One of the best-loved and most quoted stories of “the man who invented Christmas”—English writer Charles Dickens—A Christmas Carol debuted in 1843 and has touched millions of hearts since.
Cruel miser Ebeneezer Scrooge has never met a shilling he doesn’t like...and hardly a man he does. And he hates Christmas most of all. When Scrooge is visited by his old partner, Jacob Marley, and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come, he learns eternal lessons of charity, kindness, and goodwill. Experience a true Victorian Christmas!
Not all of Charles Dickens' work is among my reading list but A Christmas Carol is my favorite of all. It's the best Christmas tale, in my opinion. At the heart of the story is what so many of us tend to forget, although perhaps not to the extent as Ebenezer Scooge has, and that is that heart and kindness is more important than wealth.
“And therefore, Uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that [Christmas] has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!”
“But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,' faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.
Business!' cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The deals of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”
“It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour.”
“For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.”
“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!”And I think the final quote from the book says more about why I love the book so much than any words I could come up with.
“And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!”RATING:
Films
Release dates: December 16, 1938
Running time: 69 minutes
Cast
Reginald Owen as Ebenezer Scrooge
Gene Lockhart as Bob Cratchit
Kathleen Lockhart as Mrs. Cratchit
Terry Kilburn as Tiny Tim Cratchit
Barry MacKay as Fred (Scrooge's nephew)
Lynne Carver as Bess (Fred's fiancée)
Bunny Beatty as Martha Cratchit (uncredited)
June Lockhart as Belinda Cratchit (uncredited)
John O'Day as Peter Cratchit (uncredited)
Leo G. Carroll as Marley's Ghost
Ann Rutherford as Spirit of Christmas Past
Lionel Braham as Spirit of Christmas Present
D'Arcy Corrigan as Spirit of Christmas Future
Ronald Sinclair as Young Scrooge
Elvira Stevens as Fan Scrooge (uncredited)
Forrester Harvey as Old Fezzwig (uncredited)
Olaf Hytten as Schoolmaster (uncredited)
I. Stanford Jolley as Man walking on Sidewalk (extra) (uncredited)
Charles Coleman as Solicitor
Matthew Boulton as Solicitor
Clifford Severn as Boy Buying Turkey
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Release dates: October 31, 1951
Running time: 86 minutes
Cast
Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge
Kathleen Harrison as Mrs. Dilber
Mervyn Johns as Bob Cratchit
Hermione Baddeley as Mrs. Cratchit
Michael Hordern as Jacob Marley/Marley's Ghost
George Cole as Young Ebenezer Scrooge
Glyn Dearman as Tiny Tim
John Charlesworth as Peter Cratchit
Michael Dolan as The Ghost of Christmas Past
Francis de Wolff as The Ghost of Christmas Present
C. Konarski as Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
Rona Anderson as Alice (in the book: Belle)
Carol Marsh as Fan Scrooge
Jack Warner as Mr. Jorkin
Brian Worth as Fred
Olga Edwardes as Fred's wife
Miles Malleson as Old Joe
Ernest Thesiger as the Undertaker
Louise Hampton as Laundress
Roddy Hughes as Fezziwig
Hattie Jacques as Mrs. Fezziwig
Peter Bull as First Businessman, Narrator
Eliot Makeham as Mr. Snedrig
Hugh Dempster as Mr. Groper
Richard Pearson as Mr. Tupper
Patrick Macnee as the young Jacob Marley
Douglas Muir as Businessman
Clifford Mollison as Samuel Wilkins
Theresa Derrington as Fred's Maid
David Hannaford as Boy Buying Goose
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A contemporary comedy based on Charles Dickens' novel "A Christmas Carol," focusing on a television executive who decides to exploit the holidays in order to boost ratings.
Release dates: November 23, 1988
Running time: 101 minutes
Cast
Bill Murray as Francis Xavier "Frank" Cross
Karen Allen as Claire Phillips
John Forsythe as Lew Hayward
John Glover as Brice Cummings
Bobcat Goldthwait as Eliot Loudermilk
David Johansen as the Ghost of Christmas Past
Carol Kane as the Ghost of Christmas Present
Robert Mitchum as Preston Rhinelander
Nicholas Phillips as Calvin Cooley
Michael J. Pollard as Herman
Alfre Woodard as Grace Cooley
Mabel King as Gramma
John Murray as James Cross
Wendie Malick as Wendie Cross
Brian Doyle-Murray as Mr. Cross, Frank and James's father
Joel Murray as Guest
Cameos
Jamie Farr as Himself / Jacob Marley
Buddy Hackett as Himself / Ebenezer Scrooge
Robert Goulet as Himself
John Houseman as Himself
Lee Majors as Himself
Mary Lou Retton as Herself / Tiny Tim
Maria Riva as Mrs. Rhinelander
Miles Davis, Larry Carlton, David Sanborn, and Paul Shaffer as street musicians
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Release date: December 5, 1999
Running time: 95 minutes
Cast
Patrick Stewart - Ebenezer Scrooge
Richard E. Grant - Bob Cratchit
Joel Grey - Ghost of Christmas Past
Ian McNeice - Albert Fezziwig
Saskia Reeves - Mrs. Cratchit
Desmond Barrit - Ghost of Christmas Present
Bernard Lloyd - Jacob Marley
Dominic West - Fred
Trevor Peacock - Old Joe
Liz Smith - Mrs. Dilber
Elizabeth Spriggs - Mrs. Riggs
Kenny Doughty - Young Ebenezer Scrooge
Laura Fraser - Belle
Celia Imrie - Mrs. Bennett
Claire Slater - Martha Cratchit
Tim Potter - Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
Rosie Wiggins - Fran (Scrooge's sister)
Crispin Letts - Topper Haines
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There have been several versions of this Christmas classic over the years, both on the big and small screen. I chose four of my favorites. In my opinion, the 1951 version is the greatest of all I've seen. The acting, the writing, and the settings are a perfect blend. The 1999 version starring Patrick Stewart is a close second, in that I think it resembles the original piece of fiction the closest. I have found the 1938 version to be a bit rushed but still enjoyable during the holiday season. As for the 1988 Bill Murray version, well it's done in only the best way that Bill Murray could do, a perfect mix of hilarity and heart. No Christmas season should pass by without at seeing at least one rendition of Dickens' classic. No matter how much the meaning of the holiday resides in your heart, it never hurts to be reminded what Christmas is truly about.
One of the grand masters of Victorian literature, Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Landport, Portsea, England. He died in Kent on June 9, 1870. The second of eight children of a family continually plagued by debt, the young Dickens came to know not only hunger and privation,but also the horror of the infamous debtors' prison and the evils of child labor. A turn of fortune in the shape of a legacy brought release from the nightmare of prison and "slave" factories and afforded Dickens the opportunity of two years' formal schooling at Wellington House Academy. He worked as an attorney's clerk and newspaper reporter until his Sketches by Boz (1836) and The Pickwick Papers (1837) brought him the amazing and instant success that was to be his for the remainder of his life. In later years, the pressure of serial writing, editorial duties, lectures, and social commitments led to his separation from Catherine Hogarth after twenty-three years of marriage. It also hastened his death at the age of fifty-eight, when he was characteristically engaged in a multitude of work.
FILMS
A CHRISTMAS CAROL 1938
A CHRISTMAS CAROL 1951
SCROOGED 1988
A CHRISTMAS CAROL 1999
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