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Carol for Another Christmas is a 1964 American TV movie, written by Rod Serling as a modernization of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol and a plea for global cooperation. It was the first in a planned series of television specials developed to promote the United Nations and educate viewers about its mission. Originally televised on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) network on December 28, 1964, it was not shown again for 48 years, until Turner Classic Movies (TCM) broadcast it on December 16, 2012.

The film was the only television program ever directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and Britt Ekland, who was married to Sellers at the time.

It is also available free on YouTube.

Plot

On Christmas Eve, rich American industrialist Daniel Grudge (Hayden) sits alone in a dark room of his mansion playing a record of a World War II-era popular song, "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (with Anyone Else but Me)" by The Andrews Sisters. He looks at a framed display of war medals on the wall and seems about to cry. He shuts off the record player, but as he leaves the room, he hears the record start to play again of its own accord, despite the player being shut off. Downstairs, he meets a visitor, his nephew Fred (Gazzara). Grudge caustically notes that Fred always comes to him for help with various causes and asks what cause he is promoting this time. Fred complains that Grudge used his influence to cancel a cultural exchange program that Fred's university had planned with a Polish counterpart. In the ensuing argument with Fred, Grudge takes the isolationist position that the United States should stay out of international affairs and not participate in cultural exchange programs, foreign aid to the needy, or discussions at the United Nations. Grudge distrusts foreign countries, and contends that the U.S. should build up its arsenal, including nuclear weapons, and make sure other countries know the U.S. is willing to use them. Fred disagrees, arguing that the U.S. should help all people in need and foster international communication in order to avoid future wars and nuclear destruction. As Fred leaves, he reminds his uncle that they have one thing in common: their love for Grudge's son Marley, who was killed in World War II on Christmas Eve 1944.

After Fred leaves, Grudge once again hears the record playing upstairs, and sees a short vision of the deceased Marley sitting at the dining room table. Suddenly, Grudge finds himself on the deck of a fogbound troopship carrying coffins draped in flags, guarded by soldiers at attention. A soldier on board introduces himself as the Ghost of Christmas Past (Lawrence) and explains that the ship is carrying the dead of all nations from World War I. Through the fog, Grudge spots a second vessel carrying World War II's dead, and learns they are in a huge convoy, carrying the dead from conflicts through history. The Ghost suggests that the way to stop the killing is to spend more time talking, since when talking stops, fighting starts. He and Grudge revisit a scene from Grudge's past in which Grudge, a Navy commander, accompanied by his WAVE driver (Saint), visited a hospital in devastated Hiroshima and saw Japanese schoolchildren whose faces had been destroyed by the atom bomb.

Grudge walks through a door and meets the Ghost of Christmas Present (Hingle), who is feasting on an excessively large Christmas dinner on Grudge's dining table. This new Ghost turns on a light and shows Grudge that next to the dining room is an internment camp full of displaced persons from different nations who are poor, hungry, and lacking adequate shelter. These people search through the snow for food as the Ghost eats in front of them. When Grudge criticizes the Ghost for this behavior, the Ghost reminds Grudge of his earlier statement to Fred that refusing donations to the needy would make them less needy and more self-reliant. The Ghost harangues Grudge with statistics and information about needy people in the world and finally in a fit of anger pulls the tablecloth, dumping huge amounts of leftover food on the floor. Grudge cannot stand any more and runs away into the dark.

Grudge emerges into destroyed ruins that he recognizes as having been his local town hall, where he encounters the Ghost of Christmas Future (Shaw). This Ghost explains that the town hall was wrecked in a disastrous nuclear conflict that killed most of the world's people. A handful of survivors enter, led by a demagogue called "Imperial Me" (Sellers) who wears a Santa suit and a cowboy hat cut into a crown. The crowd cheers as Imperial Me is paraded in and gives a speech exhorting each person to act as an individual in their own self-interest. Grudge watches his butler, Charles (Rodriguez), try unsuccessfully to convince the crowd that acting collectively for the greater good of all is essential for humanity's survival. Imperial Me and the crowd mock Charles as crazy and beat him. Finally Imperial Me has Charles brought forward and charges him with treason. Charles tries to escape but is shot dead by a little boy in a cowboy outfit. Grudge's cook Ruby (Teer) weeps over Charles' body, while the crowd, led by Imperial Me, enthusiastically prepares to first kill the people across the river who had approached them wanting to talk, and then kill off each other until only one person is left. An agitated Grudge asks the Ghost if this is the world "as it must be, or as it might be", but the Ghost simply leaves without answering.

