Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1946: Alastair Sim in Green For Danger

Alastair Sim did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Inspector Cockrill in Green For Danger. 

Green For Danger is a hospital soap opera that becomes a murder mystery because everyone chooses to act a little too dramatically for their own good. 

This is the second time I’ve covered an Alastair Sim performance as an inspector. Although this is in no way a copy of his mysterious and imperious inspector Poole, Sim’s Cockrill is earthy in comparison which Sim makes great use of. Sim begins as a narrator before we meet him where he offers a nice alternative delivery where he adds a nice slightly comedic manner to Cockrill’s recitation even while still finding the needed gravity as he describes that the hospital staff consists of victims, a murderer and the suspects. Sim comes in after two murders have taken place in the hospital and a group of two doctors and a few nurses are the suspects. Sim’s great ease for comedy comes into play as we immediately undercut the Inspector a little bit as we emphasize his constant worry about a German bomber throughout the film. Sim really makes the most out of the comedy in his instant switch to the upward reactions of worry and a run and hide that in no way brings any vanity to the character. Leading eventually to a rather enjoyable punchline at the end of the film where Sim’s reaction of slightly frustrated disbelief is some comedic gold. 

His main purpose within the film is to solve the case and where Sim is most welcome as the alternative voice within the constant various emotional compromises of the other characters. Sim arrives with an ease of presence within the Inspector’s role to find out the truth. Sim though is very different here than as Poole, because where Poole already knew everything, Sim very much gives a different style of someone who intends to find out everything, is quite capable of doing so, but has yet to figure it out. Sim conveying an intelligence intent on finding out more despite not having all the answers. Sim brings a wonderful ease and a distinct lack of putting on any airs when dealing with the hospital staff. Sim finding a directness and I especially love the use of his eyes which are always seeming peering through the nonsense being spotted by his list of suspects who all have something to hide even beyond the mystery. Sim provides a directness with a combination between determination with wit as highlights that cut through every scene. Amplifying this only with his physical manner of confident movement within the case and particularly his brandishing of the truth, including my favorite moment in the film with his wholly casual manner of cutting down a bush to reveal an eavesdropper in a rather hilarious fashion. 

Naturally we give Sim a natural detective summation sequence, though in this instance via surgery, where Sim manages to convey a direct urgency of the detective genuinely wishing to avoid any further death with also the wonderful intelligence in his eyes as we see the spark of the man figuring it all out. He manages to even sell a completely ludicrous moment where one character basically acts nefarious for no reason that leads to someone’s death, but Sim’s reactions towards hearing the truth of the situation is pretty great as we get the man completely surprised. Sim earns the change up for the character on an acting level even if the setup is completely unbelievable. Sim offers the right steady presence here that enlivens the mystery and the overall film with ease. He naturally segues between his comedic and dramatic moments in crafting detective that manages to be both exact in his intelligence yet properly humorous in his very much human foibles. Inspector Cockrill evidently is a literary detectives with multiple entries and it's a shame that this was Sim's only go around as it certainly would've been a treat to go through a few more mysteries with him. 

Best Actor Backlog Volume 3 Results

5. Kiefer Sutherland in Phone Booth - Sutherland is easily the best part of his film through is wonderfully devious turn based almost entirely on his voice.

Best Scene: Phony backstory.

4. Alastair Sim in An Inspector Calls - Sim delivers the proper vicious incisiveness that so quietly penetrates every scene as this perhaps supernatural crusader.

Best Scene: Argument of prospects.

3. Clint Eastwood in The Beguiled - Eastwood uses his classic presence in the point of subversion in his portrayal of a man manipulating for his own advantage, and his vicious rage when that manipulation backfires upon him.

Best Scene: Waking up to something missing

2. Vincent Price in Theater of Blood - Price delivers his greatest turn getting to play such a wonderfully over the top fiend/actor, while actually earnestly minding emotional depths within the betrayal of the fiend. If there is any performance that ever could define his lasting impression on cinema, it is this one, but it also stands as simply one of his best acted and most entertaining turns.

Best Scene: Lear's despair. .

1. Uttam Kumar in Nayak -  Kumar gives a charismatic, vulnerable and moving portrayal of an actor coming to terms with both who he is and what he has given away to achieve stardom.

 

Best Scene: Saying goodbye to the "reporter" as himself.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1954: Alastair Sim in An Inspector Calls

Alastair Sim did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Inspector Poole in An Inspector Calls. 

An Inspector Calls follows an upper class family as they face charges over their mistreatment of a recently deceased working class woman. 

