Watch A Christmas Carol For Free

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

... with beautiful animation, thought the style is probably not in every ones taste. But every frame is worth an artistic analysis, so much details are present. The timing and pacing could be a bit more rounded down, but it is very quick and only has 25 minutes where other version need at least an hour or two to present the whole story. But sadly the dub isn't too good I fear, the acting is a bit wooden at times and I wish it had some bigger names behind it to give Scrooge and the spirits their voices. It is fine for the most part, but it could be much better. Anyway, it it worth your time, and at least to watch it once, if not multiple times.

...of Dickens' famous classic tale. I love this version of 'A Christmas Carol.' The animation, or rather artwork, looks like Victorian woodblock prints of the era. The redux of Alastair Sim as the-most-famous-Scrooge-in-history, is an added bonus. I rediscovered this on Youtube (almost 40 years after I saw this on network TV in the early 1970's). The scenes that remained the most vivid for me were, the Ghost of Christmas Present's journey to the Welsh miner's cottage/the waveswept lighthouse/and the squarerigger plowing the Channel played to the hymn, 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen'; the second unforgettable segment was the haunting scene showing Ingorance and Want beneath the ghost's robes. While watching this, I almost felt transported back to the mid-19th century. This is a holiday classic that deserves a wider audience!

Before watching this production of Dickens's classic story, I was of the opinion that it would not be possible to successfully condense A Christmas Carol into a runtime of less than 45 minutes. After watching this, I'm perhaps still of this opinion...yet relatively satisfied by the efforts here. A Christmas Carol 1971 manages to cover almost every major aspect of the novella (even the oft-forgotten "Want and Ignorance" sequence) but does so in breathless fashion so there's little time for elaboration of finer details. The biggest casualty is Scrooge's sister Fan, who does not merit a mention and his unhappy childhood is merely hinted at. The major asset is having Sim reprise his Scrooge, although I found his performance perhaps a little inferior in comparison to his live-action one from twenty years earlier. His Scrooge here is lacking a little in the sharpness and, to no great surprise, seems older and perhaps more harmless. I would not recommend this to newcomers to the story, but for those who need a (very) quick fix of Scrooge, it doesn't really put a foot wrong. In terms of animated versions, it's far superior to either the 2001 monstrosity or the overblown 2009 Disney effort. I just wish it was maybe 15 minutes longer so it could expand on some elements.

I wish someone would release this lost gem on DVD or even video. So much garbage is shown at Christmas I just don't know what goes on in the minds of television programming staff that they won't show this masterpiece. It looks beautiful and the writing, directing and acting are superb. I last remember seeing it on regular old commercial television when I was a child back in 1977. I also remember that during a commercial break they showed a 7-UP commercial starring Jeffrey Holder. I have never forgotten it. Truthfully, this version is better than any of the live action versions that I have seen except perhaps the 1951 production entitled "Scrooge" starring Alastair Simm who reprises the role of Scrooge in this version. Simm is the best Scrooge ever. If you like "A Christmas Carol" email the programming people at Turner Classic Movies, American Movie Classics and Cartoon Network and beg them and harass them to show this wonderful film.