CHRISTMAS CAROL, A - Blu-ray review

"Bah! Humbug!"

It seems as though I've been reviewing VCI's various disc transfers of "A Christmas Carol" for the past dozen holiday seasons. It hasn't been that long, but with each new edition, we get a better print, a better mastering, or a better restoration. Now, we get the best release so far, in high-definition Blu-ray.

Of the many film versions of Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol," this one from 1951 with Alastair Sim as Scrooge is the most faithful to the spirit of the book. It is, indeed, THE Christmas classic. I first saw it when my father took me to a Moose Lodge Christmas party around 1953, and I am sure I have seen it every year since. The movie is a pleasure to watch, especially on Blu-ray, a treat I hope to continue for a very long time.

I doubt there is anyone reading this review who doesn't know the story of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, his Christmas Eve visit by the ghosts of Christmas Past (Michael Dolan), Present (Francis De Wolff), and Yet To Come (C. Konarski), and his subsequent conversion to the true meaning of charity and love. All of the familiar Dickens characters come to life in this delightful screen adaptation, but it is Alastair Sim in particular whom the movie most perfectly casts. He makes a fine, curmudgeonly skinflint as Scrooge, and his changeover at the end of the story is a joy to behold. Indeed, every moment of Sim's portrayal is a joy; it's an amazingly nuanced realization that impresses more every time I watch it. By the time it's over, Sim's Scrooge has become truly a man reborn, a man who had lost his way along the paths of life and finds an exuberant return to a course of redemption.

Then, one cannot forget Scrooge's underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit (Mervyn Johns), whose relationship with the old man is really at the heart of the story. Or the little crippled boy, Tiny Tim (Glyn Dearman), who helps Scrooge learn the value of kindness; or Scrooge's old partner, Jacob Marley (Michael Hordern in a wonderfully melodramatic, over-the-top performance), returned from the dead shackled in ledgers and cash boxes; or Scrooge's first employer, dear old Mr. Fezziwig (Roddy Hughes); or Scrooge's nephew, Fred (Brian Worth), and his family; or the great loves of Scrooge's youth, his sister Fan (Carol Marsh) and his fiancée Alice (Rona Anderson); or young Marley (Patrick Macnee); or young Scrooge himself (George Cole).

Brian Desmond Hurst ("Dangerous Moonlight," "Tom Brown's Schooldays") produced and directed this all-British film, and Richard Addinsell (whose most enduring composition was the "Warsaw Concerto") composed the music. "A Christmas Carol" is not a particularly extravagant production, to be sure, but it captures perfectly the flavor of Dickens's London, no doubt due to its being shot partly on location in very Dickens-like areas of the city.

Incidentally, the movie's producers released the film in England under the title "Scrooge" and in the U.S. under its original Dickens title, "A Christmas Carol." The print used for this Blu-ray transfer is the restored English version, and, thus, we see the movie here announced in the opening titles by its British designation, "Scrooge." Fortunately, the keep-case cover continues to call it by its inspiration, "A Christmas Carol." A rose by any other name, it's still a great motion picture, made all the better by its crisp, new high-def transfer.

Video:
VCI Home Entertainment use a single-layer BD25 and an MPEG-2 audio-video codec to reproduce the black-and-white film on Blu-ray disc in its native aspect ratio, about 1.33:1. I have to admit that every time I see a B&W film transferred to disc in high definition, it amazes me how good it looks. Black-and-white can often look better than color, with a crystalline clarity and dimensionality that can be downright astonishing.

This new restoration displays fairly sharp definition, bright contrasts, and a minimum of dirt, flecks, specks, film grain, or video noise. Black levels are remarkably deep and whites are so white they practically gleam. If you look closely enough, you'll still find trace elements of age, and, thankfully, a fine, natural film grain. Taken as a whole, it looks darn good.

Audio:
When the VCI restoration engineers remastered the picture a few years ago, they remastered the sound as well, providing not only a Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural track but a new 5.1 mix as well. VCI provide the Blu-ray transfer with these same two soundtracks but not a lossless TrueHD track. It's the disc's only big drawback, although it's possible that with using a BD25 and MPEG-2 codec, it was not feasible to use TrueHD. In any case, there isn't much going on in the soundtrack that might have benefited too much from TrueHD, so we're probably not missing a lot.

In Dolby Digital 5.1 we get a reasonably wide sonic spread across the front speakers, although I did not notice much happening in the surrounds beyond some minor musical ambience reinforcement and perhaps a moan or groan or two from Marley's ghost. The shortcomings of the 5.1 are that the frequency and dynamic ranges remain understandably limited, the background is somewhat noisy, and the overall tonal balance is a rather forward, making dialogue seem pinched and edgy. I listened in monaural because I found it a bit smoother, if also a bit noisier. The fact is, the audio reproduction does not match the new high-def video. Maybe if VCI had applied a little more noise reduction to the sound, it might have helped a bit; I don't know. Nevertheless, if the listener doesn't turn the volume up too loud, things are OK.

Extras:
Disc one of this two-disc Blu-ray edition contains the high-definition feature film; a 2005 audio commentary by film historian and journalist Marcus Hearn and one of the film's co-stars, George Cole, who played Young Scrooge in the picture. With Hearn asking the questions and Cole responding, they provide a charming bundle of observations and reminiscences about the movie. In addition, we get a pop-up trivia track; a promo for other VCI products; pop-up menus; American and British theatrical trailers (in standard def); eighteen scene selections; English as the only spoken language; and English and Spanish subtitles.

Disc two is a regular DVD containing two renderings of the movie in standard-definition: the restored 1951 version in its original 4x3 size and the 1951 version in 16x9. In addition, we get the audio commentary; text biographies for some of the cast and crew; eighteen scene selections; English as the only spoken language; an optional narrative track for the blind; and English and Spanish subtitles.

Parting Thoughts:
"A Christmas Carol" is a holiday tradition. If viewed each season along with "It's a Wonderful Life," "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947), and "A Christmas Story," I guarantee there won't be a dry eye in the house afterwards or a bad vibe for the rest of the year. I could hardly recommend a film more highly, especially now with its beautiful Blu-ray picture.

"And so, as Tiny Tim observed, 'God bless Us, Every One!'"