OLD SCROOGE 1913

Seymour Hicks plays Scrooge in this adaptation. Apparently Mr. Hicks had played the role on stage for several years. Another silent version, but this print felt newer (though was older). Again, the story is abbreviated, but much less so this time. The title cards have more detail, and there are many more of them.

Some interesting choices in abbreviating this story included:

Jacob Marley is the only ghost. His theatricality is profound–he looks half mummy with his white sheets and shuffling gait.

At the end Scrooge imagines being welcomed to the Cratchit house for dinner. There is quite a bit of stage business with this.

There are two loves scenes–one between Fred and his wife, and one between Fred’s wife’s sister and their friend Topper. When I imagine love scenes from silent movies, they look like this. The exaggerated pointing, leaning back and lunging forward by the man, The coy rebuke then surrender by the woman.

I marvel that this movie was made almost 100 years ago. It doesn’t have the depth of some of the other versions I write about, but there is something wonderful about seeing an actor who knew the role well reinventing it for a new medium.