Alastair Sim essentially portrays the master of ceremonies for this piece as the titular inspector we learn little of, rather he used for us to learn of each family member's relation, and in turn related "crime", with the young woman who he informs them has ingested a kind of poison. It is upon Sim's performance much to create what is captivating about the Inspector. An actor who has an advantage that being his distinctive face, which makes quite the impressive as he suddenly appears in the film without entering. Sim's initial delivery of the death of the woman is striking in his manner. Sim speaks bluntly of the invents with this certain though inherent sympathy within the death even as he is so matter of act. Sim speaks with more than one card to play as it seems. Still though he appears but an inspector until the patriarch of the family speaks to being unaware of the woman. Sim's expression changes to a kind ghoulish smile as he indicates that the man should most certainly know her. There is an accusation in the grin, and almost something quite sinister even in Sim's portrayal. There is more though than that as the man explains himself, shirking responsibility claiming it would be awkward to maintain any responsibility. Sim's speaking of "oh yes, very awkward" carries a duality of complete lack of sympathy for the man and irony for the statement of a man clearly trying to avoid any connection with the person he wronged. 

Sim's performance carries still this kind of nearly monstrous quality, as he almost seems like a shark when another member of the family enters the room who he is going to accuse of their crime against the young woman next. Sim's eyes carry a quick accusation in them, and this incisive stare. The grin that he carries with them seeming a man just waiting to reveal his truth, and knowing the weaknesses that will be revealed within the family. Sim though has this calm about him that is quite unnerving in this way, but what makes it so remarkable is the particular edge his performance sits on. This as we see his reactions towards the family with this vindictive joyful quality in his attacks, however that isn't all there is. This as he speaks of the woman, of any success, there is some greater sense of care about it properly to some one. He doesn't make it even then as an easy sympathy, rather almost this sort of tragedy within any notion of good news. Sim speaks the Inspectors news always with this certain almost laughing manner towards the woman, not out of hate, but this kind of bemusement that she could possibly attempt to find any success in this particular world. Sim brilliantly colors the exposition with dynamic depth within every moment of it. Sim as much as the inspector is just telling the story, never is doing it so simply as that. The texture he brings to every line creates such a palatable sense of the nature of this story through the seemingly lack of sympathy of the family and the tragedy in the young woman's story. 

Now the film itself, based on a play that makes its allegory even more obvious than it is here, I would is repetitious in its point and characters too much pawns per the scenario to exist. The one aspect of the film that is wholly successful is in the overarching dramatic device of the inspector, this as it grants a certain haunting mood to the whole drama, though with Sim being the most essential ingredient. Frankly director Guy Hamilton unnecessarily overplays the supernatural nature of the inspector (literally named Goole in the play which is painfully on the nose), because Sim already has it entirely in hand. Every scene with Sim is compelling due to Sim as you can just watch him throughout every one of these scenes, as he brings this quietly terrifying ethereal omnipotent quality within his work. This as Sim never simply sits and stare, rather there is this judgment that is being inflicted whether it is through a turn down of the nose to imply a bit of exhaustion at the family's dodges, to a penetrating glare when forcing a bit of information out of his given target in a moment. Sim himself is compelling to watch as this essential force for truth, which to his credit again finds the right balance. Sim plays the part perhaps as some supernatural force implying this inquisition, however he does so with the right humanity even as the inspector seems so all knowing. Sim brings, for the lack of a better word, this sort of nearly playful sense of exhaustion in the inspector. This sort of weariness upon his duties, less so as an obvious vengeful spirit, but rather a man there to deliver a painful message, a message he has seemingly delivered far too many times before. Sim gives a great performance, that really realizes every virtue of the material, and creates this captivating portrait of the accuser who both thrives within the allegory, but also successfully exists beyond it.

Best Actor Backlog Volume 3

 And the Overlooked Performances Are:

Kiefer Sutherland in Phone Booth

 

Alastair Sim in An Inspector Calls

 

Uttam Kumar in Nayak

Clint Eastwood in The Beguiled

 

Vincent Price in Theater of Blood

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1950: Results

5. Louis Calhern in The Asphalt Jungle- I hate to put Calhern fifth as I really liked everyone in this line up. Calhern gives an effective performance bringing a nice complexity to his role as an amoral lawyer.

Best Scene: Emmerich tries to double cross the Doc.

4. Alastair Sim in Stage Fright-Sim gives an entertaining performance that up shows the entire film around him.

Best Scene: Eve Gill brings Johnathan to Commodore Gill's home.

