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A Christmas Carol" at ►
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Scrooge (1951), released as A Christmas Carol in the
U.S., is one of the best-known film adaptations of
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. It starred
Alastair Sim as
Ebenezer Scrooge and was directed by
Brian Desmond Hurst, with a screenplay by
Noel Langley.
The film also features
Kathleen Harrison in an acclaimed turn as
Mrs. Dilber, Scrooge's charwoman.
Fans of
British cinema will recognise
George Cole as the younger version of Scrooge,
Hermione Baddeley as Mrs.
Cratchit,
Mervyn Johns as
Bob Cratchit,
Clifford Mollison as
Samuel Wilkins, a debtor,
Jack Warner as Mr. Jorkin, a role created for the film,
Ernest Thesiger as
Marley's undertaker, and
Patrick Macnee as a young
Jacob Marley.
Michael Hordern plays Marley's ghost, as well as old Marley.
Peter Bull serves as narrator, by reading portions of
Dickens' words at the beginning and end of the film, and also appears on-screen as one of the businessmen cynically discussing Scrooge's funeral
.
In the book, Mrs. Dilber is the name of the laundress whereas the charwoman was unnamed. The film also expands on the story by detailing Scrooge's rise as a prominent businessman who was corrupted by a greedy new mentor that had lured him away from the benevolent
Mr. Fezziwig. When that new mentor, who does not appear at all in Dickens's original story, is discovered to be an embezzler, the opportunistic Scrooge and Marley offer to compensate the company's losses on the condition that they receive control of the company for which they work - and so, Scrooge and Marley is born. During the
Ghost of Christmas Present sequence, the film also reveals that Scrooge's girlfriend from his younger days,
Alice, works with the homeless and sick.
In this
adaptation, a flashback during the
Ghost of Christmas Past sequence shows that
Ebenezer's mother died while giving birth to him which meant that, unlike the book, Ebenezer is younger than his sister Fan. The death of his mother caused his father to resent Ebenezer which he is reminded of by the Ghost of Christmas Past when Scrooge bitterly mentions that Fan died from complications after delivering his nephew,
Fred.
In addition, the film has a scene where Ebenezer comes to his nephew's home on
Christmas Day with some trepidation that he would be rejected because of his previous behaviour; however, Fred and his wife immediately give him a warm welcome, delighted to have his company at last.
Although the film was first shown on television as far back as 1954 (by local
New York station WOR-TV), it did not attain its current popularity in the
USA until the
1970s, when it began to be shown on local
NET and later
PBS, stations. Until then, the most widely seen film version in the U.S. was
MGM's
1938 adaptation starring
Reginald Owen. The Alastair Sim version had received a favourable notice from
The New York Times when it opened in 1951, and a mixed review in
Time magazine criticizing the direction while praising the performances, but otherwise had not caused much of a stir. However, in the years since, it has attained classic status in the U.S. and become a favorite of the viewing public as well. Sim's characterisation of Scrooge, from mean and sinister to happy and generous, receives particular praise.
Alastair Sim and Michael Hordern reprised their roles two decades later, lending their voices to
Richard Williams'
1971 animated version of the tale.
* Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge
* Kathleen Harrison as Mrs. Dilber
* Mervyn Johns as Bob Cratchit
* Hermione Baddeley as Mrs. Cratchit
* Michael Hordern as Jacob Marley/
Marley's Ghost
*
Michael J. Dolan as Ghost of Christmas Past
*
Francis de Wolff as Ghost of Christmas Present
* C. Konarski as
Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come
* George Cole as
Young Ebenezer Scrooge
*
John Charlesworth as
Peter Cratchit
*
Rona Anderson as Alice
*
Glyn Dearman as
Tiny Tim
*
Hugh Dempster as Mr. Groper
*
Louise Hampton as Laundress
*
Carol Marsh as Fan
* Jack Warner as Mr. Jorkin
*
Roddy Hughes as
Fezziwig
*
Richard Pearson as Mr Tupper
*
Hattie Jacques as
Mrs. Fezziwig
* Patrick Macnee as Young Jacob Marley
*
Brian Worth as Fred
SCROOGE "A Christmas Carol"
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- published: 25 Nov 2009
- views: 124604