A Christmas Carol

Many people are not aware of it, but Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is the most-filmed classic story of all time, with over two dozen cinematic renditions. Of these, many people consider the 1951 British Production starring Alastair Sim to be the very best film of this classic story. Indeed, it’s one of my favorite movies. This review will attempt to explain why.

But first, a note of the Blu-Ray Edition (Black and White). This Blu-Ray features a pristine restored print from a 35-mm negative. The picture is sharp and clear and never before looked so good. The Blu-Ray includes several informative shorts on the history of the production, as well as a 10-minute silent version of Scrooge made in 1929.

On to the film itself. First, what makes this rendition of A Christmas Carol (released in England under the title, “Scrooge”) so special, in two words, is Alastair Sim. His performance as Ebenezer Scrooge is wonderful, and because of him, various versions with much larger production values pale by comparison. More on him later.

Beside Mr. Sim, the cast features a large ensemble of well-known British character actors, including Hermione Baddeley as Mrs. Cratchit, Kathleen Harrison as the housekeeper, Mrs. Dilber; Patrick Macnee as Young Jacob Marley, the celebrated English actor Jack Warner as Mr. Jorkin and Ernest Thesiger as the Undertaker. Aficionados of Horror films will know Mr. Thesiger as Dr. Pretorius in 1935’s The Bride of Frankenstein.

But, about Mr. Sim. Alastair Sim was primarily known in England as a comedic actor, and Scrooge was advertised as his first dramatic role. His talents were displayed to great comic effect in many British Classics, including Green For Danger, and he also appeared as a featured player in Alfred Hitchcock’s Stage Fright, starring Marlene Dietrich. But in Scrooge, he outdoes himself. His performance can best be described in two stages – pre-reclamation and post reclamation.

In the pre-reclamation scenes, Mr. Sim deftly establishes Scrooge as a mean-spirited stingy miser. When Bob Cratchit wishes him a Merry Christmas, he laughs in his face – “A merry Christmas! And you a clerk with a family on six shillings a week! I’ll retire to Bedlam!” Stopping off for dinner at an Inn, he asks the waiter for more bread. “It’s a ha’penny extra, Sir” replies the waiter. “No more bread” says scrooge. Even in 1841 London, what kind of a cheapskate would you have to be to deny yourself a piece of bread for a half a penny? The looks he gives the Ghosts of Marley and the three Specters are classic Sim, and I will not attempt to recapture them here. I am not a sentimental man, but I confess that there are several scenes in this film where a tear or two slides down my cheek, notably in the scene of the death of Ebenezer’s sister, and the scene where Scrooge views his ex-fiancé ministering to the poor, among others.

But the truly fun part is in the post reclamation scenes. Scrooge wakes up Christmas morning to find that, “the spirits have done it all in one night!” and his over-the-top performance for the next fifteen minutes or so of film must truly be observed to be appreciated. “I’m so dizzy, I don’t know anything. But now I KNOW that I don’t know anything”. Here he dances and claps his hands and sing-songs, “I don’t know anything, I never did know anything, but now I know what I don’t know, all in a Christmas morning!” And scarcely a breath later, declares, “I must stand on my head” and darts for a nearby wingback chair. As he tries to stand on his head, his housekeeper Mrs. Dilber screams and runs from the room. He catches her on the stair and presents her with a coin. “A Guinea? For me?” she asks, “What for?” He replies, “I’ll give you one guess…” and she deadpans, “To keep me mouth shut?” It’s wonderful stuff.

As Scrooge enters the home of his nephew, Fred, the guests are seated around the piano singing the traditional English folk song, Barbara Allen. The tune is used to great dramatic effect as background music throughout the film. Many people have asked me over the years if I know the name of this tune and are always delighted to find out.

I own four other versions of A Christmas Carol on Video, including the high-budget 1938 Hollywood production starring Reginald Owen, the modern classics starring Patrick Stewart and George C. Scott and even the celebrated animated “Mr. Magoo” version. For my money, production values notwithstanding, I’ll take Alastair Sim’s portrayal above all others, any day. Very, very highly recommended.

This DVD is the COLORIZED film version of A Christmas Carol (originally titled Scrooge), starring Alastair Sim in the title role. While I haven't yet watched the movie in its entirety (since I want to save it for Christmas Eve viewing), I did put it in my DVD player to be sure I'd received the colorized version of the original black and white classic. I've long considered this 1951 jewel to be THE very best film adaptation of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", and I first watched it in color on TCM a decade or two ago. Since that time, I'd hoped to see it in color again (despite my also always enjoying the black & white version), but the unwarranted controversy over the colorization of classic movies prevented me from doing so (I say unwarranted because there's no reason why fans shouldn't be free to choose for themselves what style of movie they'd like to watch, as long as copyright holders have made both black & white and colorized versions available). Now thanks to Amazon, I'll be looking forward to seeing this wonderful movie again in the festive Christmas hues that bring cozy warmth to a cold, gray, northern, holiday night.

The only extras included on the disc are a 1944 cartoon (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer) and a handful of promos for additional nostalgic-oriented, old-time Christmas offerings that are available for purchase from VCI.

UPDATE: My family and I did indeed watch the DVD on Christmas Eve and thoroughly enjoyed it. We saw no problems with the colorization, the audio, the quality, or editing/splicing (as some other unfortunate recipients of their DVDs have reported they experienced). I don't know if this was due to different copies of the DVD going out to them, but the one I received was fine. All in all, this terrific colorized classic has now become a treasured addition to our holiday film library!

It’s hard to imagine anyone not enjoying this movie. Alistair Sim’s performance is deep and heartfelt. There has never been a finer Ebenezer Scrooge and the rest of the cast from Marley to Tiny Tim is in the same vein. (Marley's deathbed scene is a particular favorite.) The cinematography is splendid: So many frames look like choice photographs. (I see reports of fuzzy images, but I didn't spot one.) True, Dickens could at times be overly sentimental, but not here — in part because there’s simply no time. The film goes along at a good clip ... and our feelings flow naturally.

This version of A Christmas Carol is quite simply the best. Alistair Sim is as marvelously miserly as he is merrily magnanimous. The ghost of Christmas Past shows his descent from a shunned, lonely boy, blamed by his father for the death of his mother to the money-obsessed man who puts profit above humanity. The ghost of Christmas present shows him the joy of life he is missing, and finally, the ghost of Christmas yet-to-be shows him his fate of man destined to be missed by no one and a lonely, cold grave. What makes this one different from all the other versions? As plainly as possible, this version has a charm and beauty that is lacking in the others I've seen. Alistair Sim is perfect. None of the other actors or actresses are as memorable, but they don't need to be. Scrooge is the main character and no other Scrooge holds a candle to Sim.

THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE CHRISTMAS CAROL staring Alastair Sim. I was very pleased with the way the company digitalized this DVD It did not do a slip shod job but took very good care to keep the movie together and still preserve it for future generations. My only complaint is the colorization of the movie & I cant complain too much about it because they did an excellent job colorizing it.