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The 1951 black and white version of A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sim is considered by many viewers the very best. It’s the version they have grown up watching every Christmas, it has become a classic, and all newer versions are inevitably compared to it.

I like this movie, although I would not call it the best. Sim gives a decent performance, starting as a dry and cold-hearted old man and then gradually working his way to repentance and complete transformation. He is especially good at portraying Scrooge’s fear of the spirits, which many other versions fail to do: their Scrooge handles the supernatural visitations way too easily.

One of the scenes I don’t understand is Tiny Tim suddenly stating that he knows who sent them the huge turkey for Christmas – it’s Mr.Scrooge. It’s a cutie scene, but it is not justified, in my opinion. The way Scrooge had treated the Cratchit family, he’d be the last person they’d think of as the anonymous turkey giver, and there is absolutely no reason Tiny Tim should think differently.

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