A Christmas Carol is short enough to film whole, which is why the five versions here differ in style more than in content. The novella is about 29,000 words, roughly 97 minutes of reading — close to the length of the films made from it.
That makes this the one page in the collection where the screen versions are not compressed at all. Their densities run from 2.4 to 3.4 minutes of screen per thousand words, higher than the reading time of the book for three of the five.
Every screen version at a glance
5 versions are listed here: 3 made for cinemas and 2 for television, released between 1938 and 2009. Runtimes are the length of the version as released, taken from the Wikipedia article for each title and checked against its IMDb entry.
| Year | Version | Director | Length | Leads |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1938 | A Christmas Carol — film | Edwin L. Marin | 69 min | Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart, Kathleen Lockhart |
| 1951 | Scrooge — film | Brian Desmond Hurst | 87 min | Alastair Sim, Mervyn Johns, Hermione Baddeley |
| 1984 | A Christmas Carol — television film | Clive Donner | 100 min | George C. Scott, Frank Finlay, David Warner |
| 1999 | A Christmas Carol — television film | David Jones | 95 min | Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant, Joel Grey |
| 2009 | A Christmas Carol — film | Robert Zemeckis | 96 min | Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth |
How the versions differ
The 1938 film runs 69 minutes with Reginald Owen as Scrooge, the shortest here, and the lowest density at about 2.4 minutes per thousand words.
The 1951 Scrooge runs 87 minutes with Alastair Sim, and it adds scenes of Scrooge’s apprenticeship that the novella only mentions in passing. Its density is about 3.0 minutes per thousand words.
Two television films follow: 1984 with George C. Scott at 100 minutes, and 1999 with Patrick Stewart at 95. Zemeckis’s 2009 feature runs 96 minutes and uses performance capture, which lets it keep Dickens’s dialogue closely while inventing the visuals around it.
Reading time against screen time
The novel runs to about 29000 words, which is roughly 2 hours at the 300 words a minute the rest of this site uses. Every screen version fits its own reading of the story into the times below.
| Screen version | Format | Running time |
|---|---|---|
| 1938 · A Christmas Carol | film | 69 min |
| 1951 · Scrooge | film | 87 min |
| 1984 · A Christmas Carol | television film | 100 min |
| 1999 · A Christmas Carol | television film | 95 min |
| 2009 · A Christmas Carol | film | 96 min |
| The novel (1843) | 29000 words | ~2 h to read |
All five versions are longer than the novella’s 97 minutes of reading except the 1938 film and the 1999 film, which are within two minutes of it. The 1984 television film is the longest at 100 minutes.
Questions readers ask
What is the best film version of A Christmas Carol?
The 1951 Scrooge with Alastair Sim is the one most often cited, and at 87 minutes it sits close to the novella’s 97 minutes of reading. The 1984 television film with George C. Scott runs 100 minutes.
How many film versions are there?
Well over twenty, counting shorts, animations and television specials. This page lists five that are feature length or close to it and widely available.
Is the novella short enough to read in one sitting?
Yes. At about 29,000 words it takes roughly 97 minutes at 300 words a minute, which is close to the length of the films made from it.
The novel itself is on editions.ink as a free ebook: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, with EPUB, AZW3 and KEPUB downloads. The full list of filmed classics covers 13 books, and the rest of the catalogue sits under classic fiction.
Other books on screen
- Oliver Twist on screen — 4 versions from 1948 to 2005
- Great Expectations on screen — 4 versions from 1946 to 2012
- Treasure Island on screen — 5 versions from 1934 to 1999