, pulling Donald's cart
The film also includes unidentifiable dog, fox, pig,
squirrel, bear, raccoon, goose, and chicken characters. The DVD print reveals
that the graveyard scene also includes tombstones containing references to
famous performers, including Gladys Knight & The Pips, Bob Mills, and Warren
Oates.
Reception
Film Critic Leonard Maltin said that rather than being “a
pale attempt to imitate the past”, the film is “cleverly written, well staged,
and animated with real spirit and a sense of fun”. Robin Allan stated that the
film calls to mind the similarities between Walt Disney and Charles Dickens, in
terms of both the work they produced and their work ethic.
However, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert of At the Movies
gave it “two thumbs down”. Siskel felt there wasn't enough emphasis on Mickey's
character and that it didn't rank with most of Disney's full-length animated
features. Ebert stated that it lacked the magic of visual animation that the
“Disney people are famous for” and that it was a “forced march” through the
Charles Dickens story without any ironic spin.
Mickey's Christmas Carol was nominated for an Academy
Award as Best Animated Short Subject of 1983.
Releases
Mickey's Christmas Carol premiered in the UK
on October 20, 1983, and was released in the US on December 16, 1983, before
the 1983 re-issue of The Rescuers. It has been broadcast on various
television stations throughout the years. It started on NBC (1984–1990), then
on to The Disney Channel (1986–1999; 2002–2006), and CBS (1991–1998),
occasionally on ABC (2000, 2003), before moving permanently to ABC Family
(2001–present). It was aired on Toon Disney in 2008. The run on ABC Family
includes Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too and was part of their "25
Days of Christmas", but with several abrupt edits including the
"Chocolate Pot Roast with Yogurt" line. In Canada, it airs on CBC,
and has been aired every Christmas season since 1985. It typically airs the
Sunday before Christmas.
The short is also featured, without its opening credits,
in the direct-to-home release, Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the
House of Mouse. It is also available on the ninth volume of the Walt
Disney Classic Cartoon Favorites DVD collection, as well as in the Walt
Disney Treasures set Mickey Mouse in Living Color - Volume 2;
however, the latter is the only DVD to be released in a widescreen aspect ratio,
however it is simply cropping the full screen version. The short is also on the
Disney Animation Collection Volume 7 DVD.
The aforementioned broadcasts in the 1980s and early
1990s spanned a full hour, with the first half consisting of the following
older cartoon shorts: Donald's Snow Fight, Pluto's Christmas Tree,
and The Art of Skiing. Each of the four items in the program was
preceded by a narrative wraparound segment in which one of the Disney cartoon
characters (Donald, Pluto (with Mickey translating), Goofy, and Mickey, respectively)
would talk about his favorite Christmas, thus leading into the cartoon in
question. From 1989 onwards, The Art of Skiing was excluded from the annual
broadcast, replaced at the end of the hour by one segment or another. The 1993
telecast, for example, featured a behind-the-scenes featurette on The
Nightmare Before Christmas. Later broadcasts simply reduced the timeslot to
half an hour, showing Mickey's Christmas Carol by itself.
A clip of this film in Swedish was shown on Donald
Duck's 50th Birthday to illustrate Donald's international appeal.
This short film was featured in Disney's Magical
Mirror Starring Mickey Mouse.
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