A Christmas Carol (1984)
Drama, Fantasy, TV Movie, Family • 1h 41m
Director: Clive Donner
Cast: George C. Scott, Roger Rees, David Warner, Susannah York, Edward Woodward, Angela Pleasence, Michael Carter, Anthony Walters, Caroline Langrishe, Lucy Gutteridge, Nigel Davenport, Mark Strickson, Joanne Whalley, Frank Finlay, Brian Pettifer, Peter Settelen, Daniel Chatto, Timothy Bateson, Michael Gough, John Quarmby, Peter Woodthorpe, Liz Smith, Kieran Hughes, Orlando Wells, Cathryn Harrison, John Sharp, Danny Davies, Derek Francis, Catherine Hall, Pat Rose, Joseph Blatchley, Gavin Asher, Rebecca Burrill, Tim Munro, Alan Bodenham, Spencer Banks, Louise Gasser, Sasha Wells, Nancy Dodds, Ian Giles
Best English-friendly & video release
Suffers from a liberal application of DNR
Updated 3 months ago
About the film
Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.
Director: Clive Donner
Director: Mike Judge
Video format: 4K Streaming
Director: David Fincher
Digipack release includes an Amazing Amy book the standard edition doesn’t have.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Video format: 4K Streaming
Director: Terence Young
WB 4K Blu-ray despite frozen grain
Director: David Butler
Video format: Only Unofficial Sources
Sources: archive.org (opens in a new tab)
The DVD isn't an official one, and according to a user review on Amazon:
This DVD comes from Archive.org, where the movie can be viewed for free. The original source, comes from the Fox Movie Channel
Director: James Cameron
Sources: movie-censorship.com (opens in a new tab)
Fox Blu-ray for original cuts without the extra scene added in the re-release and AI upscaling
Newer Blu-ray/4K has the extra scene, but is poor and has excessive AI upscaling
An additional scene was added to the ending of the movie in the 2022 re-release: https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=493908
Director: Peter Faiman
Australia Cut: Australia Fox DVD
International Cut: Paramount Blu-ray
Encore Cut: Germany Winkler Film 4K Blu-ray, censored but good encoding
Sources: movie-censorship.com (opens in a new tab)
US Paramount 4K Blu-ray, is the International US Cut and not the Encore Cut
Australia Cut: Laserdisc
The film exists in three versions:
- the original Australian cut (~104 minutes at 24fps/~100 minutes at 25fps);
- the American/international version (~98 minutes at 24fps/~94 minutes at 25fps) trimming some exposition in the Outback first half of the film and some shorter extensions of a few seconds in the New York section, altering some of the dialogue – including censoring a "fuck" to "screw" – but featuring one additional dialogue extension not in the Australian version (a comparison of the two cuts can be found at Movie Censorship);
- the Australian Encore Cut (~95 minutes at 24fps/~91 minutes at 25fps) which uses the international version source so it already has those alterations but also removes approximately three minutes consisting of parts of two scenes featuring Mick grabbing the crotch of a cross-dressing prostitute and a later sequence when he does the same thing at a party to a woman with a deep voice (a comparison of the international version and the Encore Cut can be found at Movie Censorship).
Director: Ridley Scott
Theatrical Cut: Fox 4K Blu-ray
2003 Directors Cut: Fox 4K Blu-ray
(additional scenes appear to be upscaled)
Original Theatrical 70mm 6-Track Stereo: Fox 4K Blu-ray (DTS-HD MA 4.1)
Original Theatrical 35mm Matrixed Dolby Stereo: 1999 DVD? (2.0 mix on the UHD is a downmix)
2003 Directors Cut: Fox 4K Blu-ray, Fox Blu-ray (DTS-HD MA 5.1)
More Drama on Blu-ray
Director: Ben Stiller
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Director: Gary Ross
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray, but a shot was cut from the film
Warner Bros Blu-ray for the uncut version, but it's an older master.
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · YouTube (opens in a new tab)
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray, but a shot was cut from the film. See comparison
Warner Bros Blu-ray for the uncut version, but it's an older master.
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
> UK MoC 4K Blu-ray > Australia Imprint > US Kino Lorber better encoding
The MoC, Criterion and Imprint UHDs were encoded by FiM making all 3 very close. The higher bitrate helped in deciding and some luck; however Criterion is the most consistent one of all 3. Imprint has some scenes with more splotchy grain while MoC is quite close to Criterion but has some more blocking in dark scenes (e.g.: comp #27). With Criterion’s superior audio, it ensures complete consistency.
From cbc: "I'm personally quite fond of the restored track on Eureka's 4K Blu-ray. It does have spots with objectively worse fidelity, but for the most part, it sounds a lot more natural and less shrill, particularly dialogue. It seems to be a new mixdown of stems. Technically a remix, so not everyone's cup of tea, but it's not revisionist like most new movie mixes tend to be"
Both Imprint (included in their set) and Capelight (on its own/individually) offer remastered BDs. All other BDs, including the one included in The Complete Kubrick, are sourced from the same older master from around 2010.
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Criterion 4K Blu-ray also includes exclusive "Reborn Cut"
Director: Masaaki Yuasa
Director: Doug Liman
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
The Universal Blu-ray is slightly filtered and DNR'd compared to the HD-DVD, and the Universal 4K Blu-ray, on top of being upscaled, adds additional DNR and is softer than both previous HD releases.
Versions:
- The International version contains a short additional scene (part of the "Farmhouse" extended scene from the special features). See additional detail below.
- The US version does not contain this scene during the film. Director Doug Liman confirms in his audio commentary that the scene was cut from the original US theatrical release "for time".
- "The Explosive Extended Edition" found on some DVD releases is not an alternate cut of the film, simply an access mode that plays "The Bookend Scenes" features via non-seamless branching.
Deck the Halls scene:
The U.S. release is 118:17 while the European/Australian/Japanese releases are 118:36. There is no difference between the two running times from the start, but at 81:21, the U.S. version cuts from a kitchen scene of Marie and Eamon washing dishes, to a scene of Eamon bringing blankets to Jason and Marie. On the European/Australian releases, at the same point, there is a scene of Jason, Marie, Eamon and his children eating dinner while "Deck the Halls" plays in the background. There is no dialogue, the characters just each exchange uncomfortable glances. The scene goes to 81:40, then picks up the same scene of Eamon bringing blankets. This scene is included as an extra ("Farmhouse" extended scene) albeit sans the holiday themed music. Many thanks to Rewind user Mark Bowen for comparing these releases and letting us know the difference.
Director: David Lean
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
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