SCROOGE
(1951)With Alistair Sim, Kathleen Harrison, Mervyn Johns, Hermione Baddeley, Michael Hordern
Directed by Bryan Desmond Hurst
Black and White
Reviewed by JB
A favorite of many
Christmas movie fans,
this 1951 version of Charles
Dickens' A Christmas
Carol
still may be the best film adaptation of that classic little
tale. Unlike many other versions, the '51 SCROOGE delves deeply into
the
possible reasons Ebenezer Scrooge is such a humbug, with the Ghost of
Christmas Past section revealing several things that were not in
Dickens' book. Otherwise, it is a close, faithful adaptation
of
Dickens' novelette.
Alistair Sim is not
the wizened old geezer we may picture from the book, yet he is the
definitive
Scrooge.
His redemption scene, when he realizes Christmas has not come and gone,
is the standard by which all other such scenes must be compared. Sim
makes Scrooge's laughter and love for life so infectious and heartfelt,
you may find
yourself tearing up while joining him in that
laughter. Michael Hordern portrays one of the
ghostliest Jacob Marleys on record, and Mervyn Johns and Hermione
Baddeley are equally exquisite as Mr. and Mrs. Bob Cratchit.
The cinematography is
often
stunning, and it is not much of a leap to
suspect that certain shots in the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
section had some impact on Ingmar Bergman. The special
effects
never go beyond simple double-exposure, but they still work wonderfully.
There are many fine
versions of A CHRISTMAS
CAROL, but
for me, the tale has never been told better, and with more style, than
in 1951's SCROOGE. Along with GOING MY WAY, it is my favorite Christmas
Eve movie. 
- JB
http://thestuffyougottawatch.com
Copyright © 2010 John V. Brennan, John Larrabee