I am a HUGE Christmas Carol junkie. Every year I watch or listen to many tellings and never tire of doing so. My favorite is the Alastair Sim version. It is gritty and gothic, and Sim is fantastic in the way he leaves all abandon to portray a man so haunted by the daggers of his own doings that he cannot crawl one more inch into life without regret or hatred, or change. Sim also captures so perfectly Scrooge on Christmas morning when the miser is taught to love Christmas, dancing around in his nightgown with giggles and wild hair.
Why do I love this story so much? One essential reason could be that it's a ghost story and I've always been fascinated with the paranormal. But it's also a tale of human reformation and that's something else I have also been fascinated with. Many nights I've lain awake thinking of the human condition, and all its sadness, and wondered how each of us would find a way to true knowing.
This radio version below with the late, great Orson Wells is one I caught before going to Midnight Mass one Friday so very long ago. I haven't listened to it since that night and just found it on YouTube. Enjoy, on this night before the night before Christmas. Listen with a cup of hot cider or some wine--and since we'll be listening together, we can share. Remember, don't be a Scrooge. Oh! That reminds me, I love the Albert Finney musical version too. Just caught it the other day and it's on later tonight, so guess what I'll be doing?
Sim has that wonderful face. He can be smiling one second, and as miserable as sin the next. We have his version on TV tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteIn fact it's on this evening, and we have a crowd coming to watch!
ReplyDeleteEvery year, the Germans have the same Freddie Frinton short film on T.V. No, I hadn't heard of him before either. X
ReplyDeleteThat reminds me, I must get some Campbell's soup!
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