Scrooge was very much dismayed to hear the spectre going on at this rate, and began to quake exceedingly.
“Hear me!” cried the Ghost. “My time is nearly gone.”
“I will,” said Scrooge. “But don’t be hard upon me! Don’t be flowery, Jacob! Pray!”
“How is it that I appear before you in a shape that you can see, I may not tell. I have sat invisible beside you many and many a day.”
It was not an agreeable idea. Scrooge shivered, and wiped the perspiration from his brow.
“That is no little part of my penance,” pursued the Ghost. “I am here to-night to warn you, that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate. A chance and hope of my procuring, Ebenezer.”
“You were always a good friend to me,” said Scrooge. “Thank’ee!”
“You will be haunted,” resumed the Ghost, “By three spirits.”
Scrooge’s countenance fell almost as low as the Ghost’s had done.
“Is that the chance and hope you mentioned, Jacob?” he demanded, in a faltering tone.
“It is.”
“I—I think I’d rather not,” said Scrooge.
“Without their visits,” said the Ghost, “you cannot hope to shun the path I tread. Expect the first to-morrow, when the bell tolls one.”
“Couldn’t I take ‘em all at once and have it over, Jacob?” hinted Scrooge.
“Expect the second on the next night at the same hour. The third upon the next night, when the last stroke of twelve has ceased to vibrate. Look to see me no more; and look that, for your own sake, you remember what has passed between us!”
When it had said these words, the spectre took its wrapper from the table, and bound it round its head, as before. Scrooge knew this, by the smart sound its teeth made, when the jaws were brought together by the bandage. He ventured to raise his eyes again, and found his supernatural visitor confronting him in an erect position, with its chain wound over and about its arm.
We run into a couple of problems here. One is mere interpretation: Screen Scrooges who bother with the line “Don’t be hard upon me” use it as if Marley were in a position to pass judgement, whereas Dickens’s Scrooge was just asking Marley not to sermonize. And that line about “look that, for your own sake, you remember” is almost always taken as an order to look out the window at the spectacle discussed in the next section.
The other is a matter of timing. Each ghost to come is going to give Scrooge roughly a day’s worth of visions, but how can you show all that onscreen? Some filmmakers leave the line alone, and assume you know you’re not getting a 74-hour movie. Others squeeze all the ghosts into one night, which would be all right if it didn’t make a dope out of Scrooge who, waking up at the end, asks what day it is and is thrilled he hasn’t missed Christmas. One or two compromise versions have Marley simply state the time of the first ghost’s arrival, and let things move on from there.
TRADITIONALISTS
“Hear me!” Marley cries to Sim II. “I will, I will!” says Scrooge, taking no time for the objections so loved in other versions. He is then merely told to expect the ghosts just as Dickens wrote it.
Stewart looks extremely uncomfortable at the thought of an invisible Marley sitting next to him. The three ghosts are scheduled much as in the text. Then Marley tightens his chinstrap, to Scrooge’s obvious revulsion
TIGHTENING THE SCHEDULE
Owen is told “My time grows short.” “If you must go, Jacob, don’t let me keep you.” Marley explains how sitting invisible in the counting house has been no light part of the penance; Scrooge mops his brow. Marley tells Scrooge there is one chance; having heard it, Scrooge says he’d rather not. Marley starts moving backward. “Jacob, don’t leave me yet!” Scrooge pleads, “Jacob!” Scrooge is told to expect the first ghost “when the clock tolls one, the second on the stroke of two, the third on the last vibration of three.” Scrooge inquires whether he can’t take ‘em all at once, but Marley is now turning to the window.
Marley tells Rathbone that he has come to warn Scrooge that there is still a chance. Scrooge smiles and even chuckles a bit at this, but his face falls when he hears about the ghosts. Je is told to expect the first when the bell tolls once, the second when the bell tolls twice, and the third when the bell tolls thrrrrrrrrice. Marley now backs away almost smiling.
Haddrick is told the first ghost will come tomorrow when the bell tolls one, the second at the stroke of two, and the third at three of the clock.
Finney is caught u[p in Marley’s chain and taken for a ride among the wandering spirits; he thows up his hands in horror. When he takes his hands down, he is in his own room. Realizing it was all a dream, he reaches out to relight his candle. But when he gets there, the candle is lit, and Marley sits next to it, saying, “It’s not a dream, Ebenezer.” “For pity’s sake, leave me alone!” “It was for pity’s sake I came here.” Scrooge is told there is just the tiniest chance of escaping Marley’s fate. (Marley is clearly convinced Scrooge will NOT escape.) Scrooge is to expect the first ghost when the bell tolls one, the second at two o’clock, and the third—Marley has to stop a moment and count—when the bell tolls three.
Matthau is informed he still has time to repent. “How?” “Tonight, you will be haunted by three ghosts.” He is told to expect the first when the bell tolls one.
McDuck’s Marley is brief and to the point. “Tonight, you will be haunted by three spirits.” He holds up two fingers. “Listen to ‘em. Do what they say. Or your chains will be heavier than mine!”
Scott smiles spasmodically, dubiously, when he learns Marley has, as part of his penance, procured him a chance. The ghosts will appear “tonight, when the bell tolls one.” Scrooge asks if he could take ‘em all at once. “Expect the second at the stroke of two’ the third, more mercurial, shall appear in his own good time.”
THE COMPROMISE
Hicks is informed, “You will be visited by three spirits. Without their visits you cannot hope to shun the path I tread. You shall behold visions of a Christmas past, a Christmas Present, and a Christmas Yet To Come. Expect the first when the clock strikes midnight.”
Marley takes his leave after telling Sim I “Expect the first when the bell tolls one.”
March is dismayed at the prospect of the visits. “Three more spirits? Oh no1 I’d rather not, Jacob!” “If you let them help you, you may yet shun the path I tread.” He is given no timetable.
Magoo is told to expect the first ghost when the bell tolls one. “Couldn’t I take ‘em all at once, and have it over, Jacob?” Marley wails in reply, and sails out the window.
Caine is informed, “You will be haunted by three ghosts.” “I’ve already had enough of that.” “Expect the first tonight when the bell tolls one.” “Can’t I have ‘em all at once, and get it over with?” “When the bell tolls one!”
Curry is unmoved by a glimpse of the wandering spirits, refuses to believe Marley’s visit can do him any good, and declines any visits from ghosts. “I like chains! No ghosts!” “Expect the first when the bell tolls one!” cries Marley, vanishing in a curl of flame and smoke.
Blogsy Babbles 