Glad you've brought this up! I have read the book of A Christmas Carol (and I have heard radio dramatizations) quite a few times.

Of the movie adaptations, I have only seen (so far) two versions: The 1939 live-action version (colorized on VHS) and the 2009 motion-capture animated version. I only vaguely remember the VHS colorized version, but I remember it being a good adaptation, if more simplified and less dark than the book.

Of the 2009 version, I gotta say: I mostly love that movie. I know it was critically panned, and alot of audience members hate it for being too creepy (among them: Disney's fans and parents of small children). It goes DARK when it didn't have to. But then again, the book is DARK, and pretty macabre. It's a ghost story with real implications for Scrooge, and this version (mostly) treats it as such. It's not a harmless Christmas story for kids. It has teeth, and the movie does too. Maybe too many teeth.

Yes, there are some ridiculous tonal shifts. I think the heart of the book gets kind of lost in the more macabre scenes. Still, those scenes remind me of Disney's Pinocchio: A morality play; Sometimes warm and funny, other times quite frightening, but overall a pretty true adaptation of it's source. Not exactly a great movie. But a good adaptation. I'd reccommend it to older kids and adults who are looking for a modern version that sticks pretty closely to the book's themes and its dialogue. And they might like it - if they can tolerate the more ridiculous moments.

Perhaps my opinion will change after I've seen the versions you've seen and praised. Happy Thanksgiving!

@jfg-ii

I don’t mind the colorized versions as long as the DVD set includes the original black and white film. It  is nice to have both options.  The color looks a bit tinted to me,  but it is fun to watch.  I guess you can’t get away from it being artificial in being added with a computer.  Of course the original is the best.  🙂

I also quite liked the 1951 version with Alistair Sim - I think that one is my favourite out of all of them! Although I also remember watching the 2009 one, and thought it was fine..but a little extra for my taste.  The bit with Jacob's face on the knocker was done with the most ridiculous jumpscare ever, and not only was I startled but someone next to me splashed a drink in my face when that happened.  

I like the Muppets version very much. I have also got a dvd of the Logos Theatre musical production (their own script and songs) from 2019.

In my dvd drawer I also have a copy of Scrooge, released 1970, starring Albert Finnie. I have seen it once, and I'll watch it again this Christmas.

@coracle wow, LOGOS did 'a Christmas Carol' too? That's awesome, those guys and girls are brilliant! Wish I could have seen that....

They did it in 2018 and 2019.
Noah Stratton played a believable grumpy old Scrooge, his son was Tiny Tim.
The dvd is available from Logos, as is the Silent Star production from earlier years. Both really good.

Wow, great thread idea! 

My all-time favorite Carol movie was the version starring George C. Scott. His acting his phenomenal and I think Scrooge's transformation is more believable the way he portrays it.

That version also has the best version of Marley EVER imo. And by far the most terrifying!

My family also enjoys the Muppets version as well, mainly because of the humorous contrast and the fun songs!

We didn't watch the Alistair Sim version until a bit later. It was enjoyable, but it seemed to add a bit to the main story ( like Marley's deathbed warning to Scrooge, which kind of cancels the need for his later warning as a ghost). Sim did a fine job overall, but I guess Scott had already had me expecting something different, and came away unsure why this version is so highly acclaimed by critics. 

@the-mad-poet

It’s been many years since I last watched George C. Scott’s A Christmas Carol.  I remember that it was a good version,  but Patrick Stewart’s and Alastair Sim’s seemed more authentic to me since they were both British.  The British accent is very important to me since the story is set in Victorian England.   The actors should sound like the time and place.  An American playing Scrooge seems less convincing to me.  They also kept W. C. Fields’ American dialect in the 1935 version of David Copperfield.  This may have been a mistake, although Fields was quite good in the role of Mr. Micawber.  However, it is probably better to have British actors in their own roles.  By the way, I am an American from Michigan.  

The 1938 version with Reginald Owen was also good,  but Alastair Sims’ character moved me much more emotionally.  I actually cried at Scrooge asking for forgiveness from his own family when he joins them for dinner. Patrick Stewart did well with Scrooge’s conversion too — you can how complete the change was from a miser to a compassionate man.  🙂

This thread reminds me it's time to dust off my little copy of A Christmas Carol.  It's brief but packs a punch, and I enjoy reading it this time of year.

