I Rate All the Film Versions of A Christmas Carol

 Rating the MANY different versions of "A Christmas Carol"  (by year of release) 

 A Christmas Carol 1910 * :  silent, black and white version. 10 minutes long. Primitive, as you can imagine. nice costumes. Marc McDermott as Scrooge. Rated PG

Scrooge 1935 * :  not every entertaining due to filming limits in that era, pretty forgettable. Seymour Hicks as Scrooge. Black and white. Rated PG

A Christmas Carol 1938 ** : mediocre version but very, very dated. Reginald Owen as Scrooge. Black and white. Rated PG

A Christmas Carol 1949 * : pretty painful to watch. It was a low budget TV short so it was only 25 minutes.  The lines and scenes were rushed, dialogue was directly from the book. Seemed slapped together. Taylor Holmes as Scrooge. Vincent Price narrates so of course that's creepy. Black and white. Rated PG

A Christmas Carol 1951 ** Alastair Sim makes an excellent Scrooge. well done for the time era. Black and white. Rated PG

Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol 1962 **** : one of my favorite versions.  animated. great, fun version. Wonderfully written songs. A family classic.  Only version that has The Ghost of Present as the first ghost.  Rumor has it was due to the TV commercial breaks.  Jim Backus voices Scrooge. Amazingly talented cast and crew.  Rated G

Carol For Another Christmas  1964 * : dreary TV version brought to you from "The Twilight Zone" creator Rod Serling.  It drags and tends to be too preachy about the repercussions of war.  It really doesn't have much to do Christmas.  Sterling Hayden as Scrooge, although  the character's called Daniel Grudge.  Has some other great stars from the past such as Peter Sellers and Robert Shaw. Black and white. Rated PG

A Christmas Carol 1969 ** : animated version.  Made for television.  kinda forgettable.  Dialogue is pretty exact to the book.  Animation is pretty rudimentary.  The drawing of Marley may be scary to small children.  Ron Haddrick voices Scrooge. Rated G

Scrooge 1970 **** : one of my top rated versions. This Musical version is very entertaining, full of catchy songs, such as "December the 25th" and "Thank You Very Much" (which was nominated for an Oscar). A little annoying that some of the characters names are altered.  Albert Finney is a very good Scrooge but talks a little too feeble.  Only version to show Scrooge in hell which is a bonus treat.  Also, only version that has Belle as Fezziwig's daughter, which is not true to the book but is a neat twist.  Plus he dresses as Santa in the end which is different. Alec Guinness as Marley.  Rated PG

A Christmas Carol 1971 ** : another animated short made for TV. Very dark and gloomy. Not drawn with many colors and no music so it is very joyless. Alastair Sim returns to do the voice of Scrooge. Rated G

A Christmas Carol 1977 * : extremely bland acting. I felt like the book was being read to me line for line.  Low budget. Skip. Michael Hordern as Scrooge. Rated PG

The Stingiest Man in Town 1978 ** : traditional drawings you'd expect from a Rankin/Bass Production.  A Musical version but the songs seem out of tune and clunky.  They do not flow nicely, very forced.  Not memorable, I suppose that's why no one has ever heard of this version.  Shame cause it has some great voices from Tom Bosley and Walter Matthau. Rated G

Rich Little's Christmas Carol 1978 **** : by far the funniest version of this story.  It's a one man show starring the impersonator Rich Little playing all the roles.  He acts as C.W. Field's as Scrooge, Johnny Carson as Fred, Peter Sellers as the Ghost of Christmas Present, Richard Nixon as Marley, Groucho Marx as Fezziwig and many more.  Very witty. Classic. Rated PG

An American Christmas Carol 1979 *** : great American, modern take on the classic. Very good acting and original script.  Henry Winkler as Scrooge, although Scrooge's name is changed to Benedict Slade in this movie.  He is a bitter furniture salesman. Takes place in New England. Watch! Rated PG

Mickey's Christmas Carol 1983 **** : one of my favorite versions. Fabulous, heart-felt version. animated. nicely explains the tale for children. Short, running time is 26 minutes. Alan Young as the voice of Scrooge. Rated G

A Christmas Carol 1984 *** : good version. little drab and dark. Only version to have a character play Scrooge's father and show Belle as a married woman with children.  George C. Scott obviously, makes for a terrifying Scrooge. Co-stars Roger Reese, Frank Finlay, David Warner and Michael Gough. Directed by Clive Donner Rated PG

Scrooged 1988 **** : one of my favorite versions. such a funny and original modern version of the story. Bill Murray makes a hilarious, sarcastic, arrogant Scrooge. Scrooge's name is Frank Cross in this version.  He is a ruthless CEO of a television station. Takes place in NYC. co-stars Karen Allen, John Forsythe, Robert Mitchum, Carol Kane, so many more.  Directed by Richard Donner  Rated PG-13 

