Your favorite version of "A Christmas Carol"

For nostalgic reasons, I love Chuck Jones's 1971 animated version.

Always Alistair Sim.

Mr. Magoo. Seriously.

Is this the Florence Henderson special?

"Scrooge" with Albert Finney

FX's A Christmas Carol with Guy Pearce.

Mr. Magoo also.

The 1984 version with George C. Scott.

thanks for posting that, r1. I didn't know about it, look forward to watching

Ebbie!

Scrooge

The 1999 version with Patrick Stewart is pretty good.

This Carol

No question

Another vote for Alistair Sim, Mr. Magoo & the Muppets Christmas Carol. The one with George C. Scott was not too bad & I do like the Albert Finney musical.

I actually just listened to ACC on Audible - the version read by Tim Curry is very good by the way - and I was struck by how horrified everyone is by Scrooge, but he'd have fit right in with the Fox News crowd.

Editorial note: do you read Scrooge as a thinly disguised jew? Given the heavy handed "conversion" theme in Christmas Carol, I kept wondering if conversion of jews is what Dickens had in mind.

No, I don't.

The Muppets Christmas Carol is the most fun. Michael Cain as Scrooge is just inspired casting.

Family Ties "A Keaton Christmas Carol"

George C. Scott version.

Another fan of the Alistair Sim film -it's really well done and generally more faithful to the original novella.

I loved Patrick Stewart's live, one-man version, but his filmed version pales in comparison.

The Jordan Levine version at MEN.com.

The 1938 version was ahead of its time!

"Scrooge". Terribly underrated, great soundtrack, wonderful songs, good direction/pacing, and a fabulous performance from Finney (and really, everyone else in the film).

"Scrooge" (Albert Finney) is free on the Tubi streaming channel until 12/1. Not sure if that'll be extended, or if there are any network or other streaming channel airings this year.

Let us not leave out Scrooged with Bill Murray and the wonderful Carol Kane.

Also, R23 you nasty.

This thread made me order a copy of the novel. I've never actually read it.

Alastair Sim was the definitive Scrooge.

And I do love the MaGoo “Carol.”

I also enjoy yet another version, a 1956 original TV musical starring Frederic March, with a score and songs by none other than Bernard Herrmann.

Another vote for Scrooge with Albert Finley.

I adore this musical number.

^Finney

Toss up between Scrooge and Mickey’s Christmas Carol.

The George C. Scott version for its screenplay, sets, costumes, location. I like its restraint.

The scene where he is seeing his child self, alone and reading books at Christmas, and says to the Ghost of Christmas Past "He has his friends. Ali Baba, the Sultan's Groom, Robin Crusoe". That's directly from the book and it always gives me a lump in my throat, probably because, I too, as a child fell in love with reading and how characters could be with me...

Actually, I like most of the movie and animated versions of "A Christmas Carol".

Finney's "Scrooge". And Muppet Christmas Carol. The absolute most fun and Michael Caine is perfect. "Hello London!" "Goodbye lunch" Bliss....

[quote] I also enjoy yet another version, a 1956 original TV musical starring Frederic March, with a score and songs by none other than Bernard Herrmann.

That version also has 10 year old Bonnie Franklin as one of the Cratchit children.

I'm Christmas Carol'd out.

The Alistair Sim British 1951 version, which I believe is actually entitled "Scrooge," would be mine.

And I always wished that the 1960s' TV "Lost In Space" actor Jonathan Harris had portrayed Ebenezer in a TV adaptation, or something... I think he'd have been a melodramatic hoot.

Spielberg should "remake" THIS!

Scrooged was always my favorite as a kid although I did enjoy Mickey's Christmas Carol as well. I liked how dark and creepy Scrooged was to my young imagination. It creeped me out and, now, I find it all more amusing and cute than anything else.

The Muppets version is probably my next favorite.

A Diva's Christmas Carol with Vanessa Williams and Kathy Griffin.

A Diva's Christmas Carol was fun

As LAME as it is I liked Ebbie. I might have watched it when it was originally shown in 1995 or maybe a few years later.

There was one scene which demonstrated how LOW the production values were. A young Ebbie was asked to a dance when she was a teenager in 1966. A taxi drops her off at the dance. The taxi was an early 80's Chevrolet Malibu ( LAME)

Mr. Magoo.

I'm presently reading the novella. It's scary as a really bad acid trip. Scrooge is practically incontinent. It's so sad as he visits his past.

A Carol Christmas

Ms. Scripts with Cicely Tyson as Scrooge

My favorite

The original story is a masterpiece and one of Dickens' finest moments as a writer. No bloat, no wordy asides. Just a strictly delineated portrait of a man brought back from the brink at the last possible moment.

