We’re deep into the Holiday Season, which is a great time to re-watch the Best Christmas movies. Personally, my all time favorite is The Muppet Christmas Carol, which is streaming with a Disney+ subscription. You can also select its extended version, which features Belle’s cut song “When Love Is Gone.” But I maintain it never should have been deleted in the first place.
This sequence happens when Michael Caine’s Ebenezer Scrooge is revisiting his younger years with The Ghost of Christmas Past. We see a younger Scrooge meet Belle (Meredith Braun), before being transported to their split. The movie’s theatrical cut scrapped their break-up song “When Love Is Gone”, and I will be mad about it forever.
“When Love Is Gone” Is Necessary For The Plot (And The Finale)
When Disney+ was launched, it only had the theatrical cut of The Muppet Christmas Carol, leaving Belle’s song out. As a millennial who grew up watching the movie on VHS (which added the song back to the movie), this made me bananas. But luckily in 2020 the full movie was added to the streaming service, albeit in the “extras” section that has to be specifically sought out by viewers.
I’m happy Disney+ gave Belle her due, because the movie’s story (and especially its finale) don’t work without “When Love Is Gone.” Without the song her entire relationship with Ebenezer lasts mere seconds, so it doesn’t have same emotional impact. When Rizzo the Rat is seen crying in response to the sequence, it’s hard to understand why.
Michael Caine offers a heartbreaking performance when Ebenezer and Belle briefly duet in the song, with the accomplished actor harmonizing before breaking down into tears. It’s one of his most powerful moments in the entire movie, so leaving it on the cutting room floor is a wild choice.
Additionally, The Muppet Christmas Carol’s finale song “The Love We Found” is a reprise of “The Love Is Gone.” So without Belle’s version the finale melody comes out of nowhere, and lacks the emotional payoff of its more hopeful lyrics.
While some fans had a NSFW question about The Muppet Christmas Carol, I simply can’t understand why they’d ever cut “When Love Is Gone.” I mean, it only extends the movie’s runtime by a few minutes. And given Caine’s emotional performance and the song’s importance in the third act, it seems like a no brainer to keep it. Plus, we get another version of the song in the movie’s credits, sung by Martina McBride. The track is a key part of the overall narrative and presentation, which is why its absence in theaters, DVDs and the original Disney+ release is so baffling.
The Muppet Christmas Carol is streaming in its entirety over on Disney+. Just so yourself a favorite and select the “full length version” in the extras to make sure you get Belle’s big number.