There were at least eight silent films of A Christmas Carol. Half of them are considered lost; few have survived intact. Movie pioneer R.W. Paul made the first version in 1901. Only a portion of it survives. Audiences have rarely seen it, but thanks to the internet, those interested can now view it from many sites. Tonight I once again view one of the survivors.
Edison Studios, the movie company owned by Thomas Edison, created their own silent version in 1910. I’ve always felt this one to be a bit of an uneventful affair. It runs a bit under fifteen minutes. The runtime alone is a good gauge to not expect much in the way of getting a decent version. I do take it in the context of its time and do not think it’s actually that bad; I just don’t care much for it, personally.
It is interesting for the historical value among the various ACCs. Unless you are a hardcore A Christmas Carol fanatic, you may not find it that exciting. This is still the early days of film entertainment, so we should understand it from this perspective.
It is widely available around the web to view. It is available on DVD in a collection of silent film holiday shorts called A Christmas Past.
Differences
We all know the story so let’s quickly state some of this short version’s quirks.
- The charity solicitors are a trio instead of a duo; the reformed Scrooge meets all three again before the ending.
- Scrooge’s nephew, who is unnamed, appears with his fiancé and another couple at the counting house. (We learn it is his fiancé instead of his wife during the Spirit’s visions of the present and near the end.)
- In the Present’s visions, the nephew’s fiancé rejects him during the present-day’s Christmas party “for want of money.”
- Scrooge, with the audience, sees Tiny Tim only briefly during the visions of the Present. In this version, the film neither names him nor is he the focus.
- The movie changes the names of “Ignorance & Want” to “Want & Misery.”
This is another version where Scrooge experiences visions instead of visiting locations, much like the silent versions preceding this. Anticipating the regretful 1923 version, all the visions take place in Scrooge’s bedroom.
This offering only presents two ghosts instead of the traditional four. We get the ghost of Jacob Marley but then only one other ghost. An entity called the “Spirit of Christmas” shows Scrooge the various visions of past, present, and future. After each timeframe, the ghost disappears and reappears with the slightest alteration of costume to indicate the time period he is representing.
We have the deviation of Scrooge visiting the Cratchits for Christmas dinner, but he first stops at his nephew’s. Scrooge meets his nephew and the fiancé to inform them he will make his nephew a business partner so he can marry who he chooses. The three of them go along to the Cratchits’ home. The 1938 MGM version did the same situation with the nephew, and the visit of the three to the Cratchit home.
Unique
Absolutely unique to this version of A Christmas Carol:
The vision for a Christmas yet to come has Scrooge witnessing his death with the charwoman at the bedside. As soon he dies, the charwoman steals a ring from his finger.