Mickey's Christmas Carol is a 1983 theatrical featurette featuring established Disney characters re-enacting the classic Charles Dickens story A Christmas Carol.
The production, which was Mickey Mouse's first appearance in theaters in 30 years (despite his limited supporting role), was inspired by An Adaptation of Dickens' Christmas Carol, Performed by The Walt Disney Players, a 1974 Disney record conceived by Alan Young and Alan Dinehart.
The film also marked the first screen production in which Young provided the voice of Scrooge McDuck, whose voice he had provided on the aforementioned album. The featurette also marked the first theatrical outing for Wayne Allwine as the voice of Mickey (who had previously voiced the character in animation produced for The New Mickey Mouse Club TV series in 1977) as well as one of Clarence Nash's final performances as the voice of Donald Duck. Nash is the only original voice actor involved in this film, as other original voice actors such as Walt Disney (Mickey Mouse), Pinto Colvig (Goofy), Billy Bletcher (Pete), Cliff Edwards (Jiminy Cricket) and Billy Gilbert (Willie the Giant) died prior to the film's production.
The film premiered in the United Kingdom on October 20, 1983 with a re-release of The Jungle Book, and was packaged together with a re-release of The Rescuers in the United States, starting on December 16 of the same year.
In addition to Scrooge McDuck as his namesake, the cast of characters includes Mickey as Bob Cratchit, Donald as Scrooge's nephew Fred, Daisy Duck as Scrooge's first love Isabel, Minnie Mouse as a silent Mrs. Cratchit, Morty Fieldmouse (one of Mickey's nephews) as Tiny Tim, Goofy as the Ghost of Jacob Marley, Jiminy Cricket as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Willie the Giant (from Fun and Fancy Free) as the Ghost of Christmas Present, Pete as the Ghost of Christmas Future, Moley and Water Rat (from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad) as the charity collectors, Mr. Toad himself in a silent cameo as Fezziwig, and scores of other cameos from the theatrical shorts and films.
Synopsis[]
On Christmas Eve, while all of Victorian England is in the merry spirit of Christmas, Ebenezer Scrooge (played by Scrooge McDuck) thinks only of the money he has made and of making more (apparently, he charges people 80% interest, compounded daily). As he reaches his counting house, he realizes it's seven years since the passing of his partner Jacob Marley. While Scrooge's selfish thoughts cascade in his head, Bob Cratchit (Mickey Mouse), overworked, exhausted and underpaid, 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 because he'll cut half of his pay for the day (in contrast to the original version where Scrooge is irritated at giving Cratchit Christmas off with pay). Scrooge's nephew Fred (Donald Duck) comes in to invite Scrooge to his family's Christmas dinner, but Scrooge turns him down. When collectors Rat and Mole, along with beggars on the streets, kindly ask for a simple donation, Scrooge responds to them 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."
That Christmas Eve night, the ghost of Ebenezer Scrooge's greedy business partner, Jacob Marley (Goofy) appears and scares Scrooge out of his wits. When Scrooge commends him for his ruthlessness, Marley chuckles "Yup," but then recalls his sinfulness, and tells that because of his cruelty in life, he is doomed to wear heavy chains for eternity ("maybe even longer"). He warns that a similar fate, if not worse, will befall Scrooge unless he changes his ways. Marley then leaves, falling down the stairs when he tries to avoid tripping over Scrooge's cane again and letting out his signature Goofy holler.
Scrooge soon dismisses the incident and goes back to sleep but is later awoken by the Ghost of Christmas Past (Jiminy Cricket). He shows Scrooge his past when his growing love of money led him to made his girlfriend Isabel (Daisy Duck) miserable by foreclosing on the honeymoon cottage's mortgage. (This is in sharp contrast to the original novel where Isabel is the one who ends the engagement with Scrooge in a relatively amicable manner.)
