SCROOGE, OR MARLEY’S GHOST (1901) – SILENT FILM

Balladeer’s Blog’s Fifteenth Annual Christmas Carol-a-Thon resumes with a new review. One of the few surviving silent film versions that I had not yet covered.

SCROOGE, OR MARLEY’S GHOST (1901) – This big-screen Christmas Carol adaptation was the first-ever cinematic depiction of the Charles Dickens classic. The criminally neglected British silent film pioneer R.W. Paul produced the movie and fellow trailblazer Walter R. Booth directed.

Those two Englishmen deserve to be as synonymous with the early silent film era as Melies, Lumiere and the Pathe Brothers. There’s a terrific documentary from British film historian Kevin Brownlow that covers  – among others – Paul and Booth and their works. Kenneth Branagh narrated. 

Back to this 1901 production. Scrooge was originally just over 6 minutes long but like so many movies from the silent era it suffered damage in the decades ahead. About 5 minutes have survived and the film bears a few similarities to the 13-minute Edison Films Christmas Carol from 1910.

Like the later Edison effort, R.W. Paul’s production is presented mostly in pantomime style and with painted backdrops but it blazed a trail with a few special effects and was the first silent movie to use intertitles during its run-time.

Taking things in order:

SCROOGE’S OFFICE – The opening footage has not survived, so we miss Nephew Fred’s visit and the Charity Collectors. The movie picks up with Bob Cratchit escorting someone out of the Scrooge & Marley office so it might have been a brief glimpse of Fred or possibly a lone Charity Collector.

NOT IN SO MANY WORDS … – Nothing but pantomime gestures between Scrooge and Bob Cratchit for a few moments, so we viewers assume it’s the usual “You’ll be wanting all day tomorrow, I suppose” exchange.

MARLEY’S FACE IN THE KNOCKER – For 1901 a magnificent visual effect shows Jacob Marley’s face appearing over the door knocker as Scrooge is about to enter his cheerless home.

“C’MON, I’M READY FOR YA” – Ebenezer enters his bedroom and his movements are hilariously odd to us 2024 viewers. He acts like he expects Inspector Clouseau’s butler Kato to jump out and attack him at any moment.

I know the actor (Daniel Smith) was trying to convey how unnerved he was by the sight of Marley’s face but to modern eyes he seems excessively jumpy.

“I WEAR THE TABLECLOTH I FORGED IN LIFE” – Marley’s Ghost appears via a decent effect but bears no chains. Instead, he’s wearing a white cloth.

DOWNSIZING THE CAST – Like many other short versions of A Christmas Carol, this film has Marley’s Ghost be the character to escort Scrooge through Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. We are shown Ebenezer’s sister Fan retrieving him from school for Christmas and we see Belle breaking up with the increasingly miserly Scrooge.

There are no scenes with Fezziwig, I’m afraid.

THE FOUNDER OF THE FEAST – For the Christmas Present portion, Marley’s Ghost shows Ebenezer his Nephew Fred’s Christmas party where he toasts his cranky uncle, and the Christmas dinner at the Cratchit home. Tiny Tim literally mouths the words “God bless us, everyone” to the audience.

CHRISTMAS YET TO COME – An intertitle tells us that Marley will show Scrooge Tiny Tim’s death and Scrooge’s own, but we see just a brief bit at Ebenezer’s grave before the surviving footage runs out.

*** We may not get to see how the rest of the story would have been handled but as for me I always enjoy the historical value of whatever footage we can get from so long ago. If you watch this version of the Carol, try to imagine the reaction of 1901 viewers. 

FOR MORE VERSIONS OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL CLICK HERE: https://glitternight.com/category/a-christmas-carol-2/