A Christmas Carol (Ultimate Collector's Edition)(B/W & Color) |  | Actors: Alastair Sim, Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, Mervyn Johns, Hermione Baddeley
Studio: VCI Entertainment
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $9.75
as of 11/21/2009 02:09 CST details
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New (23) Used (5) Collectible (1) from $9.75
Seller: digitaleyes_dvdplanet
Rating:  169 reviews
Sales Rank: 101
Format: Black & White, Color, Digital Sound, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 2
Running Time: 86 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 5
Dimensions (in): 5 x 4 x 1
MPN: 8500
UPC: 089859850028
EAN: 0089859850028
ASIN: B000SR0DDE
Theatrical Release Date: 1951
Release Date: October 23, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | 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 |
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Product Description
CHRISTMAS CAROL A (DVD MOVIE)
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 On the DVD
This ultimate collectors' edition is crammed with special features, on both discs.
Amazon exclusive video:
George Cole, who played the
young Ebenezer Scrooge, reflects.Watch here Find out what's new on
this restored version of A Christmas Carol. Watch here Never-before-seen U.S. and
U.K. trailers. Watch here | Film (and Charles Dickens) fans won't want to miss a single screen. The audio commentary by Marcus Hearn and George Cole adds depth and perspective to Sim's amazing performance, and the groundbreaking special effects for the time. Cole also gives a homey remembrance of working with Sim during World War II and living in the English countryside to avoid the Blitz. One of the most compelling extras is a short bio of George Mintner, the film's executive producer who would go on to found his own successful distribution company, Renown Pictures. An unlikely film mogul, the British Mintner was shy and bookish, but managed to build a reputable mini-studio in the '50s, out of the Hollywood limelight. He produced mostly B-movies, though after A Christmas Carol (originally titled Scrooge), he produced another Dickens adaptation, The Pickwick Papers. There's a great mini-bio of Dickens, who grew up in the poverty that later fascinated him in his writings. Other extras include the colorized version (what were people thinking back in the '80s?), cast bios, original trailers, and a features that more film companies might want to consider, an optional narration for the blind. Nothing is left out for film fans--God bless us, every one.--A.T. Hurley Beyond A Christmas Carol 
1938 version starring Reginald Owen | 
1984 version starring George C. Scott | 
1999 version starring Patrick Stewart | Stills from A Christmas Carol
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 169
 The Best Version of Dickens' Timeless Holiday Tale November 21, 2009
Music Lover (Islip, NY United States)
This is the one "Scrooge" that I HAVE to watch every Christmas! It's a classic film, telling a classic story, and the adaptation is brilliant and near flawless. Alastair Sim gives an amazing performance, and all the other actors are gems, especially Kathleen Harrison as Mrs. Dilber, and Mervyn Johns as Bob Crachit. Michael Hordern is a superb Marley's Ghost, wailing and screaming enough to terrify Scrooge to shivering. The music is also an enormous asset, written by Richard Addinsell, and perfect for the film. See the film in black and white, turn on the original mono sound, and set it to the original 4x3 aspect ratio. Don't watch the widescreen version which crops the top and bottom of the original frame. They also have a 5.1 soundtrack, which is a false 5.1, and it should only be listened to in the original mono sound.
A Great Christmas Classic November 17, 2009
Charles P. Episale (Binghamton, NY)
This version of A Christmas Carol is the best all around film. The story and the cast are second to none and is a truly enjoyable Christmas Classic for any age.
Color, black and white, black and blue...great in any format! November 9, 2009
Jack (Las Vegas, NV)
I love this movie in its original black and white. My opinion, without doubt, the best of all the filmed CHRISTMAS CAROLS. Alastair Sim is the Scrooge for the ages. So the question is, does colorization make this film better or improve it in any way? The answer is no. It can't be improved because it's already perfect. But colorization certainly does add an element of fun in watching it after repeated b&w viewings. And if colorization gets younger viewers to watch this wonderful movie, than it's more than a gimmick. It's a tool to encourage those not familiar with the film classics to give them a look.
