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Scrooge (1951)

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4 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Surprisingly, there isn't a film version of the Dickens novella which merits the imprimatur 'classic'. The Muppets had a good stab at it, and Bill Murray was well cast in the otherwise scattershot Scrooged. On the plus side, this version is cast like an engraved illustration: Thesiger, Johns, Hordern, Harrison, Malleson, Baddeley and, above all, the splendidly aloof Sim, who feasts on Dickens' best lines ('I expect you want the whole day off tomorrow?'), greets each new ghost with a weary shiver, and handles his giddy rebirth with aplomb. A jobbing director who knew how to point a camera, Hurst never betrayed much facility for cutting or movement. He stages the action competently, but the transitions between scenes are so choppy you wonder where the ads are. Add to this a prosaic adaptation by Noel Langley which gets bogged down in the backstory (the relatively dull visitation from the ghost of Christmas Past which explains how nice Ebenezer - a bashful Cole - fell from the path of righteousness), some rather depressed-looking spirits, and the cringeworthy sentimentality of the Tiny Tim scenes, and you have what Scrooge himself might call 'Ho-hum-bug'.

Author: TCh

Time Out Film Guide

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User reviews of this film

trob59 said...

Posted on Aug 28 2010 03:36 Is this dude for real ...how do some people get their jobs stands to reason nobody has heard of him. must have a uncle that works for the paper....

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jane b. said...

Posted on Nov 29 2009 13:24 The reviewer definitely needs a new job. This is a classic with all the best acting.

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KEL said...

Posted on Mar 06 2009 14:32 By far the best version of this classic story. Sim is fantastic! (patrick Stewart is fab in this role too!) Lovely christmas film. If you don't like it, perhaps you need to be visited by 3 spirits!!!!!! Total Classic!!!!!

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Matt Bryant said...

Posted on Dec 29 2008 18:04 If you don't think that the Alastair Sim version of Scrooge is a classic, then perhaps you should stick to reviewing video games. It's still a family favourite and it was an amazing film when it came out. Time for you to take time out and get a new job I'm afraid.

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