Yet another Blackadder Christmas Carol fan here. Blackadder was a tad formulaic, but applying it to ACC was genius.
Simpsons epsisode “A Star is Burns” in which the winning entry in the Springfield Film Festival is George C Scott getting hit in the groin by a football (echoing an earlier scene in the episode where Hans Moleman gets hit in the groin by a football).
Scrooged.
Another vote for Alastair Sim. That movie is about as close as you can get to reading the story without actually picking up the pages. And the performances are great.
I must say, I’m scandalized by the votes in favor of the Reginald Owen version. I watched this just the other night, and I couldn’t believe how much they changed the story–left stuff out, made up scenes, altered the dialogue. It seemed like half of Dickens’s dialogue was scrapped, and what was left was substantially altered. kingpengvin’s comment above about the wit of the original writing is perceptive; Dickens was no slouch writer, so why change so much of his dialogue? All in all, I thought it was a terrible version. (Though I did get a big laugh at one point: in the Cratchit home, when Mrs. Cratchit brings out the pudding, Tiny Tim inexplicably declares, “I’d like to stroke it!” It almost turned into “A TMI Carol”.)
For the record, I’ve never seen the Scott version, so I can’t comment there. I just think the Sim version is all you really need.
I’ll have to toss my hat into the Scott version camp. Scott’s Scrooge feels human. When I watch him, I get the feel of someone who had evolved from a bright and hopeful young man into the bitter, lonely old man we see because of the choices he had made in life.
The scene at Fred’s party says it all for me. Scrooge could be loved, if only he would let people love him.
I’ll go with the Owen version as my favorite. However, since I’ve seen this version so many times, I am sure I am biased.
I recently bought the Hicks version and I’ve enjoyed that one as well.
Scott comes in a decent 3rd.
I didn’t enjoy the Sims version as much as the rest of the posters. Still, I enjoy almost every version of this. Haven’t seen Magoo in a long time and don’t think I’ve ever seen the Muppet version.