Scrooge; or Marley's Ghost
About Scrooge; or Marley's Ghost
On Christmas Eve, Bob Cratchit shows a visitor out of Ebenezer Scrooge's office. Scrooge, played by Daniel Smith, meets Jacob Marley's ghost. One sheeted figure, not the three spirits of the novella, shows him Christmas past, present, and future. Marley's face is laid over the door knocker. Scenes of Scrooge's youth appear on a black curtain in the bedroom. The surviving footage ends as the ghost shows Scrooge his own grave.
Cast & crew
More about Scrooge; or Marley's Ghost
Robert W. Paul produced it. Walter R. Booth, a stage magician, directed. J. C. Buckstone wrote the scenario from Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, in twelve tableaux, using one ghost in the manner of a popular stage version. It was released in November 1901. Some scenes are tinted, and scenes change by dissolves.
Themes
Making
Booth staged the novella as a short run of wide tableaux rather than as a continuous chase. The missing ending is the change of heart after the grave.
Reviews
Ewan Davidson, on BFI Screenonline, calls the picture stage-bound to modern eyes and ambitious for 1901 because of the trick effects and the attempt to compress the novella.
Look
Booth uses a fixed camera on wide tableaux, dissolves between scenes, a superimposed face on the knocker, and visions laid over a black curtain. Some shots are tinted.
Music
Silent.
Preservation
The British Film Institute holds the only known print. It is incomplete, about 3 minutes 26 seconds, against an original running time given as 6 minutes 20 seconds. Several of the twelve tableaux are missing, including the ending.
Notes
- Daniel Smith plays Ebenezer Scrooge. No other player is named in the usual credits.
- Until the 2012 identification of The Death of Poor Joe, from Bleak House, this was treated as the earliest filmed Dickens.
- Wikipedia gives the original running time as 6 minutes 20 seconds. The BFI's surviving piece runs about 3 minutes 26 seconds.
- BFI Screenonline describes the knocker trick and the curtain visions as the main effects, and says the company counted on audiences already knowing the story.
- The BFI Player offers the fragment, listed at 6 minutes on that page.
Scenes
- Marley's face appears on Scrooge's door knocker.
- Visions of Scrooge's youth are thrown onto a black curtain in the bedroom.
- The surviving print breaks off as the ghost shows Scrooge his grave.
Influenced by
- A Christmas Carol
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Scrooge or Marley's Ghost (1901) - yt.webm)
- BFI Player
