lrldoit
This movie presents the problems of the world and posits the UN as a possible solution. Hayden's character is a rich man who hates war. He beliefs in NOT fighting the world's battles.The other characters treat him in a contemptuous manner - as if most of the world starving is HIS fault. The blame him for enjoying life while others are starving.The basic idea is that as long as governments talk, they will not fight. In reality, wars are fought for gain. The only thing we can do is stay out of world affairs as much as we can and make sure that our enemies do not dare attack us. If a rich man gave away all his money, nothing would be accomplished. It is not the fault of an isolationist if people are starving. It is the fault of dictatorships.The heavy handed idiotic portrayal of the problems of the world must be seen to be believed.The only subtlety is in the ending where our protagonist decides to give the UN a chance. Would that the rest of the film was written as well.
Ben Larson
This is a nontraditional version of Dicken's story, a Xerox special made to promote the United Nations.It features Sterling Hayden, Eva Marie Saint, Ben Gazzara, and many more leading actors of the day.The message of the film is simple: when we stop talking wars begin. We can no longer be isolationists. The fate of the world rests in the hands of all of us.50 years after this film was made, nothing much has changed. We still refuse to care about those we cannot see. We celebrate 9/11 because 3000 died, while we ignore the fact that 20000 die every single day due to starvation and disease.
LCShackley
If you've watched Twilight Zone and Night Gallery (and I've seen them all), you know that when Rod Serling had a point to make, he could be very heavy-handed, obvious, and preachy. This film, unfortunately, is like three of those episodes strung together.I grew up during the early 60s, and I remember the pro-UN propaganda we regularly received in grade school, going as far as asking us to collect coins for UNICEF while Trick-or-Treating. The UN was still fairly new then, and perhaps we were all more starry-eyed about what it could accomplish. The intervening decades have proved what a useless, crony-laden, corrupt, meddling outfit it truly is. So it's hard to watch this UN propaganda without cringing. (To be honest, the UN is not specifically mentioned, but its supposed missions are trumpeted throughout, and it WAS made as a plug.) So here, we get Sterling Hayden as the embodiment of everything lefties like Serling hated: militarism, isolationism (oddly enough), nuclear weapons,individualism, racism...fill in the blanks. There's even a little kid with a pretend gun, in case you didn't get the message about violence. The dialog is on par with Serling's other politically-motivated scripts, pretentiously poetic and deadly serious.The fact that I gave it any stars at all reflects the high quality of the production and the acting. The cast does all it can with the material, and the set decoration and lighting are top-notch. Even the print itself is pristine, sharp and clear as the old TZ shows. Henry Mancini wrote the score, although the lovely tune "Carol for Another Christmas," which appears on his Christmas album, doesn't seem to show up in the movie that shares its name. For Serling fans, this is something to sit through just to say you did it. For others, except the most wide-eyed, naive, hopey-changers who believe (as the script and our current president repeats often) that talking is the solution to everything, it's a dull, wordy Dickensian dud.
DKosty123
While Rod Serling's "Patterns" in the 1950's on live television is even better than this twist on the Charles Dickens classic done for the UN might even be more topical now than when it first aired.(Patterns is still topical too, a sign of how great a writer Serling was).Serling wrote a great dramatic script here yet again though for those who expect just a Dicken's remake, your in for a major surprise.Sterling Hayden plays Mr. Grudge, a sort of modern Scrooge ever since he lost his son in World War 2 on 12/24/1944. He has been moping ever since blaming US Foreign Policy of getting involved overseas in everybody's issues for losing his son. Luckily, this is before Vietnam escalated so that does not come into this though it would weaken the main argument against Mr Grudge's logic.It is obvious this movie is made on a television budget and in black and white the sets really look stark. The script and the cast are what brings this off. Late in this special, we get Peter Sellars getting together the survivors of Armagedden and preaching "ME" and that is the scary part of this. We have the me generation now, it is almost as if Serling was really predicting the future here.The "WE" theme is here to counterbalance that theme. The UN wanted this theme obviously. The only thing missing here is the fact that today the "We" theme has been twisted by agenda driven special groups and corporations to be something beyond Serlings vision here which is the more simplistic theme that we all need to cooperate to avoid disaster. Serlings themes here are brilliant and Eva Marie Saint, Britt Ekland, Sellers, and more help Sterling Haydens great performance in this television movie made just a year before some of these folks would be working with Kubrick in Dr Strangelove.I am glad to have caught it this holiday season on TCM as I had never seen it before now.
AD
