A Christmas Carol With Ronald Coleman 1941
Review by: albertatamazon
"Carol" was recorded in October 1941, and released in November of that year, a sobering thought considering the fact that Pearl Harbor was soon to be attacked, ushering the United States into World War II. "Pickwick" followed three years later, in November of 1944. Both were later included on a single 33 1/3 RPM LP, one of the most popular Decca albums ever made, selling well into the late 1960's. The LP version of "A Christmas Carol", however, omitted two characters (the charity collectors) heard in the 78 RPM version, and that moment has not been restored on this CD. (Ferdinand Munier, who played one of them, is erroneously credited as appearing on this album. He does not.) The sound is quite good, especially for recordings made before the age of real hi-fi, though, of course, it is not stereo.
Both stories are beautifully done. In "A Christmas Carol", renowned film actor Ronald Colman stars as Ebenezer Scrooge, and while he would have seemed miscast if he had ever done a film version of the story, he is quite excellent on records, his beautiful voice not only acting the role of Scrooge, but, in a very imaginative touch, narrating the story to the listener in character, as if Scrooge were reminiscing about his misspent life. He makes no attempt to sound "old", but is nonetheless completely convincing - better than Laurence Olivier is in his recorded version (and I, an Olivier fan, once never imagined I'd say that).
A further testament to the excellence of this production is that, although it is only twenty minutes or so long, each actor convinces completely in his role, and the story never seems rushed, because director George Wells has known exactly how to edit it. The supporting cast includes few familiar names, although all were noted screen character actors of the period; the most familiar names are Hans Conried (Captain Hook in Disney's animated "Peter Pan") as the Ghost of Christmas Past, and Gale Gordon ("The Lucy Show"'s Mr. Mooney) as a speaking Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.