Generally feeling a bit Scroogey myself, I cannot fully embrace the Christmas season until I see this movie (sometimes twice) and transform along with Scrooge.
For me, Alistair Sim IS the definitive Scrooge bar none. I can't say enough about his performance so I won't even try.
An excellent supporting cast just adds more with the only remotely off note being Michael Hordern's slightly melodramatic Marley's ghost scene in the beginning of the movie. Mervyn Johns is perfect as Cratchit as is the rest of the actors portraying his family.
Kathleen Harrison seals the deal as Mrs Dilber. One of my favorite supporting roles of all time. She owns her role as completely as Sim's Scrooge. In fact, she amplifies his effectiveness by being so completely believable as Scrooge's downtrodden cockney maid, Mrs Dilber - bad teeth and all. Her last powerful and moving scene with the transformed Ebeneezer on the staircase alone makes the movie worth watching. When Ebeneezer gives a terrified Mrs Dilber a Guinea as a Christmas present she is dumbfounded and asks plaintively, "For me?" It nearly brings me to tears as with those two words she coveys the heartbreakingly sad conviction that NO ONE, especially Scrooge, would care enough about her to give her a Christmas present and by doing so,lights her up and renews her Christmas spirit not to mention her sense of self worth.
For me, Alistair Sim IS the definitive Scrooge bar none. I can't say enough about his performance so I won't even try.
An excellent supporting cast just adds more with the only remotely off note being Michael Hordern's slightly melodramatic Marley's ghost scene in the beginning of the movie. Mervyn Johns is perfect as Cratchit as is the rest of the actors portraying his family.
Kathleen Harrison seals the deal as Mrs Dilber. One of my favorite supporting roles of all time. She owns her role as completely as Sim's Scrooge. In fact, she amplifies his effectiveness by being so completely believable as Scrooge's downtrodden cockney maid, Mrs Dilber - bad teeth and all. Her last powerful and moving scene with the transformed Ebeneezer on the staircase alone makes the movie worth watching. When Ebeneezer gives a terrified Mrs Dilber a Guinea as a Christmas present she is dumbfounded and asks plaintively, "For me?" It nearly brings me to tears as with those two words she coveys the heartbreakingly sad conviction that NO ONE, especially Scrooge, would care enough about her to give her a Christmas present and by doing so,lights her up and renews her Christmas spirit not to mention her sense of self worth.