It’s Time To Watch Alastair Sim’s Scrooge

I remember when I first saw Scrooge. In America, it was titled A Christmas Carol. It was 1951. We lived in Denver. I went to the theater by myself, as usual.

The movie had just been released. It was what we call a sleeper. It was not narcolepsy-inducing. Quite the contrary. Rather, it took years for it to achieve classic status. It shared this attribute with It’s a Wonderful Life(1946) and A Christmas Story (1983).

Sim’s performance was spectacular. At age nine, I recognized this. When an act...