3. Takashi Shimura in Rashomon- Shimura performance gives an interesting and moving performance as a seemingly moralistic woodcutter who might be hiding something himself.

Best Scene: The woodcutter is called out by the commoner.

2. Richard Attenborough in Morning Departure- Richard Attenborough gives a very strong turn being appropriately intense as a man who goes to extremes due to fear, but as well quite tender as the very same man who finds courage within himself.

Best Scene: The remaining crew play a game of cards.

1. Masayuki Mori in Rashomon- Good Prediction Psifonian feel free to name another year and performance to go with it. Mori gives an incredible performance giving four different perceptions of the same doomed man. He is able to be chilling then heartbreaking, brave then cowardly, and his reserved style here works perfectly in creating a very memorable dynamic with Toshiro Mifune's flamboyant turn. I will keep Sanders as the winner for the moment but I will say he is on thin ice. I will have to get around to watching All About Eve again as that will make or break his placement over Mori.

Best Scene: The samurai tells his version of the story.

Overall Rank:

1. George Sanders in All About Eve
2. Masayuki Mori in Rashomon
3. Sam Jaffe in The Asphalt Jungle
4. François Périer in Orpheus
5. Richard Attenborough in Morning Departure
6. Takashi Shimura in Rashomon
7. Alastair Sim in Stage Fright
8. Louis Calhern in The Asphalt Jungle
9. Anton Walbrook in La Ronde
   
10. Minoru Chiaki in Rashomon 
11. Victor Sjorstrom in To Joy
    
12. Francis L. Sullivan in Night and the City
    
13. Sessue Hayakawa in Three Came Home 
14. Juano Hernandez in Young Man With A Horn
15. Alec Guinness in The Mudlark
    
16. Edmund Gwenn in Louisa
    
17. Luis Van Rooten in Cinderella  
18. Herbert Lom in Night and the City
19. Ward Bond in Wagon Master
    
20. Charles Coburn in Louisa
21. Kichijiro Ueda in Rashomon
22. Juano Hernandez in The Breaking Point
    
23. Stanislaus Zbyszko in Night and the City
24. Wallace Ford in The Breaking Point
    
25. James Whitmore in The Asphalt Jungle  
26. Jack Warner in The Blue Lamp
    
27. Erich von Stroheim in Sunset Blvd.
28. Juano Hernandez in Stars in My Crown
    
29. George Cole in Morning Departure 
30. Karl Malden in Where the Sidewalk Ends
    
31. Cecil B. DeMille in Sunset Blvd.
32. Mario Vitale in Stromboli 
33. Ivan Desny in Madeleine
    
34. Hugh Marlowe in Night and the City 
35. Michael Brennan in Morning Departure
36. Marc Lawrence in The Asphalt Jungle
37. Nigel Patrick in Morning Departure
38. Jack Webb in The Men  
39. Denis O'Dea in Treasure Island
    
40. Everett Sloane in The Men 
41. Gary Merrill in Where the Sidewalk Ends
    
42. Edmund Gwenn in Mister 880
43. Richard Erdman in The Men
44. Stephen McNally in Winchester '73
45. Millard Mitchell in The Gunfighter
46. Jack Palance in Panic in the Streets
47. Wendell Corey in The Furies
    
48. Cecil Kellaway in Harvey 
49. John McIntire in Winchester 73'
50. Anthony Caruso in The Asphalt Jungle
51. Miles Malleson in Stage Fright
52. Jack Hawkins in Morning Departure
53. Zero Mostel in Panic in the Streets 
54. Basil Sidney in Treasure Island
    
55. Stephen McNally in No Way Out
56. Brad Dexter in The Asphalt Jungle
57. Wallace Ford in Harvey
58. Karl Malden in The Gunfighter
59. Barry Kelley in The Asphalt Jungle
60. Will Geer in Winchester '73
61. Paul Douglas in Panic in The Streets
62. Millard Mitchell in Winchester '73 
63. Tod Andrews in Outrage
    
64. Luther Adler in D.O.A 
65. Norman Woodland in Madeleine
    
66. Michael Wilding in Stage Fright
67. Patric Knowles in Three Came Home
68. Jeff Chandler in Broken Arrow  
69. Robert Clarke in Outrage
    
70. William Prince in Cyrano de Bergerac
71. Hugh Marlowe in All About Eve 
72. Richard Carlson in King Solomon's Mine
    
73. Charles Drake in Harvey
74. Skip Homeier in The Gunfighter
75. Gary Merrill in All About Eve
76. Charles Drake in Winchester '73
77. John McIntire in The Asphalt Jungle
78. Neville Brand in D.O.A.
79. Gregory Ratoff in All About Eve

Next Year: 1966 lead

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1950: Alastair Sim in Stage Fright

Alastair Sim did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Commodore Gill in Stage Fright.