As far as the actual colorization goes, I really don't see much improvement in the process in all the years it's been around. Having said that, this film sort of lends itself to the process however because of the locale and nature of the storytelling so the faded, less than crisp colors don't detract from the picture and can almost seem like they might belong. More important than the colorization, is the added feature in this package of the widescreen presentation of the black and white version which looks terrific!
So if you are a fan of the movie and would like to see what it looks like colorized (and I admit I always do like to see the colorization of the classics just for the fun of it) or even if you would like to see the b&w version in widescreem (I'm really not sure how they achieved this cause it wasn't filmed in widescreen but looks here like it really was: no distortion or zoom-like cutoffs at all!) or if you are a collector of anything A CHRISTMAS CAROL, then I happily recommend this version to you. Happy Holidays!
PS: For us collectors of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, this packaging is pretty nifty, too!
Finally! November 8, 2009
AnneinNJ (NJ, United States)
I've always enjoyed watching this movie broadcast each Christmas on local TV, but the last few years it was limited to PBS at midnight and then last year I was so disappointed to find it not broadcast at all! The movie is such a treasure and my favorite take on the Dicken's classic. Alistair Sim is perfect and no other actor lives up to his interpretation in my view. The digital remake here is excellent and much better than the quality that I've been watching on TV over the last three decades. I enjoy the black & white but for those who like the color, you get that too. A great deal here to watch year after year.
Worth purchasing, even with all the caveats November 6, 2009
Mark E. Stenroos (Laguna Niguel, CA)
I've known this movie for most of my life, and have owned it on VHS, laserdisc, initial DVD releases and now this UCE. I can say without hesitation that this mastering is by far the best one I've ever seen. The picture is cleaned up considerably and is steady as a rock. The contrast and depth is the best ever, and the sound is also excellent. At the going rate of anywhere from $8-12USD, it's cheap and a good investment. You won't feel cheated by this purchase.
That said, I agree with the caveats others have voiced. To that, I would add that the English subtitles could have been better done. There are sync problems with some of them - some subtitles either appear too early or too late with the words being spoken on the screen. Also, some lines in the film have no subtitles at all. Worst, some of the subtitles are clearly wrong, and don't reflect what the actors are saying.
I'll give you two instances of this: in the book, Dickens mentions that after leaving his office, "Scrooge took his melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy tavern; and having read all the newspapers, and beguiled the rest of the evening with his banker's-book, went home to bed." This is expanded upon in the film: Scrooge is seen eating his dinner. A waiter passes by, and Scrooge asks him for "more bread." The waiter answers, " 's a hay-penny extra, sir" (ie: it's a half-penny extra, sir). Scrooge responds, "no more bread." The dialogue for this scene doesn't appear in Dicken's story and was obviously added to the film to show Scrooge for the miser that he is.
But the UCE gets the waiter's line wrong, translating it in the subtitles as "Take's me extra, sir"!
Say, wha???
The second example occurs when post-ghost visits, Scrooge awakens to Xmas morning, looks out his window and hails a boy running down the street. He instructs the boy to go to the butcher down the street and to purchase the prized turkey in the window. In Dickens' book, the boy replies, "Walk-er!" which was a slang term used in Dickens' time that meant that something wasn't true or wasn't going to happen, and that's what the child actor says in the film. Rather than subtitle the actual word the actor speaks, the subtitles give an approximation of what the slang term, "Walk-er," means. The word "Walker" appears as "won't occur" in the subtitles.
I guess there might be some logic to this example, but I would have preferred a subtitle that was literal. And, as most people don't watch English films with English subtitles, it won't be a distraction for most. I does suggest that the subtitles were done by listening to the voice track and deciphering what the actors were saying, rather than working from a script.
Still, it's very much worth buying this DVD set. VAi seems to put a new mastering of this film out once every 10-15 years, so this is the one collectors will have to live with for the foreseeable future.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 169
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