. . . the lips of America's hero president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Though the title of A FIRESIDE CHAT WITH LIONEL BARRYMORE is fiendishly crafted to suggest that it emanates from beloved leader FDR, it is actually thrown together by a publicity flack for the House of the Groaning Fat Cat. Who else could or would begin an introduction to A CHRISTMAS CAROL with so many admiring accolades for Ebenezer Scrooge? Though in THIS version of the movie trailer Lionel is only shown at the beginning, I've heard tell that in the ORIGINAL director's cut Mr. Barrymore provides a postscript in which he states "It's too bad about all of those ghosts, since I admired Scrooge much more during the first part of the feature."
2 Reviews
He Should've Been A Contender
boblipton18 December 2023
Lionel Barrymore is discovered by the camera sitting in an easy chair, and proceeds to praise MGM's production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL with Reginald Owen as Scrooge.
Owen is not one of my favorite performers; he always seems to be acting, rather than simply being the character, reciting the lines instead of saying them; if you want a Scrooge for me, you need Alistair Sim.
But why choose Barrymore to pump the film? Because he was very well known for performing Scrooge on the radio every year. If you go to an Old Time Radio site and listen, you will probably agree. In fact, this version was supposed to star him. But his legs failed him; that's why for the remainder of his career he played from a wheelchair. And so they recast the movie role.
Owen is not one of my favorite performers; he always seems to be acting, rather than simply being the character, reciting the lines instead of saying them; if you want a Scrooge for me, you need Alistair Sim.
But why choose Barrymore to pump the film? Because he was very well known for performing Scrooge on the radio every year. If you go to an Old Time Radio site and listen, you will probably agree. In fact, this version was supposed to star him. But his legs failed him; that's why for the remainder of his career he played from a wheelchair. And so they recast the movie role.
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