the man who invented christmas by les standiford

That makes for a naturally cinematic way of depicting Dickens’ creative process (far more engaging than the standard cliché of a frustrated writer, scribbling away at false starts, only to wad up and discard the inadequate pages as he goes), though much of his time here is spent juggling demands from his family and immediate social circle. In the final manuscript, Scrooge is visited by three spirits - a device which nicely aligns with the way Dickens himself claims to have experienced inspiration: Once he’d identified his characters, they would haunt his waking hours, popping up in the strangest of places and effectively telling him what to write. Steering by Les Standiford’s well-researched book, screenwriter Susan Coyne seizes the opportunity to reveal interesting details about the celebrated author’s life via the process by which he brought “A Christmas Carol” to life. (This was right around the time Brits started to embrace the German tannenbaum, following Queen Victoria’s lead, and long before Coca-Cola’s clever ad team reimagined Santa Claus as a jolly fat man sporting the company’s red-and-white colors - not that the movie has much to say about the true history of the holiday.)

Not only did Dickens desperately need a hit, but if the movie’s rather fanciful title is to be trusted, Christmas itself was in similarly dire straits, being little more than a pitiful excuse for devout souls to take a day off work.

The year was 1843, by which time Dickens (played here by “Downton Abbey” star Dan Stevens) had already tasted success, only to lose his publishers’ confidence after a series of “flops” (although the colorful term wouldn’t be coined for another 50 years). Satisfying as it is to see a late-career Plummer tackle the iconic role, the subject of this particular film remains Scrooge’s creator, who may have had more in common with the old miser than audiences realize. Rather than retelling the classic once again, fresh take “The Man Who Invented Christmas” focuses on Dickens himself, revealing 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. Of all the books Charles Dickens wrote, none has been more often adapted for the screen than “A Christmas Carol,” drawing under its spell stars as diverse as Albert Finney, Bill Murray, Jim Carrey, Mickey Mouse and the Muppets.

The man who invented christmas by les standiford