Directed by: Brian Desmond Hurst
Starring: Alastair Sim, Kathleen Harrison, Mervyn Johns, Michael Hordern, George Cole, Patrick Macnee, Jack Warner
A Christmas Carol has been adapted in all shapes, sizes, and forms over the years. The 1951 version adds some extra insights and backstories which fill in the gaps on Scrooge's past, such as his introduction to Jacob Marley, their partnership which bought out the counting house which Scrooge ran, the night of Marley's passing, and even an explanation by Marley as to why he roams the earth as a ghost in purgatory. These add depth and weight to a timeless classic.
Scrooge as played by Alastair Sim is an angry miser indeed, but also full of regrets and sadness. The moments of Christmases Past bring him to tears of shame. How could he let his fiancee go? We even see his sister dying in childbirth and why he resents his nephew Fred, who habitually invites his uncle to Christmas dinner and is forever rejected. But Fred remains optimistic that his uncle will have a change of heart, much to the chagrin of his wife.
Bob Cratchit, Scrooge's long-suffering clerk, also holds out some sort of hope that his boss will stop being a jerk, while his wife openly criticizes him at Christmas dinner. Scrooge even has a maid he inherited after Marley's death, and in a vision from the Ghost of Christmas present, she steals his silverware and linens after he dies. I don't recall her in any other version of A Christmas Carol I've seen. Nonetheless, this version not only moves swiftly, but it is the most emotionally satisfying of the adaptations. When Scrooge's transformation occurs, we fully believe it, and it is joyful.
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