What are your favorites from the various movie/TV adaptions of A Christmas Carol?

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Wikipedia lists 49 movie and television adaptions of the Dickens novel. Which one has your favorite Scrooge? Your favorite Marley? Your favorite Tiny Tim? What’s your favorite Christmas Carol movie song?

(This ought to be fun 😃 )
 
Sometimes there are renditions of a Christmas Story, the same plot but maybe in a tv show, Highway to Heaven has such a rendition.

But as for my favorites, perhaps my first exposure was a Mr. Magoo Christmas Carol.

Then, I like one of the first Christmas carols with sound back in the 1930s, I think there are two from back then.

Then, I do like the '70s one with Albert Finney.

George C. Scott was in one, that was good though I don’t remember it clearly but actually, I think they all are good.

The one with Albert Finney and one of the one’s from the '30s are my favorites. Perhaps the 1930s version is even English or at least, English actors in Hollywood.
 
The 1951 black and white movie with Alastair Sim as Scrooge. No question. The standard by which all other versions, and all other Scrooges, are judged.
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
The 1951 black and white movie with Alastair Sim as Scrooge. No question. The standard by which all other versions, and all other Scrooges, are judged.
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:clapping::clapping::clapping:

Oh, yes, yes, yes!!! This is the BEST version, and Alastair Sim is absolutely the BEST Scrooge of all time.

His conversion is the most believable and inspiring of the many I’ve seen. “I must stand on my head. I MUST stand on my head.” And goodness, I just adore the actress who plays Mrs. Dilbur as well. Some of the other actors are a bit stiff for my liking, but Mr. Sim carries the whole movie so well, that I just don’t care 👍

Love this version – maybe Santa will bring me a copy for Christmas!

:extrahappy:

Gertie
 
DaveBj said:
Wikipedia lists 49 movie and television adaptions of the Dickens novel. Which one has your favorite Scrooge? Your favorite Marley? Your favorite Tiny Tim? What’s your favorite Christmas Carol movie song?

(This ought to be fun 😃 )
Click to expand...
There was one film version, not the first, which I believe was in the 1940’s and featured a thin Scrooge whose name I don’t recall, which I thought was the finest. Does anyone have information on the name of the actor who played the role of Scrooge in this film?
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
The 1951 black and white movie with Alastair Sim as Scrooge. No question. The standard by which all other versions, and all other Scrooges, are judged.
Click to expand...
^^^ This. :clapping:

I recorded the movie on my VCR one year. When I went to replay it, I found out it had been colourized. :eek: So I played it with the RGB settings all set to zero.

My favourite part is when his housekeeper comes in on him Christmas morning. He’s cavorting around the bedroom, she’s looking more and more apprehensive that Mr Scrooge is off his rocker; and when he decides he is going to stand on his head – in a nightshirt! – she throws her apron over her head and runs screaming from the room.

Ebenezer chases her, catches her on the stairwell – she’s certain he’s going to murder her, or such – but he starts to calm her down, pats her hand, looks at her with kindly eyes, smiles gently and says, “No, I’ve not gone mad”…then musses his hair, bugs his eyes and goes “Mwaagh!” and scares the bejeepers out of her. :rotfl:

Second place/honourable mention goes to A Muppet Christmas Carol, because, hey, Muppets. 👍 My favourite part of that is during the end credits, where outtakes are shown. Gonzo (Dave Goelz) and Rizzo (Steve Whitmire) are in the scene – the Rizzo muppet has his mouth open; apparently the jaw function is jammed. Goelz says Gonzo’s line, waits, then says to Rizzo something along the lines of, “It’s your line,” to which Whitmire replies, without breaking character, “Ny nouth iz thtuck.” Goelz reaches Gonzo’s arms over and starts tugging on the Rizzo muppet’s head, saying, “Here, I’ll help you,” and Whitmire starts going, “Ow! Ow! Ow!” 😃
 
meltzerboy said:
There was one film version, not the first, which I believe was in the 1940’s and featured a thin Scrooge whose name I don’t recall, which I thought was the finest. Does anyone have information on the name of the actor who played the role of Scrooge in this film?
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I checked the IMDB website. The closest I found to your description. was a 1938 version starring Reginald Owens as Scrooge.

DGB
 
My favorites are in order: Alastair Sim. George C. Scott, and Patrick Stewart. I guess one of my favorite characters was always the ghost of Christmas Future, but he has so few lines! A man of few words, you know. :bigyikes:
 
I liked the Disney version. Professor Von Drake is Scrooge, Mickey is Bob Cratchet, Goofy is Jacob Marley, and Pete is the Ghost of Christmas Future.

The one made 5ish years ago with Jim Carrey and Gary Oldman I remember being really dark and scary.
 
DoGodsBidding said:
I checked the IMDB website. The closest I found to your description. was a 1938 version starring Reginald Owens as Scrooge.

