William Vaughan

First of all, the picture of the cover or poster for the film "American Christmas" on the Google Knowledge Panel is misleading. That film is a completely different film, starring Tara Reid, Robert Carradine, and John Ashton, who do not appear in this film. This adaptation is reverent. It includes the hymn "God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen," but not the phrase "God bless us." My wife doesn't like it. She thinks Henry Winkler looks like Dr. Phibes in this film, which gives her the creeps. This adaptation recreates the general story line of the novel, with different characters (Benedict Slade, instead of Ebenezer Scrooge, for example). He has an employee, named Mr. Thatcher, whom he fires. Mr. Thatcher has a son who uses crutches and has a disease. After Mr. Slade fires Mr. Thatcher, the ghost of his partner, Jack Latham, appears to him, and tells him that he will receive visitations from three other ghosts. The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future appear in the guises of the three men whose belongings Mr. Slade repossesses. After seeing the visions they show him, Mr. Slade rehires Mr. Thatcher, and promotes him. He also gives his son tickets to visit a doctor whom he believes will heal him. Then he takes Mr. Thatcher around to give back property they'd repossessed. This adaptation takes place in Concord, in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, during the Twentieth Century, spanning the Presidencies of Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt. How attractive is the visual art? The set, wardrobe, architecture, and art are good. The most remarkable thing about this adaptation is, perhaps, seeing Henry Winkler 1) in a role other than "the Fonz" on "Happy Days," and 2) old, which doesn't work for me, after all the hours I spent watching "Happy Days." Henry Winkler will always be "the Fonz" to me. But I'm giving this film 4 Stars because I think most Christians would find it appropriate for family viewing at Christmastime.