The Man Who Invented Christmas [Blu-ray]

The Man Who Invented ChristmasPardon my blather and bliss… and the purple crap too.I love to Read… I love to Write… though neither is a 24/7 state of affairs. I even get paid for it.Sometimes in amongst the ever-continuous throng of Entertainment that’s out there, I notice the sad realization that, a lot of times, “Creation” is just a lot of Math… except, obviously, for those “Things” that hopefully, more than occasionally, feel like a delightfully wonderful Spirit whispering in my ear, things that are Lovely… things that make Little Sense sometimes, and at other times are almost epiphanic… and sometimes they’re just Things…Good or bad, it doesn't really matter - just to get the chance to occasionally hear her articulate reality’s nuances with her Voice, that of the Muse; sometimes soft and sweet, other-times raging-on against the dying of the f***ing light. And sometimes her utterances just offering a little wiseazz and knowledgeable biscuit from the life-pantry to partake of.I'm one of those guy Lex Luthor talked about in Superman 1978:Re: The Man who invented Christmas. There are few things in life that are this special. Few things that can make you laugh and sob-like-a-little-baby, equally - “Northern Exposure” is one of mine; “Shakespeare in Love,” and, of course, “Shakespeare”; “Joe Verses The Volcano”; Carl Sagan’s Cosmos; “The Power of Myth” - Bill Moyers interviews with Joseph Campbell… and a few more... or maybe a few more than a few.But this little Gem… this little smidgen of Humankind's rare rhythmic meanderings about “things” as lofty as Life… is priceless. "The Man Who Invented Christmas" is Written by the brilliant and lovely Susan Coyne (who, along with her "Kids In the Hall" accomplice, Mark McKinney, created and wrote another Fave-Rave TV experience of mine, the extraordinary "Slings and Arrows").To be purposefully, clumsily poetic about actual poetry is not an easy task. But this wondrous word-ditty is at least Two Fold in its creative spirit; It's filled to the brim with Lots of Little slices of Dickens dancing rhyme and alliteration... along with brilliant Susan Coyne's wonderful Story and equally poetic justice, that do the same. It helps to have a talented Cast including, stalwart thespian, Christopher Plummer to recite/resight your verse, but the "Text" is painstakingly "there" - Wherever "There" is.Just because I am who I am, I entirely enjoyed Susan's little snide asides to psychotic Ayn Rand and her industriously selfish and thoroughly self-centered ilk…. things like that can warm a cockle like mine on a Pre-Holidaze evening…And then, like the very best of poetic jargon, some lines of dialogue here say more than is seemingly possible with actual words, and yet, there they are, saying aloudly back at you, teaching you a little something about yourself. "You don't really ever have to ‘get back’ at anyone, do you?” "You don't need to hold on to those things that swill eventually rot you from the insides out…" Things like that.I love Words… and especially the organized sort that end-up as things seeming somewhat like sentences. My wife can tell you that I suffer a grave and severe weakness of the heart, in that, certain of these "things" whisper to me and then echo-on-and-on mostly forever in my life. Things that delineate so illustriously like, "No, 'tis not so deep as a well nor so wide as a church-door, but 'tis enough, 'twill serve. Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I am peppered, I warrant, for this world…" or as sardonically simple as, "You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!" Interesting that they're both about the “Grave." Funny, that…When my Dad died and the Nurse called me at 4:30 in the Morning and told me that he "expired," in my thoughtless grief, and for that brief moment out-of-time, I almost told the Nurse to "Put a few more Coins in the Meter and I'll be right over." I'm not real good with the whole "Dead" thing. But in an almost awful way it proved to lighten my heart, because… they were wrong.Treasure is wherever you find it. I find it a lot, and never enough, or maybe always too much. (I can never tell - It must be one of those zen things). You see, "expired" is about being "Without" Spirit… as much as "Inspiration" is almost about accepting it or basking in it. “Spirit” originally just meant “Life. It was the source of what made us different from the inanimate. And in my immediate heart, my Mom and Dad's Spirits were/are much too powerful (Read: spirituous) to ever pass beyond this confusing Life Thing. Their influence on me is never-ending. My folks’ “Life” will always be with me, and in that sense they're here as I speak/type. That Spirit-Meter is still full… And this little Gem… this little smidgen of words crooning life's rare Music, is a Wonder to behold. "No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of another."‘nuff said.

