58
Metascore
8 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Albert Finney's remarkable performance in the title role; executive producer Leslie Bricusse's fluid adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, plus his unobtrusive complementary music and lyrics; and Ronald Neame's delicately controlled direction which conveys, but does not force, all the inherent warmth, humor and sentimentality.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertAlec Guinness contributes a Marley wrapped in chains; the Christmas turkey weighs at least 40 pounds; Tiny Tim is appropriately tiny, and Scrooge reforms himself with style. What more could you want?
- 75TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineDirector Ronald Neame's well-paced film captures the period beautifully, and the acting is superb, with Finney and Alec Guinness, as Marley's ghost, real standouts.
- 63ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliScrooge is basically a harmless, fitfully enjoyable version of the timeless classic, and worth a look for those who have had their fill of the more serious adaptations.
- 60The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyIt is absurd, sentimental, pretty, never quite as funny as it intends to be, but quite acceptable, if only as a seasonal ritual.
- [Finney] plays Scrooge less like a Dickens character and more like that crooked man who walked a crooked mile, of Mother Goose nursery rhyme fame. But it’s fun to see him cut a rug at Scrooge’s own funeral to the tune of Leslie Bricusse’s Thank You Very Much, the great show-stopping tune of this otherwise ho-ho-hum musical.
- 40Time OutTime OutA misbegotten musical adaptation of Dickens' much too perennial tale, featuring songs by Leslie Bricusse that are not only anaemic but piffling in their up-front relevance.
- 40The New YorkerPauline KaelThe New YorkerPauline KaelInnocuous musical version of A Christmas Carol, starring Albert Finney looking glum. The Leslie Bricusse music is so forgettable that your mind flushes it away while you're hearing it.