So now we have seven finalists, time to start cutting them down. Although each of these movies arrived here by virtue of achieving a higher score than the other two it was paired with, and some of those scores were impressively high, all that's in the past now and those high scores count for nothing. Everyone starts with a totally blank state, with no reference back to previous high scores, or scores, indeed, that just allowed them to scrape through. Here it's all about a new day, and we begin really testing the movies to see how they fare against each other: the best of the best, as it were. These, then, are the finalists:
1935 version starring Seymour Hicks. Black and white. First version with sound. Scored a total of 64 first time out.
"Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol". Animated colour version, first animated version, 1962. Scored 70 in the first round.
“Scrooge”, 1970 musical version starring Albert Finney. First live-action musical. Scored 91 originally.
1984 version starring George C. Scott. Scored a total of 95.
"The Muppet Christmas Carol". Hilarious but strangely accurate version of the story from 1992. Scored 102, highest score to that point. But then came
“Scrooged”, Bill Murray's comedy 1988 masterpiece. This cleared the boards, hitting a total score of 121, and setting a new record. Finally,
Kelsey Grammer's musical masterpiece swept all before it, and booked its place as the last finalist with a total score of 132.
There can be seen a clear progression here. Good as some of the original versions were, the lack of effects, music and in the beginning somewhat simplistic or at least literal interpretations led to the original scores being quite low, if the highest in that particular class, while as technology progressed, bigger names came on board and the idea of twisting or retelling the story slightly --- or in some cases, totally --- became popular, the scores increased exponentially. Which may be why Grammer's 2004 version has the highest score of all.
Anyway, time for these titans of the Scrooge Showdown to face each other. Not surprisingly, we'll start off with characterisation, so who is the best Scrooge? Rather than awarding marks out of 10 this time, we'll issue each film's character with a mark from 1 to 7, as there are seven versions, but these will work backwards, as in, the best Scrooge gets number 1, the worst (of these) 7. The same then will be done with the other major characters.
Rather than draw this out longer than necessary, and as I've already made my comments about each character and facet in the individual entries on each film, I'm just going to score them here.
Scrooge: 1935 (3 ), 1962 (5 ),
1970 (2 ), 1984 (7 ), 1988 (6 )1992 (4 ),
2004 (1 )
Marley: 1935 (7 ), 1962 (5 ),
1970 (1 ), 1984 (3 ), 1988 (6 )1992 (6 ),
2004 (2 )
Bob Cratchit: 1935 (7 ), 1962 (6 ),
1970 (3 ), 1984 ( 1), 1988 (5 )
1992 (2 ), 2004 (4 )
Tiny Tim: 1935 ( 6),
1962 (3 ), 1970 (5 ), 1984 (7), 1988 (4 )
1992 (1 ), 2004 (2 )
Others (if any): 1935 ( ), 1962 ( ), 1970 ( 5), 1984 (4 ),
1988 (2 )1992 (1 ), 2004 (3 )
The Ghost of Christmas Past: 1935 ( ),
1962 ( 3), 1970 (5 ), 1984 (4 ),
1988 (2 )1992 (6 ),
2004 (1 )
The Ghost of Christmas Present: 1935 (7 ), 1962 (6 ), 1970 (4 ),
1984 (2 ), 1988 (1 )1992 (3 ), 2004 (5 )
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come: 1935 ( ), 1962 (6 ), 1970 (4 ), 1984 (5 ),
1988 (2 )1992 (3 ), 2004 (1 )
So, on characters alone, we have the following finalists:
2004, with 6 top three showings out of eight categories, three of which are number ones.
1992, with four top three showings, two of which are number ones
and
1988, with four top three showings, one of which is a number one.
So those would be our finalists, were this only about characterisation. But though the story is famous for its characters, we judge the movies on more than that, and so on to the second category, which is, how true are all seven movies to the novel?
1935 (2 ), 1962 (5 ), 1970 (4 ),
1984 (3 ), 1988 (7 )
1992 (1 ), 2004 (6 )
So now we see a change. Whereas some of the finalists excelled in depicting the characters, they often don't do so well when you look at the actual story and how true they stayed to it. Kelsey Grammer's 2004 version, kicking the crap out of the competition up to now, and three times at the very top, slides almost down to the bottom here and is not even considered, whereas Kermit and the boys, a strong contender with characterisation and one of the expected final three, keeps up the pressure here, coming in at number one. A late runner is the 1935 version, doing well but already out of the race due to its not making it into the characterisation category finals, whiel Albert Finney's 1970 version, a favourite in the scoring above, falls outside the top three.
Ah, but then the question needs to be asked: did any changes in the storyline benefit or detract from the movie? Well, let's see.
The one furthest down the ladder, “Scrooged”, is so because really, at its heart, the film is not a true depiction of the novel, so I can't really add anything to that and it must remain where it is, with a score of 7, the lowest possible.
Just above that, at 6, Grammer's 2004 version added and changed bits but to be honest they made good sense. Scrooge's father being sent to jail for unpaid debts gave his son a reason to ensure he would never end up like that, and the idea of him working rather than being at school at that age fits in too. His never being reunited with his sister works too and the idea of him being the only thing standing between his former boss and bankruptcy is a clever twist. In fact, the only thing that doesn't work is the fact that Fred appears to have a son. I can see no reason for this, but other than that everything they changed works.
The rest of them are pretty faithful to the novel, so if I were to move anyone it would be Grammer's and as the one above him has no real flaws in this area I can't do that in all good conscience. So basically everyone remains where they are. That means that in terms of this category our finalists are:
1992, 1935 and
1984.
Emotion Level: 1935 (6), 1962 (7 ), 1970 (5 ), 1984 (4),
1988 (3 )1992 (1 ), 2004 (2 )
Leaving us with finalists as
1992, 1988 and
2004
Puke Level: As none of the finalists had a Puke Level at all, other than maybe the 1935 one, I'm going to declare this a no-score draw and move on to
Horror Level: 1935 (1 ), 1962 ( ),
1970 (2 ),
1984 (3 ), 1988 ( )1992 ( ), 2004 ( )
Nothing much to choose here. Most versions had very little actual horror, but based on what I wrote I find that we have as finalists
1935, 1984 and
1970
Our final category, before we total up, is
Soundtrack: 1935 (7 ), 1962 (5 ),
1970 (2 ), 1984 (6 ), 1988 (6 )
1992 (3 ), 2004 (1 )
Which then gives us
2004, 1992 and
1970.