|
Year
: 1951
Director:
Brain Desmond Hurst
Starring:
Alastair Sim, Michael Hordern,
Mervyn Johns |
A
Christmas Carol (aka Scrooge)
A
Christmas Carol - the classic christmas
story turned into a classic christmas movie.
A
solitary and miserly man (Ebenezer Scrooge) lives
on his own and his only enjoyment of life comes
from earning his money and spending as little of
it as possible. On Christmas Eve Scrooge is visited
by three spirits who take him to see his past,
present and future in an attempt to for him to
change his miserly ways and be grateful for what
he has. But does he change his ways?
A
Christmas Carol is
perhaps the greatest Christmas story ever told.
Of the many straight versions of the film this
is, in my view, the best. Alastair Sim is superb
as Ebenezer Scrooge and is, for my money, the
ultimate portrayal of Scrooge (and that's an accolade
because George C Scott's and Albert Finney's portrayals
are both excellent in later versions of the story.
The least said about Patrick Stewart's effort
the better - ham anyone). Sim just looks so perfect
for the role and so victorian. The cast are also
superb particulalry spot on are Michael hordern
as Marley and George Cole as the young Ebenezer.
The special effects are charming and also quite
effective in bringing the original book to life.
After
years of watching the scratchy, jumpy versions
that were shown on TV each year, it was a delight
to pick up the DVD which had been painstakingly
restored from the original print, and now looks
beautiful. The DVD also includes the colorized
version of the film which is a bit of fun.
If
you want to feel christmassy then watching this
film is surely a great place to start.
A
Christmas Carol is
placed at December 1st on our Christmas
movies guide (USA edition).
Buy
this film and more from our Christmas
DVD store in association with Amazon.com
