In one haunted evening, embittered old miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who has soured on the world and his fellowman, learns the true spirit of Christmas from three ghostly visitors. After moving visions of long-dead happiness, of past and present remorse and a fearful glimpse into the future, Scrooge receives the chance to change his life for the better on Christmas morning.
Crotchety miser Ebenezer Scrooge (Reginald Owen) hates Christmas and mistreats his long-suffering employee, devoted family man Bob Cratchit (Gene Lockhart). But a visit from the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley (Leo G. Carroll) and three Christmas spirits (Lionel Braham, Ann Rutherford, D’Arcy Corrigan) might convince him to change his ways and become more kindhearted. This adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic became a holiday staple for decades.
For a generation of radio fans, Lionel Barrymore was the definitive Ebeneezer Scrooge. Alas, Barrymore was crippled by arthritis by the time MGM got around to filming Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in 1938, so the Scrooge role went to contract player Reginald Owen – who, though hardly in the Barrymore league, does a splendid job. Hugo Butler’s screenplay must make some adjustments from the source material. The Ghost of Christmas Past, for example, is played not by a robust middle-aged man but by a beautiful young woman (Ann Rutherford). Impeccably cast, the film includes such reliable character players as Leo G. Carroll (Marley’s Ghost), Barry McKay (Scrooge’s nephew Fred) and Gene and Kathleen Lockhart (Bob and Mrs. Cratchit). The Lockhart’s teenaged daughter June makes her screen debut as one of the Cratchit children, while Terry Kilburn is a fine, non-sentimental Tiny Tim. Commendably short for a major production (69 minutes), MGM’s Christmas Carol is one of the best adaptations of the oft-filmed Dickens Yuletide classic, and definitely on equal footing with the more famous 1951 Alastair Sim version.
Starring Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart, Kathleen Lockhart, Terry Kilburn, Barry MacKay.