“A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens”

Question

Hi Wikitreers,

It’s the season for all the Christmas Classics especially “A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens” 

The film industry has made many classic renditions of the famed Novella; however the question remains what was the very first film ever to have been made based on Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol”

Was it the 1908 silent film lost to history? See Wikipedia

Just for fun this holiday season just how many films were made? Lost? Or which film and year was your favorite?

Thank you 

Comments

Sim-480 is an orphan "notable" profile.  How do we bring that to the attention of the Notable Project?

#notable

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Oh yes I did see the Sim profile as orphaned. I do hope someone adopts

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I love the story and film, specially Patrick Stewart as Scrooge.

But my favorite are the one with Albert Finney 

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The Notables Project has recently decided not to manage the profiles of deceased notables except in a few special circumstances. This is because we found that many members were reluctant to work on profiles we were managing as they mistakenly believed that to do so they needed to be an active member of our project or have some sort of permission or special skills. We are now "orphaning" many of our notable profiles in the hopes this will encourage interested members to "adopt" them and give them the TLC they require.

I added a little bit of a bio to Alistair's profile and would love to see others continue to add to it.

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Thank you for the update David

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Honestly, I don’t have a real favorite, each version has its own appeal. But I do have a soft spot for an old animated version, “Mr Magoo’s A Christmas Carol.” I first saw it when I was in middle school.

Answer 1

I have seen many versions from Alistair Sim to Patrick Stewart to Bill Murray to The Muppets. I don’t think I have a favourite.

Answer 2

I really enjoy the updated remakes, no matter how corny. Last night I watched A Christmas Karen (2022), about an entitled pushy woman who learns to be less terrible to others. It was dumb but fun.

Comments

I like a few but one that is really good is the 1984 version portrayed by George C. Scott in “A Christmas Carol” the holiday story is really a tradition and with so many renditions it’s hard to choose a favorite as each is unique to the era and generation!

Edit: My other favorite is the 1951 A Christmas Carol portayed by Alastair Sim 

Answer 3

I also vote for the 1951 version with Alastair Sim. The black and white presentation makes the film.

He has a Wikitree profile.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sim-480

Comments

Oh that’s a good one in the B+W version especially. I see Alastair Sim donated his body to medical science!

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Yep, I'm for the Alastair Sim 1951 version, too.  I vividly remember the first time I watched it.

Thanks for adding the link to Sim's profile.

Answer 4

My favorite movie version is the one starring George C. Scott.

Comments

I watch this version every Christmas season! A fav!

Edit: I just found George C. Scott on Wikitree 

Answer 5

As a version of "A Christmas Carol", Andrew, I prefer the 1984 George C. Scott classic but as a big fan of Dickens generally my vote goes to "Dickensian" the 2015 20-part series with many characters from the Dickens' novels.  Scrooge is one of the characters.  Inspector Bucket from "Bleak House" investigates the murder of Jacob Marley.  The production values, the script, the acting.  I thought it was brilliant.

Comments

A good series to have in the collection

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Pat, That is an excellent series to watch!  Thanks for reminding me about it.  Worth watching a 2nd time.

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You're so right, Carol.  I think I'll watch it a second time too. And thanks to Andrew for getting us to think about Scrooge and Dickens.

Answer 6

Good morning! The very first Christmas Carol was called "Scrooge, or Marley's Ghost" made in 1901.  You can find it on YouTube.  It's only 3 min.28 sec. long.  They have several of the silent versions.  One morning I watched all of them.  Too bad a few are lost.

EDIT: It is the earliest surviving film. I think it was the earliest film also but not 100% sure.

My favorite version is the 1938 one with Reginald Owen then 1951 with Alastair Sim a very close 2nd.

Merry Christmas!

Comments

Hi Carol

Thank you for the answer! It’s amazing how long ago they put it to film! Only 3 mins!! Wow!

The 1938 film I haven’t watched yet! I’ll have to now 

Have a Merry Christmas 

Answer 7

The George C. Scott version is a favorite, but I also really like the version with Patrick Stewart as Scrooge.

Like the many versions of The Nutcracker I've watched, I thought that I had watched many versions of "A Christmas Carol", but I didn't recognized most of those listed/ranked at https://collider.com/a-christmas-carol-adaptations-ranked/

Comments

Liz, thanks for the link.  Very interesting!

Answer 8

Allister Sims is my pick for first place and George C Scott has a lock on second.

Comments

So many good versions but these are on my list to watch every year. Actually could watch a different version one for every 12 days till Christmas Day! 

Answer 9

Scrooge with Albert Finney as Scrooge.A 1970 musical thats rarely seen on TV.  Love the music and dancing.

Comments

I will definitely try to watch this version. See Wikipedia 

Answer 10

Can't forget Mickey's Christmas Carol!

Comments

No, we definitely can not forget Mickey’s Christmas Carol!

Per Wikipedia “Mickey's Christmas Carol 1983 Mickey Mouse animated featurette directed by Burny Mattinson”