I think the reason this has endured as everyone's favorite film version of "A Christmas Carol" is, of course, Alastair Sim's amazing performance, but also because it is the least sentimental of all the film treatments. The ghosts aren't pretty young girls or comic figures; Tiny Tim isn't cutesy or twinkling, but rather an unlovely, honestly sweet young boy, and London doesn't look like a Christmas card, but dark and properly harsh. Scrooge's reclamation is hard-won, but when he is reclaimed, Sim's transformation of the character is miraculous -- he actually looks like a different person.
The touch I love the most, though, is the old ballad "Barbara Allen" played through the scenes with Fan and Fred -- it never fails to make me tear up. This movie is as much a holiday must-see as "A Christmas Story" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas."
The touch I love the most, though, is the old ballad "Barbara Allen" played through the scenes with Fan and Fred -- it never fails to make me tear up. This movie is as much a holiday must-see as "A Christmas Story" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas."