One Christmas eve, three Christmas spirits show miserly Ebenezer Scrooge (Marc McDermott) the error of his ways. This 20-minute Edison Studios silent is the second surviving celluloid version of Dicken's famous holiday fable. Unlike the 1901 version (directed by Walter Booth) and the 1913 version (with Seymour Hicks), this production features the three Christmas spirits (rather than conflating them with the Marley's ghost). With complete sets (rather than painted backgrounds), nicely done special effects (primarily double exposures), the 1910 film seems less primitive than the 1901 version and less stagy than the 1913 versions, and of the three silent renditions of Dicken's seasonal classic, most resembles the look of the beloved 1951 Alister Sim version. Bob Cratchit, Scrooge's put-upon clerk (and loving father to Tiny Tim), is played by Charles Ogle, the first actor to play Frankenstein's creature (also in an Edison production).
Review of A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
(1910)
My favorite of the surviving silent 'Christmas Carol' films
26 December 2022