Ebenezer Scrooge, the ultimate Victorian miser, hasn't a good word for Christmas, though his impoverished clerk Cratchit and nephew Fred are full of holiday spirit. In the night, Scrooge is visited by spirits of the past, present, and future.
Clearly, the story is the stuff of Christmas legend so there was no need to re-invent the wheel. Perhaps, also, because it was made in 1935 and Sir Seymour Hicks was already 64 when he portrayed "Scrooge" this film works well. It is both charming and poignant and uses the basic film techniques of the thirties - especially light and shadow - to convey some of the misery, menace and ultimately, joy of this Dickens story. Well worth an outing this (or any) Christmas.
