Scrooge, or Marley's Ghost (1901)

[basenjib123]

This is in better condition than the 1935 Seymour Hicks version.

[HargroveFilms1]

This was very good. Great clean print for 1901.

[leedshunk]

that was really interesting , but i'm amazed to see the term 'xmas' used so early on , i've always thought it much later !!!!!!

[Back2DaFuture98]

michael bay...eat ur heart out

[PooKneader]

Pretty amazing when you consider this came out less than 60 years after the original book came out.

[56bluegold]

It is wild, to see people moving around on film, who lived over a hundred years ago !

[CallicoJackracham]

@56bluegold indeed and considering the time the movie was made the ghost effect used when marley enters and walks around the room is incredible!

[cajubotoes]

lundehund44 it's a silent movie

[lundehund44]

Hey, BFI, would it kill you to add music to this clip?

[sewitt60]

@lundehund44 Why do you need music to it? 

[oi99uk]

I'm the actual discoverer of this film. I found it whilst working for The North West Film Archive, then a part of what was Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Metropolitan University) in the early '80s. The film somehow found its way, with other old films, to an antiques/junk shop in Wigan and I went to see what was in the collection. It took me probably less than a minute to realise it was something special. To my knowledge it's the only surviving copy in existence.

[SnugglySara]

My fave incarnation is still 1983's MICKEY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL.

[gamer93nin]

LOL XDD, the door xDD

[WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1]

My house was built the same year this film was made. Incredible.

[WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1]

Its incredible that they can encompasse the whole story practically in just over 3 minutes. Given that this is 109 years old, in the very early days of filming, it was a pretty good attempt.

[woofer32]

Marvelous, I can't get over how good the quality is for the age.

[PapagenoJuan2]

this is really amazin!! :))) Even for such a movie made in 1901, look at the special effects they did. Even marley's ghost looks real

[gauravzerogravity]

omg this is so old story i recently SAW CRISTMAS CAROL starring jim carry

[bigrigdriver99]

@gauravzerogravity Of course its old, A Christmas Carol was penned by Charles Dickens in 1843, and there been over 40 versions of the book made.

[gauravzerogravity]

@bigrigdriver99 40 VERSION REALLY GOOD THANX FOR THE KNOWLEDGE

[ultradumbass]

why i never get about these old incomplete movies is, how is it possible to have one piece of the movie and not the other? aren't the movies all suppose to be on the same reel together?

[mrThorleifsen]

Scrooge, or Marley's Ghost (1901) Comming soon on Blue-Ray =P

[jinguno]

i luv it! but it got cut... wish there is a finished one uploaded

[Brunoverdao15]

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK­KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKk

era tão pobre

[customcartoons]

thank you for this big juicy slice of history! yum! ^_^

[alanwright17]

This quite obviously real, and it has held up very well....you should try watching the 1903 Alice in Wonderland and you will see what i mean!

[customcartoons]

@alanwright17 not to mention "His Majesty the Scarecrow of Oz" (1914). Plays like a bad home movie...

[JackHauss]

Lame, but at least it`s better than a Kevin Smith film.

[mryoshifreak]

damn this is old. but classic

[ANDROLOMA]

Looks as if Scrooge was being lambasted by the ghost of Christmas Pest, hahaha!

[calamtykel]

I'm confused as to all the controversy; a quick google search turns up info on the IMDB as well as silenteradotcom and other sources, including the BFI. Why is everyone insisting this is undocumented and fake? I had no problem finding info on it. Search "Marley's Ghost".

[themightycelestial]

Boy,

it would be incredible to be able to watch this in it's entirety.

[legomegacy]

This may be real however if you compare it to the 1908 Edison version there are vast differences. I looked on the bfi but came up with nothing. may be because I'm in the states and not allowed access. I cannot find any other references to this 1901 version not even on IMDB would like more sources cuz some of this does smack of the modern..I'd love to be proven wroing

[jetplane002]

Just accept it as being real or you might just burn in hell. LOL

[radicalsystems]

@legomegacy why are you not allowed access to the BFI  british it maybe but its still pretty international..if there a poroblem at (if you pardon the xpression) your end?

[XmasFLIX]

Fantastic!

[jetplane002]

The black spot at 3:14 moves with the lens and not with the video. That is so fake. LOL

[morphybum]

Why don't you click on "more info" and educate yourself a little?

[jjobie]

Well, no, actually it's not.

[radicalsystems]

@jjobie why do you think its fake RWPaul used to work for edison during kinetoscope years..

[jetplane002]

FAKE! that's fake jumpiness of the video and the props are too clean for it to be 1901. I don't think they had superimposing of one video on to another in 1901 either. Although there is a lot of defects flashing across the screen it just looks too clean.

[jjobie]

You are mistaken. This fragment has been posted on BFI's site and is available for downloading from their archive if you live in the U.K. Not every silent film in existence is in horrible condition today - especially ones that weren't shown over and over and over again (which is likely the case with this print, since the film itself doesn't strike me as very interesting and may not have made much of a stir back then either).

[butchyboxer]

its not fake it is real how about actually knowing something before you type it

[jetplane002]

ok...if you say it is real then it must be real. I have watched a lot of silent films and to me it doesn't look real.

[butchyboxer]

it is real just get over that your wrong

[jetplane002]

ok I'm over it. it's real if you say so.

[jjobie]

You might want to go to BFI's website and read up on this fragment of film.

[davidechallinor]

I love it ...and the fact that 1901 is still the Victorian Era - well a tiny bit of it - is poignant too....wouldn't Dickens have LOVED cinema

[weewees1]

I liked it, its a shame that alot of those old films got lost/distroyed etc better than the rubbish on tv now

[adcashmo]

Yeah, and some that were on tape will have been recorded over because tape was expensive.

I remember reading about how all the original Dad's Army episodes were lost that way.

[adcashmo]

I've always wondered why people used to move so quickly in the olden days.

[jaredofmo]

A lot of silent films are shown at the wrong frame rate. I attempted to correct one once, and it almost doubled in length.

[ultradumbass]

@adcashmo probably to lose weight:)

[crashandbetty]

finally, i see the oldest version. but it was set on a cardboard stage! the original era props wouldn't have even been antiques!

[MrElliotpaige]

Fantastic stuff!, and also amazing to think that A Christmas Carol was only 60 years old when this film was made. The equivelent of a contemporary film being set in the 1950's and yet even in this production 1840's London looks like a different world.

[namsivad]

Wow, this is phenomenal! Till this day, the film still looks new, and it just needs a new musical number to be added to it!

[schwarzwaldvache]

They sure don't make 'em like they used to!

[amezzeray2]

wow!! thanks so much!!

[yaknbo]

This is so cool. These maniacs rushing around in a medium that was daily new. So cool. Thank you very much for posting.

[80stimeagain]

Neat. Thanks for share. ;)

[arktoshorse]

Awsome

[rhomo]

absolutely AMAZING!!!!

[talfacprez]

I LOVE IT! I think it was great timing to post this on YouTube today. I think this is the week Disney will be releasing Dickens Christmas Carol in 3d this weekend. From the earliest version to the very latest in a sweep.