A Muppet Christmas Carol 1992 **** : one of my favorite versions. wonderful sets and costumes. Very well composed songs for this Musical version. Mixes real people with puppets. Michael Caine is very memorable as Scrooge. Great voices from Frank Oz. Directed by Jim's son Brian Henson. Rated G

A Flintstones Christmas Carol 1994 ** : not very original. Maybe two jokes.  trying to be like Mr. Magoo's version.  The dialogue is literally right from the pages of the book.  Henry Corden who voices Fred Flintstone as Scrooge. Rated G

Ebbie 1995 *** : very good modernization version with a female as the main role.  good acting. Starring Susan Lucci as a CEO of a department store as Elizabeth "Ebbie" Scrooge and Jeffrey DeMunn as Jake Marley.

A Christmas Carol 1997 ***  : animated.  Very well done version.  With a great cast, including Ed Asner, Whoopi Goldberg and Tim Curry as Scrooge. Rated G

Ms. Scrooge 1997 * : just miserable.  Hallmark movie.  Cicely Tyson as Scrooge.  I am perplexed about so much...like why did they have her mumble through the film seems like poor acting from a pro.  It was very difficult to hear what she was saying.  So odd.  good premise and cast but it missed the mark.  Also stars Katherine Helmond and Michael Beach. Rated G

A Christmas Carol 1999 ** : dull version, Patrick Stewart is forgettable as Scrooge. co-stars Joel Grey and Dominic West, Rated PG

A Christmas Carol 2001 * : the worst version I've ever watched. Writing is dreadful. Animated. Waste of some great voice-overs by known actors such as Kate Winslet and Nicholas Cage. Simon Callow as Scrooge. Rated G

A Christmas Carol: the Musical 2004 ** : terrible musical TV movie version. No enjoyable songs. Some of the acting is rough. Very odd casting choices such as Jennifer Love Hewitt as Belle and Jason Alexander as Marley. What a joke. Kelsey Grammar is good as Scrooge. Rated PG

A Christmas Carol 2009 ***  : animated version of the story. Can be very dark for little kids. Very good cast such as Jim Carrey as Scrooge, Robin Wright as Belle, Gary Oldman as Cratchit, Colin Firth as Fred and Bob Hoskins as Fezziwig. Directed by Robert Zemeckis.  Rated PG

A Christmas Carol 2012 * : I don't want to be too harsh because this was an extremely independent Irish version and I'm sure they had no budget.  The special effects are as good as they can be without any money.  It does feel like the actors are just reading the book to you.  However, the acting is not bad, in fact it is better than some of the stars from the big budget versions.  Actor Vincent Fegan as Scrooge. (Brendan O'Carroll makes a cameo as Old Joe.  Uncredited)   Rated G. 

All American Christmas Carol 2013 ** : interesting modern white-trash version of the story. Rare version that has a woman as Scrooge. Her name is Cindy in this movie, she is a hair dresser,  Played by Taryn Manning. Rated PG-13

The Man Who Invented Christmas 2017 *** : not exactly a version of "A Christmas Carol" but is a movie based on true events and the life that Charles Dickens was living at the time that he wrote the novel. Very well done and entertaining. Heart-warming tale. Dan Stevens as Charles Dickens and Christopher Plummer as Scrooge. Rated PG

A Christmas Carol *** 2019 : very dark version.  Definitely not for kids.  I liked the new take on the story, some literally liberties.  Some new twists and turns.  Very well acted and great scenery.  As usual London is extremely dreary looking.  Guy Pearce plays a great dismal and gaunt Scrooge, a bit younger looking than most versions.  Mini-series broken up into 3 episodes.  Co-stars Andy Serkis, Joe Alwyn and Jason Flemyng.  Rated R

A Christmas Carol * 2020: very strange British version.  very amateur technology.  It's a lot of interpretive dance and old illustrations.  It is narrated by an Sian Phillips who plays a grandmother.  Simon Russell Beale as Scrooge.  Many talented British actors lent their voices such as Martin Freeman as Cratchit, Andy Serkis as Marley and Carey Mulligan as Belle.  Oh boy, I feel like they did this as a favor for this director.  This version is almost unwatchable. 

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol ** 2022 :  Animated children's version of the 1970 British musical by the same name.  Should have left the Classic alone. Not impressed with animation.  The updated versions of the classic songs are lousy and not as catchy.  The characters names are altered like the 1970 film, which has no purpose.   Good acting from a cast with Luke Evans as Scrooge and other talents such as Olivia Coleman, Jessica Buckley, and Jonathan Pryce. Rated G