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Product Description
Alastair Sim's tour-de-force performance as the ultimate miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, has almost single-handedly made this beloved version of Charles Dickens' story into one of the best-loved Christmas films of all time. Some of Britain's best filmmakers united behind Sim, who was joined by a delightful cast of accomplished and acclaimed English actors; creating what many today believe to be the best and most faithful production of Dickens' immortal tale. Cranky and curmudgeonly Scrooge learns the error of his unkind ways and is taught the true meaning of the holidays when he is visited by the ghost of his late business partner and the spirits of Christmas past, present and future.
Amazon.com
This is the desert-island choice of the many versions of A Christmas Carol, with a magnificent, full-bodied portrayal of Ebenezer Scrooge by Alastair Sim that leaves everyone else in the dust. Lean and direct, this film's version of the story wastes no time trying to impress viewers with the magical nature of the spirits' visitations. Director Brian Desmond Hurst keeps the focus on Scrooge's life story, beautifully simplifying and underscoring the theme of lost women with a haunting musical refrain from the folk song "Barbara Allen." Sim's commitment to the role is at times astonishing; his Scrooge's Christmas-morning ecstasy is a marvel of giddy technique. Watch for Patrick Macnee (Steed in The Avengers) as the young Jacob Marley--the actor made his screen debut in this 1951 production. --Tom Keogh
A Christmas Carol (Ultimate Collector's Edition) Reviews
A Christmas Carol (Ultimate Collector's Edition) Reviews
| 239 of 245 people found the following review helpful  Ultimate Collector's Edition indeed!, By This review is from: A Christmas Carol (Ultimate Collector's Edition) (DVD) Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program ( What's this?) I only discovered this movie about four years ago but have watched it every Christmas since. To me it's the best version of the Christmas Carol ever made, and now it gets the best treatment you could have ever hoped for. This two disc collector's edition contains two different versions of this movie. First is the colorized version, but then the second is the real treat. They went back to the original prints of this and worked from there. After carefully removing the skips, scratches, and jerky frames, they digitally restored the movie to a version that looks as if it were made yesterday! The sound has been changed to 5.1 digital surround, and there's even a widescreen version for 16:9 televisions.The special features include an earlier version of Christmas Carol (not as good as this one), as well as several featurettes on the movie, interviews with the stars, a feature on Alistair Sim, and others. You can tell the distributor put a lot of effort into this... Read more 64 of 67 people found the following review helpful Meticulous restoration of a holiday classic, By Penumbra (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews This review is from: A Christmas Carol (Ultimate Collector's Edition) (DVD) Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program ( What's this?) Although this 1951 classic film takes some liberties with the Dicken's novel, it remains the film most faithful to the original story. Some of the sets and costumes were directly inspired by the memorable illustrations in the first edition of the book. Alastair Sim is very convincing as the miserly Scrooge who, after a terrifying night of ghostly visits, is transformed into a man who knows how to keep Christmas in his heart.There have been many DVD editions of this holiday favorite in recent years, several of them from VCI Entertainment. In this package, VCI has included some things featured on previous releases (commentary, Dickens biography, etc.), but the real star of this set is the beautifully restored version of the black and white film. According to a short feature on the restoration of the film, VCI has finally been able to obtain film elements from the original master. Apparently they didn't have access to a complete master, so they used several of the best... Read more 46 of 48 people found the following review helpful Crisp and clean restoration of the classic, plus loads of interesting extras, By This review is from: A Christmas Carol (Ultimate Collector's Edition) (DVD) Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program ( What's this?) There are numerous issues and re-issues of the 1951 version of "A Christmas Carol" so why purchase this 2007 VCI release? To say that this film version of Dickens' story is a classic would be an understatement. Hailed by most critics as the best of all the versions made over the past 70-odd years, this review need not dwell on whether or not this is a movie worthy of watching; many other reviewers here have said as much. What has typically not been done in reviews posted here is to give potential purchasers an in-depth analysis of what makes this release a most have (or not) for first time watchers, someone looking for a great Christmas gift, or simply a fan who wants "The Ultimate Collector's Edition (as this release is advertised). This review will attempt to cover, not the film itself in much detail - although some aspects will be discussed. Instead it will focus mainly on the extras and production value present on this release compared to other releases. Importantly this... Read more |
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