Christmas-Reviewer BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 HOLIDAY FILMS. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM HONESTThis adaption of the novel would make Charles Dickens happy. In case you don't the story here it is.Scrooge is a mean old man. He is always unhappy "about everything". He thinks his employee getting a day off work for Christmas really sets him off. He reluctantly does. On Christmas Eve 4 Ghost come to visit him and shows him how his anger has hurt "Only Himself" Now I like this adaption. According to IMDb there is 2 editions of the film. One runs an hour. The other one runs 78. I have yet to see the longer one. This film is also in public domain. And unfortunately many DVD versions of this film. Anybody can release or show this for free. That's too bad. Because it needs to be restored. Nobody restores public domain films.

marquisdeposa Some companies (Westlake Entertainment being one) have the complete version. 85% of the DVDs are the shortened 63 minute film. But the extra 15 minutes or so add some very touching moments, especially in the Christmas yet to come scene at the Cratchits. The editing process of the shortened version leaves gaps and unexplained situations. One is that Scrooge cuts his nose while shaving-waiting for the poulterer to bring the turkey for the Cratchits. The is why he has a cross of plaster tape on the tip of his nose. And of course the very ending of the film with Scrooge going to church is a nice touch. An excellent version and one of my top 3 choices of this beloved classic.

GeoPierpont So live most of your life with selfish greed, ignorant of the suffering of others, angry with anyone who appears to hint at joy or happiness, and overall be your average major ahole. GREAT!! Have a nightmare and think you will die, wake up and VOILA, everyone just loves you with open arms and life is grand. Not really a redeeming enough Dickens theme imho.Typically his novels have it's main character experience much emotional and physical torment and then via Deus ex Machina transform with honor and pride. I wonder why this particular story lacks this cause and effect method. Perhaps I need to read the actual book and see for myself as I am incredulous at the preposterous notion of instant acceptance and love by all.So Humbug on this whole mess while I complain about not being able to see Alistair Sim and his wild and crazy antics which were much more enjoyable to experience. At least he cleaned up half decent. This version barely had Scrooge comb his hair for cryin out loud!Slight recommend for a few scenes of holiday celebration and that super FIRE pudding!

TheLittleSongbird A long way from the best version by all means, the Alastair Sim and George C. Scott films are the definitive versions as adaptations and as stand alones. It's not the worst either, that dishonour goes to the 2001 animated film. It is interesting historically for being the first non-silent version as well as being one of the earliest, but for all the rather big flaws Scrooge(1935) has it is worth watching for more than just historical interest.I did find that there was a lot wrong with Scrooge. The camera work is rather static and could have been much more expansive, giving the film a stage-bound look sometimes. The music score is not bad-sounding at all, in fact it is quite nice and captures the Christmas spirit very well, the problem is that it is too intrusive making some of the dialogue not as audible as it could have done. While Scrooge isn't interminably dull as such, there was some padding that could have been shortened or left out entirely, there was a preparation for a feast scene that was one of the better-looking scenes of the film but took too long and was rather unnecessary. And unfortunately the ghosts were disappointing; the best special effect is the subtle and quite creepy one of Jacob Marley's ghostly face appearing on the door-knocker. The Marley scene did disappoint to some extent, the scene is too brief and does lack tension and Marley being just a disembodied voice looked strange and felt it too, the dialogue is good and though and Marley himself is beautifully voiced(such a shame the actor, sounding eerily like Claude Rains, is uncredited). Ghost of Christmas Past is just a blur and here Scrooge's past is very underdeveloped to the extent that it seems like Scrooge always was a miser(we are never shown why Scrooge resents his nephew Fred so much), making his redemption less believable. Just as bad is Ghost of Christmas Future, who is little more than a shadow on the wall who does very little other than point. Only Ghost of Christmas Present is seen properly and has proper screen time and his portrayal by Oscar Asche is a mixed bag, Asche does have some entertaining moments, but his portrayal is rather too slovenly(more Falstaff than Ghost of Christmas Present) and was in need of more robustness, at other points he also over-compensates.From the sounds of it it sounds like Scrooge is a bad film but it doesn't, just badly flawed. Scrooge does have many good merits. The best being Seymour Hicks's Scrooge, who is delightful as the character. Scrooge as a miser has rarely been scarier on film, and in an effective way, yet his redemption was quite charmingly done. Donald Calthrop gives one of the better portrayals of Bob Cratchit, cheerful and humble but under the smile there was a real fragility that Calthrop shows poignantly. It was nice to see more of Fred and Robert Cochran is most amusing, always with a cheerful air, even when his uncle resents him as much as he does. Phillip Frost is a cute and moving Tiny Tim. The Cratchit scene(s) have a danger of being overly-sentimental, here they were heart-warming and bring a tear to the eye, anybody can see how much they love each other as a family and can identify with it. One scene really stood out in Scrooge which was with Tiny Tim dead, with his body interestingly being shown, and Bob at his side, it is a heart-breaking scene and Calthrop's acting is part of the reason. The dialogue is very faithful to the book, some scenes almost word for word, and is great dialogue on its own. The story- which has always been one of my all time favourites- is also adapted reasonably faithfully, though with some omissions(mostly with Scrooge's past) and additions, and captures the spirit of the book and of Christmas very well. While the camera work and special effects were left wanting, the costumes and sets are actually very evocative and there's effective use of shadowy lighting.Overall, from a historical perspective Scrooge is very interesting and while there is a lot wrong with it it is an acceptable version that also does a lot right. 6/10 Bethany Cox