Title:
A Christmas
Carol
Format:
Short silent film
Country:
UK
Production
company:
London Film
Company
Year:
1914
Length:
23 minutes
Setting:
Victorian
Background:
The London Film Company had been formed only the year before this release, and had built their
own studios at Twickenham which are claimed in some sources to have been the
largest in England at the time. Whatever the case, their 130 employees there resulted in a
hefty wage bill and did the company’s finances little good.
Certainly the
studios lasted longer than the company did – despite some success with The
Manxman in 1916 (evidently a rare British hit in the US during the silent
era), London were gone by 1921, and are not to be confused with Alexander
Korda’s later and better-known London Films. Twickenham Studios, meanwhile,
still exist to this day.
 |
| The bells, the bells... |
Cast and crew:
Harold Shaw, who
adapted and directed the story, was an American who was one of the mainstays of
the London Film Company, and whose eventual departure seems to have been one of
the contributing factors in the studio’s short life.
In common with
the 1913 version there are some family ties at work, or family ties yet to come in
this case, as Shaw’s future wife Edna Flugrath appears as Scrooge’s niece.
Flugrath had got into acting with the Edison company, makers of the 1910 Carol,
where she’d met Shaw and followed him to England and gained leading roles
in several films, before later returning to the US and opening a beauty salon
in Hollywood. You can see why she became a leading lady, though – she’s quite
oddly captivating here in a relatively small role, perhaps because she has such
an interesting, beguiling look to her.
Charles Rock and
George Bellamy, both prolific British actors of the silent period, star as
Scrooge and Cratchit, respectively, which seems a little odd in Bellamy’s case.
He and Rock were both born in the same year, 1866, making him a rather old
Cratchit. Fred is played by a Franklyn Bellamy, although I have been unable to discover whether he was any relative of George, or if this was just a coincidence.
Mary Brough is
perhaps the best remembered of the performers, as an equally rather old Mrs
Cratchit – she was possibly also the best known at the time, as she appears
with top billing in some of the contemporary newspaper publicity I have seen
for the film. The highest profile phase of her career came in the 1920s,
however, when she was one of the ensemble cast who appeared in many of the
“Aldwych farces” at London’s Aldwych Theatre.
 |
| This is all Marley has to say for himself in his entire appearance! |
Underdone Potato:
There are various
nice bits of business in this section, particularly Scrooge picking the extra
lump of coal Bob has put onto the fire out of the fireplace with the
tongs, and depositing it back into the scuttle. I also like the way Rock
dismissively brushes his nephew’s hand from his shoulder when he is beseeching
him to come and spend Christmas Day with them – ‘them’ being Fred and his wife,
who in this version turns up at Scrooge’s office with him, although she quickly
beats a hasty retreat in the face of his unpleasantness.
The two
charitable gentlemen make their appearance, and as happens in a few versions –
although this is a very early instance of it – after Scrooge has dismissed
them, Bob gives them a coin or two for their cause even though he can ill
afford it. We get to see Scrooge taking his lonely meal at the tavern as
mentioned in the book, and this is contrasted with Bob going home to his happy
family scene, with Tim playing a bit of hide and seek with him which is perhaps
inspired by the hiding trick Martha does later on in the original story. Tim,
interesting to note, doesn’t have his traditional crutch, but instead a splint
strapped to his right leg.
As seems to be
common with all of the silent versions, they do a good job of making Marley
translucent – this was obviously a printing technique which was mastered pretty
early on in the history of film-making. The chain Marley is bound with looks
pretty good too, with various money boxes attached, and there’s a nice little bit
where we see him pulling on the ringer to sound the long-unused bells in the
house, which Scrooge hears ringing in the book.
 |
| The Ghost of Christmas Past visits Scrooge. (Note Scrooge's real body still asleep on the bed behind him) |
Past:
Speaking of the
ghostly effect, one unusual thing they do here is apply it to Scrooge as
he’s lifted away with each Spirit – he and the ghost are translucent in all of
the scenes to which they are taken, although to really show it off they make
sure that everyone else in the scenes being shown are over to one side of the
frame, with Scrooge and the Spirit on the other, which makes things seem a
little unnatural.