Adaptations - live-action, Scrooge with Finney is hard to beat - great songs, great energy, great cast and the most oddly gallant and melancholy Tiny Tim. The Magoo version takes top credit, though, and Mickey and the Muppets versions are right behind it.

I was surprised how Miss Piggy managed to make Mrs. Cratchit's scene after the death of Tim so moving while being every inch herself as a personality. It gave me respect for how Henson and his team conceived of her and the other characters as actual actors and actresses.

There's a wonderful audio book adaptation narrated by the equally wonderful Tim Curry, for those of you who have never read the book and would like to. It's a pleasure to listen to and just a couple of hours long. Perfect for a holiday car ride to visit family.

R47- Something about Miss Piggy always reminded me of Barbara Streisand.

1938 version.

Should have been a Sir Reginald Owen

The Lockhart Fmaily- Gene, Kathleen, and June Lockhart

Gayboi Terry Kilburn

I wish he was a Gayboi Barry MacKay

Beautiful Ann Rutherford

British Bear Lionel Braham

Lawyer/actor Darcy Corrgian

and the Always Creepy as Hell Leo G. Carroll

^ Terry Kilburn is still with us, and just turned 95 last week.

R51 He was a gayboi as a kid. lol

The 1951 film, Scrooge, with Alastair Simm is the best version. It’s perfection.

Mickeys Christmas Carol, of course.

R10 - Ebbie. For you.

This thread is why i keep coming back to Datalounge.

I've spent decades collecting as many versions of this story as I could. Love them all.

Except that Kelsey Grammer TV musical version. Absolute shit.

Anyone remember An American Christmas Carol with Henry Winkler? My brother got to meet him while they were filming in our city.

"A Christmas Cheryl," with Cheryl Scrooge gassing Tiny Tim to death with her noxious fumes.

Scrooge McDuck!!!

I saw Terence Kilburn play Scrooge at the Meadowbrook Theater at Oakland University in Rochester, MI. It was a very good production but I had to tell the people sitting in front of me to shut the fuck up. I guess they were all atwitter at being in the presence of a real Hollywood star.

[quote] "Scrooge" with Albert Finney

I just found out this was a movie musical first, and a stage musical later. (I’d thought it was like Oliver!, a play first and a movie later.]

The movie was made in 1970, starring Albert Finney. The stage version opened in Birmingham in 1992 with Anthony Newley in the lead role. It was revived the following year with the same cast in Plymouth. It was produced in London with Newley in the lead from Nov 1996- Feb 1997.

The Henry Winkler version isn't bad

The Kelsey Grammer version was horrible

The Marlo Thomas version

No, that was her version of "It's a Wonderful Life." Not very good, IIRC.

Mickey's Christmas Carol is surprisingly faithful to the original book.

There's a 50s live TV version with Fredric March that's pretty good. Also has music by Bernard Herrmann

There's a really good audiobook version narrated by Tim Curry. He's fantastic.

The Simon Callow adaptation. Completely stripped back and Dickens’ story is beautifully told.

My faves are the 1938 MGM version and the 1979 "An American Christmas Carol", made for television.

Another movie which may interest fans of this story is "The Man Who Invented Christmas".

It's a movie, not a documentary, about Charles Dickens and his creation of the book.

The 1938 version with Gene Lockhart has June Lockhart, uncredited, as one of the Cratchit children. That is certainly the version I have seen the most.

1930s version with Gene Lockhart. Has an uncluttered authenticity the rest lack.

That said, almost against my will, I loved the 1970s version with Albert Finney.

The FX version, in which Scrooge is both raped as a child, Mary Crachet is raped by Scrooge, and everyone is Black, was the worst version of a Christmas Carol I have ever seen. They took a timeless and beside story and ruined it.

Any other version I love, however. My favorite is the Muppets and A Divas Christmas Carol.

I like the Broadway musical adaptation where Scrooge and Cratchit are young friends in the accounting firm but Scrooge takes the evil path. Their rendition of “Unlimited Credit” is a showstopper.

I just watched Mickey's Christmas Carol over on Disney+. Haven't seen it in years. It's only a half hour and it's wonderful.

I was trying to think of how many versions of this story I watch every year. 12!!! Yikes!!

