Definitely the Muppet version, with a close second being the Jim Carrey version from 2009. If I’m not mistaken, the 2009 version is taken word-for-word, note-for-note from the Dickens novel, and doesn’t leave out some of the bits that may be lost on, or aren’t particularly relevant towards, 21st-century audiences. One bit I remember specifically is Scrooge’s diatribe towards The Ghost of Christmas [I think it’s Present] about the injustice of keeping the poor out of communal bakeries on the Sabbath Day, which is pretty much the only day they could have used them.
Me too. That is still the original, as far as I’m concerned. (Charles who? Some guy from London?)
But the Muppet version is my favorite. Another post here recently asked what single movie one would take for a five-year stranding on a desert island, and I was debating whether to choose The Muppet Christmas Carol. It’s close enough to my very favorites that I could enjoy it many times, but not close enough to the top that I’d lose something too precious when I ruined it for myself by watching it several hundred times.
I love the George C. Scott version and loathe the Muppet version. In the former, Scott as Scrooge, Frank Finlay as Marley’s ghost and Edward Woodward as the Ghost of Christmas present turn in brilliant performances, as do the supporting cast of minor characters. It has a few flaws: the Tiny Tim actor keeps looking at the camera, which must have driven the director nuts, and in the opening sequence with Angela Pleasance as Christmas past, you can see the wire holding up her dunce’s hat.
As for the Muppet version, it’s just too frantic and busy. Kids probably like it, and I have respect for the puppeteers, but it’s not my cuppa.
I accidentally posted this in the polls only discussion thread:
Other. Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol was my first and favorite. I’m not a big fan of the story, so the only other one I have probably sat all the way through was the Alistair Sim version.
My favorite is the 1938 MGM version where Reginald Owen replaced Lionel Barrymore at the last minute. The script was based on a radio play that Barrymore had done for many years.
The first one I ever saw was the 1969 animated version, which is an Australian production, and features the scariest of all the Jacob Marleys. I think of all versions, this one succeeds best as a ghost story.
Another one I like which you also did not list is the British version from 1935 called Scrooge, which is the first talking version.
There are numerous silent versions, with many lost, and many in other languages than English, so there’s no definitive count, but there are 8 extant, although only, IIRC, 5 are watchable (the other 3 are fragments), and 6 others are well-documented, with scripts and still photographs.
If you add in pastiches-- “modern” versions, gender-reversed versions, and so forth, it is one of the most oft-filmed books there is.
I guess I’m in the minority, but I thought George C. Scott really chewed on the scenery. Alistair Sims was absolutely perfect, and I say that as someone who has read A Christmas Carol probably a dozen times.
Another one with Mr Magoo being the first version I’d ever seen. Over the years I’ve seen most of the other versions listed. Amazingly enough, I never saw the Muppet version until last year, but it immediately because one of my favorites.