Title:
A Christmas Carol
Format:
Short silent film
Country:
USA
Production
company:
Edison Studios
Year:
1910
Length:
10 minutes
Setting:
Victorian
Background:
Thomas Edison needs no introduction from me, although he
evidently took no real interest in the motion pictures that were produced by
his own company in the early days of silent cinema, and would have had no personal
involvement in the making of this adaptation. The company had form in literary
adaptations, having the same year also produced a version of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Cast and crew:
Made at the Edison Studios premises in New York, the film
was directed by J. Searle Dawley, who evidently oversaw nearly 150 films during
the silent era.
Australian actor Marc McDermott stars as Scrooge - he’d
also been a Broadway performer, and had portrayed Sherlock Holmes on the stage.
Here, he at times resembles something of a cross between Albert Steptoe from
the BBC sitcom Steptoe and Son and
Jim Carey’s animated Scrooge from the 2009 Disney version, and makes a decent
stab of the old man. I particularly liked his forcefully sarcastic bows when
trying to get people to leave his office early on in the film.
Charles Stanton Ogle plays Bob Cratchit – he was also a
former Broadway performer and eventually appeared in around 300 silent films,
including playing Long John Silver in a 1920 version of Treasure Island, but in spite of living until 1940 his career does
not seem to have survived the silent era. The same is true of Viola Dana, Carey Lee and Shirley Mason, who all appeared in bit parts as children in the film
and went on to more extensive silent film credits.
Underdone Potato:
There are a few changes evident to the early sections of
the story – instead of two charity men there are three, and instead of Fred
coming to visit his uncle alone he brings quite the party with him. Seeing this
lot bursting into the office like a bunch of drunken revellers is actually
enough to put you on Scrooge’s side in being irritated by them and wanting to
be rid of them as quickly as possible.
The effect of Marley’s face on the knocker of Scrooge’s
front door is at least as effective as anything else seen in the
black-and-white era, and shows just at what pace the technology of film was
progressing when compared to the same scene in the 1901 version.
Marley does have a chain on this occasion, although it’s
a rather pathetic number simply going around his waist like a belt, with one
strand then trailing along behind him. Clearly, this particular version of old
Jacob can’t have been all that much of a sinner.
 |
| Fred's unwelcome party. |
Past:
Like the 1901 version, this adaptation dispenses with the
idea of having three different ghosts, although rather than Marley showing
Scrooge the visions, the ghosts are combined into a single “Spirit of Christmas”.
He most closely resembles the traditional depiction of the Ghost of Christmas
Present, although as with the 1935 version lacking the beard more usually
associated with the character.
We see Fan, Fezziwig and Belle breaking the engagement,
all the expected horror and misery of the watching Scrooge, with plenty of the stereotypical
arm-waving histrionics you’d expect from the lead character in a silent film
drama.
Present:
The “Spirit of Christmas” shows us Scrooge’s name being
toasted by the Cratchits and by Fred – watch the Cratchit scene closely and you’ll
see Tiny Tim, making a very brief blink-and-you’ll-miss-him cameo. I know that
Tim is usually the source of some of the most over-the-top saccharine moments
of many adaptations, but to almost entirely omit him seems to be going a bit
too far the other way.
What’s also interesting is that nephew Fred isn’t married
in this version, but the intertitles make it clear that he is keen on marrying
a woman but lacks the money to be able to make the match. “Rejected for want of
money,” the intertitle tells us, suggesting that everything will be all right
if he had some more of it. Similarly, while version of Ignorance and Want do
make an appearance, here Ignorance has been changed to “Misery”, which isn’t
the same thing, and is another indicator that Searle didn’t quite get the idea
of the story.
Yet to Come:
Just a single vision here provided by the Spirit of
Christmas – who has put on a veil for the occasion, but still seems to be the
same spirit and speaks to Scrooge rather than being a silent, hooded figure.
The vision provided is of Scrooge breathing his last on
his deathbed, watched over by a woman who I presume from the context is Mrs
Dilber – as soon as he kicked the bucket, she wrenches a ring from his finger,
which is quite a neat if extra-ruthless little boiling down of her attitude in
the book I suppose. It then mixes into a shot of Scrooge’s gravestone, which I
couldn’t read clearly on the version of the film I watched, but which seems to
say something on it about Scrooge having died wanting friends – i.e., not
having had any.
 |
| "Look! Look over here!" |
What’s To-Day:
Scrooge is woken from his bed by a group of carol singers
outside his window, to whom he throws some coins after having jumped up in
delight at his redemption. He then goes to see nephew Fred – bumping into the
three charity gentlemen outside, and pledging them some money – and gives Fred
a letter, which we see, telling him he’s to become his business partner so will
now have the money to marry whoever he chooses. Scrooge, Fred and Fred’s fiancée
then visit the Cratchits, who are initially frightened of Scrooge and then
startled by the change in him. There’s a nice little reference to the book
here, with Bob picking up an instrument – the coal shovel, rather than
the ruler he thinks about using in the book – to defend himself from the employer he thinks has gone Barmy. Scrooge
laughs at the change in himself and presents Bob with a hamper full of a turkey
and other goodies, and they all presumably live happily ever after.
Review:
The problem with this version is that Searle simply doesn’t
understand the point of the story. The fact that Scrooge only sees his own
death, and not Tim’s or anyone else’s perspectives, in the future means that we
have a Scrooge who is upset only for himself, and not for others. When he then
goes to make nephew Fred his business partner so that he has the money to marry
the woman of his dreams, it delivers the message that money can solve all of
your problems. This does not appear to me to be at all the message that Dickens was trying to convey with this, of all stories.
The production standards seem to be generally very good
for the time, however, particularly when compared with the British version of
1901. The sets actually have walls and props rather than simply being painted
backings, while the effects of the Spirit of Christmas and his various visitations
are all very well achieved.
In a nutshell:
Not the best silent version – it misses the heart of the
story, and makes it feel all rather mercenary.
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