Late last night I caught A Christmas Carol, the 1951 black and white version starring Alistair Sim as Scrooge.
For me personally, this is the best film version of the Dickens tale and one which starts Christmas proper.
The film somehow seems to capture the London fog, the poverty, the wealth and the downright eeriness of the mid- 1800's, not bad going in 1951. It feels like a genuinely scary ghost story, say, in the same creepy way MR James' tales were televised. It's British Gothic at its best.
The appearance of Mervyn Johns as Bob Cratchett, a man running out of time for his son, harks back to his role in the equally fabulous and unsettling Dead of Night from 1945, amazingly after a WWII UK ban on horror being made, where he plays an architect lost in a recurring and very very disquieting dream. The finale with the dummy is simply stunning!
Both these black and white movies are just great and would go well as a double-bill.
What do you think readers?
I must admit,after a lifetime of scheduled television,I am slow to transition to menu -driven Streaming TV.But one thing I like to do is have "A Christmas Carol" marathon on Christmas day with as many versions of the tale as I can find.Movie versions, Stage versions, animated versions...Anything goes!
ReplyDeleteWhat a superb tradition Brian! Yes there's loads. George C. Scott, Jim Carey!
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