A little while ago, I was fortunate enough to be able to interview The Right Honourable Kim Campbell, the 19th Prime Minister of Canada (and to date, the only female to land the top job), about her favourite film. Transporting me to ‘the most wonderful time of the year’, she illuminated me as to her Christmas program watching traditions. She explained that, each time December comes around, she makes time to gather round the television with her entire family and watch, back to back, The Muppet Christmas Carol starring Michael Caine, followed by the classic 1951 version of A Christmas Carol, with Alastair Sim taking on the legendary role of Ebenezer Scrooge. She lit up talking about her family custom, clearly cherishing the memories made by gathering the family to watch these two festive films.
As I am only able to review one film as part of the Star Picks section, I will be looking at the 1951 incarnation of the Charles Dickens’ tale. Make sure to track down the Muppet version as well to get the full Prime Ministerial experience.
Arguably the most iconic version of the miser, Alastair Sim has been etched in the collective psyche as the perfect Scrooge. With his receding hairline, bulbous eyes and curmudgeonly attitude, it is easy to buy him as a true hater of all things Christmas.
A cold, callous man, he shrugs off an impoverished individual looking for an extension on a loan, and then tells two men collecting for charity that the poor should be happy to go to prison or the workhouse, and if not, they’re better off dead. He also treats his poverty-stricken but rich in spirit clerk Bob Cratchit (a superb incarnation from Mervyn Johns) like a subservient being, and Scrooge’s wrath comes out every year when the man meekly asks for Christmas Day off.
Arriving home on Christmas Eve, he sees the head of his long dead partner Jacob Marley (Michael Hordern) in the door knocker. Shrugging it off, he then heads into his grandiose but sparsely furnished bedroom and is soon visited by the ghost of Marley, who is burdened by chained weights. He warns the miserable man that if he doesn’t change, his penance in the afterlife will be larger than even his.
Given the chance to transform, he is visited by three spirits, starting with the Ghost of Christmas Past (Michael Dolan), an aged spectre who delves into the man’s history (the young Scrooge is played by George Cole). We learn of his beloved sister Fan (Carol Marsh) who passed away while giving birth to Scrooge’s nephew, Fred (Brian Worth), as well as his fiancée, Alice (Rona Anderson), who he fell for while still poor – losing her to his desire for cold hard cash. We also witness his rise to fame with a young Jacob Marley (Patrick Macnee), deserting his kindhearted boss Fezziwig (Roddy Hughes) along the way.
He is then visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present (Francis de Wolff), a larger than life Santa-like figure who delves into what is going on in the lives of the people who are in Scrooge’s periphery. Learning of the ailing Tiny Tim (Glyn Dearman), the crippled son of Cratchit, the man struggles as the cold hard truth is slowly realized. He likewise discovers that he is not well liked by the Cratchit family, and that most of his nephew’s kin and friends despise him as well.
Finally, he meets the Grim Reaper-like Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (Czeslaw Konarski), who shows him his eerie fate as well as that of others if he continues down the same path he is currently on. Provided the opportunity to live out Christmas Day, will Scrooge change his ways, learning how to love, or will he continue down his wayward path?
With a brilliant version of the iconic Charles Dickens’ text, director Brian Desmond Hurst depicts a vivid Victorian landscape that is snow covered and pretty, as well as cold and austere in many ways. The picture also contains one of the better known film goofs in history; make sure to look in the mirror as Scrooge gazes into it towards the end of the film (you’ll see someone who is not supposed to be there).
It also features a dynamic score from Richard Addinsell, capturing all of the horror, thrills and yuletide cheer etched throughout the story. Perhaps the most popular song he wrote was the polka found during Scrooge’s nephew’s party; a rousing, toe-tapping tune that is loosely based on a Slovenian folk song called “Stoparjeva”. Classic Christmas songs are also littered throughout – just one example being “Silent Night”.
Despite the films slow start (it was not immediately a hit, much like the holiday classic It’s A Wonderful Life), A Christmas Carol (also known by its original British title Scrooge), truly deserves its now iconic status. Though most would not be able to name anyone in the cast other than Sim and Macnee, each actor has become so synonymous with the film that if you do spot them in another feature, it is likely that you’ll say – hey, they’re from A Christmas Carol (a nod to the glorious casting). One of the most uplifting, motivational and moving Christmas movies of all-time, it deserves to be viewed each and every year. So, don’t say humbug to this classic motion picture, it is sure to raise your spirits. God bless us, every one!
I have been whistling that Slovenian folk song since last years showing of the movie . Today it took me eight to ten searches to locate it , as movie websites only mention the Barbara Allen song . Thank you . PS. Former PM always seen on Bill Maher show.
Thank you for the comment. Yes, it is an excellent tune – so catchy (each year, I say I’m going to learn how to play it on the piano for Christmas. . . and never get around to it).