POLL: Favorite Scrooge / adaptation of A Christmas Carol

Like James Bond, every actor who plays Scrooge brings something to it.

I like the Albert Finney one the best.

Anyone remember that made for tv version where Henry Winkler plays him?

 

1951 Alastair Sim version by a long shot. But not the colorized version!

I also liked the 1979 twist on the story called "An American Christmas Carol" starring Henry Winkler as Scrooge.

 

Every season, I'm happy to catch whatever movies or specials I happen to catch... but Finney's Scrooge is the only one I make sure to watch every year.
There's also a very cool Chuck Jones animated Christmas Carol that I enjoy watching every year... not sure if it ever made it on to a dvd but it is available on those cheap VHS compilation type Christmas tapes... I actually ripped my tape to a DVD so I can view it without having to set up a vhs machine once a year... think it's on youtube as well.

 

I still have my copy of A CHRISTMAS CAROL from when we read it in school back in the late 50s. This book was reprinted in 1926.

 

I mention this in every 'what's the best Christmas Carol' thread (in hopes the right person sees it and says 'Of Course!')... but I'd love to see Rob Zombie have a take on the Christmas Carol... nothing sexual or offensive, but really play up the horror aspect of the ghost story...
Maybe Malcolm McDowell as Scrooge... Tom Jones as The Ghost of Christmas Present... maybe even Rob & Sherrie as Fezziwig and his wife... lol

 

It's also in the Albert Finney "Scrooge" musical version. The first time "Thank You Very Much" is sung, the entire
town sings it because they're happy he's dead. Of course, it makes the second time it's sung at the end of
the film even more jubilant.....(which I posted in post #4 on page one of the thread).
Watch this first, and then the one on page one I posted. Absolutely joyful.
Here's the "happy he's dead" version.

 

I actually just saw the 1949 w/Taylor Holmes (narrated by Vincent Price) version for the first time the other day. Not the greatest version I've ever seen, but it was decent.

I also just saw the 1910 silent version for the first time as well:



Very impressive given that it is over 100 years old.

 

I will give Alistair Sims his due for a most memorable performance that has obviously transcended many decades, but the first time that I saw George C. Scott as Scrooge, that changed it for me from that point on.

I love the fact that they filmed in an actual English town called Shrewsbury that looks remarkably like the story's time period on the screen. It lends a delightful authenticity to the exterior scenes . One feels that they actually are in the London of Scrooge's time. I also think that the supporting cast was well chosen and their acting work is nothing short of brilliant, especially David Warner as Bob Cratchet, Frank Finlay as Jacob Marley, and Edward Woodward as the Ghost of Christmas Present.

But it is Scott himself who is the true revelation here. He plays Ebenezer Scrooge as a man whose caustic, uncaring demeanor and ill temper hides a man in pain, who is filled with sorrow and regret over the many bad decisions made first in youth , then throughout his life that have made him wealthy, but have also robbed him of any chance at happiness, and a tragically lonely man who still grieves over the loss of his beloved sister so many years ago.

It is subtly played by Scott but that deep well of internally repressed sorrow is expressed just enough that Scrooge becomes a truly sympathetic character throughout the movie, even when he is at his worst. Scott transforms Scrooge into a actual living person who you can feel appalled by, but also feel sympathy for, making his eventual transformation that much more joyous.

This version of A Christmas Carol is my family favorite and my wife and I watch it every year as part of our Christmas celebration. And as we have a DVD copy, I will admit to you all that this year I cheated and watched it back in October as like a child carefully trying to pull the wrapping of a present to take a peek, I just couldn't wait any longer.

That did not prevent me in the slightest from enjoying it just as much as always when we watched it together last night. ...

 

No love for the Winkler version?

 

With Marc McDermott (1910)

 

I agree that was a great movie, and it made me want to see a straight Christmas Carol with Plummer (who, fun fact, is now the oldest actor to play Scrooge)

 

Bah! Humbug. If he’d ****ing like to ****ing die then he’d ****ing better ****ing Do It and ****ing decrease the ****ing surplus population. *****!

 

In order my favorite ones

1. A Muppet Christmas Carol
2. George C. Scott
3. Sims
4. Scrooged
5. Finney

 

The Sim version is easily my favorite.

The Finney version is my least favorite, though not due to Finney himself. I don't like it as a musical. (Maybe if I liked any of the songs I might think differently.)

 

I'm in the midst of my annual reading of the book. (That's a visual art, too). I've just completed the visit from the Ghost of Christmas Present. It refreshes my memory of what the original story had compared to the menu movie versions. There are some good paragraphs that have never shown up in ANY movie version I have seen.

 

I wanted to compare different versions and see which versions I liked for different scenes (e.g. which was the best christmas past scenes, etc.).
I should have started earlier in the week.
Got off to a rocky start as I was watching my DVD of Sim's version and it locked up half way through. (I hope it is the old laptop and not the DVD, or maybe I should hope it is the DVD).
I watched a some Scott and some Hicks on youtube. I did not remember that Hicks did not have a visible Marley ghost.
Not sure where I can get my hands on a Capt Picard version.
Then I started reading the book.
Then I fell asleep.

 

Be careful as you wake up when the clock tolls "a quarter past, half past, a quarter to it and (finally) the hour itself."

 

I can't even sleep in a room with a ticking clock.
BTW - Hicks reminds me of my MIL. But you did not hear me say that.

 

Tried looking and seeing if Ebbie would be on TV this year, and nothing even came up.

 

I watched the Picard version on demand on xfinity just the other day. You might want to look there if you have it.

 

I have this DVD, which contains 2 silent versions of Scrooge:



One is from 1913 (though the DVD says it's from 1926 - it was released in the US then). It has Seymour Hicks as Scrooge. This is a lot more primitive than his 1935 talkie version (which itself is somewhat
more primitive than the 1939 Owen version). It lasts about 40 minutes. In the movie his office is also his home, and Marley's ghost turns into the 3 spirits.

I like the other one (1923 with Russell Thorndike) a little more. It's only 20 minutes.

They're not in great condition. Obviously not a lot of restoration was done.

Neither one is my favorite of course but they're interesting to watch.

 

*
1951 w/Alastair Sim

 

Watching the 2009 Disney version on TV now. I'd never seen it before. It looks very well done.

 

I love this one, too, and watch it on YouTube every year. I'm not surprised it's not on TV, though, 'cause it's frankly kind of terrifying.

 

No disrespect to Sims, but Michael Caine is my vote, always. That he can play Scrooge so well in a musical setting while surrounded by Muppets is amazing.