Sorry, this movie sucks

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

UK 1951 English (B&W); Drama (Renown); 86 minutes (U certificate)Crew includes: Brian Desmond-Hurst (Director/Producer); Noel Langley (Screenwriter, adapting Novella A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens)Cast includes: Alastair Sim, Kathleen Harrison, Mervyn Johns, Hermione Baddeley, Michael Hordern, George ColeAn old miser (Sim) is visited one Christmas Eve by the ghost of his long-dead business partner (Hordern), followed by the spirits of Christmases Past, Present and Yet to Come, who guide the bitter man towards a kinder self, having recognised the meanness in his life.To many, the definitive version of the oft-filmed classic.

Am in the midst of a "Scrooge" / "A Christmas Carol" Binge.The SIM version is / was my "go-to" version. It was the one I grew up with. It was shown annually on one television channel or other. It was the one that was showing when a group of us gathered at my friend Ari's house, made vats of popcorn and sat around his apartment and in his big bed and watched "A Christmas Carol" throughout Christmas Eve and into the dawn. It was one of those continuous loop showings and with no commercials. Ahhh ... memories ! Anyhoo. 1951's still holds its own. All of the actors seem just about perfect for their roles. None are so familiar that they stand out as actors rather than as their character ... but watch for Peter Bull and Patrick McNee in little bitty appearances.It's really impossible to say who is "best" or which version is "best" ... It's too much like choosing a favorite child. Hicks/Sim/Scott tied ! Room for all.

SCROOGE is the most well-remembered of the various film adaptations of Charles Dickens's A Christmas CAROL made over the years. That's because it's so good. It's not that the film is a blinding masterpiece of cinematic skill, or anything like that, but that it sticks closely to the format of the book and manages to recapture exactly the same kind of magic that Dickens summoned up. After all, the story is about people and their relationships, not effects or humour.Alistair Sim stars in his most famous role and he's excellent in it; really, he makes every actor who's played Scrooge since a mere imitation. The cast is full of British talent like Michael Hordern, Ernest Thesiger, Miles Malleson, and Francis De Wolff, and one of the ones who really shines is a youthful George Cole (playing the young Scrooge) in a star-making turn.The production quality is the same as in one of the contemporary Ealing classics. The film is full of sentiment without ever being sentimental, and Scrooge's character arc keeps you fully invested in the story. The supernatural aspects are kept to a minimum and are well handled in the classic tradition rather than being dated or cheesy. SCROOGE is a real Christmas cracker.

Although this is considered by many people to be the definitive adaptation of "A Christmas Carol", I found it bitterly disappointing. Alastair Sim gives a wonderful performance as the title character but I wish that he had given it in a better adaptation. Brian Desmond Hurst's direction is very mediocre - and I'm being kind because it is nearly Christmas - and the film is extremely poorly paced in spite of its 86 minute running time. As a result, it is never as emotionally affecting as it should be in spite of Sim's valiant efforts. Far too much time is spent on the past scenes, which means that the present and future ones seem rushed.Hurst assembled one of the best casts of any British film of the era so it says a great deal about his failings as a director that many of the performances are not up to scratch. The typically excellent Michael Hordern goes way, way over the top as Jacob Marley to the point that his performance is unintentionally funny. Shockingly, actors of the calibre of Mervyn Johns and Hermione Baddeley are boring as the Cratchits. Speaking of which, the scenes at the Cratchit household should always be the most moving ones in any adaptation of the novel but they're simply dull. Sim's frequent co-star George Cole is generally good as the young Scrooge but he was always a better comic actor than a dramatic one. On the bright side, could there have been a more perfect casting choice than Francis de Wolff for the Ghost of Christmas Past? He is as good as you would expect but he does not have nearly as much screen time as he should. Jack Warner is very good as Mr Jorkin, a suitably Dickensian villain who was created specifically for the film, but the character doesn't add too much to the proceedings. Miles Malleson and Ernest Thesiger steal their scenes as Old Joe and the undertaker respectively but that comes as naturally to them as breathing comes to everyone else so that's hardly surprising.Overall, this is an incredibly underwhelming adaptation which would have been considerably worse if was not for the fantastic central performance. The special effects are very good for the time though.