The best A CHRISTMAS CAROL ....Richard Williams animated (1 Viewer)

While I have great admiration for the Allister Sim version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL-imho the best live action version-and get giddy watching my bluray of MR. MAGOOS version-I am patiently awaiting the definitive version-1972's Richard Williams animated version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL.
Would MGM not have rights to this seeing that it was an ABC production. Looking up its Oscar win as animated short from 1972 it clearly has ABC as the production company. Or are there other rights issues? I don't believe this was ever released on vhs either-but I may be wrong.
This was a perennial for many years but seemed to have vanished in the late 80s.

i whole-heartedly agree, this is my favorite version of 'a christmas carol'.

There was a point that Williams supposedly sold a dvd of some of his work directly, this was included. It's quite a grim but beautifully animated version. And having Sim and Hordern back voicing characters only helped make it better. I do wish it was feature length however.
Here's the contents of the dvd:
A Maroon Cartoon - 5 min
Roger Rabbit screen test - 41 sec.
Return of the Pink Panther clip (53 sec)
Charge of the Light Brigade (5 min 23 sec)
Animated Ads - 20 min 4 sec
Air Canada ad - 41 sec.
I Drew Roger Rabbit (26 min 29 sec)
A Christmas Carol - 25 min
Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure Scenes (No Girl's Toy, Candy Hearts,
Blue, The Greedy) - 10 min (About 2.5 min apiece)
Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Cut Trailer - 3 min 28 sec

ABC probably holds the video rights, but Richard Williams himself owns the film. The last official release was an Anchor Bay VHS in 1998, which was part of the mass licensing of the ABC library (along with the Selznick titles).

There was a point that Williams supposedly sold a dvd of some of his work directly, this was included. It's quite a grim but beautifully animated version. And having Sim and Hordern back voicing characters only helped make it better. I do wish it was feature length however.

Click to expand...

That was actually a fan-made disc released on the Net by Garrett Gilchrist, the fellow who put together the Recobbled Cut of The Thief and the Cobbler. He also released a disc with a transfer from his personal copy of Raggedy Ann and Andy, though he chose to release it in an incorrect AR in order to maximize image quality. In any case, the Richard Williams compilation is probably the best available DVD version of A Christmas Carol, though it's nowhere near the quality of a properly-done commercial release. He titled it, "The Very Best of Richard Williams". You may still be able to find it lurking about the Internet. Good luck! It's a great film!

More accurately, that was a "Best of Richard Williams" sort of disc that I put together for a screening event in San Francisco, hosted by Karl Cohen of ASIFA-SF.

It was a very enjoyable screening, and the disc was then torrented on the net by somebody.

As for the 35mm transfer of Raggedy Ann & Andy that we did in 2007, I'd really like to get the official Blu-Ray rights and do it properly in HD. The SD transfer left a lot to be desired for many reasons, and both men who supervised that 2007 transfer with me happen to have 35mm prints of the film in full, so there's certainly the opportunity.

We also did The Little Island at the time, and bits of The Thief and the Cobbler which we've redone in HD now. (About 30 minutes of the "completed" film.)



Peter C in England did an HD transfer of A Christmas Carol for us from a 16mm print (along with bits of The Thief). I'd like to put it out officially on Blu-Ray from 35mm .... Oh well ....

At any rate, the 16mm HD transfer of A Christmas Carol is nice, and also viewable at thethiefarchive.

Garrett, VCI told me that they are trying to release A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Please contact them if you think you can help -- or are willing to help. I've watched your HD YouTube post of it, it's a significant upgrade. Thank you for doing that, btw.

Thanks! While I think the film should be sourced from 35mm if possible, I've gone ahead and written them! I believe Mo Sutton Williams has a 35mm copy. They just screened that, along with The Little Island and Love Me Love Me Love Me in an HD transfer from 35mm, along with a Thief trailer and other things that weren't film. I hear they were pretty beat-up and in need of restoration work, though.

Thanks, Garrett! I agree re: 35mm. Hopefully something turns out.