Best Scrooge?

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

Poll question: Best Scrooge?

No members of the Bush Administration are eligible, no matter how much they may deserve it!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

1. Scrooge McDuck drawn by Carl Barks

They found a Barks-like artist recently, I forget the name, he's good but not the real thing.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

2. That's the problem...

with only having ten choices on the poll. I read somewhere that including foreign-language versions, "A Christmas Carol" has been adapted for the screen something like 200 times.

Another favorite of mine that I didn't include was the "Blackadder Christmas Carol," which is hysterically funny and part of my holiday celebration every year!

[displacedtexan]

3. here's why i voted for patrick stewart

dickens portrays the transformation of scrooge from miser to philanthropist vividly in the novel, one step at a time (3 spirits). patrick stewart's performance (or perhaps the direction) best communicates the emotionally painful transformation of scrooge imho. finney comes close, and scott was pretty good; the earlier actors didn't communicate any subtextual (facial/ body language) change until confronted with the grave stone.

this novel taught me to fear ignorance above all else in the world.

in a way, scrooge is a repuke who changes his evil ways and becomes a liberal.

where's marley when you need him?

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

5. 1920's version...

I don't think it was the Reginal Owen version (but I could be wrong; it's been a while since I've seen it), but an earlier version that relied heavily on stage actors who weren't accustomed to the media of film. They relied on "big" movements and facial expressions that became unintentionally comical.

My favorite line in the movie comes from the scene where the Crachit Family is having their Christmas dinner, and Bob exclaims, "Nobody can touch your mothers buns."

[ProfessorGAC]

10. Me, Too! And, For The Exact Same Reason

Actually, Reginald Owen's portrayal is the worst. He's almost transformed fully after the first spirit. He goes from a slimy mercantilist to seeing the error of his ways in about 20 seconds!

I loathe that version of it.

Alistair Sim is awfully good, and i much like Bill Murray's take on it too! I would have had those two tied until i saw the Stewart version of it. Now the others are 2a and 2b.
The Professor

[GemMom]

15. where's marley when you need him?

He's dead - dead as a doornail! ;-)

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

19. Don't you mean a coffin-nail?

"Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail."

Do you get the feeling the Dickens was being paid by the word on this story?

[joeybee12]

4. Alistair Sim, of course! Glad he's winning!

[SiobhanClancy]

7. Of course it is....

hard to improve on a classic.

[Rowdyboy]

6. I voted Alistair Sim but my heart is with

Mr Magoo. I loved it as a child...

[Cooley Hurd]

8. You forgot Jim Backus as Magoo as Scrooge...

Magoo's "Christmas Carol" was my favorite for many years...

[joeybee12]

13. I watched that last year after a long lapse, and I was amazed at

what they put into that as far as the music goes--actually pretty darn good.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

16. He's there, sort of...

For the Jim Backus entry, it should read "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol"

Typing and editing way too fast there...

I loved it as a kid, but when I bought a copy 2-3 years ago, it really fell flat. I have a ritual of watching all the major Christmas movies every year, but that one just isn't in the rotation. I think my kids watch it occasionally.

[supernova]

18. Somebody besides me remembered Mr McGoo

as Scrooge! I loved that for many years.

My new favorite now is George C Scott. Also Muppet Christmas Carol is good too. I haven't seen the Patrick Stewart version yet.

[hlthe2b]

23. I grew up watching Mr. magoo's Christmas Carol...

And then there was like a 15 year span when they stopped showing it and it wasn't available on video.. I was happy to see it once again last year. Pretty good for a cartoon version and I always loved Jim Bacchus.

[Bucky]

9. Finney was annoying as Scrooge

He was playing him like a historical character, or a troll living underneath a bridge, rather than a comic hero. Scrooge doesn't work if he's not, underneath it all, human and likeable.

[arwalden]

11. Did You And I See The Same Albert Finney Playing Scrooge?

I thought he was delightful!

My favorite songs from this musical version of A Christmas Carol are "I Hate People" and "Thank You Very Much"

-- Allen

[Aristus]

12. George C. Scott.

His was the most restrained and believable of the performances. He didn't fly into a 'miserly' frenzy every ten seconds, and his rejection of merrymaking was perfectly in keeping with wealthy pennypinching: it just costs me too damn much money. I still think he was one of the greatest American actors ever.

[peekaloo]

14. I voted for Bill Murray.

I loved the modernized version!

[wryter2000]

17. Sim, Sim, Sim!

Not just the best Scrooge but one of the best movies ever made!

:bounce:

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

22. Little Triva

Take a good look at the actor who plays the young Jacob Marley. Recognize him? That's Patrick Mcnee before he became John Steed on "The Avengers."

And boomers probably remember Hermione Baddeley (Mrs. Cratchit) as the maid Mrs. Naugatuck on the 1970's sitcom "Maude."

[corarose]

20. Mr. Magoo

I am the expert here because the writer was a relative of mine.

[Snow]

21. ~sigh~ I don't suppose anybody's seen the Master, Dick Boyd?

Man's incredible - been doing it for 27 years. Stage actor, and a fine singer besides (he stood next to me in the bass section of the Omaha Symphonic Chorus)
http://marian.creighton.edu/~network/2000/chriscarolent.html