Scrooge (1935)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Henry Edwards

Writers:

Charles Dickens (novel)
H. Fowler Mear (writer)

Release Date:

30 November 1935 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Family | Fantasy

Plot:

Scrooge, the ultimate Victorian miser, hasn't a good word for Christmas, though his impoverished clerk...

Plot Keywords:

Scrooge | Christmas | Redemption | Victorian Era | Period Piece

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Seymour Hicks	...	Ebenezer Scrooge (as Sir Seymour Hicks)
Donald Calthrop	...	Bob Cratchit
Robert Cochran	...	Fred
Mary Glynne	...	Belle
Garry Marsh	...	Belle's husband
Oscar Asche	...	Spirit of Christmas Present
Marie Ney	...	Spirit of Christmas Past
C.V. France	...	Spirit of Christmas Future
Athene Seyler	...	Scrooge's charwoman
Maurice Evans	...	Poor man
Mary Lawson	...	Poor man's wife
Barbara Everest	...	Mrs. Cratchit
Eve Gray	...	Fred's wife
Morris Harvey	...	Poulterer with Prize Turkey
Philip Frost	...	Tiny Tim

Runtime:

78 min | USA:63 min (edited version)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Visatone Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:Approved | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Twickenham Film Studios, St Margarets, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK

Company:

Twickenham Film Studios

Trivia:

Ralph Kemplen, the film editor on this movie, would also edit another Charles Dickens film 33 years later - the musical Oliver! (1968), based on "Oliver Twist".

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: As Cratchit enters a room to see his dead son Tiny Tim, a crew's middle finger can be seen slowly closing the door behind him.

Quotes:

Fred: I believe it has done me good and will do me good, and I say God bless it!
Bob Cratchit: Hear hear! Hear hear!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "EastEnders: Christmas Day 2001: Part 1" (2001)

Little Seen and Not Bad

While not as well-known as other versions of the Dickens classic (Owen, Sim, Magoo, Scott), the 1935 British film of "A Christmas Carol" is almost in their league. Among other things, it preserves, in sound, the performance of one of the legendary Scrooges of the English stage, Sir Seymour Hicks, who definitely does not disappoint. In the beginning, his Scrooge is one of the nastiest ever seen on film, his appearance that of something that crawled out from under a rock. But it is precisely these qualities that make his gradual transformation all the more affecting. At the beginning, we loathe the man, at the end, we rejoice with him at his redemption.

The performances of the rest of the cast are on the same level, with Oscar Asche's Falstaffian Ghost of Christmas Present a particular standout. And, although this is probably the one major film version of the story where you don't actually see Marley's Ghost, the anonymous actor who provides his voice, the accompanying special effects, and Hicks's reactions are enough to make the scene that much spookier.

Finally, kudos to Sydney Blythe and William Luff for their excellent camerawork. Fog-shrouded 19th century London has rarely been presented this well in ANY picture. And the play of light and shadow, particularly during the Christmas-Yet-to-Come sequence, would scare even the Scroogiest among us into repentance.

In sum, while this is not on the level with the excellent versions I've already mentioned, it has more than its' share of good points, and deserves to be seen at least once.