A Christmas Carol

United States

1971

28 Min

Color

English

Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
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CAST Alastair Sim, Michael Hordern, Melvyn Hayes, Joan Sims, Paul Whitsun-Jones

MUSIC The Children of Elliott School

ANIM Ken Harris, Janet Chapman, Bill Hajee, Abe Levitow, Roy Naisbitt, Anwar Rassam, Sergio Simonetti

Synopsis

A Christmas Carol was directed by Richard Williams and its visual style is also largely due to Ken Harris, credited as “Master Animator”. It starred Alastair Sim as the voice of Ebenezer Scrooge — a role Sim had previously performed in the 1951 live-action film Scrooge. Michael Hordern likewise reprised his 1951 performance as Marley’s Ghost in the same film. Michael Redgrave narrated the story and veteran animator Chuck Jones served as executive producer. Williams’ son Alexander Williams, then aged four, provided the voice for Tiny Tim. This adaptation of A Christmas Carol has a distinctive look, created by multiple pans and zooms and by innovative, unexpected scene transitions. The visual style, which is unusually powerful, is inspired by 19th century engraved illustrations of the original story by John Leech and the pen and ink renderings by illustrator Milo Winter that graced 1930s editions of the book. The intended audience does not include young children and some regard the film’s bleak mood, including the scene from the book when the Ghost of Christmas Present reveals the horrid embodiments of Want and Ignorance, and emphasis on darkness and shadows as making it by far the most frightening of the many dramatizations of the Dickens classic. —wikipedia.

Director

Richard Williams

Involved in film animation from the young age of 12, Richard Williams’ international reputation as a true innovator grew so much that by 1990 he was voted “the Animator’s Animator” by a poll in the London Times, and a commentator for the New York Times has called Williams “miles ahead of anyone in the world of animation.” Williams’ work has spanned classic hand-animation style and incorporates contemporary computer animation methods.

In the late ’40s, Williams worked for both Disney and UPA studios, ultimately leaving for England in 1955 where he created his wonderful 33-minute animated film The Little Island (1958), which won the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film in 1959. This piece gained him immediate recognition as a professional and highly talented animator.

This was followed with A Lecture on Man and Love Me Love Me Love Me in 1962, Circus Drawings (1964), Diary of a Madman (1965), The Dermis Probe (1966), and… read more

Involved in film animation from the young age of 12, Richard Williams’ international reputation as a true innovator grew so much that by 1990 he was voted “the Animator’s Animator” by a poll in the London Times, and a commentator for the New York Times has called Williams “miles ahead of anyone in the world of animation.” Williams’ work has spanned classic hand-animation style and incorporates contemporary computer animation methods.

In the late ’40s, Williams worked for both Disney and UPA studios, ultimately leaving for England in 1955 where he created his wonderful 33-minute animated film The Little Island (1958), which won the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film in 1959. This piece gained him immediate recognition as a professional and highly talented animator.

This was followed with A Lecture on Man and Love Me Love Me Love Me in 1962, Circus Drawings (1964), Diary of a Madman (1965), The Dermis Probe (1966), and Nasrudin (1972). The made-for-TV version of A Christmas Carol (1971) won Williams his first Oscar. Williams worked on the unfortunately nearly forgotten film Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure (1977) which has some charming songs by Joe Raposo, as well as advanced animation and characters somewhat reminiscent of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine (1968).
Williams has also designed and animated title sequences for several feature films, including the Blake Edwards/Peter Sellers vehicles Return of the Pink Panther (1974), The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976), Woody Allen’s What’s New Pussycat? (1965) directed by Clive Donner, Casino Royale (1967), and linking sequences for The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968).

Williams is arguably best known as the director of animation and designer of the characters for Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988). For this project, Williams won two Academy Awards including a Special Achievement Award. Besides his three Oscars, Williams has received three British Academy Awards, an Emmy, and an astonishing 246 international awards.

In 1995 he offered the Richard Williams Animation Masterclasses for professionals and students which are conducted in London, Hollywood, New York, San Francisco, Vancouver, Sydney, Hong Kong, France, and Denmark. As an extension of his teaching, Williams has authored the acclaimed book The Animator’s Survival Kit (2001). Williams founded his own studio which continues to turn out animation films, as well as myriad prize-winning commercials. In 1995, Williams also animated, directed, and co-wrote the musical Arabian Knight with the voices of Vincent Price, Matthew Broderick, Eric Bogosian, and Jennifer Beal. – allmovie guide.

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