Welcome to the start of our festive season of films. We start with what is considered to be the definitive of the many film versions of Charles Dickens’ classic novel in this 1951 British adaptation, starring Alastair Sim. It is is arguably the movie version to which all others are compared.

Crotchety Victorian businessman Ebenezer Scrooge (Alastair Sim) has no use for festivity, even at Christmas. After resentfully allowing timid clerk Bob Cratchit (Mervyn Johns) to have the holiday to spend with his loving wife (Hermione Baddeley) and family, Scrooge is swept into a nightmare. The ghost of his late partner, Jacob Marley (Michael Hordern), appears, warning that Ebenezer will be visited by three more spirits who will show the coldhearted man the error of his parsimonious behaviour.