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BBC/Warner 1951 Scrooge

post #1 of 18
12/14/06 at 5:51am
Thread Starter 
I remember this being announce last year and was looking forward to, it as much as I like my VCI it does need a great restoration. And that is what I thought we would get, well it’s another year later, and still has not shown up. Was there something wrong with the copyright? This would be such a wonderful treat, and as a bonus, I wonder if WB has the 71 animated version as well with Alastair Sim reprising the role twenty years later. What a great extra that would make for comparison, just some thought, does anyone knows if this is ever going to happen?
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post #2 of 18
12/14/06 at 8:21am

Re: BBC/Warner 1951 Scrooge

From Barrie Maxwell's latest column at The Bits:

"There is word that VCI will have a new version of the 1951 Scrooge out on DVD for Christmas, but for 2007, not this year. The source material will be a new 35mm fine grain print."
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post #3 of 18
12/14/06 at 8:48am
Thread Starter 

Re: BBC/Warner 1951 Scrooge

That’s great news, now as long as they leave off the god awful colorizes one, I have a feeling that it will have pretty much the same extras on it though, did a little research and the one that BBC was doing sounded great, some surviving cast members did commentaries. Also since it is VCI, I know that we won’t see the 71 version with it, it was a Chuck Jones production, and most of his work is ingrained at WB. Such a shame for such a rarely seen holiday treat.

Also found that BBC thought that it was in PD in the states and already had the disc authored and ready to go into mass production for last year, but had to pull it according to one of the British film boards, because VCI owns the North American right to distribute it. Odd how many hands this title has changed through, original released in the US by United Artist theatrically.
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post #4 of 18
12/14/06 at 10:02am

Re: BBC/Warner 1951 Scrooge

Quote:
Originally Posted by dana martin
Also found that BBC thought that it was in PD in the states and already had the disc authored and ready to go into mass production for last year, but had to pull it according to one of the British film boards, because VCI owns the North American right to distribute it. Odd how many hands this title has changed through, original released in the US by United Artist theatrically.

Hmmm; I attempted a 'where we are now' piece (before this was announced by Barrie) here.
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post #5 of 18
12/14/06 at 11:36am
Thread Starter 

Re: BBC/Warner 1951 Scrooge

nice to see someone else interested, and agree that i would love to see a definitive version of the complete film
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post #6 of 18
12/14/06 at 12:43pm

Re: BBC/Warner 1951 Scrooge

Well VCI has a great oppourtinity, let's hope they take a cue from what BBC/Warners were doing and do it properly.

Andy

http://www.DameElizabethTaylor.com
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post #7 of 18
12/15/06 at 10:24pm

Re: BBC/Warner 1951 Scrooge

Thank you Barrie Maxwell for commenting on this overdue for restoration classic. I'll bookmark this for review next Fall! hopfully VCI does right and gets the ball roling and researches for the best source print to date please.

Happy Holidays everyone!
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post #8 of 18
12/16/06 at 10:44am

Re: BBC/Warner 1951 Scrooge

I'm off tonight to see the film in Rome, NY at the Capitol Theatre. It's being advertised as a 35mm print from a private collection. I'll be happy in any case to at last see this on the big screen, but if the print looks exceptionally wonderful, I'll let everyone know --- who knows, perhaps this is the best print available.

Todd
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post #9 of 18
12/18/06 at 9:00am

Re: BBC/Warner 1951 Scrooge

Todd:

How was the print?
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post #10 of 18
12/18/06 at 1:24pm

Re: BBC/Warner 1951 Scrooge

Thank you Todd for sharing! Please post something about the print you will view tonight.
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post #11 of 18
12/21/06 at 12:19pm

Re: BBC/Warner 1951 Scrooge

Question: I have what I think is the first VCI DVD issue of the Sim CAROL. It's a flipper with the b&w version on one side and the colorized version on the other. It's introduced by Patrick MacNee (the same intro used in the '90's for television syndication). It has an old animated short, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," as an extra (and maybe a couple of trailers--I don't have the disc in front of me). AND, the opening has been clipped; after the Renown logo the movie cuts directly to "George Minter Presents" and there's an audio fade in to those wonderful alternating crashing chords. Gone is the panning across the book-shelf while a hand selects a copy of "A Christmas Carol" from among other Dickensian titles.

I know VCI has reissued this in a "50th Anniversary" edition; a black and white only edition; and now in my local stores I see they're back to a b&w/colorized package (with a front cover looking very similar to, but not exactly like, my earlier edition). So my question is do any of the subsequent VCI releases have the complete, un-clipped, opening?

Thanks.
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post #12 of 18
12/21/06 at 3:42pm

Re: BBC/Warner 1951 Scrooge

I'm not sure about VCI but I know the Canadian release from Morningstar Entertainment; "A Christmas Carol: Emerald Edition" has the complete opening. Mind you the PQ is something to be desired. I'm very much looking forward to seeing a restored version of this film.
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post #13 of 18
12/22/06 at 4:09pm

Re: BBC/Warner 1951 Scrooge

What are the exact differences between these versions?
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post #14 of 18
12/22/06 at 11:45pm

Re: BBC/Warner 1951 Scrooge

Sorry not to get back on this sooner --- the print shown in Rome, NY last Saturday, December 16, was watchable but nothing special, certainly not the Holy Grail that I hoped for. It was a US copy, with the "A Christmas Carol" title, and much of the film was lacking in contrast --- I'm not enough of an expert to describe it technically, but it almost gave it a "green" hue rather than just being washed out (does that make any sense?). Print damage was visible, nothing to complain about, but the contrast issue early on kept me from getting too excited. That said, it improved as the film progressed and I had a great time watching it in a theatre for the first time.

As a side note, the Capitol Theatre in Rome has a Universal double feature coming up in March, "The Mummy" and "The Wolfman", in 35mm prints from the studio.

Todd
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post #15 of 18
12/26/06 at 5:31pm

Re: BBC/Warner 1951 Scrooge

Let's see....the upcoming VCI release will their fourth....or their fifth? Let's see....there's double-dipping, treble-dipping....and now Quad-dipping?

I'm having difficulty keeping track.

I have the 50th Anniversay edition (two back?) and it's quite satisfactory. This film is never going to get the "Casablanca" treatment anyhow, so do we really need a newer remaster?
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post #16 of 18
12/26/06 at 7:51pm

Re: BBC/Warner 1951 Scrooge

Well those were mainly reissues as they didn't feature anything upgraded. Hopefully this next one will be worth an upgrade. I don't even need special features -- just an improved, unedited transfer is good enough for me.

Andy

http://www.DameElizabethTaylor.com
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post #17 of 18
12/26/06 at 8:47pm

Re: BBC/Warner 1951 Scrooge

Yes an unedited, clean B&W print is all I want!
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post #18 of 18
1/5/07 at 1:48am

Re: BBC/Warner 1951 Scrooge

For those of you multi-region enabled, there is a full comentary on the R2 DD Home Entertainment version of Scrooge by George Cole moderated by Marcus Hearn, despite several reports to the contrary.

I can only think that (a) somehow, several purchasers were mistaken (unlikely, surely?), or (b) early pressings were indeed missing the commentary and that has now been corrected, which I think is more probable.

My initial run through also indicates that the transfer is an improvement on the previous DD version, but I've yet to do an a/b comparison.
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