Not long after the first visit, the Ghost of Christmas Present (Willie the Giant) arrives, surrounded by turkey, mince pies, suckling pigs and other delicious foods. He shows him the poverty-stricken Cratchit family, who still keep a festive attitude in their home despite their hardships. Bob's young son Tiny Tim (Morty Fieldmouse) is revealed to be gravely 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 both vanish. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (a hooded figure later revealed to be Pete) takes Scrooge to the future in a graveyard. When he sees Bob mourning for Tiny Tim, who has passed away (indicated by Bob placing Tim's crutch on his tombstone), Scrooge fearfully asks whether or not this future can be altered.
He then overhears the laughter of two gravediggers (two weasels from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad), who are amazed and humored by the fact that no one attended the funeral of the man whose grave they were digging for. After the weasels leave to take a break from their work, Scrooge and the ghost approach the lonely grave, where the ghost lights a cigar, revealing Ebenezer Scrooge's name on the tombstone, the ghost revealed to be Pete gives him a shove into his grave, calling him "the richest man in the cemetery". Scrooge falls towards his coffin as the lid opens and the flames of Hell burst out. Scrooge clings to a root, while the ghost laughs evilly, but it snaps and Scrooge falls into his fiery grave, shouting his repentance.
Suddenly, he is back home on Christmas morning—it was all just a dream. 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 and telling Fred that he will come to dinner at his house 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 as Tiny Tim proclaims the original character's famous line of "God bless us, everyone!"
Scrooge picks up Tiny Tim and sits him on his lap before setting his top hat on Tiny Tim's head, picking up Tiny Tim's older sister Martha and sitting her on his lap and then getting a hug from Tiny Tim, Martha and Peter before directing his smile at the Cratchits - the scene of which goes into a freeze frame and the words "The End" and "Walt Disney Productions" appear.
Characters[]
- Scrooge McDuck as Ebenezer Scrooge (voiced by Alan Young)
- Mickey Mouse as Bob Cratchit (voiced by Wayne Allwine)
- Donald Duck as Fred Honeywell (Ebenezer's nephew) (voiced by Clarence Nash)
- Water Rat and Mole as Collectors for the Poor (voiced by Hal Smith and Will Ryan)
- Goofy as Jacob Marley (voiced by Hal Smith)
- Jiminy Cricket as the Ghost of Christmas Past (voiced by Eddie Carroll)
- J. Thaddeus Toad as Fezziwig
- Daisy Duck as Isabel (voiced by Patricia Parris)
- Willie the Giant as the Ghost of Christmas Present (voiced by Will Ryan)
- Minnie Mouse as Mrs. Cratchit
- Morty Fieldmouse as Tiny Tim (voiced by Dick Billingsley)
- Ferdie Fieldmouse as Peter Cratchit
- Melody Mouse as Martha Cratchit
- Pete as the Ghost of Christmas Future (voiced by Will Ryan)
The above role-casting is mostly the same as the version presented in the Dickens' Christmas Carol, Performed by The Walt Disney Players record, with the exception of the roles of the collectors for the poor and two of the ghosts. In the original record, the collectors were portrayed (ironically) by Foulfellow and Gideon from Pinocchio, the Ghost of Christmas Past was played by Merlin from The Sword in the Stone and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come was played by Queen Grimhilde (in her witch form) from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Cameo appearances include:
- Zeke "Big Bad" Wolf (as a street corner Santa) (voiced by Will Ryan)
- The Three Little Pigs (Singers standing with street corner Santa, also seen running in the street at the end)
- Dancers in the party sequence:
- Gus Goose
- Patricia Pigg
- Percy Pigg
- Clarabelle Cow
- Horace Horsecollar
- Clara Cluck
- Grandma Duck
- Chip and Dale
- Huey, Dewey, and Louie (seen decorating a Christmas tree)
- Bongo the Bear and Lulubelle from Fun and Fancy Free
- Cocky Locky from Chicken Little
- Uncle Waldo from The Aristocats
- Angus MacBadger from The Wind in the Willows
- The Secretary Bird from Bedknobs and Broomsticks
- Lady Kluck, Sis and Tagalong from Robin Hood
- Skippy and Toby from Robin Hood (seen playing in the streets at the end)
- Mother Rabbit and Grandma Owl from Robin Hood
- Otto from Robin Hood (a beggar in the streets) (voiced by Wayne Allwine)
- Two of the Three Little Wolves (seen running in the street)
- Cyril Proudbottom from The Wind in the Willows (pulling Donald's cart at the end)
- Two of the weasels from The Wind in the Willows (gravediggers) (voiced by Wayne Allwine and Will Ryan)
Television broadcasts[]
Mickey's Christmas Carol was originally intended to debut as a prime-time special on CBS in 1982, with a comic strip adaptation running in Sunday newspapers in November and December of that year. However, due to an animators' strike, the special was not finished in time for Christmas of that year, resulting in CBS instead running A Disney Christmas Gift in the planned time slot.
