An American Christmas Carol

Video Release: 10/9/2012

Reviewer: Edwin L. Carpenter
Source: Video
Writer: Charles Dickens Screenplay: Jerome Coopersmith
Producer: Jon Slan, Stanley Chase
Director: Eric Till
Genre: Christmas
Runtime: 96 min.
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Starring: Henry Winkler, David Wayne, Chris Wiggins, R.H. Thomson, Kenneth Pogue, Susan Hogan, Dorian Harwood, Gerard Parkes

Synopsis:
In this unique retelling of Charles Dickens' beloved A Christmas Carol, Henry Winkler is Benedict Slade, a heartless finance company president in Depression era New England. He shatters the Christmas hopes of his debtors by mercilessly repossessing their most prized goods-and then fires his faithful assistant, Thatcher, on Christmas Eve.

Alone in his apartment, the selfish Slade is visited by three ghosts-Christmas Past, Present and Future-who take him on a late-night journey and reveal the bitter truths of his life to teach him the true meaning of Christmas.

This wonderful tale of a 20th-Century Scrooge is a moving and heartfelt adaptation that brings new life to a treasured holiday classic.

Dove Worldview:
Henry Winkler makes an awesome Scrooge or, as he is called in this movie, "Benedict Slade." The story is set during the Great Depression in New England but the tale follows Dickens' classic story, "A Christmas Carol", very closely.

Slade's dependable assistant, Thatcher (Chris Wiggins), has a soft heart. When he travels in an old truck with Scrooge on Christmas Eve to re-possess such items as a stove, radio and rocking chair from a family, the pain of the experience is evident on his face. He is fired by Slade that very evening after he asks Slade to consider re-opening a business so as to help local unemployed workers have jobs again. Soon afterward Slade is visited by three ghosts, The Spirit of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future. The intent is to teach him the true meaning of Christmas.

This film features a fine cast, a gripping story and captures the spirit of Dickens' novel perfectly. We are more than pleased to award the movie five Doves, our best rating. Watch it soon with your family and enjoy the timeless message.

Content Chart & Description

Rating Descriptions

Sex: Kissing by a couple.
Language: D-1; H (as a place)-1; Imbecile-1; Dumb-1; Man says let his eternal soul be damned if he is not telling the truth.
Violence: None
Drugs: A man gets a bottle of wine but is not seen drinking it; man with cigar.
Nudity: None
Other: A man heartlessly rips covers off old and rare books for the value of the covers; a spirit reminds a man he once lied to get a bargain from a minister; Hell is mentioned as a place not of fire but worse, a place where one is confronted with what one did or didn't do; an old woman handles a boy roughly in orphanage; a fire and a man's loss of his business; a death and grief.

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