There are only two films I have seen so many times I can recite the dialogue by heart: “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “A Christmas Carol,” the 1951 version.
(Since this is a Santa Claus Fund article, you know I’m not here to talk about the first one.)
It is not unusual at “this festive season of the year” for members of my family to erupt with random lines like “Come into the parlour,” “Incessant torture” and “I must stand on my head” — which admittedly sound nonsensical outside the context of the film. But if you know, you know, as they say.
We — my father, mother, sister and I — have watched “A Christmas Carol” on Christmas Eve for more than 50 years.Ìý
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when the tradition began. We used to watch it on Hamilton’s CHCH, which began broadcasting in 1954 and became the country’s first independent TV station in 1961, the year I was born. (My younger sister, Donna, recalls being devastated one year when CHCH didn’t air it.) So let’s just say we’ve been watching since my sister and I were old enough to take in an hour-and-26-minute movie.Ìý
Debra Yeo, right, and sister Donna Yeo at their aunt’s house one Christmas, probably in the ’80s judging by the hair. Even after Debra moved away from home in 1980, she would return on Christmas Eve to watch “A Christmas Carol” with her family, up until she got married and bought her own house in pc28¹ÙÍøin her 40s.Ìý
Debra YeoI’m no film critic, but “A Christmas Carol” has it all: tragedy, comedy, drama, the paranormal, even a touch of romance. There’s no sex or violence — watch “Die Hard” if you want the latter.
Based on the 1843 Charles Dickens novella, it tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a cold-hearted businessman who only cares about money — think of him as a particularly misanthropic member of the Victorian one per cent. But his dead business partner, Jacob Marley, has seen the error of his greedy ways now that he’s doomed to wander in the afterlife, dragging a heavy chain. Jacob procures a chance for Scrooge to avoid the same fate through the visits of three ghosts: Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet to Come, who seek to imbue Scrooge with Yuletide spirit.
The 1951 film is, of course, just one of many iterations of the story — Google’s Generative AI claims there have been more than 100 movie adaptations — but it’s the best, in my humble opinion. I even defended it in 2008 in a pc28¹ÙÍøStar “Battle of the holiday classics.” Spoiler alert: it won.
Yes, the moviemaking is primitive by modern standards — the outdoor sets are obviously fake and the special effects rudimentary — but it has a secret weapon: Alastair Sim.
Scottish actor Sim, a late bloomer who began his stage career at 30 and his film career at 35, according to IMDb, was 51 when he played what is arguably his greatest role.Ìý
In , one of Sim’s nephews says he was immensely proud of the movie, as well he should have been.
Just watch Sim acting opposite an empty chair on which Marley’s ghost (Michael Hordern) has been superimposed for the scene in which the spectre bursts through the locked door of a sitting room, having noisily dragged his chain up the stairs.Ìý
Dread, fear, annoyance, defiance, pity, abject terror: all play across Sim’s expressive face. Then the scene is leavened with comedy as a horrified Scrooge leaps onto his bed, pulls the bed curtains tight and cowers with the covers over his head.
And is there anything more joyful than the part of the movie in which a reformed Scrooge awakes on Christmas morning, delighted that the ghosts have done their work in one night so he can celebrate the holiday with the people he previously scorned?
Is there anything more joyful than the part of “A Christmas Carol” in which a reformed Scrooge (Alastair Sim) awakes on Christmas morning, delighted he can celebrate the holiday with the people he previously scorned?
United ArtistsHe laughs, he sings, he skips around the room; he hurls himself noggin first onto a chair with the words “I must stand on my head, I must stand on my head,” sending his housekeeper screaming from the room.
And this is the part of the story where I explain what “A Christmas Carol” has to do with the Star’s Santa Claus Fund, which provides gift boxes to children in need.Ìý
It seems to me that “A Christmas Carol” is the perfect Santa Fund movie with its message that it’s better to give than receive, and that charity can transform the giver’s life for the better in ways that riches can’t.
Just watching parts of the movie to write this story has filled me with Christmas spirit in a way nothing else can. Hopefully, reading it will do the same for you.
My family and I will watch “A Christmas Carol” this Christmas Eve as we do every year, albeit in our own homes and on DVD instead of a TV broadcast (you can also stream it on under the title “Scrooge”). It wouldn’t feel like Christmas if we didn’t.
May the holiday be as filled with jubilation for you as a post-ghost Ebenezer Scrooge.
The pc28¹ÙÍøStar Santa Claus Fund
With your gift, the Santa Claus Fund can help provide holiday gift boxes that inspire hope and joy to 50,000 financially vulnerable kids.
GOAL:Ìý$1.5 million
How to donate
Online:ÌýTo donate by Visa, Mastercard or Amex use our secure form atÌý
By cheque:ÌýMail to The pc28¹ÙÍøStar Santa Claus Fund, 8 Spadina Ave., Toronto, ON M5V 0S8
By phone:Ìý°ä²¹±ô±ôÌý647-250-8282
Tax receipts will be issued.
To Volunteer:
·¡³¾²¹¾±±ôÌýscfvolunteer@thestar.ca
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