How many versions of "A Christmas Carol" do you own?

[cinema sickness]

Wow! I just realized I own 13 versions of "A Christmas Carol"; and there are plenty more out there. So this got me to thinking... What does everyone else own? I would love to get some recommendations on other versions and also see if others on here also have way too many versions. LOL! Here are mine...

01. "A Christmas Carol" (1938)
02. "A Christmas Carol" (1951) [Black & White]
03. "A Christmas Carol" (1951) [Colorized]
04. "A Christmas Carol" (2009)
05. "An All Dogs Christmas Carol" (1998)
06. "A Flintstones Christmas Carol" (1994)
07. "Mickey's Christmas Carol" (1983)
09. "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" (1962)
10. "The Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992)
11. "A Jetson Christmas Carol" (1985)
12. "Scrooged" (1988)
13. "Bah, Hum Duck!: A Looney Tunes Christmas" (2006)

[Chaotic]

1

[ian2009]

You missed the 1970 Scrooge starring Albert Finney--my all-time favorite, watched it every year on WGN as a child!

[cinema sickness]

Originally Posted by ian2009

You missed the 1970 Scrooge starring Albert Finney--my all-time favorite, watched it every year on WGN as a child!

I'll have to check that one out. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Tom Hiddleston]

None. I lost my tape of The Muppet Christmas Carol a long time ago.

[chefazn]

Zero!

[charlieray1]

Quite a few! I love the story and have read the book several times. Here are the ones in my collection:

1935 Seymour Hicks version
1938 Reginald Owen MGM version
1949 early TV version, Vincent Price is the on-screen narrator. Cheap and cheesy, but fun!
1951 Alastair Sim -- really great! Good blu-ray too
195? Fredrick March TV version -- Ghost of the Future is a blackbird!
1962 Mr Magoo
1970 "Scrooge" musical with Albert Finney
1971 Chuck Jones animated version, w/Alastair Sim. Won an Oscar! Too short (23 min) but spooky
198? Mickey's Christmas Carol
1984 George C. Scott -- my favorite. OP, you NEED this. Fantastic. On Blu-ray
1999 Patrick Stewart
I don't yet have the Jim Carrey or Muppet versions -- I'll get to 'em though! There's also a DVD called "Old Scrooge" with 2 early silent versions that I want.


Plus, on CD:

1939 Orson Welles & Lionel Barrymore radio adaptation (excellent -- a favorite)
Patrick Stewart one-man performance
Jim Dale reading the unabridged book
"Focus On The Family" dramatization. Lame.
Several vintage short radio adaptations, including ones with Edmund Gwenn and Sir Lawrence Oliver

Books:

A movie tie-in addition w/photos from the Scott version
A large, pretty 1938 printing with color illustrations
The Annotated Christmas Carol -- with excellent side notes to the text
A vintage pop-up version for little ones.
"The Christmas Carol Book" -- a book with lists and reviews of every known film and TV version.

[EricJ]

There ARE only three versions, and they're all on Blu-ray:
Alastair Sim, George C. Scott, and Quincy Magoo.

(I'll confess to owning Ebenezer Blackadder, too, but that was part of a boxset.)

[BLUEGRASS]

None. The only time of the year I would ever want to watch my favorite take on "A Christmas Carol" (Scrooged) would be during the holidays, and this movie is ALWAYS playing during holidays on TNT or TBS or some other channel.

[toddly6666]

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by charlieray1

"The Christmas Carol Book" -- a book with lists and reviews of every known film and TV version.

And for those looking for the comprehensive index online, JimHillMedia.com did a 30-part blog post on nearly every single major Carol adaptation, including lame cartoon specials and Lifetime movies. (As of '06, so Carrey isn't mentioned, but consider it as ranking somewhere near the upper middle.)
http://jimhillmedia.com/search/Searc...+u&PageIndex=1

...If yours isn't there, it's too obscure.

[MorgolKing]

Originally Posted by charlieray1

1984 George C. Scott -- my favorite. OP, you NEED this. Fantastic.

I strongly suggest this version as well. In fact I was really shocked that the OP doesn't have this in his collection.