1938 - MGM 1951 - Alistair Sim 1962 - Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol 1979 - Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol 1979 - An American Christmas Carol (Henry Winkler) 1983 - Family Ties - A Keaton Christmas Carol 1983 - Mickey's Christmas Carol 1988 - Scrooged (Murray) 1992 - Muppet Christmas Carol 1994 - Flintstone's Christmas Carol 2000 - Diva's Christmas Carol 2009 - Jim Carey's animated Disney version

I know it's not one of the better versions ( although much better than Kelsey Grammer as Scrooge) but I really enjoy watching Ebbie (1995) every year.

I enjoy all versions and I love that, at least in the anglosphere, it has become adapted as an universal story in our culture.

For nostalgia purposes though, for me, nothing beats Mickey's Christmas Carol. They should've made it into a feature and not a "featurette." It is strange that Disney has never managed to really make a feature length film starring The Mouse. Fantasia doesn't count.

I think I saw all of them when I was a kid (all the major ones anyway) and Scrooge with Finney was always always always my favorite.

But now I’ve come to learn there was one with George C Scott, and I have never seen that one.

Finney's Scrooge - partially due to sentimental reason of watching it every year with my Mom. I feel like that one gets more respect now than it did in the past. I could do without Tiny Tim's long solo where he looks incredibly healthy. Overall though I do enjoy the numbers and while the ending might be overdone for some people, it always makes me smile.

I finally saw the Muppet version last year, and agree it is top-notch. The scene -- spoiler - where he watches the Cratchits mourn Tiny Tim, might be the most touching version of that scene I have seen.

[quote] A young Ebbie was asked to a dance when she was a teenager in 1966. A taxi drops her off at the dance. The taxi was an early 80's Chevrolet Malibu ( LAME)

Young Ebbie was really in the early 80's but then did soap aging and aged twenty years in five years. A few things I thought were interesting in that version was the increased time spent on the relationships of the sisters and how it affected her, more time on Marely and how he influenced her development into "Scrooge" - one of those things was her betrayal of the Fezziwigs and take-over of their company. Lucci might not always be the greatest actress, but playing a bitch with underlying insecurity and a need to be loved and showing some warmth at the end is right in her wheelhouse.

R79- She was the best thing about EBBIE. I agree her portrayal made the character work. I fucked up. I watched the entire movie last week. I had not watched the movie for years. She was attending the department store party- not in the 1960's it was the 1970's- and she wasn't a teenager.

R30 Maybe more connected to the conversion of St Paul or some of the early Christians, maybe, . I see ACC as more of a social commentary on capitalism at the expense of the worker - and well summed up by Marley’s ghost who said that ‘Mankind was my business’ in response to Scrooge’s ‘ You were always a good man of business’.

Lessons we still haven't learned.

R81 Yes remember Dickens was written at a time of huge change and societal upheaval, the Industrial Revolution. Similar views of the intersection of Christianity and the Industrial Revolution can be found in William Blake's poem "And did those feet in ancient time" now known as the hymn "Jerusalem" which is the most popular patriotic song in England, with many wanting it to be the National Anthem of England.

Come on, Death, leave McGrew alone! Take Tiny Tim!

I found this book at a thrift store years ago, it’s a great read.

Sorry, here’s the correct link

Anyone seen the gay version Called Scrooge & Marley where Scrooge and Marley were a couple.

And a British TV movie set in modern times with a loan shark as Scrooge which is really good. The Ghost Of Christmas yet to come is played by his future son.

The British TV movie.

[quote]Finney's Scrooge - partially due to sentimental reason of watching it every year with my Mom. I feel like that one gets more respect now than it did in the past. I could do without Tiny Tim's long solo where he looks incredibly healthy.

I like this one too; even though TT doesn't really look sick (and has quite the head of hair!), he's one of the not so cloying & maudlin Tiny Tims. I also like that Scrooge brings presents in this version & not just some big ass goose for Mrs. Cratchit to cook. I have to admit, Scrooge's "I Hate People" could be by theme song too!

The Muppets' version is my favourite. I grew up with a VHS that restores the deleted song "When Love Is Gone", and remember being confused when I caught it on TV once and the song was missing. The scene where Scrooge and Belle break up falls flat without it.

I wonder if Dickens could ever have guessed that out of all the stories he wrote, this is the one that would be remade the most.

R86, DL legend David Pevsner as Scrooge? Where can we find it?!

Mister Magoo

I really like the 1984 George C. Scott version in part because of Edward Woodward as the TGOCP. He's not a jolly ghost, but a pissed off ghost and he is having none of Scrooge's shit.

The 1938 version. I think I will watch it tonight.

I watched the Mr. Magoo version on Sunday on CBC. When Scrooge/Magoo is in the cemetery and he starts singing "All Alone In The World" I started crying. All the people I love have died and coming home to an empty house really hurts.

