Scrooge [A Christmas Carol] ***** (1951, Alastair Sim, Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, George Cole, Mervyn Johns, Hermione Baddeley) – Classic Movie Review 552

‘I believe the world is becoming a very hard and cruel place.’ – Scrooge.

Director Brian Desmond Hurst’s 1951 seasonal delight Scrooge [A Christmas Carol] is the simply best movie version of the Charles Dickens classic story A Christmas Carol. It showcases a perfectly cast Alastair Sim, who gives a marvellous, bravura performance as the old miserly skinflint Ebenezer Scrooge, turning from old meanie to new nicie and playing both with equal conviction and charm.

In the famous tale, Scrooge is given a chance for redemption when he is haunted by ghosts of Christmas Past (played by Michael Dolan), Present (Francis De Wolff) and Yet To Come (C Konarski) on Christmas Eve.

Among the movie’s many virtues are the wonderful ensemble cast and Noel Langley’s amusing and poignant script that wisely stays close to the Dickens original. The rudimentary special effects of the era have their own kind of charm and work well in context.

Scrooge [A Christmas Carol] is very attractively and atmospherically filmed in black and white by cinematographer C Pennington-Richards, but it was re-released in 1990 on video in a highly satisfactory, really quite lovely-looking colorised version that looks like an animated Christmas card. This version is not for purists, obviously, but it is worth seeking out on DVD or TV.

Mervyn Johns (Bob Cratchit), Hermione Baddeley (Mrs Cratchit), Michael Hordern (Jacob Marley), George Cole (young Scrooge), Miles Malleson (Old Joe), Ernest Thesiger (undertaker), Hattie Jacques (Mrs Fezziwig) and Jack Warner (Mr Jorkin) are among the adorable cast of British character actors giving performances to remember for ever.

It is poignant that Sim’s protégé George Cole plays his younger character. It is one of Cole’s nine films with Sim: Cottage To Let (1941), The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950), Bikini Baby (1951), Scrooge [A Christmas Carol] (1951), Folly to Be Wise (1953), An Inspector Calls (1954), The Belles of St Trinian’s (1954), The Green Man (1956) and Blue Murder at St Trinian’s (1957).

Glyn Dearman plays Tiny Tim and Patrick Macnee is Young Jacob Marley. Cole (aged 89 in 2014) and Macnee (92 in 2014) were about the only survivors in 2014.

George Cole died on August 5 2015, aged 90. Adieu, dear departed.

Patrick Macnee died on June 25 2015, aged 93. RIP.

The much-loved Dickens classic has been translated into many, many movies. It was filmed in 1935 as Scrooge and 1970 as Scrooge (the musical) and also filmed in 1938 as A Christmas Carol, 1984 as A Christmas Carol and 2009 as A Christmas Carol. There are also The Muppet Christmas Carol and Scrooged (1988) with Bill Murray of course. But this 1951 Alastair Sim treasure is still the best and always will be, however many times they remake or rework it.

US film critic Leonard Maltin is redeemed for rubbishing Gremlins (1984) by appreciating this: ‘There’s no Christmas Carol quite like this 1951 British version.’

© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 552

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com/

Eric Sykes, Hattie Jacques and Harry Secombe.

Hattie Jacques plays Mrs Fezziwig.