Scrooge *** (1935, Seymour Hicks, Donald Calthrop, Athene Seyler, Oscar Asche, Barbara Everest, Maurice Evans, Robert Cochran, Mary Glynne, Garry Marsh, Marie Ney, C V France) – Classic Movie Review 4,809

Seymour Hicks co-writes the screenplay and plays the old Victorian grouch Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1935 British film version of Charles Dickens’s beloved novel A Christmas Carol.

British actor-manager Seymour Hicks co-writes the screenplay and plays the selfish old Victorian grouchy curmudgeon Ebenezer Scrooge, who has visions of the past, present and future and is terrified enough finally to stop being a miser.

Director Henry Edwards’s more than just entirely adequate, really quite charming 1935 British film version of Charles Dickens’s beloved novel A Christmas Carol is not a patch on the Alastair Sim 1951 version of Scrooge. But it is still very appealing and enjoyable, as it tells the old tale with considerable vigour and a certain stagey charm.

Hicks is excellent in a strong, sharp, serious-minded portrait as a particularly mean and nasty Ebenezer Scrooge, and the rest of the cast are fine too, but again not up to Sim and the 1951 crew. The production may be low budget, but it is painstakingly, lovingly done. There is evidence of love and care everywhere. Dickens’s message of social care and concern comes through powerfully in the screenplay, which eschews any simple-minded twinkle and sentimentality.

Also in the cast are Donald Calthrop as Scrooge’s impoverished clerk Bob Cratchit, Athene Seyler as Scrooge’s charwoman, Oscar Asche as Spirit of Christmas Present, Marie Ney (voice, physical outline only) as Spirit of Christmas Past, C V France as Spirit of Christmas Future (voice, outstretched pointing finger), Barbara Everest as Mrs Cratchit, Maurice Evans, Robert Cochran as Fred, Mary Glynne, Garry Marsh, Mary Lawson, Eve Grey as Fred’s wife, Maurice Harvey, Philip Frost as Tiny Tim, D J Williams, Margaret Yarde, Hugh E Wright, Charles Carson and Hubert Harben, plus Claude Rains uncredited as Marley (seen as face on door knocker) and Robert Morley uncredited as a rich man.

H Fowler Mear co-scripts the screenplay with Seymour Hicks.

Scrooge is directed by Henry Edwards, runs 78 minutes, is released by Twickenham Film Studios (UK) and Paramount Pictures (US), is shot in black and white by Sydney Blythe and William Luff, is produced by Julius Hagen and John Brahm [Hans Brahm] (production supervisor), is scored by W L Trytel and Walter Meyrowitz, and is designed by James A Carter.

Adolph Zukor was the presenter for the US Paramount Pictures release only.

The charmingly primitive visual effects are by matte painter W Percy Day.

Release date: 26 November 1935.

It was made the year after Hicks was knighted and he is billed as Sir Seymour Hicks (1871–1949). Hicks is best remembered for his portrayal of Scrooge, particularly in this film. But Hicks had played Scrooge regularly on stage since 1901, playing him thousands of times, and previously made a 1913 British black and white silent film version of Dickens’s 1843 novel A Christmas Carol also called Scrooge.

The 1913 British silent film Scrooge was produced by Zenith Film Company and released in September 1913 (later released in the US as Old Scrooge) but now is a partly lost film. The original opening and the final reel are missing. Existing prints contain the middle portion – Scrooge’s office scenes, the Marley‑door‑knob vision, the Ghost‑of‑Christmas‑Past and-Present sequences, and part of the Ghost‑of‑Christmas‑Future segment. The surviving prints contain roughly a 40‑minute segment of the original eight‑reel film, which ran about 78 minutes.

You can watch the surviving  40‑minute portion free online (YouTube, Archive.org) or via the commercially released DVD.

The 1935 Scrooge is the first feature length sound film of A Christmas Carol, following a now-lost 1928 short film.

Most of the spirits, including Jacob Marley, are not shown and only their voices are heard. Only Christmas Present (Oscar Asche) is actually fully seen.

A restoration of the film was released on DVD by Image Entertainment in 2002, and a colourised version was released by Legend Films in 2018.

The film has entered the public domain.

You can watch it free on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/Scrooge_855

Two versions can be seen on YouTube: the full 78 minute version and a cut 60-minute version without several scenes and with an alternative opening credit sequence.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4.809

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com