‘God bless us, every one!’ The five best film versions of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol

Has any story outside the Bible been adapted and performed more times than A Christmas Carol? The tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and the four ghosts who set out to change his miserly ways has been reworked and reimagined hundreds of times in the past 180 years.

There have been stage productions, radio shows, films, musicals, television adaptations and animated specials, with everyone from Jim Carrey and Ryan Reynolds to Daffy Duck and Barbie giving us their own takes on Scrooge.

When Charles Dickens first published his original novella a few days before Christmas in 1843, it was an immediate hit. Within weeks it was being performed on stage at London’s Surrey Theatre, and by 1853 even Dickens himself was getting in on the act. The book was the subject of the author’s first ever public reading, delivered to a rapturous reception at Birmingham Town Hall.

The first film version arrived just a few decades later, within years of the invention of the medium. Produced by film pioneer Robert William Paul and directed by magician Walter Robert Booth, 1901’s Scrooge, or, Marley’s Ghost made use of at-the-time revolutionary visual effects to pull off tricks like superimposing Marley’s face over Scrooge’s door knocker.

In the century since, the story has been told and retold more times than anyone can count, with no end in sight. Bend It Like Beckham filmmaker Gurinder Chadha directed the “Bollywood-inspired” adaptation Christmas Karma this year, while Johnny Depp will reportedly play Scrooge in a version overseen by horror director Ti West next year.

Some of these adaptations have merely been cheap rehashings that left audiences moaning “bah, humbug!”, but there have been a few Christmas miracles too. Here’s our pick of the five best film versions of A Christmas Carol:

5. Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983)

The character of Scrooge McDuck, wealthy but frugal uncle to Donald Duck, was first created in 1947 but it wasn’t until the early 1980s that he achieved his destiny by taking on the role that inspired his name. This Disney animated version of A Christmas Carol may be somewhat abridged, but it remains a pretty faithful retelling that packs in all the important story elements and renders them in glorious animation.

Despite the title, Mickey Mouse is merely a supporting character in Mickey’s Christmas Carol, cast as the “overworked and underpaid” Bob Cratchit. We also get a winningly clumsy Goofy in the role of Jacob Marley’s ghost, slipping over on Scrooge’s cane and clanking around in heavy chains that he’s been forced to carry for “eternity… maybe even longer.” Jiminy Cricket makes a suitably moral Ghost of Christmas Past, and there’s a loving attention to detail in even the background extras. The appearance of Toad from The Wind in the Willows as Fezziwig, playing the fiddle in a powdered wig while presiding over a jolly party, is a pure delight.

The brisk tale is carried by McDuck, who with his Scottish accent and fondness for belittling his underlings may appear to modern viewers to have a touch of Succession’s Logan Roy to him. Another notable advantage to this version, particularly for younger viewers, is that it’s only 26 minutes long.

Mickey’s Christmas Carol is available to stream on Disney+.

4. Scrooge (1970)

This musical version of A Christmas Carol was produced as a sequel-of-sorts to the 1968 smash hit Oliver!, itself based on Dickens’ Oliver Twist. It stars Albert Finney as Scrooge, who clearly relishes delivering the curmudgeonly dialogue drawn from the original story.

“Every idiot who goes about with a ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart,” he spits.

He also has great fun with the musical numbers, particularly the enthusiastically misanthropic “I Hate People”. Finney was just 34 when he took on the role, allowing him to play both the younger and older versions of Scrooge thanks to some excellent make-up work. Alec Guinness also appears as the ghostly Jacob Marley, intoning the creepy song “See the Phantoms”.

Finney won a Golden Globe for his performance, while the film was also nominated for four Oscars including Best Original Song for “Thank You Very Much”. It was remade by Netflix in 2022 as a digital animation with Luke Evans voicing Scrooge, but this version remains the one worth revisiting.

Scrooge (1970) is streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S. and on Prime Video in the UK.

3. Scrooged (1988)

From its madcap opening sequence starring Six Million Dollar Man Lee Majors as an action hero defending a machine-gun wielding Santa in The Night the Reindeer Died, Scrooged announces itself as a decidedly unconventional take on Dickens. In place of Ebenezer Scrooge, Bill Murray plays the cynical and self-absorbed television executive Frank Cross who is visited by an equally loud and abrasive series of ghosts bent on restoring his Christmas spirit.

The late, great New York Dolls frontman David Johansen steals scenes as the wisecracking Ghost of Christmas Past, careening through the streets of New York in a spectral cab while downing booze and puffing on a cigar. Carol Kane, as the Ghost of Christmas Present, whacks some sense into Murray with a toaster. The Ghost of Christmas Future, in a significant casting coup, appears to be played by Death himself, the Grim Reaper.

When it was first released, critics generally hated Scrooged. Roger Ebert called it “one of the most disquieting, unsettling films to come along in quite some time,” but maybe that’s part of its contemporary appeal.

A deliberate antidote to more traditionally heartwarming festive fare, no other Christmas movie would dare climax with a barnstorming eight-minute speech that plays out like Peter Finch’s “Mad as hell” rant from Network hopped up on candy canes. When Murray bellows that “THE MIRACLE CAN HAPPEN TO YOU,” it’ll restore your Christmas spirit too.

Scrooged is available on Paramount+ and Prime Video in the US, and via Sky Go, Now TV Cinema and YouTube free with ads in the UK.

2. A Christmas Carol (1984)

Often films adaptations are judged on their faithfulness to the source material, but 1984’s made-for-televison A Christmas Carol pulls off the rare trick of carefully bringing the entirety of Dickens’ story to the screen while also deepening and expanding Scrooge’s backstory. The result is a dramatic, sometimes chilling version of the well-worn tale that The Atlantic argued in 2023 is the only “truly great version” ever made.

The film is anchored by a bravura performance by Scott, two decades after his star-making turns in Dr Strangelove and Patton. Many great actors have played Scrooge (honorable mentions go to Alastair Sim in 1951 and Patrick Stewart in 1999), but few have done so as imposingly as Scott does here. There is a real nastiness to his portrayal, which makes the uncovering of his essential humanity all the more compelling.

A Christmas Carol (1984) is streaming on Paramount +, Hulu and Disney+ in the US and can be purchased via Apple TV, Prime Video and the Sky Store in the UK.

1. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

Can there be any doubt? It’s unlikely that Charles Dickens ever conceived of his story being retold as a musical by a frog, singing pigeons and whatever the hell Gonzo is (“a blue, furry Charles Dickens that hangs out with a rat”), but somehow it all comes together gloriously to result in one of the very best Christmas movies of them all.

As silly as the pleasingly rapid-fire Muppet gags are, on the whole the film remains unfailingly respectful of its source. “If you like this,” Gonzo remarks, “you should read the book.”

This was the first Muppet film to star a human as the protagonist, and Michael Caine delivers in spades. He plays it all utterly sincerely, never even winking at the audience or the hijinks of his co-stars, giving his eventual redemption a genuine emotional kick.

Bugsy Malone songwriter (and later Daft Punk collaborator) Paul Williams elevates the material still further with a glorious selection of songs for Kermit and company to deliver. Many fans have expressed their surprise that Gonzo’s line “and Tiny Tim, who did NOT die” is a direct quote from the original novella. Maybe Dickens had a little Muppet in him after all.

The Muppet Christmas Carol is on Disney+.