A Christmas Carol

The word "humbug" provides insight into Ebenezer Scrooge's hatred of Christmas, as it describes deceitful efforts to fool people by pretending to a fake loftiness or false sincerity. Therefore, when Scrooge calls Christmas a humbug, he is claiming that people only pretend to be charitable and kind in an effort to delude him, each other, and themselves. In Scrooge's eyes, he is the one man who is honest enough to admit that no one really cares about anyone else, so (to him) every wish for a Merry Christmas is one more deceitful effort to fool him and take advantage of him. This is a man who has turned to profit because he honestly believes everyone else will someday betray him or abandon him the moment he trusts them.

After Mrs. Dilber has arrived in Scrooge's rooms on Christmas morning, in two clips when Scrooge is looking at himself in a mirror, a member of the crew is also seen reflected in the lower left corner of the mirror. The first clip begins just before Mrs. Dilber says, "Are you quite yourself, sir?" The second begins just before Scrooge says, "Merry Christmas, Ebenezer! You old humbug!"

Some home video releases "trim" just a few seconds off the opening.

Featured in Play for Today: Another Flip for Dominick (1982)