A shaken Grudge awakens back in the real world on Christmas morning, on the floor of his intact study with the phone in his hand. His nephew Fred appears and says that Grudge called him at 3 a.m. and asked him to stop by on his way to church. Grudge apologizes to Fred for his statements of the previous evening and, without explaining the reason for his change of heart, indicates cautious support for the United Nations and international diplomacy as a way to prevent future wars. Grudge further shows his new internationalism by enjoying a radio broadcast of the children of UN delegates singing Christmas carols in their native languages. Fred leaves and Grudge, rather than have Charles serve him on a tray as usual, goes into the kitchen to have his Christmas morning coffee with Charles and Ruby.

Cast

right|thumb|Screenshot with Robert Shaw (right) as the ghost of Christmas future, and Sterling Hayden

  • Percy Rodriguez as Charles
  • Sterling Hayden as Daniel Grudge
  • Ben Gazzara as Fred
  • Barbara Ann Teer as Ruby
  • Steve Lawrence as Ghost of Christmas Past
  • Eva Marie Saint as WAVE Lt. Gibson
  • James Shigeta as Doctor
  • Pat Hingle as Ghost of Christmas Present
  • Robert Shaw as Ghost of Christmas Future
  • Peter Sellers as Imperial Me
  • Britt Ekland as Mother

Production

Carol for Another Christmas was the first in a series of television specials commissioned by the United Nations with the goal of educating viewers about the mission and work of the UN and thereby gaining more widespread support. (Six specials were originally planned, but only four were produced.) The nonprofit Telsun Foundation was formed to develop the programs, and Xerox agreed to contribute $4 million to underwrite the costs of production and air time, thus allowing the programs to be broadcast without commercial interruption.

The film was the only television work ever done by Mankiewicz, who, according to Phil Hall, was happy to have work following the damage done to his reputation by Cleopatra the previous year.

The actors involved with the production reportedly agreed to waive their fees due to the nature and perceived importance of the program.

Filming took place at the Michael Myerberg Studios located on Long Island, New York, during the fall of 1964. Henry Mancini wrote the theme music, also waiving his usual fee.

The main character was originally named Benjamin Grudge so that his name could be shortened to the pun "B. Grudge", but ABC viewed this as an insult to 1964 Republican Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, whose initials were also B.G., and the character's name was changed to Daniel Grudge, while the broadcast was postponed until eight weeks after the election. others found it preachy, long-winded or dull. Variety described the program as "generalized to the extreme" and ultimately "a disappointment". complaining that it was "more tract than drama" and saying the opening scene between Grudge and Fred "sounded like the North Hollywood High School debating society and must have cost the play many a bored viewer who turned it off." Jack Gould in The New York Times went even further, calling Carol "a pretentious and wearing exercise in garrulous ineptitude, one of the more dismaying TV disappointments in several seasons." After receiving letters from viewers disagreeing with his review, Gould wrote a second opinion piece calling the film "condescending, pretentious and dull", "platitudinous propaganda", and "an exercise in heavy-handed sermonizing that the U.N. is good for you." The Washington Post printed a generally positive review, but wrote that the film "failed" because "[t]o most of the audience...the lesson that was being stressed has already been learned." and Best Art Direction or Scenic Design (Gene Callahan and Jack Wright), although it did not win in either category.

After 48 years, Carol for Another Christmas was finally rebroadcast when Turner Classic Movies (TCM) telecast it on December 16, 2012. and occasionally at other times, such as September 2015 in connection with a birthday tribute to Sellers and on 16 April 2024 in honor of Henry Mancini's 100th birthday. TCM has also made the film available for limited-time on-demand streaming via TCM.com. Until December 2021, the print used by TCM did not contain Mancini's theme and instead substituted a recording of children singing traditional carols. In December 2021, TCM aired a print in which the original theme music had been reunited with the film.