My Dad loves "A Christmas Carol" and so my family has watched many different versions of it over the years, but the George C. Scott version was an yearly tradition. It is far and away the best version imo.

George C. Scott plays such a cold and calculating Scrooge. The entire cast is just perfect and they are brilliant in their roles. The actor who plays the Ghost of Christmas Present is one of my favorites. I definitely give this one my highest recommendation!

[The Mad Kiwi]

Yeah, I agree that the George C. Scott version is the strongest live-action version of the story (laugh at me if you must, but I'll always have a soft spot for Mickey's Christmas Carol).

Here are the versions I own:
1983 - Scrooge McDuck, Disney
1984 - George C. Scott
1993 - Michael Caine, Muppets
2009 - Jim Carrey, CG

I plan on getting the Alastair Sim and Patrick Stewart versions at some point.

[kdo]

2...The 1938 release starring Reginald Owen, and the 1951 version with Alastair Sim.

[MorgolKing]

I really like the Scrooge McDuck version too. I haven't seen it in forever. Is the Jim Carrey one any good?

Originally Posted by The Mad Kiwi

Yeah, I agree that the George C. Scott version is the strongest live-action version of the story (laugh at me if you must, but I'll always have a soft spot for Mickey's Christmas Carol).

Here are the versions I own:
1983 - Scrooge McDuck, Disney
1984 - George C. Scott
1993 - Michael Caine, Muppets
2009 - Jim Carrey, CG

I plan on getting the Alastair Sim and Patrick Stewart versions at some point.

[The Mad Kiwi]

Originally Posted by MorgolKing

Is the Jim Carrey one any good?

Yes, surprisingly so. It's a very straight adaptation that's got some spectacular visuals. Carrey plays Scrooge and all the ghosts in a thankfully understated manner, and I'd go as far to say this is the darkest adaptation of the story I've seen. Definitely worth checking out.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by The Mad Kiwi

Yes, surprisingly so. It's a very straight adaptation that's got some spectacular visuals. Carrey plays Scrooge and all the ghosts in a thankfully understated manner, and I'd go as far to say this is the darkest adaptation of the story I've seen. Definitely worth checking out.

Carrey said in interviews he was paying tribute to Alastair Sim, and does a surprisingly restrained and respectful imitation--
It's only as the Past and Present ghosts that his hammy-predatory "Allll-righty then! " Ace Ventura urges to deliberately creepy-annoy the other actors kicks in and tries to sabotage the seriousness of the movie, but his serious-actor Scrooge keeps it in check.

That's Carrey, anyway--As for Zemeckis, we get the impression Bob never sat down and read the book before now, is just now discovering all the deeper meaning of Dickens, and wants to make sure we paying folk all understand it in nice, easy words of one syllable.
Which means all the long "boring" dialogue passages have to be filled in with audience entertaining "business", like Marley getting his jaw comically unstuck during "Mankind was my business...", or the Wacky Adventures of Shrunken Scrooge during the rag-and-bone scene. On the upside, Z's attempt to "translate" the dialogue also offers a unique twist on the Ignorance/Want scene that we haven't seen before....But that was about it for inspiration.

[Atreyu]

I own only one version and IMO, the best. The British version with Alistair Sim.
In all the other versions I get the impression that Scrooge just became nice at the end so people will remember him fondly after he dies. But in the Sim version I believe the transformation and that he truely became filled with the Christmas spirit.

[Storm]

Only the new version. Will add the George C. Scott one at some point in the future.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Atreyu

I own only one version and IMO, the best. The British version with Alistair Sim.
In all the other versions I get the impression that Scrooge just became nice at the end so people will remember him fondly after he dies. But in the Sim version I believe the transformation and that he truely became filled with the Christmas spirit.

You have to love Sim's "....I don't deserve to be so happy" during his "silly" reformation.

As for GCScott, although the book has Scrooge invisibly watching the parlor games at his nephew's party, the script has them playing a game of Similes:
"Tight as...a drum?" "Tight as...your uncle's pursestrings!" "Silent as...the grave..."
And so, naturally, when Scott reforms, it explains perfectly why he's "As merry as a schoolboy, as giddy as a drunken man, as happy as an angel..."
(Never noticed that until now.)