 A inspirational bottle of ale often helps. | I was sat here contemplating what to post as the last Cult Film Friday blog before Christmas. I decided to crack open a bottle of ale, to see if it would help inspire me. And BOOM!!! There it was, staring me in the face all the time. So today's Cult Film Friday post, is a look at some of my favourite adaptations of A Christmas Carol. There have dozens of adaptations over the years of the story, but there are some that stand-out for me personally. Either because they are childhood memories associated with the festive season, or just because they are good versions. Here they are in chronological order. Scrooge (1951): Retitled A Christmas Carol in the USA. Of the black and white versions of the story, this is the stand-out one by a mile. And to be fair one of the best overall. Starring Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge, it's a wonderfully dark and atmospheric piece, perfectly capturing the Dicken's story on celluloid. Not only the best adaptation of A Christmas Carol, also one of the best Christmas movies of all time too. Scrooge (1970): The Oscar nominated musical adaptation of the story, starring Albert Finney (who was only 34 years old at the time). It's a typically lavish 70s British musical movie, the only song I remember though it the catchy and up-tempo Thank You Very Much, which is sang at a funeral procession with people dancing on the coffin. Not the best version, but a totally guilty secret! A Christmas Carol (1971): An animated short film version of the story, which features the voice of Alastair Sim as Scrooge. Originally made for TV, it was later given a cinema release and subsequently won an Oscar for Best Animation Short Film in 1972. |
The animation has a unique visual style, as it was based on the original illustrations of the story, it also used a number of clever animation techniques. There are a number of attempts at faithful animation adaptations, for me this is by far my favourite. The whole things can be seen on YouTube.
Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983): Now I'm not a fan of Disney, in fact I pretty much hate most of the over-hyped dross Disney have churned out over the years. But I must admit to loving their fun adaptation of this story. Another short, and Mickey's first appearance in around 30 years, it also won an Oscar in 1983.
Scrooged (1988): Everyone loves Bill Murray's version of Scrooge. Never met anyone that doesn't watch it when it appears of TV every single year. Murray was perfectly cast as the acerbic TV executive who gets his comeuppance from a series of ingeniously adapted modern ghosts.
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992): And finally... A kids favourite. Michael Caine gives a memorable performance as Scrooge, and manages to stand-out among all the Muppets comic antics. The movie has a some great musical moments too. In many ways this version captures all the best elements of the all the others on my list, to create a genuine funny and heart-warming Christmas feast of a movie.
Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983): Now I'm not a fan of Disney, in fact I pretty much hate most of the over-hyped dross Disney have churned out over the years. But I must admit to loving their fun adaptation of this story. Another short, and Mickey's first appearance in around 30 years, it also won an Oscar in 1983.
Scrooged (1988): Everyone loves Bill Murray's version of Scrooge. Never met anyone that doesn't watch it when it appears of TV every single year. Murray was perfectly cast as the acerbic TV executive who gets his comeuppance from a series of ingeniously adapted modern ghosts.
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992): And finally... A kids favourite. Michael Caine gives a memorable performance as Scrooge, and manages to stand-out among all the Muppets comic antics. The movie has a some great musical moments too. In many ways this version captures all the best elements of the all the others on my list, to create a genuine funny and heart-warming Christmas feast of a movie.
