Best Version of A Christmas Carol?

[Free Bird]

Self explanatory; I will always have a soft spot for Mickey's

[Nutmeg]

The Muppets -- their Ghost of Christmas Future is honestly terrifying.

[Free Bird]

The Muppets -- their Ghost of Christmas Future is honestly terrifying.

And the songs are awesome

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Muppets, though Capt. Picard's is good too.

[Joe Republic]

Scrooged

It's Bill Murray, guys.  Come on.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

George C. Scott (if that is his name, it's been a while--the guy who played Patton).

[DemPGH]

Yeah, probably the George C. Scott one with Patrick Stewart's very close behind. Stewart crushes it of course, but I think it was only made for TV.

[The Dowager Mod]

The 1951 version with Alastair Sim.

[Dancing with Myself]

Scott's version of it. I watched it in drama class 7 years back and loved, try to watch it every year. Besides The Hospital this is my favorite Scott film.

I remember there was a cartoon version of it by fox in the late 90's, I liked it when I was a kid. Haven't seen it since about 2000 or so.

[Joe Biden 2020]

The Muppets by far.

[Badger]

George C. Scott's 1984 version. I bought it on Cd to watch every year.

I'm not a fan of musical movies, but the 1969 version, 'Scrooge!" (which I also own on CD) is awesome.

I reluctantly started to watch the 2009 animated version last night with the wife. We were interupted early on, but it was surprisingly good. We'll watch the rest this weekend.

[I Will Not Be Wrong]

Nothing can beat the Muppets!

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Self explanatory; I will always have a soft spot for Mickey's

I love that one, too.

[Badger]

I'll bump this thread in honor of the day, as well as being anafficienado for Christmas Carol versions.

The 2009 Disney (non-Mickey) version was disappointing. It indeed started well, a Jim Carrey was a surprisingly strong voice actor in the role of Scrooge, but it degenerated into scenes that seemed designed to stage a potential Disneyland ride if the movie was a hit. The (over)-extended scene of Scrooge's being chased by the Ghost of Christmas Future, during which Scrooge turns the size of a mouse for no particular reason (wtf?), was particularly awful. A squandered opportunity.

The Muppets Christmas Carol is far better than Mickey's. The latter, after commercial breaks and opening credits, is barely over 20 minutes long. Even for a kid's version, it doesn't begin to do the story justice. Michael Caine does a great Scrooge, Kermit and Ms. Piggy are the perfect Cratchits, and the story being narrated by Rizzo the Rat and Gonzo (the latter 'playing' the role of Dickens) is the perfect touch of muppet comic relief.

More to come, as the wife calls......

[Badger]

OK, she's off for a nap while I watch the boys and their cousins play with the toys from Santa. Ah, a golden age.

As said before, George C. Scott's version is arguably the best. Not only is his portrayal arguably the best ever done, the story is arguably the most 'canonical' toward Dickins' original brilliant story. It best emphasizes the fact Scrooge was, although misanthropic, a not entirely out of the mainstream economic Malthusian willing to embrace the inhumane aspects of lassiz-faire economics.

Patrick Stewart's version isn't bad, but is a tad overrated. He's good, but the production and story execution is lacking and holds him back. Watching Stweart's version after the (to me) original version is like watching Stewart's version of Lion in Winter after seeing the original: Not bad inn and of itself, but still a lacking imitation.

I don't much like musicals. There, I said it. But the 1970 (not 69 as I previously mis-stated) production of 'Scrooge' staring Albert Finney is probably my second favorite version of the Carol. The musical numbers fit the story so well ("Thank You Very Much"; "Father Christmas"; the finale is a triumph which shows why it was such a success on stage). The scene where the Ghost of Christmas takes Scrooge on a tour of Hell to see what awaits his afterlife is perhaps the only serious deviation from Dickins that actually adds to an adaptation's entertainment value.

Yet more to come (yes, I'm a tad obcessed).

[Mr. Smith]

The original book by Dickens easily.

[Badger]

The original book by Dickens easily.

This!

[Badger]

Scrooged

It's Bill Murray, guys.  Come on.

I saw it for the first time this past weekend and was unimpressed. Bill Murray was decent, though Carol Kane was better as the sadistic fairy princess Ghost of Christmas Present. Otherwise kind of a waste. The movie couldn't decide whether it wanted to be more of a holiday comedy or a touching holiday drama, and consequently wasn't funny or touching over 90% of the time. Plus the movie has a horribly dated 80's vibe running throughout it. This 1988 film would've seemed out-oftouch by 1995.

That, and the finale scene (where Murray basically re-enacts his lounge singer routine to a national tv audience) has a downright creepy part where he cozies up to one of the Solid Gold Dancers (did I mention the dated 80's vibe?) During his monologue and, as she stands there like a manaquin, crams his tongue down her throat. THEN proceeds to plead for his long lost love to forgive and reunite with him at the studio. You could just feel the input of some slimey studio exec saying "Bill's best playing the bad boy. You gotta give him a little action for the frat boys to high five over!"

Not interested in watching it again.

[Badger]

The 1951 version with Alastair Sim.

A decent version. Sims overacts a bit at times, but still definitely worth watching.

[Badger]

Two often overlooked treasures for people wanting to see a different Carol adaptation: The first, which I can't recommmend enough, is An American Christmas Carol, starring Henry Winkler in this early 80's tv production. It's set in Depression-era New England. With good make-up Winkler is able to play both the 'current' day elderly Scrooge as well as his earlier incarnations, which he does magnificently.

A surprisingly good adaptation is 'Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol'. Magoo agrees to play the lead in a local production, so the vastmajority of the show is actually played straight. Jim Backus of course is an excellent voice for Scrooge. The production is an hour and 15 minutes, so it's able to include some cute congs and still not give the story short shrift.

And so as Tiny Tim said: "God bless us, one and all!"