A Christmas carol 1951 - The classic and definitive version of Dicken's novel

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IMDB rating: 8,1

Director: Brian Desmond Hurst
Main Cast: Alastair Sim, Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, Mervyn Johns, Hermione Baddeley, Michael Hordern

"A Christmas Carol (Scrooge in UK release) is remarkable for staying faithful to Charles Dickens's classic story as it remains fresh and vivid, even upon repeat viewings. The entire cast is excellent, but it is the great performance of Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge that distinguishes this version from several other adaptations of this work. Sim creates a complex characterization, and, in the film's many flashback scenes, the audience is given a compelling view of the character as he evolves into the not-so-lovable curmudgeon visited by ghosts. Indeed, such complexity is necessary for the story to have its full impact, as the viewer must feel both sympathy and disapproval for Scrooge, a difficult combination for an actor to convey. The crisp, black-and-white cinematography of C.M. Pennington-Richards is also a major asset. This is one of the most convincing of all recreations of Dickens' England, with almost no condescension to sentimentality from director Brian Desmond Hurst." - www.allmovie.com

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Green for danger 1946 - Atmospheric British medical thriller

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IMDB rating: 7,7

Director: Sidney Gilliat
Main Cast: Leo Genn, Trevor Howard, Alastair Sim

"Sidney Gilliat's Green for Danger was the most inventive murder mystery to come out of England in the eight years since Alfred Hitchcock left the country - and in a sense, it's no surprise that this would be the case as it was co-written, produced, and directed by the team of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, the two authors of the screenplay for Hitchcock's last great English thriller, The Lady Vanishes. Based on Christianna Brand's novel, the 1946 movie is a fascinating variation on that venerable English creation, the drawing room thriller - in this case, the drawing room is replaced by a hospital operating theater, and instead of family members, the suspects are comprised of the surgical team, doctors and surgeons (two separate professional classes in England), and the nurses with whom they may (or may not) be involved. The movie featured one of the niftiest murders seen in a movie in years: the victim is killed on an operating table, in front of two doctors and a team of nurses who are unable to discern what has happened or why. World War II and Germany's V-1 bombings of England also figure into the plot and add to the atmosphere of uncertainty and suspense surrounding the events taking place in the hospital." - www.allmovie.com

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