A song that was long thought lost from holiday favoriteThe Muppet Christmas Carolhas been found and will appear in future releases of the movie, director Brian Henson has revealed. TitledWhen Love Is Gone, the song appeared on VHS versions ofThe Muppet Christmas Carol, but was cut from the theatrical version and is absent from most modern releases for being considered too “sophisticated emotionally” for a kids movie.
In a recent interview, Henson revealed that he had a received a call a few weeks ago letting him know thatThe Muppet Christmas Carolwas to receive a 4K restoration and asking for him to check it before release. At the time, he was not told thatWhen Love Is Gonehad been found and would be put back into the movie, a pleasant surprise that left the director elated.
“I was so excited. They actually hid it… so I went down and they said: ‘But before we show it to you, we’ve got something else we want to show you’. And they put up reel four of Christmas Carol with When Love Is Gone,” Henson said of the restoration of the song, in a programme that will be broadcast on Christmas Day.
“I was like, ‘No, you did not!’ and they said, ‘Yes we did! We found it!’ I was so happy, I was so happy,” he continued. “They are all set with the full-length version again. I don’t know if they are going to get it up onDisney Plusin time for Christmas because they have all these processes, but it is coming back, the full-length version is coming back.”
When Love Is Goneis a ballad sung when Scrooge, played in the movie by Sir Michael Caine, visits Christmas past and sees his younger self with his fiancée Belle, played by Meredith Braun. The decision to remove the song came from producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, who believed that children would not be able to relate to it, something to which Henson “reluctantly agreed” to.
Areworking of the classic Dickens story, 1992’sThe Muppet Christmas Carolfeatures Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy playing the Cratchits, Gonzo playing Charles Dickens, and stars Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge. Although the film is not a word-for-word adaptation of the original text, in some profound and interesting ways it distils the core themes of the novel. And, of course, it retains the greatest line Dickens ever wrote, “No cheeses for us meeces.”
The movie has since become a firm festive favorite, withOscar winning director Guillermo Del Torobelieving it to be the greatest adaptation of the story ever made. When asked why he thought so, the filmmaker answered with a no-nonsense “Because IT IS!”
Sir Michael Caine himself reminisced about the movie back in 2016 and made it pretty clear he is just as big a fan as Del Toro. “A man mentioned the Muppets and I said, ‘That’s it! I’ll do that!’ I could make it, and my daughter could see it,” he said. “That’s why I did it. And it was lovely … I think it’s the funniest of the lot. I see it every year, because it’s on television every year at Christmas. It can never grow old, unlike me.”
It is not yet known when the 4K release ofThe Muppet Christmas Carolwill be released. The original movie is part of theDisney+ Christmas lineup. This comes to us fromBBC. For now, you can listen toWhen Love Is Goneon YouTube.
