This is an instance where I think the rating and reviews are way off. This film is available on youtube, and the print quality is poor because of its age. Apparently there is a recoloured version that you can find which cuts out some of the scenes. But I saw the 78 minute black and white version. I watched it because I like to watch a new version each year, and having seen most of them this is one of the lesser known ones I hadn't seen. Most people seem to have their favourite Christmas Carol. I actually don't have a favourite, there are a few that I really like but there isn't one that is definitive in my mind. They are all very similar and many have strong merits.
Films of this era struggle to engage modern audiences I think because there is a detachment between the screen and the audience. The old hollywood years were highly stylised and very formal in acting and style. Generations of past who grew up with this still watch them, but I don't know many millennials/Gen Z who truly love many films from before the 1950s. However, thus is the magic of a Christmas Carol that this is a really wonderful film that I think even 5 year olds today would enjoy.
Some versions I have seen are much more realistic in Scrooge's transformation (e.g. 1984), and he goes from a parsimonious old miser to simply a man willing to acknowledge that he is a work in progress and to show some humility. A Christmas Carol I think works best when the transformation is over the top and complete because this is not a story that needs realism, it needs the archetypes and conventions of classic tales. This is where this version really works, Seymour Hicks takes Scrooge from a hunched back, bedraggled old man, to a tap dancing playful kind hearted grandad. It may have only been one night, but this is not important, it is the message that is important. That in time, with the will and the right choices, it is never too late for us to change our ways and choose to live from love rather than fear.
Films of this era struggle to engage modern audiences I think because there is a detachment between the screen and the audience. The old hollywood years were highly stylised and very formal in acting and style. Generations of past who grew up with this still watch them, but I don't know many millennials/Gen Z who truly love many films from before the 1950s. However, thus is the magic of a Christmas Carol that this is a really wonderful film that I think even 5 year olds today would enjoy.
Some versions I have seen are much more realistic in Scrooge's transformation (e.g. 1984), and he goes from a parsimonious old miser to simply a man willing to acknowledge that he is a work in progress and to show some humility. A Christmas Carol I think works best when the transformation is over the top and complete because this is not a story that needs realism, it needs the archetypes and conventions of classic tales. This is where this version really works, Seymour Hicks takes Scrooge from a hunched back, bedraggled old man, to a tap dancing playful kind hearted grandad. It may have only been one night, but this is not important, it is the message that is important. That in time, with the will and the right choices, it is never too late for us to change our ways and choose to live from love rather than fear.