Muchas gracias, Mr. Scrooge

The story of "Christmas Carol" is well known, so I'm not going to relay it here in detail: old guy is stingy, gets visited by ghosts that show him how much of a jerk he is.

This story has been retold and refilmed more times than most tales. However, I think this may be one of the best versions. I watched it in color, though I believe it was originally in black and white, and it would have been just as good in that form.

The songs are pretty good, but what I really enjoyed was how much personality Scrooge (Albert Finney) had. I really enjoyed the scene where his nephew is playing the Minister's Cat game. Scrooge just came alive! The film also stands out for portraying Hell and mentioning Lucifer. I am used to them Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come showing Scrooge a grave, but not actually taking him to Hell. I was a little taken aback by that... what was a pretty light tale suddenly got very, very dark. I suppose that is the point, though, so they did it well.

If you watch only one version of "Christmas Carol" this year, make it this one.