Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens`s A Christmas Carol is transformed into a joyous, colorful, feel-good Christmas musical that celebrates modern-day London and all of its communities and cultures.

A woman in Hollywood cares for injured hummingbirds, experiencing personal growth as she witnesses their fragility and resilience.

This story follows a young Kashmiri boy Noor, his muse Firdaus and a mercurial Begum, through love lost and realized over the course of two generations. Thirteen-year-old Noor, an impressionable shikara boy living by the piers of Kashmir`s Dal Lake, is lured into the world of the Begum - the wealthiest woman in town. Young Noor falls in love with the Begum`s daughter, Firdaus - a beautiful child who has been raised to break hearts. Suffering from a broken heart herself, the Begum finds her mark in Noor. Noor begins to obsess over Firdaus, someone who belongs to a world completely different from his. Seasons change and Noor leaves his hometown to move to the city of Delhi to build his career as an artist. He strives to be accepted into the sophisticated social circles that Firdaus is a part of in a quest to win her love, while the Begum plots retribution on their young and innocent love.

Young orphan Oliver Twist (Barney Clark) is forcibly brought to a workhouse by the beadle Mr. Bumble (Jeremy Swift) in an unidentified town in England on his ninth birthday. At 9, Oliver was considered too old for the orphanage he was living in. The workhouse was a place for the poor and destitute to live and work in exchange for basic necessities. Oliver is put into a room with hundreds of boys who are asked to sift through old roles and pick out the threads that are not yet rotten. These threads are used to create new ropes which are deployed on English battle ships. Oliver and the other resident children are treated poorly and given very little food. Facing starvation, the boys select Oliver (through a short thread lottery) to ask for more food at the next meal, which he tentatively does. This results in Oliver being chastised, and the workhouse officials, who are wealthy, well-fed, hypocritical men, decide to get rid of him. The board of the workhouse put out an advertisement giving 5 pounds as an incentive to take Oliver away as an apprentice. A chimney sweeper responds to the Advertisement, and the board approves of transferring legal guardianship of Oliver to the chimney sweeper. When the matter goes to court, Oliver is in tears and the judge takes pity on him and refuses the transfer request. The judge instructs the workhouse to treat Oliver kindly. After nearly being sold as an apprentice to a cruel chimney sweep, Oliver is sent to Mr. Sowerberry (Michael Heath), a coffin-maker, whose wife (Gillian Hanna) and senior apprentice take an instant dislike to the newcomer. Oliver is meted out even more poor treatment, where Oliver is given cold food that was meant for the dog and given a place to sleep under Mr Sowerberry's desk. The older apprentice Noah is not happy to see Oliver who represents competition. Mr Sowerberry is kind to Oliver and starts to use him as pall bearer at children's funerals. Driven to despair by the atrocities, Oliver snaps and attacks Noah (Chris Overton), the snotty older apprentice, for having insulted his mother. Knowing his life with the Sowerberry's will only get worse, Oliver escapes on foot. With little food, Oliver determines to walk 70 miles to London. After he collapses from exhaustion, a kindly old woman gives him food and lodgings for the night. After a week of travel, he arrives at the city, barefoot and penniless. He meets Jack Dawkins (Harry Eden), or "The Artful Dodger," a boy-thief who takes Oliver to his home and hideout at Saffron Hill that he shares with many other young pickpockets and their eccentric elderly leader, Fagin (Ben Kingsley). Soon, Oliver is being groomed to join their gang. On his first outing with the pickpockets, two of the boys steal a man's handkerchief and Oliver is framed. However, he is proven innocent by an eyewitness, and the owner of the handkerchief (the wealthy Mr. Brownlow (Edward Hardwicke)) takes pity on Oliver, who had collapsed from a fever in the courtroom. Brownlow informally adopts Oliver, giving him new clothes and the promise of a good education. However, while out running an errand for Brownlow, Oliver is forcibly returned to the pickpocket gang by Fagin's associate, the evil Bill Sikes (Jamie Foreman), and the young prostitute Nancy (Leanne Rowe) who is in a complex and abusive