A Christmas Carol (1951)

An old bitter miser is given a chance for redemption when he is haunted by ghosts on Christmas Eve. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Brian Desmond Hurst
Written By: Charles Dickens, Noel Langley
Starring: Michael Hordern, Miles Malleson, Kathleen Harrison, Alastair Sim, Mervyn Johns, George Cole, Patrick Macnee, Hermione Baddeley, Ernest Thesiger, Brian Worth, Roddy Hughes, Glyn Dearman
AKA: Scrooge
Country: UK
Where to Stream
Loading...


A Christmas Carol belongs to 28 collections
1. Psychotronic Film and Video Guides (collaborative: moderated by Gregzilla - 40 stars)
2. 24 hour (or less) timeframe (collaborative: moderated by djross - 24 stars)
3. IMDb Top 250 Complete (collaborative: moderated by Jorg - 23 stars)
4. Christmas (collaborative: moderated by td888 - 16 stars)
5. Doubling The Canon (collaborative - 13 stars)
6. Doubling The Canon (2010 update) (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 5 stars)
7. Holiday Specials (collaborative: moderated by Ununnilium - 5 stars)
8. Adaptations from Classic Literature made into Movies (collaborative: moderated by Dunstan-xxx - 4 stars)
9. Christmas and Christmasesque movies to watch in December (collaborative: moderated by Goldbluming - 2 stars)
10. Doubling the Canon (2011 update) (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 1 star)
11. Doubling the Canon (2012 update) (collaborative: moderated by Cinephile - 1 star)
12. A Christmas Carol (collaborative: moderated by saudade - 1 star)
13. Availability: CraveTV (Canada) (collaborative: moderated by geohawk)
14. Scrooge (collaborative: moderated by filmcricket)
15. Star or support acted his or her behind off!!! (collaborative: moderated by MzeeShikamu)
16. British Literature at the Movies (collaborative: moderated by Dunstan-xxx)
17. Available on Divicast (collaborative: moderated by Dunstan-xxx)
18. Filmspotting Ratings Project: Week 19 (public: PeaceAnarchy)
19. Filmspotting Ratings Project: Week 38 (public: PeaceAnarchy)
20. What if.. (public: juandr)
21. Films Dunstan Owns (public: Dunstan-xxx)
22. Dunstan's DVD Collection (public: Dunstan-xxx)
23. Films I have watched 3 or more times (public: Dunstan-xxx)
24. Backlog (public: Ceekay19)
25. I read the book (public: MzeeShikamu)
26. Plenty films of Christmas (public: smuhu)
27. 1950s Mile High Club (public: Dunstan-xxx)
28. Films I watch once almost every year (public: Dunstan-xxx)
Browse the full list of collections
Stars | User | Rating | |
4 | ![]() |
talonmalon | 91 84th |
A Christmas Carol is a timeless tale. It's full of moments that are dark, sad, joyful, or even horrifying. It's a whirlwind of emotions, and some parts are real and total tearjerkers. What makes this 1951 iteration one of the best versions is Alastair Sim as the iconic Scrooge. He doesn't just play the character as a grump. There's so much emotional in this performance, that he can easily be recognized as the best man to ever play the role. This deserves to be called one of the holiday classics.
|
|||
3 | ![]() |
hellsditch | 83 77th |
No offense to Scrooge McDuck, but of all the variations on the story that I've seen, I think this one holds up the best. For one, it packs a lot of story into a breezy (especially for the time period) 80-something minutes, but loses nothing in the process. Alastair Sim should also be commended, hitting all the right notes in the Scrooge character both before and after his Christmas Eve revelation. Another standout was Marley's character...loved his banshee-style wailing and tortured demeanor.
|
|||
3 | ![]() |
letskillrobots | 18 51st |
Not enough singing muppets.
|
|||
2 | ![]() |
caiman | 85 79th |
I admit most of my love for this movie comes from nostalgia, but what's wrong with that? My family and I would watch this movie every single Christmas Eve. The dialog would become little in-jokes between us, and we all absolutely loved Alastair Sim. For my money, he's the definitive scrooge, and this is the definitive version of Dickens' novel.
|
|||
2 | ![]() |
hotsake | 46 29th |
I find myself very underwhelmed by this much heralded version. Alastair Sim's Scrooge seems more tired than cruel and while I like how much time was spent on the Ghost of Christmas Past I was annoyed with how much was skimmed over during the other two parts. Also since you pretty much only see Scrooge, none of the other characters are fleshed out well and are not very convincing. At this time the 1938 version is my favorite classic version with the Mickey version being the best animated one and
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
TheDiceman | 65 73rd |
Classic.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
PeaceAnarchy | 73 36th |
A great story but only a good film. Especially in the second half it gets too caught up in being a morality tale and becomes a little too silly.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
KasperL | 60 50th |
It's a rather dated affair but Sim is pretty great as Scrooge.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
jstry | 85 75th |
I never knew Marley was so theatrical.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
Okkervil | 83 88th |
The greatest adaptation of this wonderful story. Sim is simply brilliant, with director Hurst really capturing the spirit and essence of the book, which is both an uplifting and slightly unsettling look as human nature. It may look seriously dated now, but somehow that adds to this film and its nostalgia appeal. Simply brilliant.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
billkerwin | 85 66th |
Hands down, the best Christmas Carol. Sim is a simply wonderful Scrooge.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
Red_Falcon_ | 80 87th |
Alastair Smith with his incredible performance as Scrooge makes this my favourite adaptation of this classic tale.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
Jasongirl67 | 65 43rd |
This particular version of "Scrooge" is a bit too old fashioned and a little too melodramatic for my taste But Sim is superb
|
Average Percentile 65.78% from 411 Ratings | ![]() |