Good point.
Ashamed of which version you like?
For Magoo fans, I was pleased to discover a nicely transferred and absolutely complete version of “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol” on YouTube, on a site called StreamChristmas.
Thanks for that info. I’m sure I read the book several decades ago and assumed that since it was in the Sim version that it was from Dickens himself. Another thing I missed in the Owen version were Ignorance and Want at the feet of the ghost of Christmas present. All in all, the Owen version seemed rushed.
I couldn’t pick a favorite, but I quite enjoyed that one and feel it’s underrated.
Mickey’s Christmas Carol, 1983, featuring Scrooge McDuck as Ebenezer Scrooge, Mickey as Bob Cratchit, Jiminy Cricket, Willie the Giant, and Peg-Leg Pet as the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet To Come, and Goofy as the ghost of Jacob Marley.
First version I ever saw and the only version I have ever needed to see.
Yep, the Finney musical is my wife’s favorite version. She watched it and the Muppets’ versions today.
Scrooged (watched it again last night, in fact!) followed closely by the Muppets.
Just watched Spirited on Apple TV. It’s as much a remake as a sequel of A Christmas Carol. It exceeded my expectations.
It does not disappoint!
PS Good afternoon!
Muppet Christmas Carol for me - it’s pretty faithful to the story and the narrative devices (and the fact that it’s the Muppets) make it immensely watchable.
I think maybe second place for me is the Kelsey Grammar musical. I don’t think it’s the best adaptation or casting, but I particularly like the Inch by Inch musical number in the scene with Marley’s ghost.
I once stumbled over a version set in the present (probably about 15 years ago), on a cable channel, like USA, or ABCFamily, or something, that not only used a modern setting, but was gender-swapped.
I didn’t recognize anyone in it, and I don’t even know how old it was when I saw it, but it was on during the day, so it was probably a few years old; it had computers in it that looked about 10 years out-of-date.
I Googled “a christmas carol modern set gender-swapped” and several things came up, nothing of which rang a bell. I didn’t go through them one by one, because I didn’t have time, but I might try later.
It was oddly compelling-- I wouldn’t say it was good, but I ended up watching all of it. It might be my favorite Christmas Carol pastiche. Even more than the Muppets. Whoever played the Scrooge character did a good job of being very dislikable and unpleasant in the beginning-- no hint of things to come-- and doing a thorough 180 at the end-- I wanted to hug her. It was a mediocre script, but she did a great job with it.
She was short and had dark hair, maybe in her late 40s.
Anyone recognize this?
Ms Scrooge (1997)?
You didn’t mention skin color but her height and age fit.
That can’t be it, because I would recognize them, and at any rate, the Scrooge character was white. I am thinking they did keep the name Scrooge, so maybe I can just search IMDb for that. Not that motivated right now, though.
I watched the George C. Scott version last night. Now I have a tie for first place between Scott and Sim. Scott’s performance was wonderful and much deeper than Sim’s. The backgrounds, costumes, and minor characters were also superior. They’re products of different times and each was a home run in a different ballpark. I shall try to watch them both every year, though I could not find the Sim version this year and had to settle for Owen.
As a kid I watched the Mr. McGoo version several times but wouldn’t watch it again.
Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but the National [US] Federation of the Blind has nothing good to say about anything Magoo. A previous president of the NFB (Mark Maurer) called Magoo a “menace.”
Sorry if that sounds like a hijack, but I’m asking if maybe we can lay that particular version quietly aside, just as we would do with an older version that played on racial stereotypes.
I quite liked that one. It may have been the first one I saw in it’s entirety.
There was a TV movie called Ebbie with Susan Lucci as Ebbie Scrooge. 1995 which is impossibly 30 years ago.