A Christmas Carol

Starring: Alastair Sim, Kathleen Harrison, Jack Warner, et al.

Product Description

Dickens' London miser Ebenezer Scrooge meets the ghosts of Christmases past, present and yet to come.

• Format: DVD
• Language: English
• UPC: 089859821523
• Release Date: November 1999
• Rating: Unrated (Not Rated)
• Publisher: VCI Entertainment
• Director: Brian Desmond Hurst
• Starring: Alastair Sim, Kathleen Harrison, Jack Warner, Mervyn Johns, Hermione Baddeley, Clifford Mollison, Michael Hordern, George Cole, Carol Marsh, Miles Malleson
• Runtime: 1 hour, 26 minutes
• Number of Disks: 1
• Other Video Info: Black & White; Dolby; Full Screen; Subtitled; NTSC
• Weight: 0.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.5" x 5.4"

Customer Reviews

The classic version of a classic

Due to the circumstances and choices in the life of Ebenezer Scrooge, he has chosen money over mankind. His partner, now seven years dead, comes back to warn Ebenezer of his afterlife fate if he does not change his ways. To assist in this task are three spirits, Christmas past (his past), Christmas present, and Christmas of things to come. Can or will Ebenezer change his ways? Why should he? There are many versions of this tale floating around out there including study books and animated movies. Of all these versions, a few stand out. Made in the era of black and white, one cannot help but shun any attempt to colorize it. The Alastair Sim version is a product of its day, and he does a very good job of portraying Ebenezer Scrooge. He comes across as mean in his speech of “Are there no workhouses?” and stingy, displayed during his meal, upon hearing that more bread will cost 8 pence extra he says, “No more bread.” On Christmas morning he goes overboard with the maniacal laughter. This is probably emphasized to show his change of heart and to allow him to scare the maid. However, it does distract from the story. The story is modified a bit but unless you have been reading the book you will not notice this. To tie his childhood memories of his sister to his present-day nephew, they play “Barbra Allen” in the background (nice touch.) All in all, this will make a nice addition to your Christmas collection. Well with all the media adaptations, we finally have Blu-ray. From history, I find that a good remaster and a 46” screen work well enough. However, because I have a Blu-ray player, I chose Blu-ray whenever available at any cost. I am not so sure if the film is really cleaned up or remastered. However, it is quite sharp black & white. The film is quite s-p-a-r-s-e with DVD extras. You will find the Commentary by Marcus Hern and George Cole (Young Ebenezer Scrooge) under the setup and not the extras. The DVD starts with a long VCI Entertainment a-d-v-e-r-t-i-s-e-m-e-n-t.

The best Christmas Carol version!

The 1951 "Scrooge", with Alastair Sim, is probably the best version of A Christmas Carol on film - unlike most other versions, it stays very true to Charles Dickens' novel, and actually delves into more of Scrooge's "past" from the novel itself - It stays true to many of the novel's details in a way almost every other movie version doesn't accomplish. So many other movie versions are almost even cartoonish, and yet Alastair Sim's performance is neither over-the-top nor cartoonish - Sim's transformation from start to end, his entire performance, is outstanding and makes you feel completely lost in the story itself. Everyone has their favorite movie version of this classic, and as a lover of the *novel itself*, this is by far my personal favorite! Anyone looking for a true-to-novel movie, this is by far your best bet!!

Not as good as other versions!

I wish I had chosen the original or the George C. Scott version. I thought this version was not very good, and it is misrepresented as "A Christmas Carol" but it is called "Scrooge". I didn't like it, and the film quality altho claiming to be remastered is terrible. It is kind of like a cheesy play, there are far superior versions of this Dickens classic that are available. This one is not good.