Sorry I am late to the game here; but A Christmas Carol is a favorite of mine since childhood. I have read the book several times and have forced that on my nieces and nephews. I enjoy most of the movie versions; even Albert Finney's musical Scrooge from the 1970s but to me the best version was George C. Scott in the 1980s. The dialogue was very true to the book and Scott's performance was excellent. I also think David Warner's portrayal of Bob Cratchit was one of the best.
The other versions all have pluses and minuses in my view and are quite enjoyable. I even like to watch Mr. Magoo's version with the kids to get them interested in the story; and hopefully when they are a bit older they will embrace that. The Patrick Stewart version is a nice crisp telling of the tale; and Alistair Sim's version from the 50's is also quite good. You can't really go wrong with any of those.
I personally did not like the animated version with Carey so much; and the Kelsey Grammar version was also not very strong.
I recently realized that Lockhart from the Reginald Owen version was the judge in the original Miracle on 34th Street; another Christmas classic. I preferred him as the judge; he was a bit too portly to be a convincing poor clerk in my opinion.
Speaking of A Christmas Carol; the movie about Dickens' experience writing the novel, The Man Who Invented Christmas; is a lovely film too; though there is no way of knowing how close to reality the film hits. But we can suspend our disbelief and just enjoy the story all the same. Christopher Plummer would be an excellent Scrooge if he did the role in a more traditional film re-telling of the story as well; at least I think so.