Stage Fright is most certainly lesser Hitchcock but it still is an enjoyable enough thriller about an inspiring actress Eve (Jane Wyman) who wants to try to prove the innocence of her friend Johnathan (Richard Todd) who is accused of murdering the husband of a famous entertainer Charlotte Inwood (Marlene Dietrich).

Alastair Sim plays Eve's father who she first takes the despondent Johnathan to so he can hideout and avoid being arrested. Sim is just a delight in the role of Commodore Gill who takes on the mystery with his daughter. Sim's performance has a natural low key charm here that really adds a great deal to the early scenes of the film. Sim has Gill play a little game almost as he takes part in the mystery as well as suspects what his daughter's exact reasons are for trying to help the man out. Sim sets the tone for his part quite effectively by mixing in a bit of concern for his daughter, interest in the events, and even a bit of bemusement at the strangeness of the mystery. Sim doesn't let one emotion overwhelm the character bringing a nice balance to the part.

Honestly the early scenes in this film could have been completely lifeless if it were not for Sim's presence who is immensely likable in the role, and quite able at lightening things up a bit while still keeping the dramatic weight of the situation perfectly intact. Sim really doesn't even have funny lines at his disposal but rather is able just to bring a certain humor often just through his facial expressions as he goes through the exploration of the mystery with Wyman. Even though he is actually the supporting character I found myself far more interested in the scenes where Sim investigates then the ones where Wyman's does as Sim is able to find that tone found in the best Hitchcock films where we are allowed to have fun with the investigation even though it is technically a serious situation.

Not all scenes with Gill are his investigations into the central murder mystery and sometimes he stands as a background player in several scenes. These scenes still belong to Sim livening each of them in the traditional scene stealer style. Sim in every moment just adds a jolt of energy through his various reactions during the scenes with just the right type of flamboyance to it. Sim never goes over the top in his portrayal of Gill's behavior who is trying to help his daughter but also is clearly having a good time playing around with lies they are trying to pull off. Sim gets the most out of each of these scenes taking them for himself without any question and making them far more entertaining simply due to his enthusiastic though enjoyably dry presence. 

Alastair Sim is not able to make this essential Hitchcock by any means, but he does make far more worthwhile than it would have been without his very entertaining performance. Sim's work is a great example of an actor making the most out of a role even if it is fairly limited in nature. Sim takes what could have just blended in the fairly unexceptional background of the film but he stands out in the a memorable fashion leaving Commodore Gill as the best character of the film. I only wish that the film actually had been reworked to include even more of Sim as he acts as the Michael Redgrave in the Lady Vanishes, or Robert Donat in 39 Steps of this film bringing that comic relief needed without ever forgetting to keep the necessary emotional weight to the proceedings as well.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1950

And the Nominees Were Not:

Masayuki Mori in Rashomon

Takashi Shimura in Rashomon

Louis Calhern in The Asphalt Jungle

Alastair Sim in Stage Fright

Richard Attenborough in Morning Departure

Alternate Best Actor 1951: Results

5. Farley Granger in Strangers on a Train- Granger gives a good performance that is likable well never avoiding the weaker aspects of the character. The film belongs to his co-star though.

Best Scene: Guy meets Bruno. 

4. James Mason in the Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel- Mason gives a strong assured performance despite being in a somewhat thankless role.

Best Scene: Rommel gives his final goodbye to his family.

3. Kirk Douglas in Ace in the Hole- Douglas gives a slick and sharp performance that succeeds in portraying both his character's immorality and the eventual conscience he gains.

Best Scene: Chuck finally gains morality. 

2. Robert Walker in Strangers on a Train- Walker gives an amazing villianous turn in this film that is both chilling and a delight to watch.

Best Scene: Bruno stalks Guy's wife. 

1. Alastair Sim in Scrooge- Good Prediction Koook160, and Michael Patison. Sim gives a great performance as the often played Ebenezer Scrooge. He succeeds in every aspect of the role from the cold business man through his transformation than finally an exuberant man who has found a new lease on life. This really is just a matter of having to put someone in first place at the moment. I am not one hundred percent sure of this decision, as each time I think of Walker's performance I feel like I should give him the win. Although this is hardly my final decision the win goes to Sim for the moment.

