Not necessarily the best movies ever made, but these are twenty of my favorites, in no particular order.  Each post for the next twenty days will feature a brief discussion of one film (though one or two days will have multiple posts to make up for absences).

Post 10: Scrooge (1951 dir. Brian Desmond Hurst)

A Christmas Carol (1843 Charles Dickens) is my favorite book, but my introduction to it came from this movie, the greatest film version of all the Christmas Carols ever made. I have been enjoying this film since I was five years old. There is magic upon the screen here, and not just in the effective, albeit dated, visuals. Yes, it’s great to see Marley show Scrooge how the other ghosts lament outside of the window; or how Alice walks through the apparition of Scrooge.

Yes, those moments work, but the real magic is Alastair Sim. It is unfair but realistic to know that any stage or screen production of this story finds success in the quality of its Ebenezer Scrooge. Sim has no equal.

I point to two moments in the film, the first being the inroduction of the Ghost of Christmas Present (Francis De Wolff). Scrooge enters the rooms, sees the Ghost, then gives an exhausted whimper and turns away, finished with it before it has even begun. That reaction, that acting, was all Sim. Sim was primarily known as a comedic actor, so he was working his full talent when he found the funny bone in Ebenezer’s body. We not only laugh, but we shrug and nod, understanding this reaction and even agreeing with it.

The second moment comes during Scrooge’s awakening, his reclamation as this film puts it. Scrooge is pursuing his housekeeper, Mrs. Dilber (Kathleen Harrison), down the stairs. He is desperate to make amends, and to quiet her down. She is screaming in fear at his transformation. He eventually calms her down enough and gives her a Christmas present, an extra coin for her hard work. She honestly does not understand. “What’s it for? To keep my mouth shut?” she asks. Scrooge, through Sim, laughs uncontrollably. He’s laughing with her and he’s laughing at himself. His reclamation trudges forward and Scrooge understands the man he was, the man he is, and the man he could be. More importantly he understands her, outside of himself, and he can laugh with joy.

There are technically more slick, sophisticated, and expensive versions of this story on film. Many of them are quite good. None compare with this version. It is a great film, to be enjoyed any time of year.