# Your favorite version(s) of A Christmas Carol **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 17, 2016, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002 "2016-12-17T23:59:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002/1 "2016-12-17T23:59:14Z")
There are many versions of Dicken’s classic tale. I’m wondering which ones are Doper favorites. Some are so different that it’s hard to pick just one, so in the following poll you can pick up to three versions. I’ve included here nine version, all of which I have seen, and, of course “other” because there are bound to be ones I’ve forgotten. I know there was a silent version, but I haven’t seen it. I’ll post my favorites later. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002/2 "2016-12-18T00:07:39Z")
The poll is only allowing one choice. My three: Muppets Scrooged Toss up between Scott and Stewart. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002/3 "2016-12-18T00:11:34Z")
Here is my thread from 2007. I still think the 1938 Owens version is the best. > **[Let's rank the film versions of A Christmas Carol](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=448069)** > > 1938 version with Reginald Owen. Many people are going to disagree with this, but I still think is the definitive version with very few changes from the book. Scrooge. The 1935 version. I’d love it more if I could get a decent print. This is the... ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002/4 "2016-12-18T00:11:57Z")
I’ll see if I can fix it. Damn. I’ve reported it, here’s hoping. Can y’all wait to poll until it’s done? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002/5 "2016-12-18T00:16:55Z")
I reported the thread to be moved to the Cafe. Perhaps close this and open a new one in Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002/6 "2016-12-18T00:25:28Z")
La! La! La, la, la,la, la… Note that the comic strip “Sally Forth” has two characters who agree with me that Mr. Magoo’s version is the best. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002/7 "2016-12-18T00:30:59Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > La! La! La, la, la,la, la… > > Note that the comic strip “Sally Forth” has two characters who agree with me that Mr. Magoo’s version is the best. - All I got was his sheets!\* ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002/8 "2016-12-18T00:42:08Z")
[Moderating] I’ll snag this away from the miserly clutches of IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002/9 "2016-12-18T00:43:45Z")
And my favorite is the Whitney Young Junior High version, fall of 1989. But I’m a little bit biased on that one. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002/10 "2016-12-18T00:54:47Z")
1951 with Alistair Sim, Mr. Magoo, and then a tie between Scrooged, and the 1984 one with George C. Scott ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002/11 "2016-12-18T00:57:18Z")
Since Mr. Magoo didn’t make the cut ;), mine is _Scrooge_ with Albert Finney. I love the songs and the Hell scene. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002/12 "2016-12-18T01:02:11Z")
I hope it is not threadshitting to say the best one has to be _Blackadder’s Christmas Carol_. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002/13 "2016-12-18T01:05:04Z")
Well, since the poll can’t be fixed, I’m going with my favorite from childhood, the Mr. Magoo version. If I could do three then the George C. Scott version, and Bill Murray’s Scrooged would be up there crowding close behind. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002/14 "2016-12-18T01:11:06Z")
Alastair Sim, Reginald Owen, and George C Scott. In that order, since Patrick MacNee was in the 1951 version. How come the '80s Mickey Mouse version isn’t listed? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002/15 "2016-12-18T01:16:03Z")
I liked the Mr. Magoo one when I was a sprat, but when I saw it as an adult…no. Simply awful music. I didn’t see the Alastair Sim version until I was about forty. Got to go with that one. It deserves all the accolades it’s gotten. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002/16 "2016-12-18T01:53:46Z")
Alistair Sim Jim Carrey Scrooged with Bill Murray Also there are way more versions. > **[Adaptations of A Christmas Carol | Film](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptations_of_A_Christmas_Carol#Film)** > > 1.Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost (1901), a short British film that is the earliest surviving screen adaptation. | > 2.A Christmas Carol (1908), with Thomas Ricketts as Scrooge. Lost film. | > 3.A Christmas Carol (1910), a 13-minute version of the story starring Marc McDermott as Scrooge and Charles Ogle as Cratchit, with William Bechtel, Viola Dana, Carey Lee, and Shirley Mason. | > 4.Scrooge (1913), starring Sir Seymour Hicks and retitled Old Scrooge for its U.S. release in 1926. | > 5.A Christ ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002/17 "2016-12-18T02:30:31Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Also there are way more versions. > > [Adaptations of A Christmas Carol - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptations_of_A_Christmas_Carol#Film) Oh, I knew there were more, but that would make the poll unwieldy. So I went with the ones I’d seen. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002/18 "2016-12-18T02:42:36Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > La! La! La, la, la,la, la… > > Note that the comic strip “Sally Forth” has two characters who agree with me that Mr. Magoo’s version is the best. “We’re reprehensible. We’ll steal your pen, and your pencible.” In Dick Tracy, there was a recent bit where live actors re-staged the Mr. Magoo musical version. Dick Tracy was sitting in the audience…right next to a short, bald, squinty fellow named Quincy. ---
**Author:** ![TheInimitableMaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@TheInimitableMaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheInimitableMaven)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002/19 "2016-12-18T03:18:45Z")
George C. Scott, Muppets/Michael Caine, and the Raleigh, NC Theatre In The Park version (still proudly have my “I’m A Real Scrooge Without My Coffee!” souvenir mug from one of the three/four performances I got to attend back in the day). Evidently, and with the exception of Mr. Scott (to whom my vote went), I seem to like my Scrooge with a side of comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002/20 "2016-12-18T04:36:21Z")
Nitpick: I believe the Alastair Sim version is titled, _Scrooge_. That is my favorite. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-version-s-of-a-christmas-carol/775002.md?page=2)