Dapper Dan
<i>Just A<br>D R E A M E R</i>
Well, some of you may know that I have a thing for A Christmas Carol... it is perhaps my favorite holiday movie, if not my favorite movie of all time. But the question goes... just how many different versions of it are there? Personally, I own 6 different versions on DVD and am always looking for more to add to my collection.
First, I concede that I can't give you a definitive answer because there are so many, some of which don't acknowledge the inspiration of Charles Dickens's holiday fable and others that have never been released in the U.S. But I'd say there have been at least 50 feature-length (or near-feature length) theatrical and made-for-television movie versions of A Christmas Carol. Once you start including all the cartoon shorts and series television episodes that spin the story one way or the other the whole thing gets way out of hand, so I'll leave that to hardcore Carolers.
There have been at least three silent-movie versions of A Christmas Carol, including a 1910 version starring Charles Ogle, who played the monster in the 1910 version of Frankenstein, as Scrooge. Among the classics, A Christmas Carol (1938), with Reginald Owen as Scrooge; A Christmas Carol (1951), starring Alistair Sim; the dark musical Scrooge (1971), with Albert Finney; and Scrooge (1935) with Seymour Hicks, who also starred in a lost silent version, loom large.
There are more than two dozen made-for-television Christmas Carols, ranging from straightforward adaptations to Rod Serling's post-nuclear holocaust variation called Carol for Another Christmas (1964). They include the Depression-era An American Christmas Carol (1979); Ebenezer (1998), a Wild West version of the story starring Jack Palance; the attitude-heavy A Diva's Christmas Carol (2000); Ms. Scrooge, with Cicely Tyson as stingy Ms. Ebenita Scrooge; and the little-seen Skinflint: A Country Christmas Carol (1979), starring Hoyt Axton, Barbara Mandrell, Mel Tillis and other country and western stars. At least two TV Christmas Carols rival the best theatrical interpretations: The 1984 version starring George C. Scott as Scrooge and the 1999 version starring Patrick Stewart. Puppet versions include the popular Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) and the Rankin/Bass Stingiest Man in Town (1978), with the voice of Walter Matthau as Scrooge, while animated Christmas Carols range from the half-hour Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983), Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962) and The Jetsons Christmas Carol (1985), with mean boss Mr. Spacely standing in for Scrooge, to An All Dogs Christmas Carol (1998) and versions with Alistair Sim (1971) and Tim Curry (1997) voicing Scrooge. And finally, offbeat variations on the theme include a TV special in which impressionist Rich Little plays all the parts (Rich Little's Christmas Carol, 1978) to a 1994 BBC film of a full-length ballet choreographed for England's Northern Ballet Theatre by Christopher Gable.
First, I concede that I can't give you a definitive answer because there are so many, some of which don't acknowledge the inspiration of Charles Dickens's holiday fable and others that have never been released in the U.S. But I'd say there have been at least 50 feature-length (or near-feature length) theatrical and made-for-television movie versions of A Christmas Carol. Once you start including all the cartoon shorts and series television episodes that spin the story one way or the other the whole thing gets way out of hand, so I'll leave that to hardcore Carolers.
There have been at least three silent-movie versions of A Christmas Carol, including a 1910 version starring Charles Ogle, who played the monster in the 1910 version of Frankenstein, as Scrooge. Among the classics, A Christmas Carol (1938), with Reginald Owen as Scrooge; A Christmas Carol (1951), starring Alistair Sim; the dark musical Scrooge (1971), with Albert Finney; and Scrooge (1935) with Seymour Hicks, who also starred in a lost silent version, loom large.
There are more than two dozen made-for-television Christmas Carols, ranging from straightforward adaptations to Rod Serling's post-nuclear holocaust variation called Carol for Another Christmas (1964). They include the Depression-era An American Christmas Carol (1979); Ebenezer (1998), a Wild West version of the story starring Jack Palance; the attitude-heavy A Diva's Christmas Carol (2000); Ms. Scrooge, with Cicely Tyson as stingy Ms. Ebenita Scrooge; and the little-seen Skinflint: A Country Christmas Carol (1979), starring Hoyt Axton, Barbara Mandrell, Mel Tillis and other country and western stars. At least two TV Christmas Carols rival the best theatrical interpretations: The 1984 version starring George C. Scott as Scrooge and the 1999 version starring Patrick Stewart. Puppet versions include the popular Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) and the Rankin/Bass Stingiest Man in Town (1978), with the voice of Walter Matthau as Scrooge, while animated Christmas Carols range from the half-hour Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983), Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962) and The Jetsons Christmas Carol (1985), with mean boss Mr. Spacely standing in for Scrooge, to An All Dogs Christmas Carol (1998) and versions with Alistair Sim (1971) and Tim Curry (1997) voicing Scrooge. And finally, offbeat variations on the theme include a TV special in which impressionist Rich Little plays all the parts (Rich Little's Christmas Carol, 1978) to a 1994 BBC film of a full-length ballet choreographed for England's Northern Ballet Theatre by Christopher Gable.