A great musical with tremendous use of panavision, excellent choreography and catchy songs. Finney takes a while to get used to as he is super over the top, but it fits the style and you get used to it after a while. A fun movie that even left the kids singing along.

I have no idea how many times I have watched this movie - I remember watching it as a child when it was shown on terrestrial television and I now watch it on Christmas Eve every year - I am moved to tears every time!The acting and dialogue are great, most of the songs are clever and entertaining while the choreography is rousing and impressive. Most significantly though, the transition of Finney's Scrooge from the most despicable portrayal of the character that I can recall, to the reformed and enlightened person that he becomes, is just simply joyous in the purest sense of the word.Watch. Enjoy. Laugh. Cry. And share it with your children, if you can tear them away from the iPad or PS4 for a couple of hours.

I wish I'd managed to watch this overlooked British film musical before Christmas but even with the trees and decorations down for days, it was still a very pleasurable watch. Beats me why it's never mentioned in the top list of classic festive films as it has a lot going for it.The story is so well known and there have been so many film versions of it that familiarity could breed some discontent if not quite contempt, but the twist is here is that it's played as a musical with a lively score by the celebrated Leslie Bricusse. Here, he has to contend with two of his main actors probably challenging Lee Marvin for the award for worst singer in a major production, being Albert Finney and Alec Guinness, but despite this palpable drawback, the movie works well.The evocation of mid-19th Century London is splendidly achieved (in sets apparently left over from the recently completed "Oliver!") with no stinting on cast numbers per scene either. The songs are happy singalong and yet suffused with the personality of the singer, thus Scrooge's "I Hate People" and later the crowd, led by Anton Rogers, singing "Thank You Very Much" to Scrooge for dying.The special effects aren't that great, especially when you see a white-painted Guinness as Marley's ghost float up and away on wires but they're tolerable for the time.Finney is very good even buried away under more pancaked makeup than Shrove Tuesday, Guinness a lot less so in a part in which he's obviously ill at ease. Director Neame directs with some flair and stays reasonably close to the source story.Some Christmas presents I find are best appreciated even if delayed until after the day itself. Watching this film was like that for me, a little post-Yuletide delight all the more welcome

Boy, reading some of the reviews here I am shocked to see this thing has so many devoted fans. One guy even spent his entire review calling out another who liked the film but just didn't think it was perfect. Well, add me to that group because I thought it was just OK. The songs are uninteresting and mediocre, with the exception of "Thank You Very Much." There are long stretches where it's dull. The performances are very broad.Albert Finney's Scrooge didn't do much for me. I got tired of his cartoonish voice rather quickly. In fact, the tone of the entire film seems to be that of a children's film. After reading about Alec Guinness' unhappiness working on the film, I'm not surprised his performance was so bad. Another silly voice and rubberfacing. Like I said, kid's movie. Which is fine, if that's what it is. But everything I read seems to point to it supposedly being a serious musical for an adult audience.I'm with the minority on this one, I suppose. I didn't think it was terrible. It's not; it's an OK movie. But some of the praise I've read is so through the roof. I wasn't prepared that this film had such a devoted following. To each their own, I guess.