I'm preparing a talk on Dickens' A Christmas Carol and am struck by the many, many on-screen versions it's inspired. My particular favorite is the 1951 movie Scrooge, with Alastair Sim as the lead. So, fellow forumites, name your favorite version!
The 1984 version with George C. Scott, definitely. The ghost of Christmas yet to come continues to haunt my dreams. (I was seven when it premiered, and we watched it every year. Seven is a very impressionable age.)
I'm partial to the 1951 version as well, but the 1984 isn't a bad re-make.
Isn't there a Muppets version, too?
Quote from: wareagle on December 04, 2020, 01:38:20 PM
Isn't there a Muppets version, too?
Yes! Christmas isn't even my holiday, but the Muppet Christmas Carol is a tradition. It is just as wacky and hilarious as you might imagine.
The one with "and raz-el-ber-ry dressing"
M.
Notwithstanding my deep affection for the George C. Scott version, which has some excellent elements, and giving a nod to the 1999 or so Patrick Stewart version, with really good presentation of the Crachits in particular, I'm going to reserve my highest praise for Mickey's Christmas Carol, for the thoroughness with which Disney characters are absorbed into their Dickensian roles. Oh, and a shout out to the Muppets and Mr. Magoo, of course! (Christmas Carol films were what we brought our kids up on - we'd watch multiple versions every year, and would debate their various qualities endlessly.)
I watch multiple versions every year, although Tiny Tim irritates me. I've just purchased passes for a streamed puppet performance, both to support local theatre group and to add a sixth version to my schedule for the month. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be Scrooge , with Albert Finley demanding another drink while croaking out "I like life" with the Ghost of Christmas Present.
Of course the Muppets version is a thing unto itself. But the definitive answer is that the 1951 version cannot be equalled. I'm sorry, that's just the way it is. Some truths are eternal, like gravity, and Alistair Sim.
Quote from: Hegemony on December 04, 2020, 06:43:04 PM
Of course the Muppets version is a thing unto itself. But the definitive answer is that the 1951 version cannot be equalled. I'm sorry, that's just the way it is. Some truths are eternal, like gravity, and Alistair Sim.
Maybe. The 1938 version with Reginald Owen is awfully good, though. It was the first one I ever saw as a kid, probably on the local PBS station, when I was about 10-11, so that likely has something to do with my liking it better. But 1951/Sim is very, very good, too.
Of course,
The Simpsons have included plenty of references and parts of/episodes using it, too.
Whenever I hear someone mention Scrooge, I break into "Thank You Very Much" from the 1970 version. When the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives and then we watch Bob Cratchit dance on a dead Scrooge's coffin while singing the song--and Scrooge not quite understanding what is happening and singing about his own death: One of my favorites scenes from any movie.
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/DopWfOB2XX8 (https://youtu.be/DopWfOB2XX8)
That's funny. I like the song a lot, and the moment has a lot of great dark humor, but my quibble is it makes Scrooge a bit slower on the uptake than I think he should be.
A Christmas Carol is one of my favorite stories ever, and I try to watch at least one version of it that I haven't seen before every year. The 1951 version is my all time favorite film version. The 1971 Richard Williams animated version (which has both Scrooge's and Marley's roles reprised from the 1951 film) is also amazing and suffers only from being so short. The visual style is creepy and wintry.
Quote from: fishbrains on December 05, 2020, 10:11:26 AM
Whenever I hear someone mention Scrooge, I break into "Thank You Very Much" from the 1970 version. When the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives and then we watch Bob Cratchit dance on a dead Scrooge's coffin while singing the song--and Scrooge not quite understanding what is happening and singing about his own death: One of my favorites scenes from any movie.
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/DopWfOB2XX8 (https://youtu.be/DopWfOB2XX8)
I think that tune was used in a Christmas TV commercial several years ago!
Quote from: hmaria1609 on December 05, 2020, 01:02:20 PM
Quote from: fishbrains on December 05, 2020, 10:11:26 AM
Whenever I hear someone mention Scrooge, I break into "Thank You Very Much" from the 1970 version. When the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives and then we watch Bob Cratchit dance on a dead Scrooge's coffin while singing the song--and Scrooge not quite understanding what is happening and singing about his own death: One of my favorites scenes from any movie.
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/DopWfOB2XX8 (https://youtu.be/DopWfOB2XX8)
I think that tune was used in a Christmas TV commercial several years ago!