A number of people have mentioned "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, "and it really is quite wonderful. What makes it so memorable is its very tuneful Broadway-style score, written by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, whose later collaborations include the score of "Funny Girl." For those who have never seen it, the concept is that Mr. Magoo is starring in a Broadway musical version of Dickens' story.

Yes. When i watched that show in 1962 with my sister, my mother in the kitchen and my father reading the newspaper, I could never have imagined that I would be alone in the world one day. All 4 of my grandparents were alive and loved within a mile of my house. I had 9 aunts and uncles and about 40 cousins all in my hometown. All gone.

We love you, R94. Find some joy for yourself. Merry Christmas, pal!

r90 His penis plays Tiny Tim.

R77, I agree that Mickey's Christmas Carol should have been longer. It's lovely but a bit rushed.

It does seem odd that in a world where Hollywood has remade or spun-off almost every property under the sun, there has never been a feature-length film about Mickey, one of the most famous and heavily-merchandised characters of all time. Another one that surprises me is Super Mario: only one film back in 1993 (and it was appalling).

Alastair Sims, except when he's laughing that creepy and unconvincing giggle. It scared me as a child.

But "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol," with music by Jule Styne, has a fine presentation when the Magoo crap is filtered out. The song are great and I've always wondered why people don't do a straight theatrical production - kids and families!

After seeing the 1951 version, I couldn't watch any others. Alastair Sim was the definitive Scrooge. And the supporting cast was excellent (Mrs. Naugatuck from Maude!)

The 1951 version with Alastair Sim. I’ve watched it countless times mostly thanks to The Million Dollar Movie on WOR in NY replaying the movie twice a day in the week leading up to Christmas when I was a kid.

It is really wonderful because Sim seems to be the best portrayal of Scrooge, but he is joined by a great cast of supporting actors, especially Hermione Baddeley as Mrs. Cratchit and Kathleen Harrison as Mrs. Dilber.

I also love The Muppet version and Mr. Magoo.

R102, isn't that Patrick MacNee from the Avengers as a young Marley, or am I confused?

Yes, R103. That is correct. Young Marley is Patrick Macnee.

My very favorite is the 1938 version. I also love the Mr. Magoo version. And I have a soft spot for Ebbie.

I watched the 1935 version this morning. It’s only an hour long and available on Prime Video. Interesting to see what they were able to do with no special effects. For example, you see Marley’s face in the door knocker briefly, but then not again. The actor was not visible on film and simply voiced his lines off camera when he arrived in Scrooge’s bedchamber. There were no ghosts outside the window either when Marley departed. The Christmas Past scene has nothing about Scrooge’s childhood, just an encounter where Scrooge threatens foreclosure on a poor couple, and Belle, overhearing the exchange, breaks off their engagement.

Keith Richards would’ve been a great Jacob Marley.

I abhor A Christmas Carol in all forms, Especially the need to make a version of it on every sitcom ever made.

[quote]The 1951 version with Alastair Sim. I’ve watched it countless times mostly thanks to The Million Dollar Movie on WOR in NY replaying the movie twice a day in the week leading up to Christmas when I was a kid.

I watched this last night on Amazon Prime; the quality was terrible & it's been colorized (yuck!). It really needs to be restored

[quote] it's been colorized (yuck!)

Agreed that it is best viewed in its original B/W form. This is the version that I’ve watched for years now.

Alastair Sim is THEE BEST Scrooge. " A Christmas Carol" was released October 31, 1951 in the UK and November 28, 1951 in the U.S. It is "the gold standard" and can't be beat.

I just watched the 1954 hour-long reduction for TV with Fredric March as Scrooge, Basil Rathbone as Marley, a young Bonnie Franklin as a Cratchit child . . . and music by . . . Bernard Herrmann. Basil Rathbone was absolutely outstanding in his despair as Marley's ghost; March gave a subtle performance and was pretty good as Scrooge (it was interesting to watch various emotions play across his face). The music was somewhat too sophisticated for the show . . . ain't no songs there that anyone would be whistling the rest of the day. Due to the brevity, and the fact that they also had to make room for the songs in that hour, it seemed to me that Scrooge was redeemed a little too easily. But all in all, I was pleasantly surprised.

R82 - It's a nice thought on a first read, but given how ironic the line "England's green and pleasant land" will sound these days, it's probably safer to leave the national anthem as is. Another instance of just how useful the monarchy can be.

Andrew Lincoln did a live simulcast at the Old Vic last Christmas that was my new favorite. He was good but what I really loved was how faithful it was to the original narrative.

It might be available for viewing somewhere.