Loved this movie. We had just watched A Christmas Carol, so this was an appropriate follow up. The actor who plays Charles Dickens is very expressive, especially his eyes. Enjoyed learning the inspiration for the tale and more about the author.

Great

This review is written by my daughter. This film is a wonderful representation of Charles Dickens. He is my favorite author and has always been inspirational to me. This film shows skill in writing and acting, with fantastic portrayals of each character, both within his literature and his life. It is indeed a family favorite much-loved and adored. I much relate to that urge to finish a book, and watching this is as if It is a commentary on my mind. We await Christmas with anticipation so we can once again enjoy this brilliant film. The interaction between Dickens and his characters (Scrooge in particular) is scrumptious and blends into the film masterfully.

The Man Who Invented Christmas is a fantastic film and had the potential to become a classic, but it fell short. Throughout the movie, the characters developed and grew as did the story, but Bleeker Street Productions managed to pull off a disappointing ending. By reducing the importance of a main character, there was no satisfactory resolution. As the movie begins, we observe that Charles Dickens has written a few stories that have been “flops” and is falling into a financially unstable situation. He then announces that he will have a book ready by Christmas, which seems impossible given the circumstances. We are also introduced to his reliable friend, John Forster, who will advise him and support him throughout the movie. His childhood is then presented, and we observe that when Charles was just a boy he was forced into a workhouse because his father was taken from him. As the story progresses, we will often look back on this trauma and regard how it affects his present self. One fantastic idea that the production team had was the concept that once Charles came up with the right name for a character, it would appear right before him, and was able to talk to Charles and help him form new ideas. The element that made this even better was that when the characters did materialize, they were in the form of the people he knew in his daily life or met throughout the movie, which connected both sides of the film. Charles comes up with all of the characters and it appears that he is going to finish his book before Christmas, but he can’t figure out the right ending for it and things start going amiss. In the book, Charles is going to kill off Tiny Tim, and his housemaid Tara is trying to convince him that even Scrooge could change his ways and save Tiny Tim. Tara is an orphan from Ireland. She knows how to read, is particularly interested in folktales, and Charles realized that she is a valuable critic and insight into his work. It draws close to the deadline for finishing his book and Charles still can’t figure out how to complete it. At this point, he has all the characters in place and has most of it already written, but he can’t figure out how to resolve the story. This is where the director kills the importance of Tara. One evening when Charles is particularly frustrated with how he cannot figure out the last chapter, Tara disrupts Charles and, in that moment, he gets so frustrated at her that he tells the head maid (Mrs. Fisk) to send her away. He didn’t actually mean to send her away, he just wanted Mrs. Fisk to not let her near his study for the time being. She, however, interpreted this differently and sent Tara out the front door. Charles is extremely angry that night, and his wife hears him rage into the night. The next morning, he wakes up on the floor of his study, goes downstairs, and learns that Tara is gone. His wife explains to him that Charles has been a drag to everyone in the household and that he only cares about himself, and Charles is filled with guilt. He goes to the workhouse of his childhood and Scrooge appears to tell him how worthless he is. Charles finally realizes that he is not worthless and that he can change his ways. He also comes up with the final chapter of his book. Now, if he really was sorry for the way he had been acting, wouldn’t he have gone looking for Tara to apologize? No. Instead, he goes straight back home and finishes the book without a single thought about Tara. He sprints downstairs and starts heading out the door to get his book printed when his wife says that Tara is back. Charles follows his wife and, sure enough, there is Tara, standing in their living room. He barely apologizes, it seems he is not very remorseful, and then is more apologetic towards his wife. Now, you must also understand his relationship with his father. Throughout the film, we observe that Charles thinks that his father is the reason that he had such a dreary childhood. He doesn’t hold back from displaying this, and we are clearly shown the tension between them. His father isn’t angry at Charles but rather is extremely remorseful that he caused Charles so much pain and misery. Charles, on the other hand, won’t forgive him and when his father shows up at his house at the beginning of the movie, Charles is blatantly obvious about not wanting his father to be there. We continue to witness this strain throughout the movie, and right before the incident with Tara, Charles tells him to leave him and his family and to go back home. His father does, and this is where we are presently in the story. His wife tells Charles that he might still be able to catch his father before he leaves on the train, and Charles sprints out the door and takes a cab to the station. He then catches his father (and mother) and tells them that he is sorry, and he begs that they stay for Christmas. This is the first satisfactory apology, but this whole series of events has made Tara seem unimportant. She doesn’t even talk for the rest of the movie! This was strange and made the movie seem incomplete since Tara was introduced at the very beginning and has been a vital character in the story. Throughout most of the movie, Tara is probably made out to be more important than Charles’s father, especially because Charles doesn’t care for his father for the majority of the film. Even after this, his father has one line before the movie ends, and it makes it seem that since A Christmas Carol has been published, the people responsible for its inspiration are suddenly unimportant. I will say, however, that the importance of John Forster was kept, and it certainly would have ruined the movie if it was not. Overall, The Man Who Invented Christmas has a disappointing resolution and I wish they had kept the importance of the main characters. I will say however, that all of the actors did an amazing job with the acting, and the storyline up to the resolution was impeccable. Although, even with this praise, reducing the importance of a main character in a story will not sit well with an audience, and will ultimately lead to disappointment. This was a great film and I enjoyed watching it, but sadly, I do not think that it will become a classic.

