Scrooge

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. As so often in the cinema's early days, the filmmakers chose to adapt an already well-known story, assuming the audience's familiarity with the tale meant less need for excessive inter-titles.

Keywords: Charles Dickens, ghosts, Christmas, miser, charity, snow, past, present and future.

Key frames

Download Scrooge (3:26)

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To find out more, see the analysis of Scrooge on BFI Screenonline.

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This film is included in the BFI DVD compilations Dickens Before Sound and R.W. Paul: The Collected Films 1895-1908.