''Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost'' is a 1901 British

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

silent

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

, directed by

Walter R. Booth Walter Robert Booth (12 July 1869 – 1938) was a British magician and early pioneer of British film. Collaborating with Robert W. Paul and then Charles Urban mostly on "trick" films, he pioneered techniques that led to what has been descri ...

, featuring the miserly

Ebenezer Scrooge Ebenezer Scrooge () is the protagonist of Charles Dickens's 1843 novella ''A Christmas Carol''. At the beginning of the novella, Scrooge is a cold-hearted miser who despises Christmas. The tale of his redemption by three spirits (the Ghost of ...

(played by Daniel Smith) confronted by

Jacob Marley Jacob Marley is a fictional character in Charles Dickens's 1843 novella ''A Christmas Carol'', a former business partner of the miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who has been dead for seven years.Hawes, Donal''Who's Who in Dickens'' Routledge (1998), Goog ...

's ghost and given visions of Christmas past, present, and future. It is the earliest film adaptation of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

's 1843

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas C ...

''. The film, "although somewhat flat and stage-bound to modern eyes," according to Ewan Davidson of

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

's Screenonline, "was an ambitious undertaking at the time," as, "not only did it attempt to tell an 80 page story in five minutes, but it featured impressive trick effects, superimposing Marley's face over the door knocker and the scenes from his youth over a black curtain in Scrooge's bedroom."

The film

Filmed in 35mm and in black and white, this short

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

was produced by the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

film pioneer

R. W. Paul Robert William Paul (3 October 1869 – 28 March 1943) was an English pioneer of film and scientific instrument maker. He made narrative films as early as April 1895. Those films were shown first in Edison Kinetoscope knockoffs. In 1896 he s ...

, and directed by

and was filmed at Paul's Animatograph Works. It was released in November 1901. As was common in cinema's early days, the filmmakers chose to adapt an already well-known story, in this case ''

'' by

, in the belief that the audience's familiarity with the story would result in the need for fewer

intertitles In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dialo ...

.''Scrooge; or Marley's Ghost''
on the

website It was presented in 'Twelve Tableaux' or scenes. The film contains the first use of intertitles in a film. Evidence suggests that Paul's version of ''A Christmas Carol'' was based as much on J. C. Buckstone's popular stage adaptation ''Scrooge'' as on Dickens' original story. Like the play, the film dispenses with the different ghosts that visit Scrooge, instead relying upon the figure of

, draped in a white sheet, to point out the error of Scrooge's ways. The film featured impressive trick effects by 1901 standards, superimposing Marley's face over the

door knocker A door knocker is an item of door furniture that allows people outside a house or other dwelling or building to alert those inside to their presence. A door knocker has a part fixed to the door, and a part (usually metal) which is attached to th ...

, and displaying the scenes from his youth on a black curtain in Scrooge's bedroom. R. W. Paul was a trick film specialist; Walter Booth, credited as the film's director, was a well-known magician as well as a trick and comic film specialist. The film makes early use of dissolving between scenes. Some scenes are tinted.

Content

The only known surviving footage, about 3 minutes and 26 seconds in length, is preserved by the

.''Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost''
on the

website This footage starts with

Bob Cratchit Bob Cratchit is a fictional character in the Charles Dickens 1843 novel '' A Christmas Carol''. The abused, underpaid clerk of Ebenezer Scrooge (and possibly Jacob Marley, when he was alive), Cratchit has come to symbolize the poor working cond ...

showing someone out of Scrooge's office on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

, just before he and Scrooge leave for the night, and ends at a scene where Scrooge is shown his own grave. The film does not show the Ghosts of Christmas Past,

Christmas Present A Christmas gift or Christmas present is a gift given in celebration of Christmas. Christmas gifts are often exchanged on Christmas Eve (December 24), Christmas Day itself (December 25) or on the last day of the twelve-day Christmas season, Twel ...

, or Christmas Yet to Come, instead relying on the ghost of Marley to present the visions to Scrooge.Fred Guida
''A Christmas Carol and its Adaptations: a Critical Examination of Dickens's Story on Screen and Television''
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers (2000) pgs 66-67

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

Cast

* Daniel Smith as Ebenezer Scrooge

References

External links

* *
''Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost''
on the

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost 1901 films 1900s English-language films 1901 short films 1900s British films 1900s ghost films British Christmas drama films British black-and-white films Films based on A Christmas Carol British silent short films Articles containing video clips Films directed by Walter R. Booth 1900s Christmas drama films Silent drama films Silent horror films

The film

Content

Cast

See also

References

External links