This great movie will be a standard for Christmas at my house. This is a clever telling of the Scrooge story as it develops in the mind of Dickens. Whether true or not as to how Dickens got his inspiration for A Christmas Carol, this version of that classic is one of the best. The actors are also superb.

I thought it was a very nice christmas movie, it has an unique take on the christmas carol.

Je me suis hélas aperçue trop tard pour retourner mon colis que le DVD est ILLISIBLE DANS LA REGION CONCERNEE. Autrement dit le vendeur n'a pas vu de problème pour envoyer en France un DVD qui ne pouvait pas être lu en Europe. Je n'ai donc jamais pu voir ce film qui n'est pas sorti en France, et que j'avais acheté pour travailler avec mes élèves en littérature anglaise. Dire que je suis déçue est un euphémisme.

I just like Christmas movies.

I first saw this film on TV and we really enjoyed it. I had it recorded and have watched it every Christmas for the last few years and then my recording disappeared. It was really a no brainier…I ordered it on DVD so never to disappear again. The story itself is a really clever premise. It the story of how Charles Dickens writes ‘A Christmas Carol’ which sounds not very interesting but it’s the way it’s done that makes it really entertaining. All the characters appear as real people as he creates them in the story but it’s also a story of how his own life impacts on the sentiments behind A Christmas Carol. It’s a feel good movie and a great one to watch every Christmas. It’s not a young kids film and is probably more geared towards older children and adults. The acting is really great and you feel yourself drawn into the 1800’s. It’s also about family dynamics, how we treat those we love and how everyone can change for the better so it enforces the same lessons as Christmas Carol does. I really recommend this movie if you like watching seasonal movies every year. It’s always the first Christmas film I watch and I still enjoy it as much as the first time I saw it.

Leider hat die DVD den Ländercode 1 (USA &Co) statt Europa (Code 2). Eine Rücksendung wäre kostenpflichtig und würde über 13 Euro kosten. Warum wird soetwas überhaupt nach Europa verschickt?!Der Film ist toll. Der beköme 5 Sterne.Die Bewertung bezieht sich ausschließlich auf die falsche Zuweisung!