relationship with Sikes. Fagin and Sikes are worried that Oliver would "peach," and tell the authorities about their criminal activity. Oliver is put under supervision until Bill Sikes discovers the boy's connection to the rich Mr. Brownlow. Sikes and his accomplice, Toby Crackit (Mark Strong), force Oliver to aid them in robbing Brownlow's house. They are discovered and Oliver is wounded in a brief shootout between Brownlow and Sikes. As the three escape, Bill decides to murder Oliver to ensure his silence, but falls into a nearby river before he can take action. Sikes survives his near drowning but is confined to bed with a heavy fever. Fagin, despite treating Oliver kindly, remains crime-focused and plots with Sikes to kill Oliver when Sikes has recovered. Nancy has a maternal love for Oliver and does not want to see him hurt, but she is controlled by the abusive Sikes. She drugs Bill and goes to Brownlow's house where she arranges to have him meet her on London Bridge at midnight so she can provide information about Oliver. At the meeting, Nancy cautiously reveals that Oliver is staying with Fagin, and that the authorities will easily find them. Brownlow leaves to call the police. The Artful Dodger, who had been sent by a suspicious Fagin to spy on Nancy, had heard everything and is bullied by Bill Sikes to give up the information. Sikes is furious at Nancy's betrayal and brutally beats her to death in their apartment. The next day, information about Oliver and Fagin appears in the newspaper, along with Nancy's murder and Sikes is a suspect. Sikes's ever-present dog, Bullseye, is a dead giveaway to his identity. After unsuccessfully trying to kill the dog, Sikes takes up residence with Toby Crackit. Fagin, Oliver, and the boys are hiding there too, after escaping their previous location before the police could find it. Bullseye escapes his master's cruelty and leads a group of police and locals to the group's hideout. Eventually, Dodger, outraged at Sikes for killing the good-heart person Nancy, reveals their location to authorities. Bill Sikes takes Oliver onto the roof, knowing they won't shoot if the boy is with him. When trying to scale the building using a rope, Sikes, distracted by his dog, loses his footing and accidentally hangs himself. Sometime later, Oliver is living comfortably with Mr. Brownlow again. Fagin was arrested (though the fate of the pickpockets is unknown), and Oliver wishes to visit him in jail. Brownlow takes him to the prison, where they find Fagin ranting and wailing in his cell. Oliver is distraught at Fagin's fate, as he had been something of a father figure to Oliver. As Mr. Brownlow escorts a tearful Oliver to a carriage, gallows are being set up in the courtyard. Townspeople begin to gather to watch Fagin's execution.

A prologue introduces the Nicklebys, country gentry who enjoy a comfortable life in the Devon countryside until the father Mr Nickleby (Andrew Havill) dies and leaves his family with no source of income (he had speculated his wealth on the stock market and lost heavily, prior to his death). Nineteen-year-old Nicholas (Charlie Hunnam), his mother Catherine (Stella Gonet), and his younger sister, Kate (Romola Garai), venture to London to seek help from their wealthy, cold-heart uncle Ralph (Christopher Plummer), a speculative investor who arranges for Nicholas to be hired as a tutor at Dotheboys Hall in Yorkshire and finds Kate work as a seamstress. Nicholas is horrified to discover his employers, the sadistic Mr Wackford Squeers (Jim Broadbent) and Mrs. Squeers (Juliet Stevenson), run their boarding school like a prison and physically, verbally, and emotionally abuse their young charges on a regular basis. Wackford won't allow the boys any correspondence with the outside world. He keeps all the money and gifts sent to the boys by their well-wishers and gives the gifts to his own son & daughter Fanny (Heather Goldenhersh). Meanwhile the young boys sleep in cattle shed, without a proper bed or blankets. They are fed brimstone for breakfast. Smike is a crippled servant of the school, who is treated worse than the others. Fanny takes a liking to Nicholas. But Nicholas rebuffs her advances. The Squeers take their frustration out on Smike, by increasing his workload to inhumane levels. Smike and Nicholas become friends and Nicholas really cares for Smike. Smike manages to run away by himself, but the Squeers launch a manhunt and bring him back. Wackford flogs Smike mercilessly as punishment. Nicholas eventually rebels (& flogs Wackford with his