8.3 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.8 |
A miserly curmudgeon is forced to mend his ways after a series of supernatural encounters on Christmas Eve.
Starring: Alastair Sim, Kathleen Harrison, Mervyn Johns, Hermione Baddeley, Michael HordernHoliday | 100% |
Family | 78% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-2
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.36:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital Mono (Original)
English, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
It’s probably next to impossible for most of us to imagine a time when there wasn’t an Ebenezer Scrooge, so ingrained has that indelible character become in our collective consciousness. And yet that despicable (if lovable) curmudgeon who made “Bah, humbug!” a retort of renown has only been around since 1843, a veritable blink of the eye in literary historical terms. Nonetheless, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a more influential tome than Charles Dickens’ “little” Christmas novella, a book which manages to sum up sin and redemption more eloquently than virtually any other example one could name. The book quickly became source material for theatrical, and later film, adaptations. I can’t say for sure what my first exposure to this venerable source material was; it may have indeed been a television broadcast of this 1951 Alastair Sim version, released in the UK as Scrooge (the title it bears on film here, if not on the packaging), and then in the US as A Christmas Carol. Or it could have been Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol, the seasonal television special that ran regularly throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s. But I do have incredibly wonderful and almost palpable memories of my sister taking me to the 1970 Albert Finney Scrooge when I was a kid. I fell in love with the story, the performances and, yes, even Leslie Bricusse’s often lamented score, and as we left the theater in the hush of winter in downtown Seattle, a huge and furious snowstorm started, imprinting my memory cells with the frosty clarity that only deep December can bring. It’s something I’ll probably never forget. Film lovers have had a veritable glut of Christmas Carol versions to love or hate through the years, and this 1951 production typically comes in at or near the top of most fans’ favorite lists. If I’m about to commit sacrilege in criticizing some aspects of Sim’s interpretation of Scrooge, I would be the last person to ever argue with the compelling emotional power this version still manages to convey.
The best Scrooge ever? Lots of people think so about Alastair Sim.
There is a substantial upgrade in image quality on this new 1080p/MPEG-2 encoded Blu-ray from even VCI's excellently
restored DVD release of a couple of years ago. I was immediately struck by the brilliant contrast, which offered
wonderfully inky blacks and a similarly excellent grayscale. Whites bristle nicely in the snow scenes and never bloom.
Sharpness and clarity are quite good as well, though the film grain does occasionally devolve into noisiness at times. All
of this is not to say the source elements are not without their problems. Though VCI touts that it went back to 35mm
source elements, which is certainly laudable, there doesn't appear to have been any really meticulous cleaning on this
transfer. While the bulk of the film looks quite splendid, videophiles will still be able to notice scratches, flecks, dirt and
debris from time to time.
There is one rather strange anomaly on this transfer, and it's something I mentioned in a previous review for another
site on another VCI product, their SD-DVD release of Burke's Law, the old Gene Barry television series.
Occasionally on that release as well as A Christmas Carol, motion suddenly "jumps," as if a frame or two is
missing, though the soundtrack continues apace and there are no missing seconds from the timecode if you engage
"Display" on your BD player (I mention this only for readers who may think it's a fault with the BD itself rather than the
transfer). A good example of this (just one of several) on A Christmas Carol is near the end of the film, at circa
1:18:17 and again at 1:18:22, when Scrooge is at the window saying "What a beautiful morning" and obviously lurches.
I guess it might be a missing frame, but one would expect the sound to skip there, which it doesn't. Another moment is
at 1:22:18 where one would think the piano playing in the parlor would be slightly interrupted if it's missing frames we're
dealing with. I have to wonder if this is an authoring problem, or perhaps a playback issue endemic to PS3's. I did get
some emails after my Burke's Law review stating that other owners of the title were experiencing the same
thing. If this had been a port over from a PAL transfer I could almost understand the timeshifting, but since VCI states
they've gone back to 35mm masters to do this new Blu-ray, I'm frankly at a loss to explain it.
Unfortunately, the audio options on this Blu-ray are not up to the standards set by the generally excellent image quality. Two Dolby Digital mixes are included, the original mono track as well as a repurposed 5.1 surround mix. Both choices sadly leave quite a bit to be desired. I frankly couldn't stand listening to the 5.1 for very long, as it is saddled with such bad chorusing and reverb that I personally found it unlistenable. That same chorusing effect is still apparent, though less bothersome, in the original mono track. The original track, while not egregiously damaged, has noticeable hiss and an overall boxy sound that is evident throughout both dialogue and underscore, though that problem is widely variable. For instance, the opening bass-heavy brass music sounds pretty acceptable, but then the first patch of dialogue has an over- reverbed sound. That use of reverb is similarly variable, and seems to abate once the film moves into its more intimate, interior sections. The 5.1 mix manages a few ambient surround moments, notably some of the music and foley effects during the Spirits' appearances, but there are really no "wow" moments in the surround repurposing. LFE is non-existent and indeed pretty much any low frequencies are missing from this overly compressed sounding soundtrack.
VCI did a superb job a couple of years ago with their 2 DVD release of this title, which offered some wonderful bonuses,
including a whole second version of the property (a 1935 Seymour Hicks starrer, also called Scrooge). For some
reason VCI has chosen to offer this Blu-ray on a 25G disc, meaning bonuses on the Blu-ray itself are limited to the DVD
commentary by Cole being ported over and the British and US trailers included (as well as a VCI promo), and a pop-up trivia
track.
A bonus DVD, which is a nice touch, offers the feature on SD-DVD (and you'll immediately notice the downgrade in
contrast and sharpness, even upconverted) with the feature in its original aspect ratio and also rematted for 16:9
widescreen. It's actually not the worst repurposing of an Academy ratio film for widescreen that I've seen, but heads do roll
at times (or at least get their tops chopped off), and I just have to wonder about the wisdom of such a repurposing. At
least this DVD does not include the colorized version, as the 2 DVD set a few years ago did. But where is the other
bonus content that 2 DVD release contained? A 50G BD would have solved that problem handily.
It's never really Christmas without some version of A Christmas Carol. Viewers have so many choices with this source material that it would be arrogant for me to deign which is the best. But a lot of fans have maintained this is certainly one of the best, if not the all-time champ, and I certainly wouldn't argue with that. This Blu-ray offers a nice upgrade in image quality, if also troublesome audio, but if you're a fan of this version, you'll most likely be thrilled and won't be too prone to shout, "Bah, humbug!"
60th Anniversary Diamond Edition | Scrooge
1951
Scrooge
1951
1951
1938
1984
1935
1970
1946
Warner Archive Collection
2016
2008
1979
1994
2005
70th Anniversary Edition
1947
1989
25th Anniversary Edition
1985
2011
2009
2005
1985
1962
Anniversary Edition
1994
1993