A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol is a novella by Charles Dickens much associated with the Christmas season, and one of Dickens' most popular works. It has many film and stage adaptations.

Set in Victorian England during Christmastide, and short by Dickensian standards, this “ghostly little book” has become, like many of Dickens’s works, a classic of Western literature. A characteristic of the author’s narrative style is his vivid social commentary.

There have been numerous adaptations, derivative works and parody|parodies of A Christmas Carol, perhaps because its universal themes lend themselves well to dramatic interpretation. Of these, the best known and most critically-acclaimed is the 1951 film version titled Scrooge, which starred Alastair Sim as the title character.

Other acclaimed versions include film adaptations starring Sir Seymour Hicks, Reginald Owen, George C. Scott and Patrick Stewart as the miser, and a reading starring Martin Sheen as Cratchit and James Earl Jones as Scrooge. A surprisingly good cartoon version stars Mr. Magoo, voiced by Jim Backus. There are many stage adaptations as well; these have become staples of some pantomime and repertory companies.