own cane) and escapes, taking with him the crippled young servant boy Smike (Jamie Bell). As they journey to London, they stumble upon a theatrical troupe owned and operated by Mr. Vincent Crummles (Nathan Lane) and Mrs Crummles (Barry Humphries). They cast them in a production of Romeo and Juliet. Mr. Folair (Alan Cumming) is a fellow actor at the troupe and warns Nicholas about the production quality of the troupe, which he considers abysmal. Despite a successful first night and the couple's invitation to stay, Nicholas is determined to continue their journey to London after hearing that Kate is in trouble. Meanwhile the Squeers have written to Ralph accusing Nicholas of attacking Wackford & stealing Mrs Squeers ring. They demand compensation of 28.10 pounds. Ralph feels cheated by Nicholas, as he has received news that Nicholas is on his way to Liverpool, perhaps to catch a ship and escape the country. This encourages Ralph to use Kate for furthering his own business purposes. Nicholas discovers his sister has been subjected to humiliating sexual harassment from the lecherous Sir Mulberry Hawk (Edward Fox), a client of their uncle, who has encouraged the man to seduce his niece (Ralph takes Kate to the theatre, where Hawk was already waiting. Hawk proceeds to grope at Kate at the end of the act, when everybody has left, despite her protests) in the hope that she will succumb and thus cement Hawk's business relationship with him. Newman Noggs (Tom Courtenay), Ralph Nickleby's butler is sympathetic to Kate and detests Ralph's treatment of Kate. He is the one who sends word to Nicholas. Nicholas confronts Sir Mulberry and his uncle, renouncing the latter. Lord Verisopht (Nicholas Rowe) is witness to Ralph's treatment of Nicholas and Kate and decides not to invest his money with Ralph. Nicholas is reunited with his family, who welcome Smike as one of their own, and finds clerical employment with the kindly Cheeryble brothers Charles (Timothy Spall) & Ned (Gerard Horan), who offer him more than double his previous salary (new salary of 120 pounds per year). While thus employed, Nicholas makes the acquaintance of Madeline Bray (Anne Hathaway), an artist who financially supports both herself and her tyrannical father Mr. Nigel Bray (David Bradley), after he gambled away his fortune and that of his late wife. Charles was in love with Madeline's mother, but she made the choice to go with Nigel. Charles feels obligated to take care of Madeline. Charles supports Madeline by buying her paintings via Nicholas. This way Madeline falls in love of Nicholas. Nicholas' determination to defend his sister's honor leads his uncle to vow he will destroy the young man. What ensues is a series of adventures in which the upstanding Nicholas manages to survive the schemes of his evil uncle, including an attempt to return Smike to Squeers by kidnapping him (Ralph calls Wackford and offers him 50 pounds, to lodge a police complaint against Nicholas for kidnapping Smike, who is under the legal guardianship of the Squeers. Nicholas works with John Browdie (Kevin McKidd), an employee of Wackford, but sympathetic to Nicholas and Smike to rescue Smike) and an effort to abort Nicholas' growing relationship with Madeline by promising her father he will excuse his debts if the girl weds Hawk. Ralph's designs on Madeline are thwarted when her father dies unexpectedly. Unfortunately, Smike falls ill and soon dies. Soon after, a sinister secret Ralph has harbored for years surfaces, and it is revealed Smike was Ralph's son, whom he had thought dead. Ralph had married in secret and his wife's father would have cut her out of his will, if he had known that she had married against his consent. The wife got pregnant and since the marriage was a secret, the boy had to be kept secret too. So, Ralph kept the boy hidden in the attic, where he got crippled. The doctors asked him to send away from London and Ralph gave the task to one of his servants. The servant took pity on the boy and reported to Ralph that he died, but he had sent the boy to the Squeer's school instead. At first the servant paid for him, but then couldn't afford the payments, due to which Smike became a servant at the school himself. Realizing that his son had died, the best friend of his most hated enemy Nicholas (and that he lost 10000 pounds in his investments), Ralph hangs himself. Kate marries the Cheeryble brothers' nephew Frank (William Ash), while Nicholas marries Madeline and settles with her in Devon at his father's house and grounds, where Smike is buried.