It's not Bob Cratchit dancing on the coffin, it's one of Scrooge's debtors. Bob Cratchit would have been worried about finding a new job when Scrooge died, not dancing on the coffin. Not to mention that I can almost hear him murmuring about Christian charity and not speaking ill of the dead. But it is a good song.
Quote from: Vkw10 on December 05, 2020, 02:58:58 PM
Quote from: hmaria1609 on December 05, 2020, 01:02:20 PM
Quote from: fishbrains on December 05, 2020, 10:11:26 AM
Whenever I hear someone mention Scrooge, I break into "Thank You Very Much" from the 1970 version. When the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives and then we watch Bob Cratchit dance on a dead Scrooge's coffin while singing the song--and Scrooge not quite understanding what is happening and singing about his own death: One of my favorites scenes from any movie.
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/DopWfOB2XX8 (https://youtu.be/DopWfOB2XX8)
I think that tune was used in a Christmas TV commercial several years ago!
It's not Bob Cratchit dancing on the coffin, it's one of Scrooge's debtors. Bob Cratchit would have been worried about finding a new job when Scrooge died, not dancing on the coffin. Not to mention that I can almost hear him murmuring about Christian charity and not speaking ill of the dead. But it is a good song.
My bad.
One additional small pleasure of the 1951 version is that the young Jacob Marley is played by Patrick Macnee, who was John Steed in the classic 1960s show The Avengers. The scene is so short it's almost a cameo. And Bob Crachit was played by Mervyn Johns, who was the father of Glynis Johns, who was Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins, so that family had classic films sewn up.
Mr. Magoo.
I will speak for all of Gen X here and say that Scrooged with Bill Murray is the best one.
A missing song from one of the versions has been recovered:
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-55232499
i'm always puzzled when something like this is said to be "too confusing" for children.
They usually understand (and deal with the need for) values-based decisions a lot earlier than we give them credit for.
M.
Muppets and Scrooged for me.
QuoteI'm preparing a talk on Dickens' A Christmas Carol and am struck by the many, many on-screen versions it's inspired. My particular favorite is the 1951 movie Scrooge, with Alastair Sim as the lead. So, fellow forumites, name your favorite version!
"It isnt Christmas until we watch A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sim" says my father every year. So I suppose that I have seen them all, but I do seem to like this one the best.
(and want there one with "The Fonz"? (Henry Winkler?)
(And YES, there was in 1979 "An American Christmas Carol".)
Bit of a tangent here, but given the passion with which people advocate for the 1951 Alastair Sim version, I'd really like to know WHY that one is a favorite? I've seen it (many times) and it's fine, but I'm not in love with it over several of the other versions. Actually, there are aspects of many that I really prefer (a particular actor, a particular scene, cinematography, costuming, details lifted accurately from the book, details not in the book but that add so much to the storytelling, etc. etc.). Not wanting to quarrel with anyone, but genuinely wishing to know . . .
Quote from: lillipat on December 12, 2020, 10:04:14 AM
Bit of a tangent here, but given the passion with which people advocate for the 1951 Alastair Sim version, I'd really like to know WHY that one is a favorite? I've seen it (many times) and it's fine, but I'm not in love with it over several of the other versions. Actually, there are aspects of many that I really prefer (a particular actor, a particular scene, cinematography, costuming, details lifted accurately from the book, details not in the book but that add so much to the storytelling, etc. etc.). Not wanting to quarrel with anyone, but genuinely wishing to know . . .
I love his joyous giggling in his transformation and how sweetly he reassures his charlady, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is super-creepy, and I enjoy Scrooge and Marley's backstory.
Muppets. Followed by John Denver's Christmas album with the Muppets. My grown kids still play that album in their adulthood.
You mean the one with, "You Fill Up My Stockings...."?
M.
Alastair Sim is just so winning to me. His joy at the end is contagious. "A most excellent boy!" I think why one particular movie has more impact than others is basically an indefinable thing. But clearly the Alastair Sim version has impressed many people as the most affecting version, and my guess is that all of those people would say "There's just something about it that makes it a delight to watch. My favorite scene is ..." It's kind of like my attempts to explain the appeal of chocolate to a friend who doesn't like chocolate. Obviously some opinions will differ.
I read and own a paperback edition of The Man Who Invented Christmas by Les Standiford, published 2008. The book tells the story of how Charles Dickens came to write and self-publish "A Christmas Carol" novella. It's the basis of the 2017 movie starring Dan Stevens as Dickens. To coincide with the movie's release, the book was reissued with a new cover and the novella. This is the edition I own.
The adaptation of The Man Who Invented Christmas is available on DVD and online.