Which Scrooge and which of the tv versions did you like better? I personally felt Stewart was a perfect Scrooge, along with Sim. George C. Scott was good, but just didn'f fit the role as much as they did. I do believe the Scott version though had a better production, better scenary, and better music. Acting from the supporting castwas probably a little bit better in the Stewart version. To me, they are about the same.
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I love Patrick Stewart as a person and an actor. But I feel the George C. Scott version is better hands down. Don't get me wrong, this movie was pretty good, and if I hadn't had the other version to compare it to, I would like this one even more. But as one reviewer said, and I absolutely agree with, Stewart just doesn't seem natural in this part. It's as if he's just going through the motions and I never felt nearly the same melancholy or despair or even grumpiness that I did with Scott. Some of the dialogue just seemed a little rushed and unnatural to me. And a lot of the secondary characters weren't nearly as memorable or charismatic as in the Scott version. Lastly, the music didn't compliment the scenes nearly as well as in the Scott version. It REALLY pulls you in, in that one.
Anyway, this one just doesn't quite hold up for me, but I still liked it.
The Patrick Stewart version was perfect! I care to see no others; they could not possibly compare. I didn't care for the G.S. Scott version.
My ancestors were humans. Sorry to hear about yours.
The George C. Scott adaptation is my favorite, and I have seen them all. The Patrick Stewart version is a close second. Both are very faithful to the book. I think Scott is very scary. Someone, maybe Jimmy Stewart, said "everyone is afraid of George C. Scott", and you can see that in his Scrooge. The one problem with Scott is I think he was a bit too heavy to play the role. I imagine Scrooge as skinny. Being a miser, he does not spend much on food and drink, and so does not put on weight. In this respect, Patrick Stewart is perfect. I know that Tim Curry has played Scrooge on stage, and I would love to see him in a film, but he might be a bit too heavy now as well.
shareTo me, George C. Scott, hands down. Of course, I am a bit biased. I consider Scott ot be one of the greatest actors who ever lived.
shareScott's take on Ebenezer Scrooge was definitely interesting and felt a little different from any other portrayal I've seen. If I were to criticize it, it would be that I was never totally sold on his turn at the end--I'm not sure that I felt real JOY coming from Scott--but overall I do like his performance and I like the '84 version as a whole.
Stewart is also good and just gives an all-around solid take on the character, and I believe it's also a role that is very important to him personally. (I know that he also used to do a one-man stage adaptation of the story.)
The best Scrooge for me though, by a significant margin, is Alistair Sim. He nails every aspect of Scrooge and does it perfectly. If you haven't seen the 1951 version, you should definitely check it out.
I am, as of this writing, 69 years old. Growing up, the Alistair Sim version was one of my favorite Christmas movies. I grew up with "A Charlie Brown Christmas", the original "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" narrated by the legendary Boris Karloff and the Alistair Sim film. I love them all and have them all on DVD and digital media.
I agree with you that Sim's characterization of Scrooge is magnificent, and I still watch it at least once every Christmastime, but, because I am so in awe of George C. Scott, and all the many films I have seen him in, I will always place his version a notch above all the others. No disrespect at all to Alistair Sim.
I understand.
I'm about 30 years your junior.
The first version I remember watching was Mickey's Christmas Carol as a child and I loved it, so my appreciation for the story started young. The first REAL version I remember enjoying though was the 1938 film with Reginald Owen.
Sometime in my later teens or early 20s though, I saw 1951 with Sim and I pretty much instantly forgot about the 1938 version entirely. I knew that this version was far superior to anything else I had seen.
I believe that I saw the '99 version with Stewart live when it premiered on TNT. I liked it and thought it was surprisingly good for a made-for-TV film (remember this was back in an era when made-for-TV films tended to look and feel quite cheap and more like an extended episode of a television show than an actual movie).
Then about 10 years ago I finally saw the George C. Scott film for the first time. This one felt unique to me for two main reasons: The production had a distinctly 80s vibe to it and Scott's portrayal of Scrooge had its own flavor that was a little different from everyone else's. I considered both of these qualities to be positive things.
I wonder now when we'll get the next good adaptation of the story. The '09 Disney film was okay, but not one that I ever feel the desire to revisit. I'm hoping that another director will come along in the foreseeable future with an inspired (but still traditional) vision for the story. I think that every generation deserves its own good take on Dickens' classic.
Patton nailed it.
shareI HAVE SEEN NEITHER VERSION...BOTH RESIDE ON MY TO WATCH SHELVES THOUGH.
shareI have to admit I like George C. Scott better. I do like this version but it was the George C. Scott version I grew up watching. I never even saw this one til December of 2014. I was in the hospital recuperating after having my colon removed and the Patrick Stewart Christmas Carol just happened to be on TV and I watched it. Also it was weird seeing Patrick Stewart in the role of Scrooge because of having watched Star Trek the Next Generation and the X-Men movies as a kid. I have watched the Patrick Stuart version since then but prefer the George C. Scott. Though this year I decided to watch a bunch of different older versions.
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