I’ve been Christmas shopping all day and have had the festive spirit bashed out of me by the elbows of people keen to get the last remaining items at WHSmiths. On top of that I’ve already seen one version of the story today. The only copy of this film I own is a bizarrely colourised version (underpaid clerk Bob Cratchitt has a sky blue top hat!) with appalling sound quality. And it is probably the most well-known modern story of them all, so surprises are out of the question.
But it delivered wonderfully. Alastair Sim gives a career-best performance as Ebeneezer Scrooge. The difficulty of the part is in getting the balance right between the malevolent and the joyful, pacing the change in Scrooge’s demeanour (so often Scrooge seems to have changed as soon as he sees Marley’s ghost). Sim does this wonderfully and the pathos with which he delivers the key scene- “I fear you more than any spectre I have met tonight! But even in my fear, I must say that I am too old! I cannot change! I cannot! It’s not that I’m inpenitent, it’s just… Wouldn’t it be better if I just went home to bed?”- is truly memorable.
And yet, though, he carries the weight of the film there is far more here to enjoy than Sim’s bravura performance. There is a wonderful scene where Tiny Tim elicits great joy from watching the Victorian-era clockwork toys through the window of a toyshop (Tim’s teeth, by the way, are possibly the maddest set of movie gnashers since Max Schreck’s). The much-underrated Michael Hordern gives a melodramatic turn as Marley’s ghost- and a very subtle Jacob Marley in the flashback scene. George Cole is believable as the embittered young Ebeneezer. Kathleen Harrison (as Mrs Dilber, the Housekeeper) leads a fine supporting cast of alienated acquaintances eager to exploit Scrooge’s death- you simply don’t feel any anger at their ghoulish acts.
The closing of the story- where Scrooge finds redemption- is conveyed by a dizzyingly excitable Sim dancing, singing and (failing in his attempt at) doing a handstand and is a scene of unrestricted joy. It even contains a great goof with a member of the crew poking his head into shot via a mirror. Several times.
There are faults- Scrooge’s nephew Fred (Brian Worth) is like a hypnotised Keanu Reeves, for instance- but they are minor. Overall, it’s a hugely enjoyable film, a Christmas great and Alastair Sim is the definitive cinematic Scrooge.
