Looking at this version of A Christmas Carol back to back with the Reginald Owen one done in Hollywood by MGM and probably the most frequently run on television J. Arthur Rank sacrificed traditional sentimentality for class warfare. Odd considering that Mr. Rank in life was a most conservative gentleman.
It was the dog eat dog world of capitalism that turned Ebenzer Scrooge into the miserly individual he was. At least that's what it seemed to be to this viewer. Look at how Scrooge turns on his initial benefactor Mr. Fezziwick, look also how the firm of Scrooge&Marley was born, to save Mr. Jorik from prison and ruin. Their actions made Alastair Sim and Michael Hordern as Scrooge and Marley both wealthy men, but at a price. When Hordern's ghost comes calling Sim you see exactly how those chains were formed that he now carries.
Rank put together an impressive list of players to support Sim as the man who learns the welfare of mankind not only is his business, but the government's as well. Better to vote for elected officials intent on keeping Christmas's spirit.
No accident that this film was done during the reforming Labour government of Clement Attlee. That government essentially remade British society to what it is today. The welfare of British mankind was most assuredly its business.
An interesting and alternative look at A Christmas Carol.
It was the dog eat dog world of capitalism that turned Ebenzer Scrooge into the miserly individual he was. At least that's what it seemed to be to this viewer. Look at how Scrooge turns on his initial benefactor Mr. Fezziwick, look also how the firm of Scrooge&Marley was born, to save Mr. Jorik from prison and ruin. Their actions made Alastair Sim and Michael Hordern as Scrooge and Marley both wealthy men, but at a price. When Hordern's ghost comes calling Sim you see exactly how those chains were formed that he now carries.
Rank put together an impressive list of players to support Sim as the man who learns the welfare of mankind not only is his business, but the government's as well. Better to vote for elected officials intent on keeping Christmas's spirit.
No accident that this film was done during the reforming Labour government of Clement Attlee. That government essentially remade British society to what it is today. The welfare of British mankind was most assuredly its business.
An interesting and alternative look at A Christmas Carol.