The film premiered in the United Kingdom on October 20, 1983, and was packaged together with a re-release of the 1967 film The Jungle Book. On December 16 of the same year, the short debuted in the United States, where it was packaged with a re-release of another film, the 1977 film The Rescuers. It was billed as Mickey's "big-screen comeback" because his last appearance in a theatrical cartoon, the short The Simple Things, was 30 years earlier, in 1953.
The film made its television debut on The Disney Channel on December 1, 1984 and then on NBC on December 10 of that same year and was rebroadcast on both stations annually until 1990, after which it moved from NBC to CBS from 1991 to 1998. While the film ran consistently at Christmas on The Disney Channel for many years, the network broadcasts spanned a full hour, with the first half consisting of three winter-themed theatrical Disney shorts (Donald's Snow Fight, Pluto's Christmas Tree and The Art of Skiing). Each segment was preceded by a narrative wraparound segment in which one of the characters (Donald, Pluto (with Mickey translating), Goofy and Mickey, respectively) would talk about his favorite Christmas, thus leading into the cartoon in question. Each of the wraparounds featured paintings of the characters similar to those used in the film's opening credits sequence, which were all drawn by Michael Peraza Jr.
From 1988 onwards, The Art of Skiing was removed from the annual broadcast, replaced at the end of the hour by a new different segment each year. The 1988, 1989, and 1990 telecasts included behind-the-scenes featurettes on Oliver and Company, The Little Mermaid, and The Rescuers Down Under, respectively, while the 1991 broadcast ended with a retrospective on Fantasia and a behind-the-scenes look at Beauty and the Beast. The 1993 and 1994 broadcasts included behind-the-scenes looks at The Nightmare Before Christmas and Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, and the 1995 broadcast included a sneak peek at The Hunchback of Notre Dame.[1] CBS' final broadcast of the special in 1996 concluded with a similar sneak peek at Hercules.
After CBS dropped the special, it was aired on ABC from 1997 to 2003, no longer accompanied by the extra shorts and wraparounds. On cable, it was also aired annually on the Disney Channel from 1984 to 1999 and 2002 to 2006, and on Toon Disney (prior to it being replaced by Disney XD) on Christmas Day in 2008. It later aired on ABC Family (now Freeform) as part of the 25 Days of Christmas from 2008 to 2018, but with many abrupt edits in order to show more commercials (a common practice on ABC networks when showing older programming).
Home video releases[]
- VHS
- Mickey's Christmas Carol
- Walt Disney Mini Classics: Mickey's Christmas Carol
- Disney Favorite Stories: Mickey's Christmas Carol
- Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse
- Betamax
- Mickey's Christmas Carol
- CED
- Mickey's Christmas Carol
- Laserdisc
- Mickey's Christmas Carol
- Walt Disney Mini Classics: Mickey's Christmas Carol
- DVD
- Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse
- Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Volume 2
- Walt Disney's Classic Cartoon Favorites: Classic Holiday Stories
- Walt Disney Animation Collection: Classic Short Films: Mickey's Christmas Carol
- Mickey's Christmas Carol: 30th Anniversary Edition
- Blu-ray
- Mickey's Christmas Carol: 30th Anniversary Edition
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, famed movie critics 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; unfortunately, it lost to Sundae in New York.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- This is the first Mickey Mouse cartoon since "R'Coon Dawg" to feature Mickey in his 1939 design, where the eyebrows he had from "Pluto's Party" up until "The Simple Things" have been abandoned.
