SCROOGE (1951)

[drednm]

A lot late, but after many years finally got around to watching this excellent film starring Alastair Sim as Scrooge. A breezy 86 minutes and no fat added on this really good adaptation of the Dickens classic. Sim is perfect as the title character and is a joy to watch. Also excellent in this film are Kathleen Harrison as the housekeeper, Mervyn Johns as Cratchit, Michael Hordern as the ghost of Marley, Ernest Thesiger as the undertaker, Hermione Baddeley as Mrs. Cratchit, Jack Warner as the embezzler, and Clifford Mollison as Dick Wilkins. This one might even be better than Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol.

[wich2]

Dr., for this CAROL writer* and sometime Scrooge portrayer, it is indeed one of the best - but not, as many true believers profess, alone on the summit!

As you say, MAGOO is right there alongside. As is HICKS, SCOTT, and on the radio BARRYMORE.

Happy New Year,
-Craig

*http://www.amazon.com/Craig-Wichman/e/B00B4EDS1Y

[earlytalkiebuffRob]

I guess a problem is confusing 'the best' with 'the best I've seen', although the late David Shipman cruelly described the Sim version as 'poor'. Much as I like the Sim, I wouldn't describe it as 'the best' unless I'd seen all the extant versions. And many years ago I caught up with the Reginald Owen / Gene Lockhart version, which was perfectly good... I've not seen the George C Scott one, but can imagine he'd give the old sourpuss a good go...

[R Michael Pyle]

The Seymour Hicks 1935 version is also good, in my opinion. I'm such a huge fan of Alastair Sim, and I certainly like his version, but I'd rather watch the Reginald Owen version over Sim's. Just an opinion.

[Jim Reid]

To me the Sim version is the best. Even though I have a 16mm print of the Hicks version, I'm sorry to say that I have not watched it yet. I'm too bothered by the awful makeup job on Reginald Owen in the MGM version to rate it highly. That one's a tragedy, since it was put together for Lionel Barrymore, who had done it on radio for years. Unfortunately, his arthritis kept him from doing that film. If they had made that film two years earlier, it could have been a holiday classic that we would still be watching every year, instead of a minor MGM release.

[Michael O'Regan]

I, too, have a 16mm Hicks. I love it but, funnily enough, bad makeup an' all, my favourite over the years has become the Owen version.

[Rick Lanham]

The Seymour Hicks version of Scrooge on blu-ray is on sale at Amazon for $7.47, 42% off.
It is accompanied by a DVD of A Christmas Wish (alternate title of The Great Rupert with
Jimmy Durante.

Scrooge - Blu-ray w/ BONUS 2nd Disc DVD: A Christmas Wish (from Legend Films Inc.)

http://www.amazon.com/Scrooge-Blu-ray-B ... ge+blu-ray" target="_blank" target="_blank

Rick

[wich2]

it was put together for Lionel Barrymore, who had done it on radio for years. Unfortunately, his arthritis kept him from doing that film. If they had made that film two years earlier, it could have been a holiday classic that we would still be watching every year, instead of a minor MGM release.

Strongly possible, Jim... Well, at least we did get Lionel's Scrooge on film, in the guise of Henry Potter. And many of his 19 audio CAROLs* are extant.

Best,
-Craig
*(Author of the most exhaustive study of same.)

[ClayKing]

The '51 version is my favorite. The sets and settings are very authentic looking, and all the acting is top-notch. One of the weaknesses of the pleasant '38 MGM version is that the characters aren't really fleshed out, and there's no real explanation of Scrooge's descent into miserliness, which is explained via a brief voice-over.
I thought the version with George C. Scott unimpressive. A portly Scrooge?
There's also a '53 CBS TV "Shower of Stars" version with Fredric March, a Christmas opera with music by Bernard Herrmann. It's only around 55 minutes long, and including four or five songs the story is understandably telescoped. It was originally broadcast in color, but apparently only survives in B&W.

[martinola]

I saw the Owen version this past Christmas on TCM and had a very different reaction. The picture quality was quite good compared to what must have been a battered 16mm I must have seen on TV in the late 60s or early 70s. I was very impressed by that. But compared to the Sim version, the Owen version threw away just about every dramatic moment.

Compare the terror (or lack thereof) of Scrooge meeting Marley's Ghost. -Or the anguish (or lack thereof) of the Ghost himself when he wails (or whimpers) "Business! [.] Mankind was my business!! [..]") Compare the flabby, almost bored gesturing of the Ghost of Christmas future to the one in the Sim version. The photography didn't help, either. It was rather flat with very little moodiness to it. It really seemed to me to be rather like an uninspired made for TV movie. On the casting front, the Tiny Tim was strangely large. It looked like Gene Lockhart was going to have a heart attack carrying him. To me it looks like the film was made in a great hurry.

One thing that did amuse me about the Owen version was the intrusion of the 1930s into the art direction. The Ghost of Christmas present was right out of a chorus line in an art deco musical. For all of the faults of the Sim version (and I agree there are plenty of them), I think it has yet to be beat by the general level of performance and sense of mood.

Best Wishes to all this 12th day of Christmas.

Martin