A Christmas Carol

The earliest known filmed adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Unfortunately, the final scenes no longer exist. But you can see the 3-1/2 minutes that still survive on the Internet Archive. (not rated out of respect for its venerable age)

[link]http://archive.org/details/ScroogeOrMarleysGhost1901[/link]

A charming one-reeler (about 11 minutes long) that manages to tell the whole story in highly compressed form. Look for it on the Internet Archive. (not rated out of respect for its venerable age)

[link]http://archive.org/details/AChristmasCarol[/link]

5/10 Not awful--but not very good either. It simply moves too fast and omits too much to work. The Ghosts are perfunctory, and I found Hicks a bit cartoonish.

7/10 Not as emotionally involving as it should have been--it omits not only Belle, but also the children Want and Ignorance. Owen is fine, if not particularly poignant. I liked Mackay's Fred.

It's a shame that Lionel Barrymore (who had been originally cast) was unable to play the role. The Internet Archive, however, does have a Christmas Eve 1939 recording of Barrymore's annual radio adaptation, narrated by Orson Welles; you can find it here:

[link]http://archive.org/details/CampbellPlayhouseAChristmasCarol12241939[/link]

4/10 Quick (25 minutes), not very authentic (there is not a British accent to be found), and minimalist (a bearded Vincent Price reads the scene transitions to us from a cozy living room set). Don't expect any Victorian holiday atmosphere. For some reason, the ghost of Christmas Present reminded me of Superman. An interesting example of early U.S. television, but not a worthy Carol. Available at the Internet Archive.

[link]http://archive.org/details/TheChristmasCarolastoldbyVincentPrice[/link]

8/10 One of the very best versions. Sim is perfectly cast and really inhabits the character; you will cry when he finally visits Fred's house. There's a true Victorian mood here, too.

What I don't care for are the additions made to Dickens's original, which to me alter Scrooge's character & take up too much time.

6/10 First-class 1950s television: Fredric March and Basil Rathbone play Scrooge and Marley, respectively. The script is by Maxwell Anderson (who should have given us considerably more of Dickens's own dialogue here), while the music is by Bernard Herrmann (who should have written considerably fewer songs). There's a distinct flavour of Victorian Christmas, with carolers, snow in the streets, steaming roast fowl, dancing.

Much loved by many--but I unfortunately am not among them.

A musical version, broadcast live, starring Basil Rathbone, Vic Damone, Patrice Munsel, and Johnny Desmond.

7/10 This short version features Basil Rathbone as Scrooge. Narrator Fredric March claims to be speaking from the same room in which Dickens wrote A Christmans Carol. (This is possible but unlikely. The Carol was composed in 1843 at 1 Devonshire Terrace in London; that house was demolished circa 1960. The room March is standing in does, however, resemble the library at Gads Hill Place, Kent, to which the Dickens family moved in June 1857. "Boz" wrote many of his later works there.)

While an inexpensive production, this program was made with care and sensitivity. The camera moves around; the characters are energetic & well-conceived. It's too abbreviated to be a great Carol--but it is a worthy one.

7/10 A musical play within a play! The songs vary in quality, but I must say I enoyed the energy and high spirits of this version more than many more solemn adaptations.

7/10 An attractively animated version, with watercolour backgrounds. The dialogue stays very close to Dickens's story. Marley is very creepy. But where is Fred?

2/10 A mean-spirited abomination. Bah humbug!

Finney is fine--but the score is lame, the singers mediocre, the direction campy. Give it a miss unless you're a Carol completist.

8/10 A delightful animated short; in some ways I enjoy Sim here more than in his 1951 version. The distinctive animation style is reminiscent of the original 1843 illustrations by John Leech. Well worth tracking down.

6/10 8-minutes of Bugs dressed up in a sheet in order to spook Yosemite Sam. It's fun, and won't take up much of your time.

5/10 Cute but forgettable--although Donald Duck makes a surprisingly effective nephew Fred.

9/10 My very favorite version. This one stays close to Dickens; the special effects are tastefully done to enhance the mood; and I truly am spooked by Christmas Yet-To-Come here. The production has a lush Victorian atmosphere, with a good score. I found myself truly caring about Scrooge's fate. My only quibble is with Rees's overly restrained Fred.

1/10 This is not an episode from the original 1962 series, just 22 mindless minutes made two decades later. It doesn't have much to do with Dickens either.

7/10 A clever anti-Carol, which every Blackadder fan must see.

7/10 Clever, full of colour and energy, blissfully non-campy. The songs are banal, but the cast's sincerity shines.

2/10 Another play-within-a-play version. The tedious frame story goes on and on, repeatedly interrupting the Carol itself. For Flintstones fans only.

8/10 An intelligent and attractive adaptation, beautifully cast and filmed, with nice special effects. Stewart is excellent. But somehow this one does not dig at my gut the way the 1984 & 1951 versions do, perhaps because I found the Christmas Present sequence weak.

3/10 Ugly and startlingly unpleasant, a heartless if dazzling array of special effects.

4/10 A disappointing one-man version of how Dickens came to write A Christmas Carol. Not much fun to be had here.