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5-star -- My favorite Scrooge.
Alistair Sim plays the definitive Ebenezer Scrooge in the British 1951 version of "A Christmas Carol." All other Scrooges are just words on paper paling in comparison when placed next to Sim's portrayal of the villain who becomes reformed, no, transformed after visitation by three Christmas spirits.
I last saw the movie in January of this year, but I have watched it just about every Christmas season since 1965.
I have seen all the major characterizations including Seymour Hicks (1935), Reginald Owen (1938), George C. Scott (1984), and Patrick Stewart (1999), but none can hold a candle to Alistair Sim's performance.
I gave this movie 5-stars because -- (a) it is my favorite version of "A Christmas Carol" since childhood, (b) this version has the most dramatic transformation of Scrooge from mean to joyful that leaves you wondering "I don't deserve to be so happy, but I can't help it!", and (c) the actual scenes in the original black and white version seem to most closely resemble the real London of the times.
I believe that the granddaughter of Charles Dickens was actually present during filming and said that her grandfather would have liked Alistair Sim's portrayal, and that the Dickens family heartily approved of the film as most closely representing what Dickens envisioned for his story.
After the movie's release, Alistair Sim was forever linked to the role of Scrooge for the rest of his career, and enjoyed when fans approached him calling him Scrooge. I think the reason that George C. Scott and Patrick Stewart don't quite make it as Ebenezer Scrooge, even though they modeled their portrayals after Sim's, is that they appear to be *acting* the role of Scrooge, whereas Alistair Sim actually *becomes* Scrooge.
The movie score, consisting of classical and dramatic music interspersed with Christmas carols, has been heard played by philharmonic orchestras on local classical radio stations. One time hearing it on WFLN (Philadelphia), I could actually picture the whole movie scene by scene as the score was played in its entirety.
This version was the favorite family holiday movie when I was growing up. This movie was originally filmed in black and white and should be watched as such, not the recent colorized version. In the late 1960's, we had an old hand-me-down black and white television. My father decided to get us a color TV for Christmas. It was delivered to the house in the middle of us watching the subject movie.
The delivery man turned off the old set to replace it with the new color one. "What channel do you kids want?" "Channel 11" (to go back to our movie). Delivery man says, "Hmmm, something must be wrong, there's no color." "No, no, the movie is black and white." "Figures, you get a brand new color TV to watch a black and white program. Kids!"
There are numerous great quotes throughout the movie. Here is a smattering of some of my favorites --
Scrooge responding after Cratchet wishing him a Merry Christmas:
"You, a clerk on five shillings a week with a wife and a family talking about a Merry Christmas... I'll retire to bedlam."
Scrooge to solicitors, then later quoted by the Spirit of Christmas Present:
"Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?"
Spirit of Christmas Present:
"You've never seen the likes of me before, have you?"
Scrooge:
"Never, and I wish the pleasure had been indefinitely postponed."
Spirit of Christmas Present admonishing Scrooge's indifference to his reclamation:
"Mortal! We Spirits of Christmas do not live only one day of our year. We live the whole three-hundred and sixty-five. So is it true of the Child born in Bethlehem. He does not live in men's hearts one day of the year, but in all days of the year. You have chosen not to seek Him in your heart. Therefore, you will come with me and seek Him in the hearts of men of good will."
Fred to his guests (during the Spirit of Christmas Present tour with Scrooge):
"...I personally haven't very much faith in these newlywed housekeepers. Have you, Tupper?"
Mr. Tupper:
"Alas, as a bachelor, I'm a wretched outcast, with no right to express an opinion on such a tender and delicate subject. Have I, dear, distant, unmovable, Miss Flora?"
Miss Flora:
"Oh, you really are quite incorrigible, Mr. Tupper, quite beyond hope." [fanning herself]
[But when the music starts, Miss Flora joins Mr. Tupper in a dance.]
Scrooge celebrating upon his awakening Christmas morning:
"I don't know anything. I never did know anything. But now I know that I didn't know, anything at all."
Scrooge to Cratchet after he arrives 15 minutes late the day after Christmas:
"You're a little behind your time."
Tiny Tim: "God bless us, everyone!"
---
I love the whole movie, but I have to say that my favorite scene is the day after Christmas after Scrooge raises Bob Cratchet's salary and sends him off to buy another coal scuttle before he dots another "i", Bob Cratchet.
Scrooge:
[gruffly to himself] "I don't deserve to be so happy."
[laughing teary-eyed] "But I can't help it."
[throwing his feather pen over his shoulder which you can see dropping behind him] "I can't help it."
---
A couple of sidebars.
