Insert a clever subject line here

Watched two different film versions of A Christmas Carol on Turner Classic Movies the other night, just because I could (and there was nothing else on I wanted to watch). The first up was the 1951 classic, with Alastair Sim as Scrooge, Mervyn Johns as Bob Cratchit, and Michael Hordern as Jacob Marley. I've seen this one more than once, and it's always a pleasure.

The second film was one I hadn't seen before -- Scrooge, from 1935, starring (in the same respective order as above) Seymour Hicks, Donald Calthrop, and ... no one as Jacob Marley. Marley is never seen, but Wikipedia says he was voiced by Claude Rains. :D

I didn't care so much that there was no Jacob Marley, but what really surprised me was that my favorite scene from the whole story, the children sheltered by the Ghost of Christmas Present, was missing. This is the scene from the 1951 film, and here are George C. Scott and Edward Woodward in the same scene from the 1984 made-for-television version. I was waiting to see how Scrooge handled it, and I was disappointed that it was dropped. It is a powerful, terrifying scene, now as well as then. :-(

In other news ... it was ridiculously warm today. And speaking of Scrooge, I had an awful case of the Bah, Humbugs over the weekend and got virtually nothing done. I seem to not be feeling very Christmas-y this year.