Best Scene: Scrooge takes up his Nephew's invitation after all. 

Overall Rank:

1. Michael Redgrave in The Browning Version
2. Alastair Sim in Scrooge
3. Robert Walker in Strangers on a Train
4. Trevor Howard in Outcast of the Islands
5. Claude Laydu in Diary of a Country Priest
6. Montgomery Clift in A Place in The Sun
7. Alec Guinness in The Lavender Hill Mob
8. Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire
9. Kirk Douglas in Ace in the Hole
10. Robert Donat in The Magic Box
11. Canada Lee in Cry, The Beloved Country
12. James Mason in The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
13. Van Heflin in The Prowler
14. Alec Guinness in The Man in the White Suit
15. Kirk Douglas in Detective Story
16. James Mason in Pandora and the Flying Dutchman
17. Arthur Kennedy in Bright Victory
18. Masayuki Mori in The Idiot 
19. Robert Ryan in On Dangerous Ground
20. Kirk Douglas in Along a Great Divide
21. Oskar Werner in Decision Before Dawn 
22. Richard Basehart in Fourteen Hours
23. Paul Douglas in Fourteen Hours
24. Farley Granger in Strangers on a Train  
25. Raj Kapoor in Awaara
26. Humphrey Bogart in The Enforcer
27. James Cagney in Come Fill The Cup
28. Gene Evans in The Steel Helmet 
29. Michael Rennie in The Day the Earth Stood Still 
30. Gregory Peck in Captain Horatio Hornblower
    
31. Glenn Ford in The Secret of Convict Lake
32. Charles Boyer in The First Legion
33. Lee J. Cobb in Sirocco
34. Cary Grant in People Will Talk 
35. Robert Mitchum in The Racket
36. Richard Widmark in The Frogman
37. Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen
38. Robert Rounsenville in The Tales of Hoffmann
39. Bing Crosby in Here Comes the Groom
40. Gene Kelly in An American in Paris
41. Robert Ryan in The Racket
42. Humphrey Bogart in Sirocco 
43. John Lund in The Mating Season 
44. Lyle Bettger in The First Legion
45. Fredric March in Death of a Salesman
46. Robert Taylor in Quo Vadis

Next Year: 1951 Supporting

Alternate Best Actor 1951: Alastair Sim in Scrooge

Alastair Sim did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Ebenezer Scrooge in Scrooge also known as A Christmas Carol.

The Christmas Carol is a story that has been adapted many times to various degrees of success. I find the best version is easily this one that makes use of a great score, an excellent screenplay that actually adds all new material to the story, and of course its lead performance which is essential to the success of every version.

Ebenezer Scrooge is a character who is that of three acts each which must be played convincingly to succeed in the part. In the beginning Scrooge starts out as a greedy miser who over works and underpays his employee Bob Cratchit. This is the point where some actors like Sim's predecessor Reginald Owen fail miserably in the part by making Scrooge a constantly angry, almost deranged in his attitude. It is hard to believe that Scrooge would have been able to build a business even as this angry old man, who just seems like he needs to relax more than anything else. Alastair Sim is far more effective by showing Scrooge as a man perfectly relaxed in his state.

Sim portrays the cold calculation in this business man there is a simple bluntness he brings to the part that reflects Scrooge's view of the world. Sim is calm in his depiction and it makes Scrooge's greed, and general hatred and disbelief in Christmas. Sim's method here is perfect in making Scrooge's reasoning on things like the poor far more believable. He is not an angry about other people cheerfulness instead he is somewhat bemused and disgusted by it. When the two men ask for money for the poor Sim plays it as Scrooge is almsot partially enjoying what he sees as foolishness, and only when pressed does he openly announce his distaste for their ideas which Sim still properly underplays.

Sim doesn't make Scrooge a man angry at everyone and everything for no reason, and almost some sort of otherworldly creature with his bizarre anger as some lesser Scrooges seem to make him. Sim instead makes this the most humane Scrooge in that Sim portrays him as a man who once perhaps had humanity but it has left him due to the events of his life. Sim's Scrooge is not disgusted by those who claim to be happy for no reason, but he honestly finds their feelings intolerable. Sim's demeanor could not be better because he is absolutely genuine in portraying these beliefs. His Scrooge doesn't believe in their happiness, and Scrooge here properly sets up the history we later learn about Scrooge.