Francis "Frank" Xavier Cross is a conceited, cynical television programming executive who has the position of president for television network IBC. Frank has found great success and wealth but only by becoming cold-hearted and arrogant. In the opening scenes, he is seen working out in a room with a border that reads "Cross: (n) A thing they nail people to." His ruthless concentration on his career has alienated him from his family, having only an "at arm's length" relationship with his brother James, who is now his only living blood relative. Frank overworks his assistant Grace Cooley, forcing her to constantly break plans with her family and neglect her mute son Calvin. When a disturbing TV commercial that Frank personally produced is criticized by timid staff member Eliot Loudermilk, Frank responds by firing him on Christmas Eve. Frank's boss Preston Rhinelander comes to Frank's office with an idea about reaching out to the animal audience, and takes the liberty of hiring Frank an assistant, weaselly sycophant Brice Cummings, who is transparently after his job. When Cross is given the task of heading up a live Christmas Eve broadcast of A Christmas Carol, his life begins to mirror the story he's producing. The decomposing corpse of his mentor, media mogul Lew Hayward who had died of a heart attack seven years prior, comes back to visit to tell him the error of his ways, or as Lew puts it "All my success and prestige ended on the 14th hole when I dropped dead", and warns a similar doom is befalling Frank. Lew also tells him three Ghosts will come. Frank awakens in his office, seemingly a nightmare, but Lew causes Frank's phone to call Claire Phillips, Frank's warm-hearted ex-girlfriend. The Ghost of Christmas Past appears as a loudmouthed New York City cab driver, and takes Frank back to his childhood in 1955 where his mother Doris Cross is watching The Lone Ranger with him, until his drunk and angry father Earl Cross comes home after a hard day of working at the meat packing plant, and gives him a side of veal for a Christmas present when Frank wanted a train set. Mrs. Cross says Mr. Cross was supposed to go to the toy store, and Frank's father snarls that Frank should buy his own toys. The ghost chides Frank for not doing anything in his youth except watch TV, then takes him to his late teens in 1968 when he had his first job at the TV station, where at a Christmas party he met Claire, then 1969 for his first anniversary with Claire, where they enjoy a Christmas with simple gifts. The Ghost of Christmas Past finally takes him to 1971, the year in which he chose his job as "Frisbee the Dog" over Claire, and to have dinner with Lew Hayward (who was the president of the network at the time) instead of with friends. The sequence shows how Frank gradually became the man he is in the present, first through his father, who was a blue-collar version of Frank, who in the 1955 scene ranted about how most men at the meatpacking plant are lazy slobs who make up excuses to get out of work, and in the 1971 scene when Frank breaks up with Claire because her friends offered no connections to get ahead. The Ghost of Christmas Present then appears as a life-size pixie who's cheerful, childlike demeanor offsets her violent behavior; she shows him how Grace's family lives in poverty because of his stinginess and how much his brother misses him. After the second ghost's visit, Eliot Loudermilk, now deranged and drunk after spending Christmas on the streets, storms the office with a Double-barrel shotgun and tries to murder Frank. The Ghost of Christmas Future, a seven-foot-tall ghoul with a TV screen for a face, appears and shows Frank a future in which Calvin has ended up in a mental hospital, Claire has become as cold and uncaring as he is, and only James and James' wife attend his sparse and sterile cremation. As he feels his body being burned, Frank finally sees the error of his ways and begs for a second chance. He awakens back in his office, just as the live broadcast is approaching its climax. The reformed Frank rehires Loudermilk at a considerable salary increase, and enlists his help to hijack the live broadcast. Frank steps in front of the rolling studio cameras, and publicly wishes his viewers a Merry Christmas and delivers a manic but heartfelt speech about the true meaning of Christmas. Calvin urges him to add Tiny Tim's phrase, "God bless us, everyone", finally breaking free of his mute condition. Claire rushes to the studio, aided by the Ghost of Christmas Past, who offers her a ride, and comes on set as Frank reconciles with her, sharing a romantic kiss as Grace and the other television workers start to sing "Put a Little Love in Your Heart". Frank looks up to see Lew Hayward and the Ghosts commend him, then vanish.