DGB
Click to expand...
Thanks for checking, but it wasn’t the version with Reginald Owens. Maybe it was the one starring Alistair Sims, after all. Still, I think it may be some other version that I’ve never been able to find. It was a dark telling of the story and the ghosts were magnificently portrayed.
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
The 1951 black and white movie with Alastair Sim as Scrooge. No question. The standard by which all other versions, and all other Scrooges, are judged.
Click to expand...
Agreed! Worst version: “Ebbie” with Susan Lucci. Where do I even begin??? 😃
 
John_Lazarus said:
^^^ This. :clapping:

I recorded the movie on my VCR one year. When I went to replay it, I found out it had been colourized. :eek: So I played it with the RGB settings all set to zero.

My favourite part is when his housekeeper comes in on him Christmas morning. He’s cavorting around the bedroom, she’s looking more and more apprehensive that Mr Scrooge is off his rocker; and when he decides he is going to stand on his head – in a nightshirt! – she throws her apron over her head and runs screaming from the room.

Ebenezer chases her, catches her on the stairwell – she’s certain he’s going to murder her, or such – but he starts to calm her down, pats her hand, looks at her with kindly eyes, smiles gently and says, “No, I’ve not gone mad”…then musses his hair, bugs his eyes and goes “Mwaagh!” and scares the bejeepers out of her. :rotfl:

Second place/honourable mention goes to A Muppet Christmas Carol, because, hey, Muppets. 👍 My favourite part of that is during the end credits, where outtakes are shown. Gonzo (Dave Goelz) and Rizzo (Steve Whitmire) are in the scene – the Rizzo muppet has his mouth open; apparently the jaw function is jammed. Goelz says Gonzo’s line, waits, then says to Rizzo something along the lines of, “It’s your line,” to which Whitmire replies, without breaking character, “Ny nouth iz thtuck.” Goelz reaches Gonzo’s arms over and starts tugging on the Rizzo muppet’s head, saying, “Here, I’ll help you,” and Whitmire starts going, “Ow! Ow! Ow!” 😃
Click to expand...
Several years ago I bought the original B&W version on DVD from Amazon. It’s great: nice restoration, no butchering for commercials - and no colorization. Don’t have to wait for the networks to show it. You might want to check around for it.
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
Several years ago I bought the original B&W version on DVD from Amazon. It’s great: nice restoration, no butchering for commercials - and no colorization. Don’t have to wait for the networks to show it. You might want to check around for it.
Click to expand...
Amazon is your friend! (If you live in the States)

Anyway, here are some of my favorites:

Favorite version – whatever I happen to be watching at the moment.

Favorite Scrooge – Alistair Sim, 1951 version

“Hottest” ghost – 1938 Ghost of Christmas Past (if I weren’t married, I’d ask her out!)

Best Mrs. Dilber – 1951 version

Best “rag-and-bone” group – Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol (“We’re de - spicable!”)

More to come, as I think of them
 
I like SCROOGE, the 1970 Albert Finney musical (great performance by Finney), the Alastair Sims version (very creepy - almost like a Hammer horror film), the George C. Scott version (Scott’s Scrooge isn;t just a miser, but a big, blustering bully), the Mr. Magoo animated version (first version I ever saw - great score by the composers that did FUNNY GIRL), but my all time favorite is the 1971 animated version (A CHRISTMAS CAROL), which again used Alastair Sim, who voiced Scrooge, with Sir Michael Redgrave voicing Marley. It was animated by Richard Williams and produced by Chuck Jones for ABC TV. It isn’t shown much anymore, which is a shame. It’s wonderful.

It was based on old Victorian etchings, and is the most true-to-Dickens version. If it has a fault, it was that it was only a half-hour long, so it is very fast-paced, but there are moments of terror and wonder in it - the appearance of the phantoms in the sky and in Scrooge’s home, the visions of those celebrating Christmas on storm-struck ships at sea and in miners’ hovels, the fantastic flights through time and space, and the frightening appearance of Ignorance and Want under the Ghost of Christmas Present’s robe.

The whole film is available on YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=iN6IMZFwY50. Please watch it and let me know what you think.
 
My favorites in no particular order:

Alastair Sim’s Scrooge
Reginald Owen’s A Christmas Carol
Seymour Hick’s Scrooge (circa 1935 - one of the first talking version of A Christmas Carol)
Albert Finney’s Scrooge
Muppets’ A Christmas Carol

Mr. Magoo and Patrick Stewart’s versions are good too.

Good thread! 👍
 
meltzerboy said:
Thanks for checking, but it wasn’t the version with Reginald Owens. Maybe it was the one starring Alistair Sims, after all. Still, I think it may be some other version that I’ve never been able to find. It was a dark telling of the story and the ghosts were magnificently portrayed.
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You may be thinking of the 1935 film Scrooge with Seymour Hicks.

Alastair Sims and Albert Finney are my favorites.

For a somewhat non-traditional take on the story I like the 2011 A Christmas Carol episode of Dr. Who
 
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