A Christmas Carol

This is obviously not a full adaptation of Charles Dickens story--it only runs 17 minutes! It assumes the audience knows the story and just basically gives us the highlights. It involves all 4 visits from the ghosts (using some surprisingly good special effects for the time) and flashbacks to Scrooge's life. And it shows his complete change. It's actually very well-done and, for what it is, entertaining. But where's Tiny Tim? Nevertheless, recommended.

This early film version of Dickens' classic Christmas tale follows the story closely, though it telescopes the appearance of the Ghosts into a matter of minutes, using some well-conceived double-exposure effects.

6* (10* Rating System)

Christmas Carol, A (1910)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Early version of the classic Dickens' story has Marc McDermott playing the miser Scrooge who gets a visit from three ghosts who will try and make him change his ways. Even though this film only lasts ten-minutes it packs in all the important details of the story and turns out to be a pretty good movie. For 1910, the special effects are pretty good with the ghost "visions" coming across quite well. McDermott does a very good job in his role even though he can never really dive into it due to the film not really lasting long enough to get to the more adult or scary parts of the story. Charles Ogle plays Bob Cratchit, which was fun seeing as the same year he'd also play the monster in Frankenstein.

While the first decade of the 20th Century was ending, cinema was rising as a new form of entertainment, and after more than 20 years of constant experimenting, it was beginning to show the elements of a new art form. Gone were the days of the early pioneers, and it was now the time of the very first filmmakers, those who would shape the new art form and develop the language of cinema. Director J. Searle Dawley, who considered himself as "the first motion picture director", was one of those first artists who would complete cinema's transformation from charming sideshow attraction to a full-fledged narrative art. Hired by film pioneer Edwin S. Porter to make new and original films, J. Searle Dawley would use his experience in theater to follow the steps of Vitagraph and adapt many popular novels to film. Charles Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol" was one of them.

The story of "A Christmas Carol" is very well known, and while short, this early version remains faithful to the most important parts of the plot. Marc McDermott plays the old miser Ebenezer Scrooge, a harsh man so concerned about money that on the day before Christmas refuses to donate to the Charity Relief Committee, neglects his worker Bob Cratchit (Charles Ogle) the permission to leave early and even rejects his nephew in a very rude manner when the young man comes to invite him to his Christmas celebration. However, that Christmas' night the old Scrooge sees the ghost of his former business partner Marley, who tells him that no good can come from that behavior, and warns him about the horrible punishment for those who follow those ways. Later that night, Scrooge will be visited by three spirits that will show him more than what Scrooge was ready to see.

"A Christmas Carol" wasn't directed only by J. Searle Dawley, as he was assisted by Vitagraph regular Charles Kent and newcomer Ashley Miller. Considering Kent's experience in adapting plays to screen for the Vitagraph Company, it is very possible that this short film was also written by him, or at least assisted Dawley with it. Considering it is only a short film, this version of Dicken's novel is remarkably faithful to the source, and manages to condense the most important parts of the tale without losing the novel's meaning. Obviously, it doesn't go into full detail about every scene and the script moves at a very fast pace, but that's natural because it had to cover a lot in a very short time. To the writers' credit, they managed to make the adaptation entertaining and easy to understand despite these shortcomings.

The cooperative work between Dawley, Miller and Kent is truly excellent in this film and make it stand out among the many early films by the Edison Manufacturing Company. Kent's experience in Vitagraph's versions of literature classics adds a lot of class to the movie and gets excellent performances from the actors. This style works perfectly well with Dawley's directing style, who makes the film look a bit less stagy than the usual Vitagraph movie by making interesting visual compositions and giving good use to the limited camera-work of the time. While, as written above, the story moves at a fast pace, the film flows nicely thanks to the narrative style of the directors. The highlights of the film are of course the visits by the four ghosts, done with an excellent use of several special effects (mostly double exposures) that look outstanding for its time and add a powerful eerie atmosphere to the movie.

In any version of "A Christmas Carol", the role of Scrooge is often one that can make or break the adaptation due to its enormous importance, and in this version Marc McDermott doesn't disappoint. A rising star in Edison's Studio, McDermott shows off his enormous talent for acting by playing the considerably older (McDermott was only 29 when filming this movie) in a very natural and convincing way. With the aid of makeup, McDermott delivers one of the best portrayals of Ebenezer Scrooge in film, by transforming himself into the wicked old miser with an extraordinary ease that makes the movie a must-see. The rest of the cast is very good too, although it is obvious that this movie depends completely on McDermott's performance. Interestingly, and uncredited Charles Ogle makes a small appearance in the role of Scrooge's clerk Bob Cratchit.

Judging the film by today's standards, the 1910 version of "A Christmas Carol" (or any other film from those years) could be seen as a stagy, uneven and incomplete attempt to adapt a classic story; however, set in the context of its time, it is actually one of the best silent movies of those early years of cinema. While not exactly the most innovative film of its time, it's easy to tell how the styles of J. Searle Dawley and Charles Kent would be of great influence to a young D.W. Griffith who was just starting his career in those years (in 1908 under Dawley's direction) and would develop cinema's language even further. With an amazing performance by Marc McDermott and the excellent direction by Dawley, Kent and Miller; this early version of Dickens' classic is a very good example of early film-making and a good choice to watch in Christmas. 8/10

For a film from 1910 (or 1907--I found 2 different dates for it), this is an exceptional film, though by today's standards it's pretty poor. Compared to the average Edison production, this one had much nicer sets and costumes and the short length of the film wouldn't have been seen as a problem--all films were rather short in this era. Of course, compared to later versions, this one also comes up wanting in many ways--but for its time it was dandy. As for the problems, you really need to know the story well to follow this version. I assumed audiences of the day must have been well-versed with it but again and again, things happened but because the film was so truncated you only understood it if you knew the story. Also, like most versions of the story, the poverty and responsibility to the poor were aspects of the film that weren't emphasized enough--and this was THE reason Dickens wrote the story--not just to give us a nice Christmas story.

Still, for 1907/1910, this is a well made and watchable little gem that should make fans of early silents happy.

By the way, if you wonder why I mentioned the Movie Channel's Bunnies, they are cartoons where an entire film is condensed into 30 minutes. This condensed format reminded me a lot of this version of A Christmas CAROL since it's so very short.