Tiny Tim's medical condition -- A wikipedia article has speculated that Tiny Tim was afflicted with RTA-Type 1 (renal tubular acidosis) or rickets, both of which would have been treatable during his time. However, when I investigate each of these, it turns out that RTA was not medically described until 1935 and its treatment would not have been known in the mid-1800's, whereas symptoms of rickets had been reported during ancient Greek times and defined as a specific medical condition in the mid-1600's. Although its specific treatment was probably not known, it probably fell into the same category as scurvy, experience showing that eating certain foods (coicidently containing vitamin C for scurvy or vitamin D for rickets) reduced or treated the condition. So in my humble opinion, I think Tiny Tim had rickets, not RTA.
Ever-optimistic Fred (Scrooge's nephew) -- At the beginning of the movie (Stave 1), Fred goes to Scrooge's office to invite him to Christmas dinner. Scrooge declines and persists in arguing with Fred. Finally, Fred says that he's never had any quarrel that he's been party to, that he came there in the spirit of bright good will and won't let Scrooge dampen it, so a Merry Christmas to him anyway. On his way out, Fred asks Bob Crachit about his family with the small talk focusing on Crachit's family chomping at the bit for the holiday and Tiny Tim's health. As Fred departs, Crachit eyes follow Fred's exit as he looks wistfully probably thinking about the cheer that Fred just conveyed compared to Scrooge's negativism (accentuated by the orchestral bassoon in the background).
Patrick Macnee as the young Jacob Marley -- For most of my life, I thought that Patrick Macnee played Fred (the cheerful nephew), but Macnee actually plays the young Jacob Marley who Scrooge meets when he enters the employ of the Amalgamated Mercantile Society (owned by Mr. Jorkin played by Jack Warner) after quitting Fezziwig's. For the Special Edition DVD, which contains both the black and white and colorized versions, Patrick Macnee gives a nice introduction and closing comment for the movie. I rather think of Macnee as Jonathan Steed in the original Avengers.
Mr. Jorkin, president of the Amalgamated Mercantile Society -- Jack Warner plays his character role to perfection. Mr. Jorkin is the jaded and sarcastic officer of the Amalgamated Mercantile Society who woo's Scrooge away from Fezziwig's and eventually buys out Fezziwig's company. At the board meeting, it is revealed that Mr. Jorkin embezzled from the company leaving its book value insolvent. Mr. Jorkin's remarks in downplaying his misdemeanors, in pointing out the imprudence to go public with the information, and his comments about Scrooge and Marley as the two make their proposition to the company are priceless.
Mrs. Dilber, Scrooge's housekeeper -- Kathleen Harrison plays the downtrodden housekeeper of Scrooge's, Mrs. Dilber. The scene in which Mrs. Dilber is startled by Scrooge's transformation and rushes down the stairs to leave the house has perfect comedic timing.
--Come back, Mrs. Dilber!
Scrooge intercepts her at the steps. Mrs. Dilber is screaming not knowing what's going on.
--Shhhh, please, please Mrs. Dilber. I'm not mad, even if I look it.
As Scrooge puffs his hair like a monster.
--Don't be violent, Mr. Scrooge. You'll force me to scream for the beadle!
--The beadle, madam, ha! A fig for the beadle.
Scrooge places a coin in Mrs. Dilber's hand.
--A guinea? What for?
--I'll give you one guess.
--To keep me mount shut?
--To keep your mouth shut? Oh no. No, no, no, Mrs. Dilber. It's for a Christmas present.
--A Christmas present? For me?
--Of course, for you! A Merry Merry Christmas.
Scrooge kisses her on the forehead.
At the end of our story, Scrooge "...became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old city ever knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough in the good old world. And it was always said that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge."
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“How a Movie Fan Turned a Love for Movies into a ‘Reel’ Business”
There are probably many who still wonder, “Who is VCI?” and sometimes I wonder the same thing. Fortunately for you, I might be able to shed a little light on that subject, because I’ve been here since the inception of the company.
Once upon a time… or so the story goes… there was a young man who loved movies. His name was Bill Blair. Bill grew up in a small Oklahoma farming and ranching town; far, far away from the Hollywood glitz and glamour. He loved movies so much, he saved his money until one day he was able to buy a film projector. On many warm summer nights, he would set that ‘magic lantern’ up in an open tent and project movies on a big white bed-sheet to anyone who could afford his 2 bits admission charge; however, more often than not, he let people in for free.
Some years later Bill got married and moved to the big city of Tulsa and started a family. (That was when I and the other little Blairs came in the picture, but more about that later.) His love of movies continued and he began collecting old prints of some of his favorite films as a hobby. Before too long he had accumulated a sizable film collection. You know how one thing can lead to another, and that’s exactly what happened here. He started a movie rental business out of the house. That part-time business grew so quickly that it soon became a ‘reel’ business, and United Films was born.
Sometime around 1975 the Betamax Video Cassette Recorder was introduced, launching the world of “home video entertainment”. Bill Blair had already been experimenting with broadcast and commercial video long before the Sony Betamax arrived on the scene, and he immediately fell in love with this new “home video” medium, realizing the significance it would play in the distribution of movies.
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