It is many years since I saw this television show - which was a special done in the U.S. Juliet Mills was hostess, but Michael Redgrave played the part of the ghost or spirit of Charles Dickens, talking about his career and works.
Because it is so long ago I really have problems remembering the program, except for the last fifteen minutes. Dickens meant "Christmas" to many Americans and Englishman in his day to ours, due to his "Christmas Novels" like "A Christmas Carol" and "The Chimes". Mills brings it up, and Redgrave says he doesn't mind discussing some of his Christmas works, but he'd prefer not to do "A Christmas Carol" because it has been done to death. So instead, he decides to tell a lesser story. Unfortunately this is a chancy gamble, because some minor stories are dull. Instead of choosing "The Chimes" or "The Cricket On The Hearth", Dickens tells a story called THE SEVEN POOR TRAVELERS, which is about seven poor people traveling in the Christmas season in London and taking advantage of a religious charity. As a mildly interesting account of a fact of Victorian life it is worth noting, but the story was really dull. Still it was nice to see another of the "Christmas Novels" told to the public.
For that reason and Redgrave and Mills good performances, I give the show a "7" out of "10", but I wish they had done "The Chimes" or "The Haunted Man And The Ghost's Bargain" instead.
Because it is so long ago I really have problems remembering the program, except for the last fifteen minutes. Dickens meant "Christmas" to many Americans and Englishman in his day to ours, due to his "Christmas Novels" like "A Christmas Carol" and "The Chimes". Mills brings it up, and Redgrave says he doesn't mind discussing some of his Christmas works, but he'd prefer not to do "A Christmas Carol" because it has been done to death. So instead, he decides to tell a lesser story. Unfortunately this is a chancy gamble, because some minor stories are dull. Instead of choosing "The Chimes" or "The Cricket On The Hearth", Dickens tells a story called THE SEVEN POOR TRAVELERS, which is about seven poor people traveling in the Christmas season in London and taking advantage of a religious charity. As a mildly interesting account of a fact of Victorian life it is worth noting, but the story was really dull. Still it was nice to see another of the "Christmas Novels" told to the public.
For that reason and Redgrave and Mills good performances, I give the show a "7" out of "10", but I wish they had done "The Chimes" or "The Haunted Man And The Ghost's Bargain" instead.