The George C. Scott version is the one we watch most regularly here, though Narnian78 makes a valid point about his accent. It's been too long since I've seen the Sims or Stewart (I almost typed 'Picard' 😉 ) versions.

I have mixed feelings about the 2009 Jim Carey version. On the one hand parts of it are pretty true to the book, but the jumpscare moments take me out of the story. The addition I remember the most was the chase with the tiny Scrooge (I think this, and some of the others, were added to take advantage of the 3D release).

One thing I've noticed is that film/TV adaptations tend to add a scene where Scrooge visits the Cratchit family after his reformation. That's not in the book, and I remember expecting it the first time I read it.

Good idea. I must have access to the book somewhere, perhaps on Kindle if I cant find one in a second hand shop.  

@coracle

Christmas Books is a collection of stories which contains A Christmas Carol, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Haunted Man, The Chimes, and other stories by Charles Dickens.  It is usually available in a one book edition even though the title is plural.  Second hand book stores might have it, although I found a new hard bound copy at Barnes and Noble for around ten dollars a few years ago. Usually classics are not very expensive here in the U.S., and they often come in beautiful bindings.  If you like ghost stories to read for the Christmas holiday season Christmas Books is a fine collection which I highly recommend. 🙂

There'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago

I always get a kick out of this song because the Christmas Carol is the only "scary ghost story" associated with Christmas that I know....although Hollywood has tossed out a few Krampus movies the last few years.  

At any rate, my earliest memory of this story has to be Mickey's Christmas Carol which scared the everliving daylights out of me as a small child. I doubt I'd even like it now because I remember Scrooge falling through his grave into hell and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come laughing at him. It's amazing I ever watched the story again.

Growing up the version we watched the most hands down was George C Scott. My mom loves that movie, though all I really remember about that one was Marley untying his handkerchief and his mouth falling open. And the Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come desperately needed to be oiled as he was so screechy. 

I know I watched some other "oldie" black and white version that was most likely the Alastair Sims version, though I don't know. All I remember of that one was that the grave at the end looked like someone had poured Elmer's Glue all over it. 

Is my love for this story showing up based on my descriptions?  

A few years back I watched the Jim Carrey version, and the parts that bothered me with that one were the stupid humor moments. But shortly thereafter I read the book and was surprised at how accurate this particular version was. 

But my most favorite (and thank you @coracle for mentioning it first ) is absolutely The Muppet Christmas Carol. But a large portion of that is just because I've always been drawn to children's literature and children's movies, and I think they capture the story fairly well without being overtly scary and having some fun, silly, humor to go with it. I rather like the songs too.  

An honorable mention must go to The Man Who Invented Christmas, which I watched just last year. If you aren't familiar with it, it's not the Christmas Carol, but rather the slightly fictionalized story of Charles Dickens as he's writing the book. I had mixed feelings on it, but I really liked Christopher Plummer as Scrooge. 

"Scary ghost stories"...

This came up this evening while we were enjoying a spectacular drive-through Christmas light show. One answer:

“Whenever five or six English-speaking people meet round a fire on Christmas Eve, they start telling each other ghost stories,” wrote British humorist Jerome K. Jerome as part of his introduction to an anthology of Christmas ghost stories titled “Told After Supper“ in 1891. “Nothing satisfies us on Christmas Eve but to hear each other tell authentic anecdotes about specters.”

The practice of gathering around the fire on Christmas Eve to tell ghost stories was as much a part of Christmas for the Victorian English as Santa Claus is for us.

(online article from the Deseret News).

So A Christmas Carol is an accurate representation of this aspect of a Victorian Christmas, and it helps us understand why Dickens used the ghosts as a framing device for Scrooge's redemption.

There is a good audio reading of A Christmas Carol with Tom Baker, the fourth Doctor on Dr. Who.  Tom Baker’s voice is well suited for audio, and he has performed in many audiobooks.  The audio dramatizations of the story are also certainly worth checking out — especially Focus on the Family Radio Theatre.  It was originally a radio broadcast which I remember hearing about ten years ago.  It is exciting to listen to the voice actors perform the story even though you aren’t relying on movie or a TV screen to use your imagination. 🙂