This is a supplement to the comparison of film versions of A Christmas Carol, taking a look at the surviving silent versions. We considered the earliest surviving version, from 1901, last week. After a lost version of A Christmas Carol made in Chicago in 1908, the next, and first American, Christmas Carol was released by Thomas Edison in 1910. Marc McDermott was Scrooge, but Bob Cratchit was Edison reliable Charles Ogle, who, I believe is the only actor to appear as Bob Cratchit AND Frankenstein’s monster.
We open as Scrooge enters his office, shakes snow from himself, and then scolds Bob Cratchit, having spotted a piece of coal missing from the scuttle. Moe, Shemp, and Larry then barge in, shaking away snow and asking for a charity donation, to be sent away crestfallen at Scrooge’s reply. Fred then comes in, accompanied by three friends—one male and two female—whom Scrooge sternly bows out again. Fred, having shaken snow from his jacket, lingers, trying to get at least a Christmas handshake, but gives up. Cratchit is scolded for putting on a coat, points out the clock, and is sent home.
Going home himself, Scrooge appears startled by his doorknocker even before a see-through Marley face appears there (a little error in special effects timing) and goes into a room with a bed, a grandfather clock, and an undraped window (so we can see the snow, Have you guessed yet that this takes place in winter?) A filmy Marley with a chain hanging around his waist has an argument with Scrooge which you can follow if you remember the story, but fades away after shouting at his old partner. He is replaced by the Spirit of Christmas; this gives our movie twice as many ghosts as the 1901 version.
The visions of the past appear in front of the bed. We see Scrooge’s sister rescuing him from school, the Fezziwig Christmas party (which does pretty well, considering what a small space it has to take place in), and then the breakup with the fiancée. Scrooge reacts to these, most visibly as he is dancing along to Fezziwig’s fiddler. The Spirit seems to disappear for a second and then come back, unless there is a difference in costume or face I’m not picking up. That’s certainly the same fixed grin.
The visions of the present appear in front of the clock (symbolic of time, or just a prop). We are told these are scenes of what Scrooge’s money could do) and he frequently reaches for his pocket as he watches the Cratchit family toast his health, and then Fred at the Christmas party, where the young man is forbidden to marry the young lady we saw earlier, being broke. This is the first but not the last movie where Fred has not yet married Mrs. Fred. We are then shown the imploring hands of Want and Misery from the bottom of the screen, the Significant Children left out of so many movies.
The Spirit disappears and comes back with a veil over his head and minus the grin, which makes him at once more human and less interesting. Scrooge sees himself choking out his last breaths, in front of the housekeeper who, when she is sure the miser is dead, pulls a ring from one of his fingers and hurries away. We briefly note his tombstone, which states that Ebeneezer Scrooge (sic) “lived and died without a friend”. Scrooge, shocked, staggers over to collapse on his own bed.
Scrooge is wakened the next day by carolers, to whom he throws some money. He hurries around the room, pointing at things, convincing himself it all happened) and hugs his bedclothes for not being torn down. (They weren’t torn down, actually, but we must move along.) Heading out, he spots Fred and fiancée entering a building, but then spots those three Charity Stooges (who have snow on their jackets again). He gives them money and a promise of more. Fred and his fiancée are heading out again, and he accosts them, scolds them, and then hands his nephew a piece of paper on which he states that as his partner, “my nephew will be able to marry any girl you choose”. This doesn’t make a LOT of sense, but Scrooge had kind of a sleepless night.
The three of them head for the Cratchit place, where Scrooge terrifies the family, allowing Fred and fiancée to slip in with a basket of goodies, including a sizeable turkey. When Cratchit, now armed, has this basket pointed out to him, the holiday spirit is restored, and Scrooge sheds a tear of happiness before Fred and his future niece-in-law hug him.
It all makes for a reasonable condensed version (ten minutes) of the story. Marc McDemott is an appropriately threatening and imposing old miser, and if his reformation involves a little too much hand wringing and fist pumping, well, he didn’t get to SAY anything, after all. This is the last of the really short Christmas Carols. Three years later, a British version came in at forty minutes, giving it not only space to show more of the story but to play around with it, AND produce a truly unique Ebenezer Scrooge.
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