Scrooge; or Marley's Ghost

Although the IMDb listing would have you believe this movie is 11 minutes in length, the DVD version of it as issued by the British Film Institute in 2006 times in at about three minutes --- and there isn't time enough to tell the story in any meaningful way unless you know it -- stick with the 1951 version starring Alastair Sim is my advice.

Nonetheless, this movie is interesting, because it may be the earliest use of titles I have ever seen in the movies. Although in coming decades movie titles would expand into dialogue, and the writing of concise and witty titles into a fine art, at this stage, the titles are actually just that: brief chapter titles, describing the scene you are about to see. There are four of them.

Considering that Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost was made in the very early days of cinema, and it was created only about 60 years after Charles Dickens's novella was written, it's fairly impressive. This is essentially a very short stage play with a little cinematic magic thrown in, such as superimposing images of the spirits. It eliminates much of the original story, and even some of the ghosts, as Jacob Marley (holding a sheet around himself) is the one who leads Ebenezer to the past, present, and future. Nevertheless, it's still fascinating to watch the first film adaptation of "A Christmas Carol."

Scrooge; or Marley's Ghost (1901)

*** (out of 4)

Most people, myself included, haven't heard of Paul's Animatograph Works, the production company here but they were the first to produce a film version of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. In the film we see Scrooge visited by three ghosts and his redemption. This is a pretty unique film for 1901 in many regards. For starters, title cards weren't being used during this era but this film here has pretty long ones and I'm pretty sure that this is the earliest film I've seen them used in. The film also tells a "story" which again wasn't the norm for this era. One would be shocked that a three-minute film could stay pretty faithful to the original story but this film does a pretty good job at that. I was really surprised to see the film pay close attention to the original material, although, needless to say, this film does have to speed things up quite a bit. The special effects, from the Melies style of film-making, are pretty good and hold up well today. Apparently this film originally ran a bit longer but hopefully the other few minutes will be found at some point. What remains is an interesting bit of history.

Iconic miser Ebenezer Scrooge is shown visions of Christmases past, present and future by the ghost of his deceased partner, Jacob Marley. This short (~5 min) film, which was produced by Robert Paul and directed by Walter Booth, is the first adaptation of Dicken's famous tale (but, similar to J. C. Buckstone's 1901 theatrical version, Marley's shade takes the place of the three Christmas spirits). The film is divided into 4 chapters, separated by title cards but there were no 'dialogue intertitles' in the version I watched on YouTube. Although the sets are simply furniture placed in front of painted backdrops, the 'special effects' are effective and technically sophisticated for its time: Marley's ghost, including his face on the door-knocker, and Scrooge's various 'visions' are done using double exposures. Booth was an early innovator of optical trickery and directed the delirious 'The ? Motorist' (1906) and two of the earliest 'military science fiction' films, 'The Airship Destroyer' (1909) and 'The Aerial Submarine' (1910).

CarolQuest Part I

The earliest ever adaptation of probably the most-adapted novel of all time is mostly built around some great theatrical tricks and not much else. Wikipedia insists it's also the first use of intertitles in a film which feels quite an intense mantle to place on it. Bracingly abridged down to about five minutes, and now only surviving as three-and-a-half it's worth a gander (beyond historical fascination) for the door-knocker effect at the very least and the genuinely fascinating choice of projecting Scrooge's youth onto a curtain behind him. Not essential, but fairly atmospheric.