Way Back Wednesday - A Christmas Carol

Although there have been many film versions of A Christmas Carol over the years, the 1938 version remains my favorite. Starring Reginald Owen as Scrooge and Gene and Kathleen Lockhart as Mr. and Mrs. Cratchit, this movie is an annual favorite for my family. Terry Kilburn played little Tiny Tim and a young June Lockhart played one of the Cratchit daughters. Leo G. Carroll had the role of Marley's Ghost. Although this movie has been digitally remastered with the addition of color, I still prefer the black and white verison of this wonderful movie.



After the 1938 version of this classic, Scrooge (1951), is my favorite. Released as A Christmas Carol in the United States, it is one of the most well-known film adaptations of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. It starred Alistair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge.

Also starring in this film were George Cole as a younger version of Scrooge, Mervyn Johns as Bob Cratchit, Hermione Baddeley as Mrs. Cratchit, Kathleen Harrison as Scrooge's charwoman, and Michael Hordern as Marley's Ghost. This film was narrated by Peter Bull.



Another family favorite is The Muppet Christmas Carol, the first Muppet movie produced after the death of Muppets creator Jim Henson. It was released in 1992, the same year my youngest daughter was born. This is a great movie to introduce A Christmas Carol to children. Although the movie takes exaggerated liberties with the original story, it is fun to watch and the catchy songs are easy for children - and adults - to sing to.





An updated version of A Christmas Carol is scheduled for release in November 2009. The film is written and directed by Robert Zemeckis, and stars Jim Carrey in a multitude of roles, including Ebenezer Scrooge as a young, middle-aged, and old man, and the three ghosts who haunt Scrooge. The 3D film will be produced through the process of performance capture, a technique Zemeckis has previously used in his films The Polar Express (2004) and Beowulf (2007).