Scrooge/A Christmas Carol (1951) - our December movie

Plus Jack Warner's Raw Vegetable Salad recipe

Christmas is a humbug!

It would be good to have some of these traditional sweeties by your side as you watch the 1951 version of Scrooge. They will fit right in with the colour scheme.

Charles Dickens’ classic morality tale does make you think about whether you have been good or bad this year and deserve any presents…

This film was on TV in the UK every Christmas when I was a kiddie, I’m not sure if it is as well known elsewhere in the world. There is lots to love about it. A superb performance by Alastair Sim as the penny-pinching Scrooge and a host of co-stars that make you think, ooh, who is that? Including…

and

The film goes by two names, it was Scrooge in the UK,

and A Christmas Carol in the USA and possibly elsewhere.

If you are not a Brit, it might take you a while to get your ear into the dialogue. Do persist, it gets easier!

Alas, I have no recipe for Alastair Sim. British stars were asked much less frequently than American ones for their favourite recipes and I only have a couple of recipe books that feature stars of the British stage and screen. Luckily, Jack Warner, who wears the best jacket of the movie…

provided a recipe to the compilers of 282 Ways of Making a Salad.

I am on the lookout for an Alastair Sim recipe though, not least because I’m dying to do a St Trinian’s film here on Dinner and a Movie. If you know of one, do get in touch!

There’s a lot of rich food coming up over the festive season, so having an adaptable salad recipe up your sleeve is always a good idea.

Jack Warner’s Raw Vegetable Salad

Here’s how mine turned out

Did you carve out time for yourself to watch Black Narcissus last month? Let me know in the comments what you thought of it…

Extra Helpings

The beverage I am recommending you rustle up to accompany your screening of Scrooge is a Snowball. This is a classic Christmas drink here in the UK, if you’ve never had one you are in for a big treat.

Alongside my video demo of The Scrooge Snowball which will drip into inboxes on Friday, is a very simple dessert recipe from the comic turn of the film, the fabulous Kathleen Harrison.

This is what you will need for the Scrooge Snowball

Avocaat

Lemonade

Lime juice or lime cordial

Cherry for garnish

Ice

and for Kathleen’s dessert

Oranges

Caster/superfine sugar

Desiccated coconut

Cream

Where to get hold of Scrooge/A Christmas Carol

For the ultimate experience, my favourite cinema in the whole world The Hippodrome in Bo’Ness

has screenings of Scrooge on Sunday 10th December at 7.30pm and Thursday 14th December at 7.30pm - here is a link for tickets - Scrooge at the Hippodrome, Bo’ness

For streaming check the Just Watch site

Just Watch UK

Just Watch USA

If you are elsewhere in the world, search for - Scrooge streaming - or A Christmas Carol streaming - then your country name for the swiftest results.

If you are a DVD watcher, copies are quite cheap to pick up online. You could try your local library or ask around amongst your chums. Charity shops are also a really great source of classic films on DVD.

Readers’ Photos

If you make any of the recipes featured here, please do send photos, I love to see them. Here are two from Rich Watson. Rich made Barbara Stanwyck’s Vegetable Meatloaf

and Deborah Kerr’s Burgers.

Yum yum!

OUR NEXT MOVIE

Keep your eye on your inbox on Sunday 7th of January, when our next movie will be announced. I hope this is the style in which you’ll be watching it.

Christmas is coming! Have you got all your presents yet? Perhaps you know someone who might like one of these?

Books available worldwide via Amazon, all except Cooking With Joan Crawford can also be ordered via your local bookshop. Here’s a link to my UK author page

switch to your own country for the correct prices if you are elsewhere.

Merry Christmas to us all; God bless us, everyone!'