Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Christmas rankings for movie versions of Dicken's "A Christmas Carol". Here is a suggested guide to binge watching. Ranking my personal favorites.

Who is a fan of watching the many variations of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol? Does anyone want to argue about which is the best?

We are in prime binge watching season for the Christmas specials. We still are not fully out of the woods on COVID, so I offer up an activity you can share within your family bubble as well as participate with others remotely. Here is a guide for your Pandemic Christmas Ideas –

'A Christmas Carol' Adaptations Ranked from "Bah Humbug!" to "God Bless Us Everyone!" by Dave Trumbore, COLLIDER Movie News, Dec 21, 2019 His lead in: 

Besides the Christmas stories that are Biblical in origin, Charles Dickens' 1843 classic telling of A Christmas Carol remains one of the longest-running, most-adapted, and most-relevant holiday tales to date. More than 170 years after the infamous miser-turned-do-gooder Ebenezer Scrooge entered our culture for the first time, there are still quite a few folks out there who could do with taking this timeless lesson to heart. I'd suggest they take the time to do what I did and watch 20 or so adaptations of A Christmas Carol until the moral sinks in, but the good-willed among you who don't need a lesson from the spirits can check out our ranked list to see which version is most worthy of your time.

A story for that stands the test of time. A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, commonly known as A Christmas Carol, is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall December 19,1843 - Wikipedia

Here are some of my favorite film versions and how they were ranked by Dave Trumbore:

9. A Christmas Carol (1999) what I call "the Patrick Stewart version". (My #4)
6. A Christmas Carol (1984) George C Scott (my #5)
My favorite - 5. Scrooged  - Bill Murray - For all the reasons in the description:

Easily the best non-traditional adaptation of A Christmas Carol, Richard Donner's 1988 comedy Scrooged is a testament to just how timeless Dickens' tale is. Set in the hyper-violent and profit-obsessed entertainment world of the 1980s, Bill Murray plays Frank Cross, a TV network executive who's under the gun to bring in huge numbers for the channel's upcoming Christmas special. What follows is an exploration that goes behind the scenes of a "traditional" TV adaptation of the story, and more importantly, a character examination of Cross as a modern-day Scrooge.

Scooged (rated #5, but it is my #1) does compete with the top two as determined by Dave Trumbore. I, however, have them ranked in reverse order and both after Scrooged in my personal list:

1. A Christmas Carol (1951) Alastair Sim (my # 3)
2. A Christmas Carol (1938) (my # 2) An earie classic - wonderful to watch even 82 years later - 82 years old and still holding its own!

In conclusion: Much like college football, pre-BCS championship sellout, the fun is in the argument as to #1, so watch and opine away.  

It’s just not Christmas until two things happen on my TV:

I watch my #1 Scrooged (note: checked off the day after Thanksgiving here in 2021) and …

“It's not Christmas until Hans Gruber falls from Nakatomi plaza” (Die Hard is a Christmas movie – change my mind).

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