the best scene in any movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_FLHkHNaHI&ab_channel=Compositorum
shareYou know what gets me every time (no matter how many times I watch it)? It's how *fast* Fred gets up and greets Scrooge. It's one motion, one breath, the bare instant he sees his uncle, it's just, "Welcome to the party," and he doesn't tease him for holding out or make a big deal out of it, he's just happy Scrooge is there. That's magical. It's so moving how Fred is just happy that Scrooge came and the past is the past. He's never going to hold this over Ebeneezer's head or fuss. It's so wonderful.
This film has so many (SO MANY) great moments. It also runs around all over the place. Marley's ghost is HORRIFYING just as Mrs. Dilber and Scrooge on Christmas morning are hilarious together. There are little comedy touches throughout the film (Dilber is ALWAYS funny, but Sim's performance never misses a comic beat - or suffers for it, nor is it any less evil or intimidating). Then it gets romantic or sappy - never maudlin or overdone.
This isn't just a perfect A Christmas Carol, or a superlative Christmas movie, it's an exemplary movie period.
I can only second your every word enthusiastically!
shareHurrah!
I (re) watch Sim's Christmas Carol every year on Christmas Eve and it rewards repeat viewings like crazy. Little nuances are delivered up by basically every actor.
I'd also argue that it's a rare film where it surpasses the book. I think we benefit from the extra backstory on Scrooges rise/descent from rags to "riches", and other little touches are rather nicely-done as well.
Plus Ignorance and Want just freak me right out every time...
It's my favorite version. I've watched it several times over the years and own the VCI Diamond Blu-Ray, which is pretty good, both in terms of video quality and also in terms of special features.
One scene that stands out to me is a scene that appears nowhere in the book -- Scrooge and Marley sitting smugly at the table with the hilarious Mr. Jorkin, cheerful as ever even though he has just been caught embezzling money from the company. The performances all around the table are excellent and there are a few moments where I nearly laugh out loud.
The scene where Scrooge comes to see Marley as Marley is dying is also excellent, from the moment Scrooge walks through the door to the end of the scene. When the undertaker stands up from his chair it's genuinely eerie, and Scrooge's lackadaisical attitude when Marley is trying to tell him that it's gravely serious that he do better is hilariously comical.
As much as I love the movie though, I don't think it's unimpeachable. Michael Horndern's performance as Marley's Ghost is pretty over-the-top and George Cole as Young Scrooge is merely serviceable.
"Reprieved! Reprieved!" I love that scene, too. The huffy attitude from the other shareholders is terrific. The little, snippy one - "I must ask you to speak for yourself, Mr. Jorkin!" - and them striking speeches from the minutes. Jorkin's also almost giddy with his bankruptcy. I have a theory that he's unburdened from pretending. He can now give speeches about being "cutthroats under these fancy collars" and the like because he no longer has anything to fear. He's screwed, so any actions he takes - even obnoxious ones - can't make his position *worse*, so he's having fun with it.
Oh, that death scene! The script has such a wonderful blend of drama and comedy! "I always know," is so funny. Scrooge trying to be "cheery" with Marley ("No worse...and no better when it comes to that") - these are hilarious, but there's this desperation with Marley, and even Scrooge's attempt at consolation is awkward and funny, yet dangerous for his very soul, and so dramatic. It's masterful work.
I will disagree with you on Horndern and Cole. Here's why: Horndern's shrieks are otherworldly. His hand to the forehead is a bit much, sure, but he is quite eerie and horrifying in his portrait of agonized afterlife. As for Cole, I always thought he did a good job of mimicking Sim's mannerisms (or Sim used Cole's tics?) and gave a good impression of being the same character.
That said, no film is above criticism, and just because I love it end to end doesn't mean it isn't flawed, nor does it mean I'm "right". I certainly accept your interpretation of those two performances, and I know why you see them as you do. Horndern being over the top is certainly understandable.
LOL, I have actually busted out with "Reprieved! Reprieved!" in real life when the circumstances seemed appropriate and people just looked at me like WTF? They didn't get it.
That's an interesting theory regarding Jorkin's attitude. That could be correct. I have always thought of his demeanor as his way of flaunting his guilt while knowing that he's going to get off the hook. He has already spoken with Scrooge and Marley and he knows that the other members of the board will go for their idea, so even though he is guilty, he knows he has nothing to fear. He'll be walking out of there a free man that night.
In the death scene you can tell that Scrooge is doing his best to try to be an actual human being in that situation, but his best isn't much, and he comes off as being equal parts disingenuous and annoyed. That is, disingenuous in that his display of humanity is obviously feigned and inauthentic, and annoyed by the fact that Marley would impose such an inconvenience on him by dying and taking time out of his evening. Sim's facial expressions and line deliveries are golden throughout. The way he says, "Save myself? Save myself from what?" always gets me. It's a great scene all around.
I will agree that Horndern's shrieks are otherworldly, but it still seems overdone to me, and as you say, the hand to the forehead is just too much. I actually was watching the film with a friend of mine a few years ago and she started laughing during that scene. The thing is, I understood WHY she laughed, and I knew then that Michael should've toned it down a bit and played it a bit more naturally.
