Scrooge, or Marley’s Ghost (1901)
For more on the BFI’s Dickens on Screen project seehttp://www.bfi.org.uk/dickens
Produced by the English movie pioneer R.W. Paul, this version of ‘A Christmas Carol’ was thought to be the earliest surviving adaptation of Dickens’ work on film, before the discovery of ‘The Death of Poor Joe’ -http://youtu.be/yqufG89Jlyc. The only known print, held by the BFI, is incomplete, but manages to tell enough of the story for it to be recognisable.
This early cinematic excursion into Dickens’ most popular tale was an ambitious undertaking at the time. Not only did it attempt to tell an 80 page story in five minutes, but it featured impressive trick effects, superimposing Marley’s face over the door knocker and the scenes from his youth over a black curtain in Scrooge’s bedroom.
(Source: youtube.com)
