Thanks for the memories!

Best movie ever!

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This a pretty decent, fairly reliable version of Dickens' famous story. Reginald Owen is an above average Scrooge, much more formidable than he is often portrayed. He is lithe and athletic in appearance and quite frightening to those who encounter him. He is lacking depth of character, not being the actor that Alistair Sim is, but still manages to do the job. Sim's Scrooge has a kind of depth, a touch of melancholy, that none of the others, including George C. Scott and Patrick Stewart, had. What I don't care for in this is some plot elements that could have been left alone. Cratchitt getting fired for throwing snowball at Scrooge seemed silly. It eliminated the tender scene at the end where Scrooge waits for the tardy clerk in his office. The scene here where he actually shows up at Bob's house is frantic and silly. Gene Lockhart is a reasonably good Cratchitt, but in most of the renditions he is seen as a bit too well fed and his family a bit too affluent, considering his circumstances. For me, however, the actors playing Tiny Tim and Fred, Scrooge's nephew are so distracting and so giddy, I can hardly stand to watch them. I suppose the screenwriters felt they were better storytellers than Dickens.

This movie seemed to be longer when seen as a kid, and on TV. It was interesting, sad and uplifting. On DVD 40 years later, for me, it was none of those things. It it obvious, characterized players with the outcome as obvious as was every Reginald Owens expression. He was as accessible as a sale at Nieman and Marcus. Pretentious and uninviting as a serious piece but a nice little snippet of straightforward stage performances to fill out the holiday schedule. My daughter plucked it off the shelf here in July to view, so the message is felt year round, even if old Ebeneezer is too mean to start and on lithium to finish. At least Tiny Tim is sympathetic.

This version of A Christmas Carol is one of the better ones. Not the best, but top five for sure. Reginald Owen gives a decent, if somewhat exaggerated, performance as Scrooge. He's ably helped by a fine MGM cast, including Gene Lockhart, Leo G. Carroll, and the always-adorable Ann Rutherford as the (blonde!) Ghost of Christmas Past. British actor Barry Mackay makes a fine, jovial Fred. This film also features the screen debut of June Lockhart. There are several parts of the novel cut out, as well as a few new bits added. But, all in all, it works as a mostly faithful, fun adaptation. It's also barely over an hour so it doesn't waste a lot of time.

A Christmas Carol is directed by Edwin L. Marin and adapted to screenplay by Hugo Butler from the Charles Dickens story of the same name. It stars Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart, Kathleen Lockhart, Terry Kilburn and Barry MacKay. Music is by Franz Waxman and cinematography by Sidney Wagner and John F. Seitz.I wonder just how many times A Christmas Carol has been adapted to theatre, film, television, radio or opera? Well it's a lot as we know, but my point being that it's one of those literary works that needs no introduction or plot synopsis. It's as famous as famous can be. With all the many "film" adaptations to view, there's often discussions about which is the best, which is the most loyal to the source and etc etc, what mostly comes through in such discussions is that it's such a brilliant piece of literary work it would take the work of an idiot to mess up the feel good factor come the story's denouement. Thankfully, in spite of tampering with aspects of the source material, Marin's 38 version is as pleasing as a glass of Xmas punch. There are minor irritants here no doubt about it, Scrooge begins to turn from mean miser to good fellow a bit too early, and traditionalists do balk at the changes in the story such as a sex change for one of the ghosts, Cratchit gets the sack, the haunting grimness is missing with the ghost visitations and again etc etc, yet the essence is right and the key points are rightfully included. Given it's a film that runs just under 70 minutes some scenes are rushed, but it's very well performed by the cast (Owen wonderfully caustic as Scrooge after stepping in when Lionel Barrymore's ill health ruled him out of the production) and the joy that comes with the finale is simply impossible to ignore. Like a lot of other people I'm a lover of the Alastair Sim 1951 version, of which this MGM version is often unfairly compared against. For although the 51 film is definitive in its adaptation, and rightfully sits at the top of many people's lists of filmic productions, Marin's film has much to recommend it to being part of your perennial Xmas viewing schedules. 8/10