Review of A Christmas Carol III

I have to remember that this was a made for TV drama that had to be squeezed into an hour, including commercials. With that in mind, the talents of Frederic March and Basil Rathbone are wasted on a bare bones version of the classic tale. Virtually all of the scenes that cause Scrooge to regain his direction are left out. The first ten minutes are quite good. They lay the groundwork for the rest, but it never happens. The Ghost of Christmas Present brings Scrooge to a party at Fezziwig's where Scrooge appears to be a great singer and living in the lap of luxury, not scratching for every cent. What happened to his childhood and the death of his sister? The second spirit is silly. While he does get to see Tiny Tim and his nephew, it is so vanilla in its power. Those Cratchett's have a pretty nice house and everyone seems to be in pretty good shape...even Tim looks healthy. The third ghost, the scary one, is a bird. Really. the final scene is devoid of any real spark. Just not much here.