Of course, just as I’m commending the broad eclecticism of the Christmas movie, fate flings up yet another riff on Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol.’ Still, Carol for Another Christmas, a much-lauded TV movie from 1964 definitely does something a little different with the blueprint, proving to be a very haunting take on the classic ghosts and redemption formula. In Oscar-winning director Joseph L Mankiewicz’s film, David Grudge (Sterling Hayden) is our Scrooge-surrogate, a rich, bitter man mourning his son’s death in WWII, holding a disproportionate hatred towards foreign outsiders and who would rather the US of A just nuked em all. In a neat political twist on Dickens’ recipe, Grudge is visited by three spirits on Christmas Eve night who teach him the importance of international peacekeeping. It’s affecting and very provocative, if not exactly a barrel of laughs.
This one was written by Rod Serling, creator of TV’s The Twilight Zone and feels like an extended episode of that show, while also being reminiscent of the talky, politically-motivated work of Aaron Sorkin. It’s a film with a lot to say and it says it impeccably well. Interestingly, it was also the first in a planned series of television specials developed to promote the United Nations and educate viewers about its mission. They should probably commission a few more of these things for modern audiences.
On a particularly dark, lonely December night, Grudge receives a festive visit from his nephew Fred (Ben Gazzarra), a college professor who has a go at him for blocking his school’s cultural exchange program. In the ensuing debate, it becomes crystal clear that Grudge really lives up to his name - after losing his son in battle on Christmas Eve, he’s become isolated, angry and hates the idea of Christmas and of America lending a helping hand to other nations in their conflicts. He’s a complex character as you can instantly feel his pain and see where he’s coming from, even if you don’t agree with his view. “It wasn’t his war,” he says of his boy’s tragic demise in Korea, before being reminded that “No war is anybody’s war.”
Early scenes of Grudge alone in his large, creaky manor are effectively spooky - a record player starts to play by itself, while we get quick, chilling glimpses of what appears to be his boy’s reflection in the door and then sitting at the dining table. It’s spine-tingling stuff and all the more notable when I realise his son is played by Peter Fonda who must have filmed more scenes and then later had them cut out. It’s more potent this way, his appearance limited to just a few “whoah - did you see that?!?” moments.
Grudge is then, of course, visited by the requisite three spooks, with the arrival of the Ghost of Christmas Past (Steve Lawrence) proving particularly powerful. The spirit emerges through the nighttime mists aboard a creepy old ship full of coffins, appearing in the form of a dead soldier, representing all those who have fallen in wartime. It’s eerie, packing an intellectual punch, with the movie feeling like one long, deep debate between Grudge and the ghosts as to how on Earth mankind can prevent wars from happening. He believes the best way to not get hurt by war is to stay out of them, rather than do anything to try and prevent them or end them. The first ghost remarks that it’s surely better to keep talking and communicate to try and solve problems - as he puts it, “when the talking stops, that’s when the fighting starts”.
It’s a tricky war of words with no easy answers. Sadly, Grudge’s attitude, much like many people today, is that people being killed in other countries is not his problem and far more acceptable than American deaths. The ghost transports him to Hiroshima where he’s confronted by poignant images of bandaged, dying victims of the blast, singing haunting songs - try and ignore them now, the film seems to be saying.
The Ghost of Christmas Present (Pat Hingle) makes his point by chatting to Grudge from a massive banquet table, scoffing away while starving refugees look on nearby. When Grudge points out how sick and cruel this all is, the spirit just turns out the light so they can’t see them. Point made. Brutal.
Leaping into the future, courtesy of the Ghost of Christmas Future (Robert Shaw), we get the most outlandish, imaginative sequence with Peter Sellers playing the “Imperial Me”, demented leader of a band of post-apocalyptic survivors. He looks mental, dressed in a big crown with “ME” written in it in jewels and leads the survivors in a crazy speech about how much better the world is when everyone just looks out for themselves. Everyone seems really into the concept of selfishness and killing each other off until there’s just one “Me” left, destroying the people from “down yonder” who would rather talk this stuff out. Things do not end well for Grudge’s butler Charles (Percy Rodrigues) - very noticeably a black guy - who tries to reason with the (mostly white) crowd. Only when Grudge witnesses someone close to him harmed by these sorts of attitudes does he start to change his ways of thinking.
The film feels like a raging indictment of Western self-interest, trying to invoke that very Christmassy concept that if you can afford to help those in need, even in a small way, then maybe you should, rather than bury your head in the sand. We’re reminded throughout that though sometimes war may be inevitable, it should always be the last resort after all diplomatic solutions have been tried. It’s an intelligent, well-crafted film but also, if you hadn’t guessed, a bit of a bummer. Still, the overriding message is that we can make this world a better place if we stay open to communication and try to care more about all races, not just our own. It’s a sobering movie that I watch right after Israel and Palestine call a much needed ceasefire. I keep my fingers crossed that there’s hope for the human race yet.
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