Christmas isn't the same in my opinion without watching at least one film version of Charles Dickens's classic A Christmas Carol. Fortunately there are many to choose from depending on personal preference. In my opinion, this version is the best.
It's a bitterly cold Christmas Eve in Victorian London. Scrooge (played by Alastair Sim) goes about his usual business. Anyone who tries to share Christmas Spirit with him or even remind him that it is Christmas Eve is treated with scorn and annoyance. For anyone who actually dares to say "Merry Christmas!" to him, he promptly replies with a resounding "Bah! Humbug!"
His unfortunate clerk Bob Cratchit (played by Mervyn Johns) works while struggling to fend off the cold in his office and keep his own Christmas Spirit in the face of his boss's seeming hatred of Christmas and all things associated with Christmas. At the day's end, Scrooge begrudgingly gives Bob Christmas off but demands Bob come in "all the earlier" the following day. Afterwards Scrooge leaves for home.
While Scrooge gets ready for bed that evening, he is visited by the ghost of his old similarly miserly partner Jacob Marley (played by Michael Hordern). In the years since his untimely passing, Marley has been suffering both because he was such a miser in his lifetime but also because he has apparently been trying to reach out to humanity help. He has been specifically reaching out to Scrooge to try to help Scrooge not meet the same fate as himself. In his efforts to help Scrooge, Marley has managed to make it so that Scrooge will be visited by three spirits.
As Marley promised, Scrooge is visited by The Ghost of Christmas Past, The Ghost of Christmas Present, and the terrifying Ghost of Christmas Future. Through the visions that the respective ghosts show to Scrooge it is hoped that he will turn from his current path and become a better person who has Christmas Spirit throughout the year. In other words, a person who focuses more on helping people instead of being a miser in all ways.
All of the cast is wonderful but Alastair Sim does a particularly excellent job bringing to life the miserly Scrooge. It seems that he set the bar with this performance for the subsequent Scrooges that followed.
If you haven't seen this version yet, I would strongly advise seeing it. Fortunately it is such a beloved classic that it is usually shown on cable tv networks at least once during the Christmas season.
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