Scrooged November 6, 2006
Posted by John Hodson in : DVD News & Info, British Film , add a commentIt’s like a nightmare; an ‘undigested piece of beef.’
Since the dawn of DVD, I’ve been waiting for a definitve release of Alastair Sim’s magnificent 1951 tour de force as Scrooge in what, for me, remains the definitive film interpretation. Both sides of the Atlantic, we’ve had to endure nasty, worn out, tram-lined prints slapped on to DVD, reflecting all the care and attention Bob Cratchit enjoyed at the hands of his employer.
What appeared to be the best version, from DD Home Entertainment in the UK, was, as is usual, ‘digitally restored from a pristine print’ but in reality it’s from a faded, sometimes dirty, marked source, with blown whites and boasting an extra feature that terrifies more than Jacob Marley - scenes from the horrendous computer coloured version. Ghoulish stuff. I borrowed it from a friend before parting with my own hard earned, and needless to say, crossed it off my ‘wanted’ list.
Sadly, with the original elements apparently in poor condition, it’s only to be expected. Unless there is something beautiful lying in a vault, or something near beautiful that DD, or someone, anyone, is willing to spend a few bob - more than a few bob - on.
Bah humbug!
Last year, help seemed to be on the way, when BBC Worldwide announced that they were producing a Region 1 special edition, packed with some super extras, and possibly - just possibly - the gorgeous restored version that fans had been hoping for. But the Beeb had forgotten one teeny-weeny detail.
They didn’t hold the USA home video rights.
Incredible though it may sound, the discs were prepared, even down to the box art, but then R1 rights holders VCI broke the the news that, no chaps, the film did not actually lie in the public domain. The release was scrapped, literally.
Bah humbug!
Morningstar Entertainment, one of the numerous PD specialists over The Pond spotted a chance, and marketed an Emerald Edition; was this it? The Holy Grail of Scrooge releases? Only available in Canada (rights again), it’s about as welcome as a moose at a Mountie’s ball. Produced from ’seven different prints’? That explains the huge variations in quality throughout (from bad to worse and all stops in between).
Bah humbug!
Up popped DDHE again late last year, with the tidings that they were launching their own Collectors Edition, complete with - ta da! - a George Cole commentary, but for some strange reason it wasn’t put on general sale until now. This is it, right? The definitive edition?
Bah humbug!
Over at the Britmovie forums, they’ve been reporting on this flim-flam for a while now. Moderator JamesM, in fact, hunted down George Cole, who played young Ebenezer Scrooge for his mentor Sim, but he wasn’t interested in recording a commentary for VCI…because, it was thought, he’d already recorded one for DDHE.
So, Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat…and it’s time to get those yuletide DVDs out into the marketplace. DDHE’s latest ‘CE’ is a two discer and boasts, pretty much from what I can gather, the transfer they’ve been sticking to us for years, two (?) short versions of the film mastered for that doomed BBC Worldwide release (no word on quality yet, but as they’re shorter versions, it’s a little moot), the full crayoned in version, a Beeb ‘Traditions of Christmas’ feature, an interview (with George Cole)…but no commentary.
It’s there on the back of the box apparently, and in the MovieMail catalogue ‘George Cole Commentary’. But not on the disc. Astonishingly DDHE put it about that a commentary was, in fact, recorded but not used, and there was a subsequent ‘mix-up’ with the box art.*
Bah humbug!
VCI are still looking to produce a better R1 release, JamesM has tracked down ‘an assistant director’ to do a proposed commentary, but that definitive release of the definitive portrayal of Scrooge still eludes us, it seems. After all these years, I may have to settle for what’s out there and buy DD’s Collectors Edition (in the best spirit of Charles Dickens’ creation, when the price has gone down, of course - say Easter?)
Bah (well, you know the rest..)
*January 7, 2007, edit: good news, good news indeed here.