That's an interesting observation regarding Cole mimicking Sim's mannerisms. I can't say I've ever noticed anything of the sort while watching the film. I'll have to check it out the next time I watch it.
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LOL, I have actually busted out with "Reprieved! Reprieved!" in real life when the circumstances seemed appropriate and people just looked at me like WTF? They didn't get it.
"Curfew shall not ring tonight!!"
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I've done the same thing! I make little references to this film a lot, and there are very few people who get it.
I like your take on Jorkin's attitude. Come Christmas Eve, I shall consider this... This is what I mean about this film rewarding repeat viewings; there's always something new to see or find.
Yes, absolutely! Scrooge is put out by Marley's death. He is inconvenienced by it. Sim does the perfect, "I know you're terminally ill, but I don't know what to say," awkwardness that so many people get. I'm sure you've seen (or done) the same in a person around a friend with cancer or something like that. Somebody comes in and doesn't know how to console. Scrooge has the added Scrooge-ness of finding it distasteful of course - I hope you've never felt the same "inconvenience" in the matter. Speaking of, how great is Scrooge's staying at work until 7 o'clock? We really get the sense of how horrifically self-involved he is. The worst is that he actually does like Marley, as much as he likes anybody at that point, but he just doesn't have human compassion anymore. All is business to him.
As I say, I know why you have that response. I personally don't mind it.
Cole does this in-particular when he and Belle are severed. I see it/hear it in lines like, "I must bow to your conviction that you are," which have a particular snappishness that Sim also uses.
For me, there are three things that really make this version the best and that make this version stand out for me: Sim's performance is the first. Without Sim the film wouldn't be nearly as strong. Sim is THE pillar that holds the film up and really makes it distinct from all other versions. The second are the small additions to the story that help to round out Dickens' tale, like the character of Jorkins and his various scenes. The third is the suitably gloomy atmosphere, something that was missing from the 1938 adaptation, which all around felt much too Hollywood.
I think that other versions are superior in certain specific ways. For instance, the 1984 version with George C. Scott in my opinion has the best Fred and the best Tiny Tim. But all in all, again thanks largely to Sim, the 1951 version has been my favorite for years and likely always will be.
We are in one accord on Sim's performance. He hits emotionality, humanity, and not just the coldness of Scrooge, but the humour. He is real and bombastic without sacrificing that realism. He is reserved when he needs to be. This is a consummate performance.
I like the additions, but if a Dickensian purist wanted to disagree, I wouldn't argue. I heard it referred to as "Citizen Scrooge" once for the extra attention to the degeneration of the man into a greed tycoon ala Charles Foster Kane. That made me chuckle, but does suit this version. Still - when I watch other versions, I often miss in-particular the scene we've discussed (REPRIEVE!), but also the other slip-slides Scrooge does into his miser-y.
Gloom is good. This film has shots like the undertaker at the top of the stairs, or the reveal of Ignorance and Want that I think might haunt me until I die...
Of course, you're right: most versions have their charms. My second-favourite version being the Muppet version. Sim's performance will I praise forever, but Caine does great work, too, and the Muppets themselves are delightful!
Sim is amazing in this which is why this is my favorite version of out several I really enjoy.
I am by no means a literary purist, but I'm not a fan of the Jorkin addition. It really doesn't fit the story. Scrooge is a wealthy man in the book and every version, but was never shown as anything but a relatively small operator. The Jorkin scenes add a half dozen men on the board of directors of a company Scrooge and Marley were planning to take over. Did they? The scene didn't show, but if Scrooge and Marley had the steam to not only buy 51% of the company but pay off the amount of money Jorkin stole, they were big time operators.
Scrooge's charwoman was not in the book either (other than at the beetling shop), but I enjoyed the Christmas morning interaction between Scrooge and Mrs. Dilber and kind of wish that Dickens included that.
The other addition to this version is the explanation of why Scrooge both disliked Fred and maybe why Scrooge descended into being a bitter man later in life. Having his sister die in childbirth was something the book doesn't mention, or of course the scene where Scrooge never heard his sister's dying wish to have Scrooge take care of her child. Those were also improvements to the book IMO and give a reason to why Scrooge was the way he was.
I'm not what I'd call a "purist", either, but I'm close. It's not that I demand slavish accuracy, but it does bug me when the filmmakers mess with the story in ways that undermine the tale they're trying to tell. Good (negative) example: the line alterations at the end of the Hobbit films (the third one, specifically) where they remove Gandalf's references to prophecies in exchange for talking about the Ring. They miss a BIG element of Tolkien's mythology there.
I like the Jorkin stuff myself, but I get why some (such as yourself) wouldn't want it in there.
Scrooge and Dilber is one of the best scene on the film and a top-grade use of celluloid.
Ah, yes, I forget that the death during childbirth isn't in the original. That's a brilliant addition. Scrooge's reactions are perfect, too (another feather in Sim's overflowing cap), where he's SO ANGRY with the Spirit for bringing him there, and then he hears the words he should have heard and never did, and he's AGHAST with himself.