- During the special's production, a comic strip adaptation was produced for the Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales Sunday newspaper strip. Due to the delay from the above-mentioned animators' strike, the comic strip adaptation ran from October 3 to December 26 of 1982, a full year before the special was actually released!
- This is notably one of the fewest times Mickey's nephews Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse, originally featured in the Mickey Mouse newspaper comic strip, have ever appeared in animation.
- In the Finnish language dub, the characters are referred to as the Disney characters portraying the roles, rather than as the Christmas Carol characters they are portraying. A notable result of this change is that Daisy's character, Isabel, is instead identified as Goldie O'Gilt, Scrooge's secret sweetheart introduced in Carl Barks' Uncle Scrooge comic story Back to the Klondike.
- Russi Taylor recorded dialogue which never ended up in the finished film. This was Taylor's first time performing Minnie, a role that she played until her death in 2019.[2]
- The Goof Troop episode "Wrecks, Lies & Videotape" featured a nod to this special, in which Goofy poses as a Jacob Marley-like ghost to warn Pete what will happen if he doesn't change his ways.
- In the Mickey Mouse Works short "How to Haunt a House", Goofy, having temporarily become a ghost for the short's purposes, attempts to scare Donald, dressing up as Jacob Marley at one point.
- A short snippet of the film appears in Prep & Landing, in the scene where Wayne starts slacking off and sits down to watch TV.
- This is the last "official" theatrical Disney cartoon to start and end the "classic" way, where it starts with the Buena Vista logo and opening credits saying "Walt Disney Productions Presents", and end with "The End. Walt Disney Productions". Starting from the next theatrical cartoons, Tummy Trouble and The Prince and the Pauper, theatrical cartoons start and end the "modern" way, starts with the Walt Disney Pictures logo, then followed on with "Walt Disney Pictures Presents" and the short's title (no opening credits), and have end credits.
- The scene in which Scrooge hangs over a fiery grave might have been the inspiration to use a similar scene in the 2009 film version of A Christmas Carol. This scene may have originally been inspired by a similar scene, but even longer, in the 1970 musical adaptation of the story, known as Scrooge.
- Archive recordings of Pete's evil laughter was later reused in the 2013 short Get a Horse!
- Pluto is the only member of the Sensational Six who doesn't appear in this film. However, when the special was considered becoming a feature film, Burny Mattinson suggested that Pluto appear in the window of a pet store that Scrooge passed by every day and that Scrooge eventually buys him as a gift for Tiny Tim.[3]
- Footage from this film was for the Disney Sing Along Songs volume Very Merry Christmas Songs for the song "Sleigh Ride".
- The Little Golden Book adaptation includes a scene early on that doesn't appear in the film itself, possibly a deleted scene, in which as Mickey/Cratchit trudges on home, he stops to rest his feet and thinks about how his family is waiting for him. He then arrives at his home to greet his family, with Minnie/Mrs. Cratchit telling him that she really wishes Scrooge was paying him better.
- In the book A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Scrooge's nephew Fred is married, but in this version, it isn't mentioned if he is married. It is most likely he isn't married in this version because they used Daisy Duck to play Scrooge's former love Isabelle.
- Alan Young, Clarence Nash and Hal Smith are the only voice actors from the record to reprise their roles in this cartoon as Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck and Goofy respectively, while the rest of the character voices are recast.
- Mickey's/Bob Cratchit's work desk and various other objects appear at one point in the queue for the Disneyland version of Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway.
- In Once Upon a Studio, Scrooge McDuck appears in his design from this cartoon.
References[]
See also[]
- "An Adaptation of Dickens' Christmas Carol, Performed by The Walt Disney Players", the 1974 phonograph record on which this film is based
- The Muppet Christmas Carol
- "A Christmas Cruella"
- "Captain Scrooge"
- A Christmas Carol, a 2009 motion capture adaptation also by Disney
- Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo, a 2004 Easter film loosely based on A Christmas Carol
- "Last Christmas!", an episode of DuckTales inspired by this special
- Marley, an upcoming adaptation of A Christmas Carol told from Jacob Marley's point of view
External links[]
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