Scrooge - DVD

 

 

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One of the reasons Alister Sim and Albert Finney work so well as Scrooge is that you are able to witness a transformation of a person throughout their lives. This truncated version does little to convey the whole story. It is also a horrible transfer and the original print has faded to dull tones of grey.

It is interesting to see the censorship laws at various times throughout our cinematic history in the choices made when producing "A Christmas Carol." The Patrick Stewart version is perhaps the best-filmed version but the heavy-handed script writing destroys the illusion of 19th Century England. Stewart's one-man stage play is a much better version by far.

Seymour Hicks is very good at being nasty but that's not what Scrooge is about. Scrooge is a guy who has had a tough life and he chose to value money above people to get through the day. Hicks can never seem to rise above the nastiness. He is never subtle like Finney or giddy like Sim, he's always just there.

For a completest, you should get this DVD; other folks should enjoy Albert Finney's musical version and Alistar Sim's B&W triumph.

This is one of the most beautiful adaptations, and keeps to the heart of Dickens (unlike the unnecessarily visious Alastair Sim version, or the downright wierd Reginald Owen version.) Sir Seymour Hicks really captures Scrooge's character as written in the original novelette.

This print is very good, the best I have seen in a while, and includes scenes usually editted out that really add to the atmosphere of the movie. The sound is also excellent- most of the prints I have seen lately have the soundtrack going too fast, and this one is fine. There are a couple of dark spots, but considering the other prints out there, the majority of the print is excellent, and this DVD is a good print to have for years to come.

We true fans of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and the various film adaptations it has inspired tend to have pretty strong feelings when it comes to which version is best. The film starring Alistair Simms wins the vote of many, despite its sometimes rash departures from Dickens' original story, while the newer version starring George C. Scott has many of its own stalwart defenders - including me. I doubt that many fans would nominate 1935's Scrooge, starring Sir Seymour Hicks, as their all-time favorite, but it is definitely a respectable and immensely rewarding theatrical recreation of the story of Ebenezer Scrooge. Some of this film's obvious shortcomings are necessarily accounted for by the time of its creation,

Sir Seymour Hicks makes for a surly and unattractive incarnation of Mr. Scrooge, leading me to wonder just how convincing his eventual change of heart would be on the screen, but those final scenes play out wonderfully and erased any prior doubts I had up until that point as to the emotional power of the film. Heart-strings that have been pulled many times in the past were pulled yet again for this fan, making this a truly memorable version of Dickens' intimately familiar Christmas story.

You'll notice some definite peculiarities with this film. It's rather dark, for one thing - and not just in terms of the print; a few scenes seem to have soft touches of German expressionism woven into them. All of this is not surprising, given the date of production. I will admit that one scene, in which an unimportant character's head becomes momentarily transparent, borders on the weird, though. Don't expect a whole lot from Jacob Marley - upon his arrival, he announces that only Scrooge can see him. He isn't lying, as Marley's ghost is completely invisible here. The Ghost of Christmas Past is equally unimpressive, existing as sort of a hazy area of light. (The Ghost of Christmas Present appears in all his glory, however - albeit without a certain pair of disturbing children underneath his flowing robes.)

The film is basically pretty faithful to Dickens' story up until the appearance of the Ghost of Christmas Past. Many adaptations spend an inordinate amount of time in the past, but here the first haunting is over before you can say "Bah! Humbug!" There's almost no attempt to explore the path by which Scrooge became such an insufferable miser. The Ghost of Christmas Present takes a few odd detours in his journey with Scrooge, but the story of the Cratchits is told quite well. (I was a little bothered to see Scrooge's nephew belittling him unmercifully at his own Christmas celebration, though.) The look at Christmas Future plays out very well indeed, and then of course we have the aforementioned change of heart that transforms Scrooge into the merriest of men. That change of heart begins far too early, however - right after the very much abbreviated look at Christmas Past, in fact.

The film is a little uneven in its middle portions, and it adds a few needless scenes to the original story, but Seymour Hicks evidences a grand rebirth on Christmas morning, and a film that moved me very little early on proved itself more than capable of delivering a powerful and heart-touching ending. I feel safe in saying there are better adaptations of A Christmas Carol out there, but this early film is more than worth your time should you happen across it.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Good!
I saw Scrooge starring Seymour Hicks years ago on TV when I was a little girl, I believe it was on Christmas Eve and I remember sitting on the livingroom floor in front of the TV... Read more

Published on Dec 7 2003 by Thebookwoman

4.0 out of 5 stars Best print you will probably ever see
I own both the edited version Marengo DVD and complete 78 minute version Front Row DVD of this classic and I can say that this new release by Image Entertainment (from the... Read more

Published on Nov 15 2002 by David Pinkerton

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