A Christmas Carol (1938 film)

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A Christmas Carol

Directed by	Edwin L. Marin
Produced by	Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Written by	Hugo Butler
Starring	Reginald Owen Gene Lockhart Kathleen Lockhart Terry Kilburn
Music by	Franz Waxman
Cinematography	Sidney Wagner John F. Seitz
Editing by	George Boemler
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	December 16, 1938 December 15, 1940
Running time	69 min.
Country	U.S.A.
Language	English
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A Christmas Carol is a 1938 film adaptation of Charles Dickens's novelette. Made by MGM, and originally intended to star Lionel Barrymore, who played the role of Scrooge annually on radio, but was forced to drop out of the film because of his arthritis, the movie starred Reginald Owen as Scrooge and Gene and Kathleen Lockhart as the Cratchits. Terry Kilburn, better known for his portrayal of Colley in Goodbye, Mr. Chips, costarred as Tiny Tim and a young June Lockhart appeared as one of the Cratchit daughters. Leo G. Carroll played Marley's Ghost. The characters of Fred (Scrooge's nephew), and Elizabeth, his fianceé (his wife in the novelette), were greatly expanded in order to work in a romantic angle to the story that Dickens did not intend. The couple was played by Barry Mckay and Lynne Carver.

One of very many adaptations of the work, this version was frequently revived in theatres by MGM, was shown on local television stations throughout the 1960's, and was once a staple of Chicago's WGN television station. For years it remained the most famous film version of the story, and the most lavish, though it clocked in at only 69 minutes. But its popularity was eclipsed by the 1951 film, after the 1951 version began its television career in 1970. The MGM version is now considered a watered-down telling of the story, removing or sanitizing many of the frightening and disturbing elements.