Scrooge, or Marley's Ghost (1901)

For more on the BFI's Dickens on Screen project see http://www.bfi.org.uk/dickens

Produced by the English movie pioneer R.W. Paul, this version of 'A Christmas Carol' is the earliest surviving adaptation of Dickens' work on film. The only known print, held by the BFI, is incomplete, but manages to tell enough of the story for it to be recognisable.

This first 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. (Ewan Davidson)

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Film & Animation

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[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.

[rhomo]

absolutely AMAZING!!!!

[basenjib123]

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

[HargroveFilms1]

This was very good. Great clean print for 1901.

[sewitt60]

@lundehund44 Why do you need music to it? 

[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 !

[cajubotoes]

lundehund44 it's a silent movie

[lundehund44]

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

[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.