The film opens sometime around the 'New Poor Law' of 1837. Thin, young, barefooted boys are in a workhouse. The governors of the workhouse, including Mr Bumble (Harry Secombe) enter. Mrs Bumble(Peggy Mount) rings a bell, summoning the boys to mealtime. They are served a small bowl of gruel, while singing about how they wished they had more food (Food, Glorious Food!). Afterwards, some of the boys draw straws, with a small boy drawing the longest. He walks to the front, with the glaring look of Mr and Mrs Bumble towering over him and utters 'Please Sir, I want some more.' Mr Bumble is outraged and sings of the boy (Oliver!), named Oliver Twist (Mark Lester) . He takes Oliver to the governors, and they order him to be thrown out. Mr Bumble and Oliver, dressed in dirty rags wander the streets searching for someone to buy the boy (Boy For Sale). They meet an undertaker, Mr Sowerberry (Leonard Rossiter) who buys Oliver and sets him to work as a coffin follower. After a few days, Oliver attacks Noah, a fellow apprentice of the undertaker after he insults Oliver's biological mother and is thrown in the cellar as punishment. After singing of his mother's love (Where Is Love?) he escapes from the cellar and after climbing onto a passing carriage, makes his way to London. Oliver makes it to London, and meets a boy who introduces himself as Jack Dawkins, better known as the 'Artful Dodger' (Jack Wild). He tells Oliver he knows of an old gentleman who can give him lodgings for nothing (Consider Yourself) and takes Oliver to him. Fagin (Ron Moody) tells him of what they do, which is pickpocket rich gentlemen of their kerchiefs and wallets (You've Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two). That night, while the boys are sleeping, Fagin makes his way to the local bar, where he meets Bill Sikes (Oliver Reed) to exchange valuables that Sikes 'acquired'. Nancy (Shani Wallis), Sikes' lover who works at the bar sings of her life and her love for Sikes (It's A Fine Life).

"Disney`s A Christmas Carol," a multi-sensory thrill ride re-envisioned by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, captures the fantastical essence of the classic Dickens tale in a groundbreaking 3-D motion picture event. Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey) begins the Christmas holiday with his usual miserly contempt, barking at his faithful clerk (Gary Oldman) and his cheery nephew (Colin Firth). But when the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come take him on an eye-opening journey revealing truths Old Scrooge is reluctant to face, he must open his heart to undo years of ill will before it`s too late.

A pair of lookalikes, one a former French aristocrat and the other an alcoholic English lawyer, fall in love with the same woman amidst the turmoil of the French Revolution. Alas, an aristocrat and a barrister on the same plateau. This is the story of a revolution, a revolution that occurred in France known as the Reign of Terror. The barrister, the town alcoholic and man of disrepute, is in love with a beautiful woman, who marries the aristocrat and bears a beautiful baby girl. The baby girl is infatuated with the barrister, and he with her because of her mother. The ultimate sacrifice occurs and a man's soul goes forward. Dissipated lawyer Sydney Carton defends emigre Charles Darnay from charges of spying against England. He becomes enamored of Darnay's fiancée, Lucie Manette, and agrees to help her save Darnay from the guillotine when he is captured by Revolutionaries in Paris. —Marg Baskin <marg@asd.raytheon.ca> A disreputable barrister finds redemption through the most unlikely of friendships and in the process provides for himself both human and spiritual salvation. —Carl Schultz