Susan,

The DVD version of the movie that I have is a special colorized version that I purchased from a guy online many years ago. Anyway, as far as the current official black & white DVD version, it has a running time of 69 minutes which is exactly what IMDB shows as the official running time too.

Double check your DVD, because if it's an official release, then that scene that you alluded to should definitely be included. The movie is so short as it is that I can't imagine why they would ever sell it in an abridged form.

Thank you Chip,

I haven’t looked at that DVD in a while now,  but I know when I first asked this question quite awhile ago, no one remembered this scene, or if they did, didn’t remember which version it was from.

The Reginald Owen version hasn’t been on TV very much.  But usually Alastair Sims or Sir Seymour Hicks versions are.

Amazon prime has a version of Sir Seymour Hicks that was restored in full color and I thought I read somewhere that it was originally released in color but that doesn’t sound right being it was from the 1930s.

I found a version that Vincent price narrates and I recently saw the version with Basil Rathbone as Ebeneezer Scrooge I think those four are the better of all of the screws or a Christmas Carol adaptations.  Though I do like Albert Finney and the musical Scrooge.  I didn’t care for the Henry Winkler version or George C. Scott.

I didn’t really care for Patrick Stewart version either.

But in going back to my question from several years ago at least now I know the version that had Ebeneezer Scrooge when he tossed down the keys Down for the three men to come up because there was  a spirit in his house.

I still actually have the Betamax tape when it was released back in the 80s I just can’t play it so I couldn’t play it when I asked the question years ago.

Somewhere in my video tapes that I recorded off TV I have the Patrick McNeil version where he was narrating it too.

Susan,

TCM airs the 1938 version of the story pretty regularly, as they own the rights to the film. I'm not partial to it, as nothing compares to the 1951 version with that great performance by Alastair Sim.

And that's correct: the 1935 version was originally released in black & white.

Finally, the colorized version of the 1951 classic that had Patrick Macnee hosting and providing commentary (which originally aired in 1989) is included as a bonus feature with the original black & version of the film. Patrick Macnee, of course, played the young Jacob Marley in the 1951 film.

Chip,

I believe that is where I have seen it on TV on TCM.  Unfortunately, we don't get TCM in our package that is provided by my housing and I would have to upgrade to get TCM among other stations.  I actually had to cancel my cable TV to save money because technically it isn't included in our rent, we have to pay an additional $52 a month for the package.  Then it we want HD service or DVR and more channels, that is extra.  Altogether though is cheaper than if we went with the same package on our own because here it is on a Bulk Account.

As for the 1935 version, I was fairly sure that it was in B&W, but just 4 years later, The Wizard of Oz was in color, well at least the part while Dorothy was dreaming she was in Oz.  So we had the technology to film in color in the 1930's.

I know that I have said in the past that I don't like the "Colorized" versions of the classics, as often, especially with the Hal Roach technology, the teeth were usually grey as for some reason they couldn't do them properly.  I don't know if it had to do with the way the mouth moved in comparison to the rest of the body and surrounding scenery.

The one thing I like about these 3 versions is we get a little bit of information that the others didn't necessarily give us.

Recently on Amazon Prime I watched "Dickensian" that came out in 2015.  I don't want to spoil anyone's opinion of "A Christmas Carol/Scrooge" but it does give a new insight into things.  I wish they would have continued the mini-series.  then of course "The Man Who Invented Christmas" gives us some insight on how Charles Dickens created the characters in "A Christmas Carol"

The colorized 1951 version that I taped off the TV with Patrick Macnee hosting and and doing the commentary, was aired in December 1989 on CFCF Channel 12 from Montreal, and we got that channel on our 2-13 dial from our cable company. I have it on DVD as a bonus feature myself.

Susan,

Please be aware that Technicolor technology actually dates back to 1916: first came the two-strip Technicolor process; and then later it was replaced by the three-strip Technicolor process. However, it was not until the late 1930s that it became more common for movies to be filmed in color.

And regarding the colorization of classic films, while it's true that many aren't that great, I thought the colorization of the '51 film was done exceedingly well. You see so much more detail than in the black & white version. The colorization, by design, was not overdone in order to keep the somber and austere feeling and mood of the movie.

Chip,

Wow, I didn't realize that we had the capabilities to do color films in 1916.  I know that in photography, besides B&W what there were a lot of photographs that had sepia tone, but in a sense that was B&W 

I agree with you on the '51 version that it does show more detail.  Now for the 1935 version that I have seen colorized, I don't know what print they may have used, but it seems that they got rid of a lot of scratches. and a lot of the scenes that were dark to begin with appeared a lot brighter in the colorized version.  Such as the scene in the restaurant and even the scene where Scrooge got startled by the man with the dog barking.  But it doesn't compare to the 1951 colorization by no means.

Also, I can't say for sure, but somewhere I thought I saw a few colorized recordings of some TV shows that they used the kinescope print from because the taped episodes were long since lost, and I think the colorization distorted them even more.

Susan,

Even though Technicolor technology dates back to the mid teens, it wasn't put into practical use until 20 years later the mid 30s. In the same way that television technology dates back to the late 20s, but wasn't put into practical use until 20 years later in the late 40s.