We get a quick
visit to the lonely young Scrooge in his schoolroom, and then we drop in on the
Fezziwigs’ Christmas party, but that’s it for the past visitations, before
Scrooge is deposited back in bed. Arthur Cullin as the Spirit isn’t the
androgynous figure of the book and lacks the snuffer-type cap, instead looking rather
like some sort of garden ornament as he’s covered in festive greenery.
Another
interesting touch seen with all three of the Spirits’ visits is that Scrooge’s
‘real’ body is always seen asleep on the bed as he leaves it in his see-through
form to go with the ghost. He also, as in the book, stays in his clothes even
when he goes to bed, albeit with his dressing gown on over the top.
Present:
Windham Guise is
very much the traditional Father Christmas-type figure here. Again, as with the
past, we have only a couple of quick visits – to the games being played at
Fred’s party, and to the Cratchits’ Christmas dinner table, on both occasions
seeing toasts being made to Scrooge.
Yet to Come:
Another common
thread through several adaptations, particularly during the black-and-white era
– the only vision of the future Scrooge is shown here is that of his
gravestone, which as always seems a curious single image to choose given that
we all know we’re going to die someday. The Spirit himself is hooded as
usual, but the face of actor Ashton Tonge is seen and obviously human, making him look more like some
grim, deathly monk; or actually, given the design of his cloak, even a little
like one of Robin Hood’s merry men. He’s not very merry, though, admittedly.
 |
| The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come certainly looks like someone you wouldn't want to mess with! |
What’s To-Day:
Instead of
praising Jacob Marley, heaven and Christmas time when he wakes up, Scrooge
gives all his thanks to god, which seems a bit mean when it was old Jacob who
procured him this chance at redemption. He doesn’t call to a boy out of the
window, although he does give some coins to some boys he passes in the street,
before bumping into the charitable gentlemen and pledging them £100.
With no boy to
send to the poulterer’s Scrooge goes himself, although it is the poulterer’s
boy who delivers the bird to the Cratchits, complete with a note from Scrooge.
He then goes to Fred’s house, as in the book, to join in with their Christmas
celebrations.
At the very start
of the film, Bob is seen putting up some holly on the mantle piece above the
fire in the office, which Scrooge then tears down. There’s a nice touch here
when Scrooge comes in on Boxing Day morning, sees it on the floor, and puts it
back up. However, given that he had sent Bob his present with a note saying it
was from him the previous day, what happens next doesn’t make a great deal of
sense – he plays his little joke on Bob about him being past his time, before revealing
all is well. During this bit, Bob picks up a letter-opener from Scrooge’s desk
with which to defend himself, rather than his own ruler which he thinks about
using in the book.
The film finishes
with a scene a few days later, with Scrooge and Fred and Fred’s wife all going
around to the Cratchits’ for a meal.
Review:
A curious beast,
this. As you might expect given the scale and resources of the London Film
Company, this is an expensive and expansive production. The sets are far more
varied and better-made than the Zenith Film Company version from the previous
year, and it’s probably the version of the Carol with the highest
production values to have been made to this date.
However, unlike
the Zenith version but in common with the 1901 and 1910 ones, I suspect you’d
struggle to understand the story properly unless you were already familiar with
it – although London may well have assumed that most of the audience would have
been, of course. The intertitles are very few and far between, and use barely
any of Dickens’s original words. Although usefully for me, and unusually from
other silent versions I have seen, they do also name all the main actors and
who they’re playing on their first appearances through the film.
As an example of
the sparsity of the information conveyed by the intertitles, Marley’s entire
appearance contains just a single sentence – “To-night three spirits will
visit you – beware.” Um… Thanks Jacob!
In a nutshell:
If you’re a fan
of the Carol and interested in silent film, this is certainly worth a
look. While it can’t compete with the best of the later versions, for its era
I’d say this was a pretty good production – with the proviso that it may be
difficult to follow for anybody who doesn’t know the story.
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