Just How Many Humbugs Are There

I'm finishing up my yearly reread of Dickens's "A Christmas Carol." I could post a little something about it and its staying power in our culture, but thousands of people before me have done it and said it better than I can.

Instead, I thought I'd do what I do best - Make an Irrelevant List.

Since I love the book so much and many of the adaptations, I thought I'd give a stab at listing all the movie and television movie versions with the actor or actress who played the part of Scrooge. I won't list the many television cartoon or sitcom recreations because that'd make this list too long.

So here, in chronological order, is a list of "A Christmas Carol" adaptations:

Scrooge (1901) -cast list unknown
A Christmas Carol (1908) - Thomas Ricketts
A Christmas Carol (1910) - Marc McDermott
Scrooge (1913) - Sir Seymour Hicks and retitled Old Scrooge for its U.S. release in 1926.
A Christmas Carol (1914) - Charles Rock
The Right to Be Happy (1916) - Rupert Julian
A Christmas Carol (1923) Russell Thorndike
Old Scrooge (1926) - Sir Seymour Hicks
Scrooge (1928) - Bransby Williams
Scrooge (1935) - Sir Seymour Hicks
A Christmas Carol (1938) - Reginald Owen
Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (1951) - Alastair Sim
Scrooge (1970) - Albert Finney
Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) - Scrooge McDuck
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) - Michael Caine
A Christmas Carol (1997) - Tim Curry
A Christmas Carol (1999) - Patrick Stewart
Christmas Carol: The Movie (2001) -voice: Simon Callow
A Christmas Carol (2009) - computer animated with Jim Carrey

Again, this list doesn't encompass the dozens of random cartoon versions that exist, and doesn't include the hundreds of foreign language versions of the book.

Whenever discussing movie version of this classic tale, the question always comes up: Who is the best Scrooge?

The Boss and I only slightly disagree. To her, Alister Sim is the best, closely followed by Michael Caine, and nearly all movie critics agree with her. Personally, I switch the two, Caine followed by Sim. If you haven't watched Caine in the Muppet version, you should give it a try. Honestly, Caine does a wonderful job as Scrooge, but doesn't get the full credit he deserves because it's a Muppet version. The good movie critics, thankfully, give him his due.

So since this is the end of this entry, log off your computer, snuggle in, and either read the book or watch the movie. Slow down, enjoy the Season, and keep Christmas in your heart the whole year long.

Until Next Time...
If I need to convince you, then maybe this movie trailer will help. 
Spiritly Yours,
Michael