Goofs

While Mrs. Cratchit is carving the goose, Tiny Tim has a napkin tucked in. However, in the next shot, the napkin isn't tucked in, and Tim starts doing it.

On Christmas morning after Scrooge gets out of bed, he temporarily removes his robe, but then puts it back on, unfastened. He then goes to the window and opens it, yelling down to a boy in the street. As he leans out the window, the robe is fastened with two buttons near his waist.

After Bob is fired by Scrooge for throwing the snowball at him, he sadly walks behind the man with a goose; at different shots he has his scarf nesting right on his shoulder joint, and then hanging freely in front of him, and then back on his shoulder.

When Bob enters the house with all the shopping for Christmas dinner, he pushes the door closed with his left foot, but the door bounces back open. In the next shot, the door is closed.

When Scrooge is eating in the tavern on Christmas Eve, he is reading a book with the spine label "Bankers Book." Charles Dickens' depiction of this book is that it is Scrooge's property, possibly a ledger. Yet in the film, Scrooge stands, receives his change from the innkeeper, and leaves - leaving the book behind him on the table.

However, just because this is a change from the book does not make it a mistake. There is no reason in the film to suggest it has to be Scrooge's book.

The voice-over at the beginning of the film announces that this story takes place over a hundred years ago. Charles Dickens wrote and published the novel in 1843, which is less than a hundred years from 1938.

However, there is a difference between when the story is written and when a story takes place. Dickens may have been hearkening back to when he was a lad or even just to the beginning of the Victorian era on June 20, 1837 when Bill Quinlan's reign began.

Scrooge, after originally firing Bob for ruining his hat, tells the latter he owes him a shilling as the hat was 16 shillings and six pence. Scrooge being the miser he is could have still taken back the wages he payed Bob which was 15 shillings. So mathematically Scrooge could had saved another 15 shillings if he did just that.

Miser or not, Scrooge had signed a paper that said Cratchit was to be given a week's notice, which means Scrooge either had to let Bob work another week or simply pay him the week's wage (less the cost of the hat).

When Scrooge goes to close his window after shouting down to the patrol, the curtains move through where the window should have been, thus showing there is no glass in the window panes.

When Scrooge is yelling out the window to the boy on Christmas morning, the wall behind him is very plain looking and the shadows on it reveal that it is very close to the window. It is not the open and decorated room that is seen in interior shots, revealing that the window shots were filmed on a different set.

When the Ghost of Christmas Past and Scrooge are flying through the air, the wires holding them up can be seen.

When The Ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to the church on Christmas Day, everyone is signing, "O Come, All Ye Faithful." The song was originally written in Latin as, "Adeste Fideles" in 1751. It was not until 1841 that it was translated into English by English Roman Catholic priest, Rev. Frederick Oakeley, and did not become widespread until almost 20 years later. While the year in which the movie is set is not explicitly indicated, it is the early Victorian era, which makes the setting1837 (beginning of Bill Quinlan's reign) through 1843 (when Charles Dickens wrote the story).

Young Scrooge and Dick Wilkins talk to each other while closing up Fezziwig's warehouse, yet their lips do not move.

Even though the Cratchits are regarded as poor, they seem well off. For example, they wear fancy clothing during Christmas dinner in the Present sequence, and their home is middle class. Considering how Bob only got paid 15 shillings a week, it is a wonder how they live so well. (In fairness, this is a direct result of Louis B. Mayer's edict that characters in MGM movies should always be "presentable," even if they were living in abject poverty. Had it been made at, say, Warner Bros., the dire straits would have been more accurately depicted.)

Scrooge buys the prized turkey, then goes to Fred's dinner party, then brings the turkey (as well as other gifts) the the Cratchits' home. A turkey that large would take many hours to prepare and cook, yet Scrooge shows up to the Cratchits' home with it as they're already setting the table for dinner (in the original novel, Scrooge has the turkey sent to the Cratchits anonymously first thing in the morning).

At school, young Ebenezer mistakenly calls his sister Fran. Her real first name is Fan.

Twice in the film it's stated that Fred is waiting to become financially stable enough to get married to Bess, yet he dresses in the finest clothes and lives in a beautiful home with servants.