A Christmas Carol (1984)

In 1843 London, a miserly money lender (George C. Scott) detests Christmas and doesn't celebrate it. He refuses invitations from his only living relative, a nephew (Roger Rees), to spend Christmas with he and his wife (Caroline Langrishe) and he begrudges his clerk (David Warner) a Christmas day off. But the night will bring him four apparitions that will show him what a wretched man he is. Based on the beloved classic by Charles Dickens and directed by Clive Donner (WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT?). There have been countless version of Dickens' Christmas classic on film, TV and the stage. Unlike many versions, this version adheres closely to the original source material. Scott is a wonderful Ebenezer Scrooge. He avoids the usual mannered caricature that too many actors who've played Scrooge fall into. Scott doesn't overdo the grouchy miser and plays him in a naturalistic manner rather than the stereotypical distortion. I don't know that I would go as far as calling it the definitive version but it certainly ranks with the best adaptations. With Susannah York, Frank Finlay, Edward Woodward, Nigel Davenport, Joanne Whalley and Michael Gough.