Scrooge (Albert Finney, 1970)

Scrooge is the 1970 Albert Finney version of A Christmas Carol. Finney plays Scrooge both as a young man and as the old man, and he is wonderful in both parts. Perfectly believable. The first time I saw it I didn't realize the parts were played by the same actor. He is in The Bourne Ultimatum, The Bourne Legacy and Skyfall. We love Albert Finney. We're especially fond of him in Big Fish.

Alec Guinness plays Marley. Also in this one are Edith Evans (The Nun's Story) as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Michael Medwin (The Longest Day) as Scrooge's confusingly-named nephew Fred or Harry, Gordon Jackson (the butler in Upstairs, Downstairs), Anton Rodgers (Number Two in one of the Prisoner episodes) as the Hot Soup Man, Laurence Naismith (the 1963 Jason and the Argonauts, Diamonds Are Forever, Camelot, The Man Who Never Was) and Roy Kinnear (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Help!, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Bed Sitting Room).

It's The Daughter's favorite of the Christmas Carol movies, so we watched it one night when she was here. We all like this version.

Scrooge (1970) Albert Finney, Alec Guinness... by mov-ie

DVD Talk says, "Of the more than two dozen filmed adaptations of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, the 1970 musical Scrooge is one of the best." DVD Journal calls it "the perfect family holiday film" and says,

Aside from the Golden Globe-winning performance by Finney, one of the key things that separates Scrooge from the countless other versions of A Christmas Carol is the music by Leslie Bricusse.

Roger Ebert closes with this:

Alec Guinness contributes a Marley wrapped in chains; the Christmas turkey weighs at least 40 pounds; Tiny Tim is appropriately tiny, and Scrooge reforms himself with style. What more could you want? No songs, I'd say.

Rotten Tomatoes gives it a score of 75%.