SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Libramedi Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Scrooge; or Marley's Ghost" is a British black-and-white silent short film from 1901 and I have read different statements on how long it was in the original and how much of it was saved and still isn't lost after way over a century has passed. The version I watched ran for roughly 6.5 minutes. This is of course another take on Charles Dickens' famous "A Christmas Carol" The director here was very prolific back then and it is from relatively early in his career. For lead actor Smith, it was apparently the only career effort in front of the camera, at least according to IMDb, although it is of course very possible that he appeared in other works whose existence is forgotten too because they are lost as well. Anyway, I personally am not sure if I had recognized the tale here had I not known what it was beforehand. Without sound and color, the medium film may simply not yet have been ready for the Dickens material and the emotion, depth and significance that comes with it. So I gotta give this one here a thumbs-down. Not recommended.

utgard14 Early adaptation of the famous Dickens tale. I believe it's the earliest film version (that survived, at least). IMDb lists the runtime as 11 minutes but the only versions I could find were 3 minutes and change. They cram a lot into that 3 minutes. Points for that but I can't imagine any viewer who wasn't familiar with the story knowing what was going on. There are a few title cards but, again, unless you know the story already they don't explain much. So you have this guy being tormented by Christmas spirits with little explanation. There's clearly a lot missing. Still, the effort is good for its time and limitations and some of the technical stuff is impressive.

MartinHafer I am not going to give this film a numerical score, as the film is very incomplete. Like so many old films made on nitrate film stock, much of the film has been lost. What remains is highly abbreviated and makes little sense unless you know the story (and today who doesn't?). In addition, films made around that time were VERY short and abbreviated to begin with--so you have a film that has limited watchability today. You can't blame the film makers for all this--this is true of many films of the era.The film begins as Scrooge approaches his house and Marley's ghost appears on the door knocker. Using superimposed images, this and the appearances of Christmas ghosts are pretty good--especially for 1901. Scrooge then eats his dinner and falls asleep--at which point the first ghost appears and shows his what seem to be random images. The film then indicates that part 3 follows--and you are left assuming part 2 was partially skipped (especially the intertitle card indicating part 2 had begun). Part 4 is poorly done--as the intertitle card pretty much says it all BEFORE you see any of the action. This describing everything before it occurs was actually very common in 1901 but it sure took out any sense of suspense! And finally, the ending is completely missing.What you have is a reasonably well made film. Considering most films made about 1901 showed very mundane things (people eating, trains arriving at the station, etc.), this is a nice attempt to tell a story. And, the camera-work for the time is good. But, on the other hand, only about half of the original film still exists and unless you are dying to see what is perhaps the first Scrooge on film, I suggest you watch only if you are a die-hard cinephile.

Michael_Elliott 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.