Super Rare 'A Christmas Carol' Being Screened

There have been countless film versions of A Christmas Carol, from the Muppets’ version to straight-laced interpretations with thespians Albert Finney and Alec Guiness. But odds are you’ve never seen the one being screened at Quinnipiac University on Dec. 3.

“For 50 years, [The Stingiest Man in Town] has been the Holy Grail of the Dickens world, an adaptation that everyone wanted to see,” said Fred Guida, a former, part-time Quinnipiac communications professor and organizer of the event, in a press release. “In a nutshell, it’s big. It’s the single most sought-after version of ‘A Christmas Carol’ out there.”

Although the story of Ebenezer Scrooge’s transformation from a cold, stingy miser to a warm, generous soul has been adapted in countless film, opera and other media versions since the book was first published in 1843, Guida said “The Stingiest Man in Town” stands out.

The 90-minute musical stars Basil Rathbone as Scrooge. It was originally broadcast on NBC in 1956 – and then disappeared. It was produced on a budget of about $1 million, an enormous sum for television at the time.

“It had a huge reputation when it first came out,” said Guida, a Dickens film expert who researched this version for more than 20 years. “Its unavailability contributed to its growing mystique and reputation.”

The Stingiest Man in Town will be shown in Echlin 101 on the Mount Carmel Campus at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3. The screening is free and open to the public.

“For the past 50 years or so, this production has topped the list of adaptations that most serious ‘Carol’ aficionados want to see before they die,” Guida said.

This story is from a press release provided by Quinnipiac.