The Man Who Invented Christmas
(2017)Dan Stevens is a young Charles Dickens as he writes his classic novel, A Christmas Carol, in this biopic co-starring Jonathan Pryce and Christopher Plummer.... More
The story of how Charles Dickens revived the holiday of Christmas with his self-published novel, A Christmas Carol. Facing pressure with looming debt, a feckless father (Pryce) and recent critical failures, Dickens confronts his past by conjuring up fantastic characters including Ebenezer Scrooge (Plummer), for his now classic Christmas tale.Hide
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Directed by Bharat Nalluri
Starring Dan Stevens, Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Pryce, Simon Callow, Miriam Margolyes, Ian McNeice, Morfydd Clark, Valeria Bandino
Written by Susan Coyne (based on the book of the same name by Les Standiford)
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The Man Who Invented Christmas
BY GDAldridge lister
The standout performance of the movie is Christopher Plummer as Scrooge - he is obviously revelling in the role. The sets and costuming are great and the storyline is okay.
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The Press Reviews
The best of all the Christmas movies coming out on the dot of December, The Man Who Invented Christmas is the tale of Charles Dickens coming up with his classic story A Christmas Carol. Full Review
It pushes its hero off his pedestal but delivers him - like Tom Hulce's Mozart in Amadeus - to a much better place, the earthy company of fellow citizens who dream of being inspired. Full Review
"The Man Who Invented Christmas" is a jaunty, amusing patchwork of truths, half-truths and pure fiction that cleverly combine to recount the story of the whirlwind creation of Charles Dickens' famed novella "A Christmas Carol." Full Review
Brightly lit and anchored by Mr. Stevens's infectious, live-wire performance, the film ... proceeds like a television holiday special, designed to distract children while winking at their parents. Full Review
[Reveals] the equivalently satisfying story of how the English author conceived his beloved yuletide novella - while offering a chance for a splendidly cast Christopher Plummer to play Ebenezer Scrooge in the process. Full Review
[Offers] enough enjoyable Masterpiece Theater-style moments to entice Anglophiles and those who can never get enough of Ebenezer Scrooge. Full Review
This richly-detailed British costume drama takes a slice of Dickens’ life and weaves it in with the creation of one of his most successful books. Full Review
At its heart it's a romp with no pretensions to be anything else. Full Review
Nalluri’s film captures in equal measure the charm and the schlocky sentiment of Dickens’s work. Full Review
BY Adam Fresco Flicks Writer
Dickens’ classic tale A Christmas Carol has been riffed on numerous times - there’s a 1901 silent movie; versions featuring Mickey Mouse, The Muppets, and Bill Murray; and a 3D CGI Jim Carrey rendition of miserable miser Scrooge. Here we have Dan Stevens as Charles Dickens, juggling family with the solitary life of the writer. It’s 1843, Dickens is a 31-year-old celebrity, but after three misfires, he’s an author in dire need of a public hit. Enter Scrooge (Christopher Plummer) and a variety of quirky characters, conjured from the author’s imagination and haranguing their creator as he writes them to life.... More
Based on Les Standiford’s book, screenwriter Susan Coyne and director Bharat Nalluri focus on Dickens as protagonist in his own works, encountering people who will later inspire his fiction. It’s interesting to be reminded Christmas wasn’t always a big deal, and Victorian London is nicely evoked as a Dickensian dream. It’s a city stuffed as a festive turkey with reliable Brit character actors, from Simon Callow, Miriam Margolyes, Ian McNeice, and Bill Paterson, to Jonathan Pryce as Dickens’ Dad, and Morfydd Clark as Dickens’ stressed but ever-smiling wife, Catherine.
The result is fun family entertainment, far from humbug, but lacking the witty originality of the similarly themed Shakespeare In Love. Light in the script department, frothy in the telling, enthusiastic and enjoyable, The Man Who Invented Christmas may be a novel approach to retelling Scrooge’s story, but ultimately doesn’t invent anything particularly new to add to the Christmas movie canon.Hide
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