Various versions of A Christmas Carol.... (1 Viewer)

This is not a thread to say which is your favorite. But, to discuss what each movie shows that the others don't. For example if I remember correctly the version with Patrick Stewart seemed to show more with Scrooge's nephew after he is repentant. So fans of each version what does those versions add to the story?

Oh and by the way. I love the Alistar Sim version.

I'm not all that familiar with all the versions, so I can't say how much this version adds to the story, but the TV version with George C. Scott is a favorite of my wife and myself.

I find Scrooge's transformation very well done and the three spirits all well cast. The only negative is the child playing Tiny Tim is not very good.

I'll second the vote for the George C. Scott version. The production values are first rate. The casting was exceptional. Great effort was placed in replicating the images of the book; this film did the best job of presenting the ghost of Christmas Past of any film I've seen. I was especially moved by the performances of Scott and David Warner (as Bob Cratchet). Warner so often plays villains and here he is the sweetest fellow. In Scrooges vision of the future, when Cratchet shares his sadness in remembering the now-absent Tiny Tim I get teary every time. Scott is by far the best Scrooge in my opinion because he underplays the part and plays it naturally. He isn't a snarling cartoon villain, just a self-satisfied, deeply cynical man. His transformation is joyous and childlike ( I love when he kicks his slipper into the air, and confronts Cratchet on the day after Christmas, all pseudo-bluster while barely containing the joke)

the 1970 version shows Scrooge's decent into hell (complete with Leather clad henchmen) Doubt those scenes are in any other version

Fastest thread drift, ever.

Agreed. Fastest drift ever.

I win!!!


Maybe, someone else remembers this. But, didn't the Patrick Stewart version have him go find his fiance when he comes back?

The Muppet Christmas Carol has the best music.

I don't believe the Stewart version has him go back to find his fiance, but it is the only one with that guy from "The Wire"

Muppets is the only one with Marley brothers-- Jacob and Robert (get it, Bob Marley?).

Maybe it doesn't count for your criteria, but I find the Patrick Stewart audio version to be the most book-accurate. This was a one man play that he narrated and acted in.

Black Adder's Christmas Carol is the only one I know of where the Scrooge character starts off good and turns evil.

One pet peeve of mine is when Marley's ghost tells Scrooge that the ghosts will visit him at one hour intervals (1am, 2am). In the book, and in several movie versions, Marley tells him that the first ghost is coming when the bell tolls one, the second on the next night at one am, and the third at the stroke of midnight. One of the biggest surprises is that the ghosts "did it all in one night", which isn't as big a deal if the ghosts were already scheduled to come in a 3 hour span. Scrooge wakes up and he thinks he missed Christmas, so he is even more delighted when the boy tells him, "Why, it's Christmas Day!" I can't remember which versions do it "the right way". It's a small point, but it's important to me-- it takes me out of the story when I hear it "the wrong way".

We used to call the Sim version "the bad-teeth Christmas Carol" until the Stewart version, which has its fair share of dental nightmares (but period-accurate, probably).

The 1935 version of Scrooge starring Sir Seymour Hicks begins with the Lord Mayor's Christmas Eve ball. If I remember correctly, it's not in Dickens, but it is an interesting opening. Hicks is my second favourite Scrooge and Donald Calthrop is a very able Cratchit.

Alistar sims is great, But for a movie that was made in 1955, The film quality is crap. Movies made in 1930's look better than that. I wish they could clean it up.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding it, but the way you wrote your post, in the original story the ghosts are scheduled to come on 3 consecutive nights, is that right?

How about Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol??

Actually I love the George C Scott Version.

How much different is the book compared to the various theatrical versions?

On a side note. One thing that always bothered me. Was poor Marley. Scrooge gets a chance at redemption..While poor Marley is condemned to walk the Earth as a tormented spirit. WTF?

Even as a kid I always thought Marley got the short end of the stick.

A MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL!
For all the humorous banter between the narrators(rizzo and gonzo).
I still crack up when rizzo reaches through the fence they just climbed and gonzo calls him an idiot.
Somehow, that movie got it right. It was touching, sad, funny and it had real heart.
I'm ready to have my lashings...

One thing that's rather surprising is the whole - "take care of my son, Ebeneezer" arc, which really makes great sense, tying in his childhood treatment, with how and why he treated his nephew - isn't part of the book. It's certainly a big part of the 1951 Sim version, though I don't know if it predates that or originates there. In any case, a very worthwhile addition IMO.

That scene is very powerful. Scrooge was the one person who he never stopped loving. And when he finally hears her last request to take care of her son...It devestates him.

Since the thread has already drifted...

The thing that the BBC version adds is the marvelous Michael Hordern as Scrooge. As it's not available on DVD and my tape is broken I haven't seen it recently enough to remember how it adheres to or strays from the book, but I'm still in hopes that this version will be added to a final Dickens box with the upcoming version of Little Dorrit and some version of Tale of Two Cities.

Count me in as loving the George C. Scott version above all others and what sets it apart for me, in addition to what has already been said, is that they took the time to film it in beautiful Shrewsbury England and that adds a touch of realism and elegance to this version that is simply lacking from all the others.

Plus it has some of the most frightening ghosts of any version, Jacob Marley scares the poop out of me in this one as does the ghost of xmas future, it's that loud piercing sound he makes while pointing his bony fingers that gets me. :frowning:

Scrooge breaking down in the graveyard at the end declaring that he is a changed man is extremely dramatic and is superior to any past Scrooge, he doesn't just say it, he CRIES it and that sets it apart IMO, he makes me believe that what he has been through altered him in a profound way.