A Christmas Carol/Scrooge

Wow, I did not know this was a theatrical release.

I always thought it had been a made-for-TV musical. I first saw it in the early to mid 70s on the tube and loved it.

The choreography on this blows me away on some of the musical numbers, and I can only imagine how fantastic it would have looked on the big screen.

 

How about the *other* Alastair Sim version...namely, the animated short done by Richard Williams in the '70s?

Still the only version to win an Oscar.

 

I'm taking notes. I've never seen it, but it sounds interesting.

 

I have watched the Scott and Patrick Stewart versions of A Christmas Carol. I think they are both very good. I just prefer the Alastair Sim movie more.

 

Iv'e seen all the versions of A Christmas Carol mentioned so far and the Alastair Sim version is the one my wife and I have an overwhelming preference for.

 

We had a weird experience with the George C Scott version on DVD this year. It's an '80s made-for-TV movie, and the box states that it's in its normal 1.33:1 aspect ratio. I always have our widescreen TV set to do the normal pillarboxes on such TV fare and Academy ratio films, that's the purist in me.

We put the Scott version on while trimming the tree the other night, and the menu came up in anamorphic widescreen. OK, so I expected that when I hit play, that the normal 1.33:1 screen ratio would happen on the film. It didn't, and the movie began in the "zoom" mode as if the film were supposed to be 16:9 or 1.78:1.

I used the remote and switched modes back to "normal" and we proceeded to trim the tree. When I glanced back at the screen some time later, it was back in the "zoom" 16:9 mode. I left it there and continued to note that the movie didn't look like heads were chopped off as this mode normally does with standard ratio material. Instead, it looked like a normal 16:9 film, as if it had been made at that ratio.

Then I remembered that the Scott version was indeed released theatrically in Europe, and I now wonder if it was intentionally filmed in an open-matte format for US televisions, but with a widescreen "vision" for the European theatres?

We watched the entire rest of the movie in the widescreen format and it really looked OK - in fact it covered up one of the "mistakes" of the 1.33 version. There's a scene where one can see the Ghost Of Christmas Future being on a track of some kind. On the 1.78:1 zoom version, that flaw is covered up.

I still don't know why my TV seemed to have a mind of its own, unless the DVD is somehow encoded to blow it up.

Harry

 

Albert Finney's version, all his supporting characters were stronger and more memorable.

 

There have been so many film versions of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol', I'm just curious on what's your favorite version of the story.

I love the Carol with Alastair Sim as Scrooge, considered to be the definitive version. A close second for me would be the George C. Scott TV version. The 1938 Reginald Owen version released by MGM is good, though I''m not crazy about Scrooge loving Christmas much too soon before the Ghost of Christmas future turns up.

Of the musical versions, the Albert Finney version is pretty good. For me, the Mr. Magoo Christmas Carol with music by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill is the best with Broadway caliber songs. I really like the Muppet Christmas Carol with Michael Caine as Scrooge, the Muppets pretty much playing it straight out of respect to the Dicken's story. More recently, I like the TV musical version with Kelsey Grammar as Scrooge, this version taken from the musical production that played at the Theater At Madison Square Garden for ten years with music by Alan Menken.

Of the animated Carols, the 1971 TV version produced by Chuck Jones and directed by Richard Williams is excellent, and they brought back Alastair Sim to recreate his role of Scrooge. I already mentioned the Mr. Magoo version which is very well done. The Disney 'Mickey's Christmas Carol' is good, with Alan Young voicing Scrooge McDuck with a fine Scottish brogue. Last years' computer animated version with Jim Carey as Scrooge and directed by Robert Zemeckis has incredible visual effects, though it comes across as perhaps the darkest of the filmed Carols.

An addition to the list would be the Bill Murray version that takes a more modern, satirical view of the classic story.

 

1. Magoo
2. Scrooged
3. Everything else.

Brian

PS: We screened the new Zemeckis/Jim Carey "A Christmas Carol" and my wife and I did not like it at all. I am not opposed to MoCap films (we watched Polar Express the other night and always enjoy it) but I just did not like Jim Carey's take on Scrooge.

 

The Alastair Sim version was always the favorite with my family.

 

Probably the 1969 animated version, not listed among the choices.

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIkMaKLhngU

 

Here's the 1971 animated version produced by Chuck Jones, directed by Richard Williams ('Roger Rabbit') and featuring Alastair Sim recreating his role of Scrooge.

Part 1


Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MLXlWizOlo&feature=related

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DWAGiHsP3E&feature=related

 

The 1951 version with Sim, hands down. Why TCM neglects it every year in favor of the inferior Reginald Owen one is beyond me, unless there's a rights issue.

 

Bill Murray's Scrooged..

 

Avoid the "colourized" version - dreadful.

Otherwise, absolutely the definitive version.

 

My wife and I just enjoyed Mister Magoo's performance last week. We have Reginald Owen's version for this evening.

 

The Alastair Sim version is the definitive version to me.

 

Didn't Henry Winkler do a version of this?

 

He did, It's called 'An American Christmas Carol'.

http://www.amazon.com/American-Christmas-Carol-Henry-Winkler/dp/B00001O2G7

 

Voted for Alistair Slim but I like a lot of them including the made for TV one with Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard).

 

You didn't list the recorded version with Lionel Barrymore as Scrooge. For me the definitive version, if a bit short. It's too bad he never did it on film.

john K.

 

Yes! It's when Henry showed he could be someone else besides "Fonzie".



We just bought the Jim Carey Blu-ray and will watch it tonight.

 

The Sim version. Some of the others are good but nothing is even close.