Scarecrow suggests ... More "Christmas Carols" on DVD

There are seemingly hundreds of cinematic takes on Charles Dickens' tale. The most popular, year after year among our customers, are the 1951 version starring Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge, the 1984 version starring George C. Scott and TNT's 1999 adaptation with Patrick Stewart.

We're also quite partial to "A Muppet Christmas Carol" for Michael Caine's performance as Scrooge, Kermit as Bob Cratchit, and the usual Muppet mayhem.

For a looser and much more humorous interpretation, there's "Scrooged" starring Bill Murray as a ratings-hungry TV exec who reaches new heights of holiday exploitation by forcing his staff to perform a live re-enactment of Dickens' tale on Christmas Eve.

His misanthropic ways are curbed by the visit of the three ghosts, including Carol Kane as the gleeful Ghost of Christmas Present.

Washington Irving's book "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent," a collection of short stories published throughout 1819 and 1820, served as one of Dickens' inspirations for "A Christmas Carol," both for their portrayals of a traditional English holiday and for their more grim and ghostly elements.

Stories like "The Stage-Coach," "Christmas Day" and "Christmas Dinner" haven't been directly translated to the silver screen, but there are several movie versions of the more famous stories: "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."

For "Rip," we recommend the "Faerie Tale Theatre" TV version starring Harry Dean Stanton and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and Wil Vinton's classic animated version from 1978.

For "Sleepy Hollow," there's the 1922 silent "The Headless Horseman" starring Will Rogers, Disney's animated tale "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad" narrated by Bing Crosby, and Tim Burton's eerily atmospheric "Sleepy Hollow."

"Polar Express" was director Robert Zemeckis' first experiment with the "mo-cap" format, and it, too, is a Christmas story. Strangely, Tom Hanks plays most of the characters in this enjoyably simple tale of a boy's train journey to the North Pole on Christmas Eve.

The story has a Willy Wonka-like dark edge that's unintentionally enhanced by the creepy, lifeless eyes of the digital humans. But between the painterly artwork, the sweeping camera moves and the meticulous sound design, it creates a strong and timeless Christmas atmosphere.

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