Scrooge (1913 film)

1913 film by Leedham Bantock

Scrooge is a 1913 British black and white silent film based on the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. It stars Seymour Hicks as Ebenezer Scrooge. In the United States it was released in 1926 as Old Scrooge. It was directed by Leedham Bantock.

The film's cast included Seymour Hicks as Scrooge, William Lugg, Leedham Bantock, J. C. Buckstone, Dorothy Buckstone, Leonard Calvert, Osborne Adair, Adela Measor and Ellaline Terriss.[1] Hicks had played the role of Scrooge regularly onstage since 1901 before this, his first appearance in the role in film.[2] He reprised the role of Scrooge again, in the 1935 film Scrooge.[2]

Scrooge was a Zenith Film Company production, by whom it was also distributed on its release date in September 1913.[1] Some scenes in the black and white 35mm film were colour toned.

## Plot

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The opening credits are followed by a scene in which Charles Dickens is seen pacing his library seeking inspiration for a new story. It comes to him and he settles down to write A Christmas Carol. A short introductory synopsis describing miserly London businessman Ebenezer Scrooge leads into a shot of his nephew Fred Wyland giving money to poor children on Christmas Eve. Scrooge, upon leaving his office, is chased by poor children. At the office, Scrooge's clerk Bob Cratchit bids goodbye to his crippled son Tiny Tim and goes to work. A poor woman comes to the office to beg from Scrooge but he turns her away. Cratchit gives her money. At Middlemarks, the poor line up for food. When the food runs out, Middlemark goes to Scrooge for assistance but he is turned away. Scrooge gives Cratchit a second hand quill as a Christmas present and after Cratchit has gone, he settles down with his money to sleep.

Scrooge is visited on Christmas Eve by the ghost of his dead business partner, Jacob Marley, who warns him that three more ghosts will appear during the night trying to show Scrooge the error of his ways. As the night wears on, Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Scrooge is shown in sequence his childhood sweetheart, Cratchit's Christmas, a vision of the death of Cratchit's crippled son Tim, and his own lonely tombstone. Scrooge wakes and realising the error of his ways, throws money from his window to the poor children and sends a boy for a large turkey for Cratchit and then goes to visit them for lunch.[3]

## See also

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* List of Christmas films
* List of ghost films
* Adaptations of A Christmas Carol

## References

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1. ^ a b Scrooge on the Silent Era website
2. ^ a b Connelly, Mark (January 6, 2001). Christmas at the Movies. I. B. Tauris. pp. 16–17\. ISBN 1-86064-397-3.
3. ^ Synopsis on the British Film Institute website

## External links

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* Scrooge on the Silent Era website
* Scrooge at IMDb
* Scrooge on the British Film Institute website
* Scrooge at the BFI's Screenonline

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Films directed by Leedham Bantock

* Seymour Hicks and Ellaline Terriss (1913)
* Ivanhoe (1913)
* Scrooge (1913)
* David Garrick (1913)
* A Motorcycle Elopement (1914)
* A Patriotic English Girl (1914)
* Kismet (1914)
* From Flower Girl to Red Cross Nurse (1915)
* A Prehistoric Love Story (1915)
* A Daughter of England (1915)
* The Beggar Girl's Wedding (1915)
* The Girl of My Heart (1915)
* The Girl Who Took the Wrong Turning (1915)
* The Shopsoiled Girl (1915)
* The Veiled Woman (1917)

* v
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* e

Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol

Characters|

* Ebenezer Scrooge
* Bob Cratchit
* Mr. Fezziwig
* Tiny Tim
* Jacob Marley
* Ghost of Christmas Past
* Ghost of Christmas Present
* Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

Films|

* Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost (1901)
* A Christmas Carol (1908)
* A Christmas Carol (1910)
* Scrooge (1913)
* The Right to Be Happy (1916)
* Scrooge (1935)
* A Christmas Carol (1938)
* Scrooge (1951)
* It's Never Too Late (1953)
* A Christmas Carol (1960)
* Scrooge (1970)
* A Christmas Carol (1971)
* An American Christmas Carol (1979)
* Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)
* Scrooged (1988)
* The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
* A Christmas Carol (1997)
* Christmas Carol: The Movie (2001)
* A Carol Christmas (2003)
* Springtime with Roo (2004)
* Chasing Christmas (2005)
* A Christmas Carol (2006)
* An American Carol (2008)
* Barbie in a Christmas Carol (2008)
* Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009)
* A Christmas Carol (2009)
* The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol (2011)
* Scrooge & Marley (2012)
* A Christmas Carol (2020)
* Spirited (2022)
* Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (2022)
* Christmas Karma (TBA)

Television|

* The Christmas Carol (1949)
* A Christmas Carol (1954)
* Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962)
* Carol for Another Christmas (1964)
* A Special Sesame Street Christmas (1978)
* The Stingiest Man in Town (1978)
* Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol (1979)
* Rich Little's Christmas Carol (1979)
* A Christmas Carol (1982)
* A Christmas Carol (1984)
* Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988)
* A Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994)
* Ebbie (1995)
* Ms. Scrooge (1997)
* An All Dogs Christmas Carol (1998)
* Ebenezer (1998)
* A Christmas Carol (1999)
* A Diva's Christmas Carol (2000)
* A Christmas Carol (2000)
* A Christmas Carol (2004)
* An Easter Carol (2004)
* Karroll's Christmas (2004)
* Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas (2006)
* Nan's Christmas Carol (2009)
* "A Christmas Carol" (Doctor Who) (2010)
* It's Christmas, Carol! (2012)
* Kelly Clarkson's Cautionary Christmas Music Tale (2013)
* A Hearth's Warming Tail (2016)
* A Christmas Carol (2019)

Musicals|

* Scrooge (1992)
* A Christmas Carol (1994)
* Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge (2002)

Plays|

* A Christmas Carol; or, Past, Present, and Future (1844)
* A Christmas Carol (1988)
* A Queer Carol (1999)
* Fellow Passengers (2004)
* A Klingon Christmas Carol (2007)
* A Christmas Carol (2017)
* A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story (2021)

Soundtracks|

* A Christmas Carol (2009)
* Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol (2011)

Other|

* Adaptations of A Christmas Carol
* Batman: Noël (comic)
* "Green Chri$tma$" (single)
* The Misadventures of the Wholesome Twins (2005 musical)
* The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017 film)
* Ebenezer and the Invisible World (video game)

Related|

* John Leech (illustrator)

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