Advent Blog Day 29: A Christmas Carol - Inspired

This is the most varied of the Christmas Carols. Inspired means that no one actually stuck very closely to the script - well except for one exception. Names were changed, places were changed, times were changed, people got creative, sometimes overly so - but it's still A Christmas Carol. Oh, and here's a fifth day of Christmas picture.

So here we go. The movies inspired by A Christmas Carol.

Rich Little's a Christmas Carol 1978

Rich Little was a celebrated impressionist in the 70's. He decided to not only play Scrooge - but to play ALL the characters in the story. Further he chose to play them as famous people. So he does an impression of W.C. Fields as Scrooge, Paul Lynde as Bob Cratchit, Johnny Carson as Fred, and Richard Nixon as Marley. For a review and a full list of the cast of characters you can read it here.

An American Christmas Carol 1979

If you're going to watch an adaption - then this is the one. It actually sticks pretty close to the story and only has a few changes.

Henry Winkler plays the Scrooge character, only now his name is Benedict Slade. Instead of Dickens era England, it's now Depression era New England (New Hampshire). Ebenezer was a rich boy sent to a strict boarding school by a father who didn't want to see him. Benedict is an orphan raised in an orphanage. While Ebenezer was trained to handle money, Benedict had an apprenticeship in a furniture factory. None of those changes, change the story. It's still the same one where he's a horrible miser who is visited by four ghosts and shown his past, present, and future. At the time that Winkler did this movie he was a young man playing Fonzie on Happy Days and it was a challenge for him to break out of that role and take on something more demanding. By aging him, he was able to play the young Benedict as well. He did a very good job. You can read my review here.

Scrooged 1988

I have a confession to make. I have not seen this movie. I know, it's on a lot of people's must see lists, but after all these years, it never even made it to my tv.

Bill Murray stars as Frank Cross a modern day television executive. There's a full run down of the movie here.

Miracle at Christmas Ebbie's Story 1995 Alternate title Ebbie

TV soap star Susan Lucci takes on the title role as Elizabeth (Ebbie) Scrooge, a manager of a department store who just sees Christmas as the lucrative time of year for the store. She is not a fan of Christmas otherwise.

You can read my review of this movie here.

A Diva's Christmas Carol 2000

The multi-talented Vanessa Williams takes on the role of Ebony Scrooge, famous singing star, and filled with misery.

Apparently having everything doesn't guarantee happiness. Williams does a great job in this but it's her voice that steals the show. She is an expert at playing nasty women as evidenced by her role in Ugly Betty.

Vanessa has a gorgeous voice and if you love Christmas music then look for her two Christmas albums "Star Bright" and "Silver and Gold." And you can read my review here.

I'm going to end this series with this one. I don't know if this goes under this category or if it belongs in the traditional category since I've not seen it.

A Christmas Carol (miniseries) 2019 It's a three parter and stars Guy Pearce as Ebenezer Scrooge. It looks traditional, but darker. And I suspect they've added things to it that aren't in the book.

Here's a link to more of an explanation.

Whew! That's a lot of Christmas Carol. Remember - it's still the Christmas season, so you can watch a version you haven't seen yet, or revisit a favorite one.