A Christmas Carol (A or 4/4 stars)
There have been mannny a film version of Charles Dickens' classic novella 'A Christmas Carol'. There is the celebrated 1938 MGM version starring Reginald Owen. Albert Finney was great in 1970's Scrooge. 1984's TV movie version starring George C. Scott is a favorite. Mickey Mouse & The Muppets have had a crack at it. 1988 brought us Bill Murray's Scrooged. And Jim Carrey starred in the Robert Zemeckis animated 2009 offering. But the gold standard, for me & most audiences, of A Christmas Carol has to be the 1951 rendering of Ebenezer Scrooge, with the incomparable Alastair Sim starring as London's cruelest miser.
The film opens on Christmas Eve in 1843 and, well, Ebenezer Scrooge is known as one of - if not THE - the nastiest man in London. To him, $$ is ... everything. He doesn't believe in charity & just barely agrees to give his clerk, Bob Cratchit (Mervyn Johns), Christmas Day off. I would not call Scrooge evil, but he is an embittered soul who has let life, to this point, defeat him. That eerie night, Ebenezer receives not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 ghostly visitors, all of whom share a particular mission: to teach him the many errors of his ways & show him the path to redemption if he were to take it.
The 1st ghost who enters Scrooge's drafty apartment is his former job partner, the late Jacob Marley (Michael Hordern), who bears a stern warning about what happens to a man who dies after living only for $$. Next up is the Ghost of Christmas Past (Michael Dolan), who takes Ebenezer on a journey into years gone by; reminding him of the times when wealth meant very little. The 3rd visitor is the ebullient Ghost of Christmas Present (Francis De Wolff), whose task is to show Ebenezer how other people who knows are spending their Christmas Eve. And finally, the Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come (Czeslaw Konarski) lets Scrooge wander through the long, dark shadows of a bleak future that soon awaits him if he does not alter his ways.
Among this movie's many wonderful virtues are Noel Langley's amusing & poignant screenplay, the 86 minute run time, and the ensemble cast {they include Mervyn Johns & Hermione Baddeley as Mr. & Mrs. Cratchit, & Kathleen Harrison as Mrs. Dilber, who hilariously thinks Scrooge has lost his mind when seeing how gleeful he is}. The look & vibe of the film is attractive & atmospherically shot in stark black-&-white. Every Christmastime set & costume feels utterly authentic to the time & place. And even the rudimentary special effects of the era {ghosts materializing & evaporating and such} have their own kind of charm.
Alastair Sim's performance so perfectly captures Dickens's novella that all the other versions feel superfluous. He is so convincing from start to finish; playing heartless, miserly "humbug" as well as he plays fearful old man with the ghosts, and then remorseful, repentant celebrator at the film's end. The giddy exuberance he gives off on the streets of London is contagious to all he encounters {and contagious to us viewers watching}. He makes Ebenezer Scrooge's character arc feel so grounded, so genuine & overflowing with second chance redemption that it makes for the most emphatically happy ending that gives It's a Wonderful Life a run for its money. The depth of this drama + the high spirited ending makes this a Christmas classic to cherish.
The film opens on Christmas Eve in 1843 and, well, Ebenezer Scrooge is known as one of - if not THE - the nastiest man in London. To him, $$ is ... everything. He doesn't believe in charity & just barely agrees to give his clerk, Bob Cratchit (Mervyn Johns), Christmas Day off. I would not call Scrooge evil, but he is an embittered soul who has let life, to this point, defeat him. That eerie night, Ebenezer receives not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 ghostly visitors, all of whom share a particular mission: to teach him the many errors of his ways & show him the path to redemption if he were to take it.
The 1st ghost who enters Scrooge's drafty apartment is his former job partner, the late Jacob Marley (Michael Hordern), who bears a stern warning about what happens to a man who dies after living only for $$. Next up is the Ghost of Christmas Past (Michael Dolan), who takes Ebenezer on a journey into years gone by; reminding him of the times when wealth meant very little. The 3rd visitor is the ebullient Ghost of Christmas Present (Francis De Wolff), whose task is to show Ebenezer how other people who knows are spending their Christmas Eve. And finally, the Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come (Czeslaw Konarski) lets Scrooge wander through the long, dark shadows of a bleak future that soon awaits him if he does not alter his ways.
Among this movie's many wonderful virtues are Noel Langley's amusing & poignant screenplay, the 86 minute run time, and the ensemble cast {they include Mervyn Johns & Hermione Baddeley as Mr. & Mrs. Cratchit, & Kathleen Harrison as Mrs. Dilber, who hilariously thinks Scrooge has lost his mind when seeing how gleeful he is}. The look & vibe of the film is attractive & atmospherically shot in stark black-&-white. Every Christmastime set & costume feels utterly authentic to the time & place. And even the rudimentary special effects of the era {ghosts materializing & evaporating and such} have their own kind of charm.
Alastair Sim's performance so perfectly captures Dickens's novella that all the other versions feel superfluous. He is so convincing from start to finish; playing heartless, miserly "humbug" as well as he plays fearful old man with the ghosts, and then remorseful, repentant celebrator at the film's end. The giddy exuberance he gives off on the streets of London is contagious to all he encounters {and contagious to us viewers watching}. He makes Ebenezer Scrooge's character arc feel so grounded, so genuine & overflowing with second chance redemption that it makes for the most emphatically happy ending that gives It's a Wonderful Life a run for its money. The depth of this drama + the high spirited ending makes this a Christmas classic to cherish.