Scrooge really is an odd man to have as the protagonist of a story as he is suppose to be unlikable. Some version certainly due take this approach a little too directly and are rather boring because of it. Sim on the other hand certainly plays up the nastiness to just the right degree, but he does it with a certain amount of humor in his portrayal. He never overplays it for a moment the offering it mainly in that bemusement shown in Scrooge's reactions to others, and Sim in a way almost urges us to laugh with Scrooge and most certainly not against him. He also is an all together charismatic performer who is just entertaining to watch all by himself making it easy for us to follow him through his journey.

Scrooge finds when he returns home this night that he there is something odd going on and his old business partner Jacob Marley comes as a ghost to tell him to change his ways. Sim is terrific in this scene because of the fact he plays Scrooge as a man with very real fears. Sim never loses this and is incredible in his portrayal of the scene where he talks to Marley. The reason is even when Scrooge claims to doubt his senses in an attempt to try to laugh it off Sim always shows the very real fear Ebenezer is feeling even while he tries his best to pretend the apparition is not real. Sim never loses this fear instead building until he does what most people would do in that situation, run and hide under some covers, making the scene far more believable than any other version of the story.

Scrooge is told by Marley that he will be visited by three ghosts starting with the Ghost of Christmas Past who shows Scrooge his past. Sim does very well by taking a realistic approach, and importantly reflects just how much seeing his past does affect him. One particularly powerful example of this is when he sees his deceased sister again, many other actors who have portray the scene far too matter of fact fashion, Sim though shows the full emotional impact that seeing his sister again really does have on him. He makes it a moving moment by portraying the sadness in reflecting on his past that he has since lost, but at the very same time the happiness of being able to live over the better moments of his life once again.

Sim depiction of the middle part of Scrooge is journey is excellent because he goes about the transformation in an effective fashion. Alastair Sim is quite good because he able to indicate that what Scrooge is seeing does make him lose that coldness of before rather quickly, but at the same time he eases into the full transformation properly. Sim does this throughout every scene through his moving reactions to the various events he witnesses from his past, and later the present and the future. Sim's portrayal has a great deal of self reflection in his performance that suggests his movement away from the Scrooge from the beginning.

One particular moment that Sim does well is when Scrooge is celebrating along with his younger self at the Christmas part of his former employee. Scrooge remarks about the joy his old boss brought to everyone so well, and Sim is terrific as he quietly shows Scrooge reflect on his own actions at the same time indicating his movement toward changing. Sim importantly earns the transition in Scrooge particularly well as there is some hesitation. He really does not make it hesitation to be the same as he was, but instead a sadness that causes this hesitation which leaves him believing he is just too old to change and makes any difference.

Sim is terrific in every scene of this film and through each of the observances Scrooge is forced to make gets the most out of each situation. In every moment of the story Sim adds a poignancy, and emotional strength to each through his sincere presence. He builds up the weight of each scene and makes the journey that Scrooge goes through a moving one that it should be. Honestly it would be easy to either leave their scenes on their own or allow Scrooge to be somewhat forgotten in face of them, but Sim never lets that happen. He always succeeds in bringing the power each scene deserves, and never forgets to show exactly how all of what he sees moves him toward being a changed man.

Sim's performance successfully brings Scrooge through the cold beginnings, through the transition period, but his best scenes come at the end of the film when Scrooge has finally fully changed. Sim is terrific in this scene because he doesn't show any hesitation here, he makes Scrooge a man who really has been given a second chance. He is incredibly enthusiastic in his performance, and he makes Scrooge a man who is genuinely happy to be allowed this chance to honestly redeem himself. Sim makes this the beautiful revelation in this man it should be. Sim  makes it a truly joyous moment for Scrooge as he finally sees that he has been blind for so long.

This is a great performance by Alastair Sim that gets every part of his depiction right. He is the perfectly cold calculated greedy man, the man who is broken open by his past, present and future, and the entirely reformed good man at the end. Sim properly connects every part of this path and none of it seems rushed or ineffectual. He handles the transformation brilliantly to bring the proper power to the story of Scrooge. There are many adaptations of this story by this version is easily the best due to Alastair Sim's outstanding central performance that propels the story forward in a wonderful fashion. He makes the story one that can be believed through his portrayal of Ebenezer Scrooge who he makes into a complex compelling character.

Alternate Best Actor 1951

And the Nominees Were Not:

Kirk Douglas in Ace in the Hole

James Mason in The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel 

Alastair Sim in Scrooge

Robert Walker in Strangers on a Train

Farley Granger in Strangers on a Train