A Christmas Carol a Charles Dickens classic
Scrooge (1935) [Drama] [Fantasy] [Christmas]
“Scrooge” is a 1935 British film directed by Henry Edwards featuring Seymour Hicks as Ebenezer Scrooge, the miser who hates Christmas. It was the first sound version of the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol, not counting a 1928 short subject that now appears to be lost.
Hicks had played the role of Scrooge on the stage many times beginning in 1901, and again in a 1913 British silent film version. The 1935 film differs from all other versions of the story in one significant way – most of the ghosts, including that of Jacob Marley, are not actually shown onscreen, although their voices are heard. Only the Ghost of Christmas Present (Oscar Asche) is actually seen in full figure – the Ghost of Christmas Past is a mere shape with no discernible facial features, Marley’s Ghost is seen only briefly as a face on the door knocker, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is just an outstretched pointing finger.
Why the film was made this way remains unclear; it is obviously not because British filmmakers could not achieve special effects, since we do see Marley’s face superimposed on Scrooge’s door knocker. Another aspect making this film different from other versions of the story is that Seymour Hicks plays both the old and young Scrooge, rather straining the credulity of the audience, since by this time, the sixty-four year old actor was visibly too aged to convincingly play a young man.
Others versions of the film: A Christmas Carol Scrooge 1951 Full Movie
Maurice Evans appears briefly as a man harassed by Scrooge to pay his debts. Donald Calthrop portrays a Bob Cratchit who bears an uncanny physical resemblance to John Leech’s illustrations of the character in the original 1843 edition of the novel.
Directed by Henry Edwards, produced by Julius Hagen, written by H. Fowler Mear
Charles Dickens (novel), starring Sir Seymour Hicks, Donald Calthrop, Robert Cochran, Mary Glynne, Garry Marsh, Oscar Asche, Marie Ney and C.V. France.
Source: “Scrooge (1935 film)” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 26 June 2012. Web. 30 July 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrooge_…
Miracle on 34th Street
Miracle on 34th Street
(initially released in the United Kingdom as The Big Heart
) is a 1947 Christmas comedy-drama
film written and directed by George Seaton
and based on a story by Valentine Davies
. It stars Maureen O’Hara
, John Payne
, Natalie Wood
and Edmund Gwenn
. The story takes place between Thanksgiving Day
and Christmas Day
in New York City
, and focuses on the impact of a department store Santa Claus
who claims to be the real Santa. The film has become a perennial Christmas favorite.
This video quality is not the best, so try your local cable listings this Christmas.
The film won Academy Awards
for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
(Edmund Gwenn), Best Writing, Original Story
(Valentine Davies) and Best Writing, Screenplay
. It was also nominated for Best Picture
, losing to Gentleman’s Agreement
. In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress
as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
Its a Wonderful Life
It’s A Wonderful Life
from PNN Media Group
It’s a Wonderful Life
is a 1946 American Christmas fantasy drama film
produced and directed by Frank Capra
, based on the short story “The Greatest Gift
“, which Philip Van Doren Stern
wrote in 1939 and published privately in 1945.
The film is now among the most popular in American cinema and because of numerous television showings in the 1980s has become traditional viewing during the Christmas season
The film stars James Stewart
as George Bailey
, a man who has given up his dreams in order to help others, and whose imminent suicide on Christmas Eve
brings about the intervention of his guardian angel
, Clarence Odbody
). Clarence shows George all the lives he has touched and how different life in his community of Bedford Falls
would be had he never been born.