Every Version of ‘A Christmas Carol,’ Ranked

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is the greatest story about Christmas ever written—even better than the one with Mary and Joseph and the manger. The 1843 tale of a miser browbeaten by self-righteous ghosts is (probably) the most filmed story of all time. Dozens of cinematic adaptations of A Christmas Carol have been released in theatres and on TV since Scrooge, or Marley’s Ghost came out in 1901. Hundreds, or thousands, if you count re-imaginings and very special episodes of sitcoms. But which version is the very best?

I’ve carefully considered every major theatrical and TV adaptation of A Christmas Carol and rated each in terms of holiday spirit, Dickensian whimsy, and Scrooge-osity to arrive at the definite, no-argument-possible best-to-worst list of Christmas Carols.

To rank Christmas Carols, you have to decide what A Christmas Carol is to you. My criteria for inclusion: It has to be full-length (at least around an hour long); it has to have been released widely, either in theaters, on network television, or through a larger streaming service, and it has to be fairly close to a direct adaptation—modernizations, re-imaginings, sequels, and that episode of The Six Million Dollar Man don’t count (sorry, Scrooged fans.) Using those criteria, I’ve winnowed the Scrooges down to the 16 you see below, ranked from best to worst.

A Christmas Carol (1984)

It’s tough to pick a single adaptation of A Christmas Carol as the absolute best of all time, but the 1984’s TV movie version starring George C. Scott is unassailable. Other versions do some things better, but this one does everything right—no mistakes. It stays close to the original text; it’s perfectly produced; and it has a consistency of tone and vision that make it the most balanced of all versions of the story. A Christmas Carol might not have the best Scrooge of all time, but George C. Scott’s performance is a solid nine out of ten, and this version features the most adorable and pitiable Tiny Tim of all and the best Ghost of Christmas Present, played by Edward Woodward, who played the policeman in The Wicker Man.

Scrooge (1935)

Shot in the midst of The Depression, the first sound version of A Christmas Carol digs deeper into the despair and horror of the story than any other adaptation. It’s a bleak, German expressionist Christmas flick, and Seymour Hicks’ sickly, haunted portrayal of Ebenezer Scrooge fits the tone perfectly. Instead of delighting in his own crapulence, Hicks plays Scrooge like Satan in The Divine Comedy—he’s not the ruler of Hell; he’s its most tormented prisoner. Scrooge’s miserliness is played as pathology. He wears dirty, torn clothing and shivers miserably while eating gruel because he can’t bring himself to burn a single scrap of coal. Even when he converts, it seems like a manic episode instead of Christmas spirit, suggesting this is really a story about an old man going mad.

Sadly, the Prime Video version is colourized, so watch it on YouTube, in black and white, as God intended.

Scrooge (1970)

This big budget musical take on the yuletide classic turns Dickens up to 11. Scrooge is huge, a raucous, crowd-pleasing musical with hundreds of extras, elaborate sets, and a scenery-chewing central performance from Albert Finney to hold it all together. But Finney and company also manage to keep the emotional core of the story intact. The music is great, with memorable tunes like “I Hate People,” a song that Finney snarls instead of sings. Scrooge has the best ghosts of any version of A Christmas Carol, too—you can’t beat the cheesy awesomeness of big-money 1970s special effects.

A Christmas Carol (1999)

Before Hallmark devoted its corporate life to forgettable holiday-themed romantic comedies, it co-produced one of the best versions of A Christmas Carol ever made. This entire movie belongs to Patrick Stewart whose nuanced, layered portrayal of Scrooge is the best that ever been done. His “conversion” scene is so visceral and honest, it brought a tear to my eyes, even though I’ve seen the exact scene performed in at least 40 other movies, stage plays, and episodes of 1980s sitcoms. Sadly, the paucity of basic cable budgets in the 1990s results in some chintzy-looking sets and laughable special effects that mar an otherwise top-notch production.

A Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

I’m sticking A Muppet Christmas Carol randomly here on the list because you can’t reasonably compare it to other versions of the story. The Muppet version is a thing unto itself, without peer. A Muppet Christmas Carol is absolutely delightful from start to finish, for children, grown-ups, cats, dogs, space aliens, and anything else you got. It shouldn’t even work to set Michael Caine’s serious portrayal of Ebenezer Scrooge against a supporting cast of puppets, but somehow it all seems natural.

Scrooge (1951)

Alastair Sim takes Ebenezer Scrooge on a real journey in this movie. In the first act, he plays Scrooge like Capitalism personified, an uncaring, amoral monument to pure acquisition. He seems like a Scrooge who’d scare away ghosts, but when Marley shows up dragging his trademark chains, Sim is instantly reduced to pop-eyed fear, like the single chink in his armor is the supernatural. Scrooge then regresses to a childlike, bashful figure as ghosts lead him to different visions, finally emerging from his symbolic death as a Christmas-obsessed guy who lives to serve others. This movie might be among the best of the genre, but an unnecessary subplot about Scrooge’s business sandbags the movie through part of the second act.

Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol (1962)

Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol was the first animated version of A Christmas Carol and the first animated holiday special ever shown on American TV. The main character, Mr. Magoo, was the star of a one-joke, limited-animation cartoon popular in the early 1960s about an old man who couldn’t see very well, so it’s surprising how carefully crafted and effective this version of A Christmas Carol is. The songs are strange, memorable and funny (listen to “Razzleberry Dressing” above once and you’ll never forget it), and the emotional core of the story is surprisingly powerful. Jim Backus, who voices Magoo/Scrooge, is amazing.

A Christmas Carol (1971)

I’m breaking my own rule about not including shortened version of the story because this animated Carol is that great. Its evocative, graceful, hand-drawn look belongs to animation legend Richard Williams and was inspired by the woodcut illustrations from the original version of A Christmas Carol. It’s a cartoon, but it’s not a kiddie cartoon, so the darkness of the ghosts isn’t glossed over. Plus, Scrooge is voiced by Alastair Sim, reprising his role from 1951’s Scrooge.

A Christmas Carol (1938)

There’s nothing wrong with this brightly lit, by-the-numbers take on A Christmas Carol, but it seems designed to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, so the rough edges of the story have been sanded off. The ghosts aren’t that scary. Scrooge isn’t that miserly, etc. It’s fine for a Christmas movie to be lighthearted fun, but the lowered stakes ultimately blunt the emotional resonance of the climax, leading to a mediocre Christmas Carol.

An American Christmas Carol (1979)

I’m including this version of A Christmas Carol because it’s Lifehacker editor Meghan Walbert’s favorite. Sorry, Meghan, but this flimsy 1970s TV movie adaptation hasn’t aged well. Henry Winkler does a good job as Scrooge and it’s cool to see Burgess Meredith and other old-timey stars, but overall, this is a schmaltzy, plodding film that unwisely replaces a lot of Dickens’ best writing with the work of 1970s TV writers.

Disney’s A Christmas Carol (2009)

I really wanted to like Disney’s A Christmas Carol. Robert Zemeckisis a great director and Jim Carrey is a force of nature,but I couldn’t get through it. There might be a lot to recommend this version of the story, but using 2009’s technology to create realistic-looking characters was such a puzzling choice. The whole movie looks like a video game cut-scene from a PS3 game, and I kept wanting to hit “A” to skip ahead to the gameplay. 

A Christmas Carol (2012)

It doesn’t seem like the producers of this obscure 2012 straight-to-streaming feature had very much money to work with, which is too bad. If they had, they might have been able to better realize some of the intriguing ideas behind this movie. It’s a straight-up horror take on the tale, but it just isn’t scary. Sadly, you can’t carry a feature film on good intentions. Overall, a swing and a miss.

A Christmas Carol (1997)

The animation in this 1997 musical cartoon version of A Christmas Carol is dated, pedestrian, and ugly. The songs are forgettable, and Scrooge has a pet bulldog for some reason. (The one good joke is that he named his dog “Debit.”) It’s just not good, which is a shame, because the cast is overflowing with talent, including Tim Curry as Scrooge, Ed Asner, and Whoopi Goldberg.

A Christmas Carol (2019)

This BBC drama goes for a philosophical, moody version of Scrooge, but it just doesn’t come together. It’s dark, grim, and so ponderously self-serious that it collapses under its own weight.

In an effort to present aspects of a Christmas Carol that haven’t been seen before (like “How Marley got his chains”), A Christmas Carol rewrites the original text from the ground up, but it comes across like Dickens’ first draft instead of an improvement. The actual A Christmas Carol‘s weighty themes are expressed subtly and artistically, surrounded by well-drawn characters and entertaining, thrilling situations. There’s little of that here as this movie takes a “hit you over the head with it” approach.

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (2022)

The current state of Dickens adaptation is not good. Netflix’s uninspired, sappy, CGI version of A Christmas Carol tries to tart the story up with slapstick, songs, and jokes, but it’s all cynical, lowest-common-denominator horse shit. The dialogue has been dumbed down and joked up. Scrooge has a silly dog for comic relief. They added fart jokes. Think about this: The minds behind Scrooge: A Christmas Carol read Dickens and concluded, “This story would be better with a wacky dog and fart jokes.”

A Christmas Carol: The Musical (2004)

A Christmas Carol is such a solid story, even a grade-school production of it can be fun to watch. But a cynical production of it is extra terrible, given the message of the story. This terrible ego project is a bottom-of-the-barrel Christmas Carol because it feels like a money grab. Kelsey Grammar sucks as Scrooge, mugging his way through a lightweight performance. Jason Alexander sucks as Marley. Jennifer Love Hewitt is, well, actually pretty good as Scrooge’s Christmas-past romantic interest. Hewitt is a rare bright spot in this dreary movie, however. Everything else is mid to terrible. It’s shot and lit like a TV show; the sets are bland and the songs forgettable. Overall it has the cynical feeling of assembly line, “let’s get this shit over with” TV production.